Tag: SpaceX

Echostar sells more of its licensed spectrum to SpaceX

9:05 am

Echostar announced this week that it has sold additional spectrum that had been licensed to it by the FCC to SpaceX, getting in return about $2.6 billion in SpaceX stock.

EchoStar has entered into an amended definitive agreement with SpaceX to sell the company’s unpaired AWS-3 licenses for approximately $2.6 billion in SpaceX stock valued as of September 2025. This transaction builds on the agreement the companies entered into in September. EchoStar’s unpaired AWS-3 licenses are nationwide and are part of 3GPP Band 70n (1695-1710 MHz uplink). “This transaction with SpaceX, in addition to our previously announced spectrum transactions and commercial agreements, will strengthen EchoStar’s ability to develop new business opportunities and growth in value for our shareholders,” said Hamid Akhavan, CEO, EchoStar Capital. “The combination of AWS-3 uplink, AWS-4 and H-block spectrum from EchoStar with the rocket launch and satellite manufacturing capabilities from SpaceX accelerates the realization of powerful and economical direct-to-cell service offerings for consumers and enterprises worldwide, including our Boost Mobile customers.”

In other words, Echostar was not making any money from this spectrum on its own. By partnering with SpaceX it can do so, because SpaceX has the satellites and rockets capable of making it happen, and a cost that is affordable.

Nor should the companies have much problem getting FCC approval. Echostar had previously been accused of under-utilizing its licensed spectrum. This deal with SpaceX helps solve that issue.

In other Starlink news, SpaceX has begun rolling out Starlink service in India, while also striking a deal with British Airlines to use Starlink on its airplanes.

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One launch today by SpaceX, while ULA scrubs for the second time in two days

7:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage completed its 8th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

ULA for the second day in a row was forced to scrub a launch of a Viasat communications satellite due to “a reoccurrence of the issue with the Atlas V booster liquid oxygen tank vent valve.” No new launch data has as yet been announced.

The contrast between these two rocket companies here is truly striking. In the past two days SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 has launched twice, like clockwork, while ULA can’t get off the ground because of a valve issue, the kind of niggling problem that routinely scrubs its launches. It is thus rare that ULA launches on time, on schedule, as planned.

SpaceX’s launch however sets a new record for successfully launches in a single year by the entire world, 257, breaking the record set last year. These numbers are two to five times what the global launch industry managed annually for most of the space age, and signal the renaissance in rocketry brought on by Elon Musk and SpaceX. Nor I think have we reached peak numbers. Not even close.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

145 SpaceX (a new record)
67 China
14 Rocket Lab
13 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 145 to 112.

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SpaceX and Arianespace make launch predictions for ’25 and ’26

9:40 am

In separate announcements this week, officials from Arianespace and SpaceX revealed their launch plans for the rest of this year and next.

First, Arianespace officials revealed yesterday that it is hoping to do six to eight Ariane-6 launches in 2026.

During a post-flight conference following the launch of Sentinel-1D, Arianespace CEO David Cavaillès stated that while the company preferred to wait until next year to reveal details about its 2026 launch manifest, it was aiming to double its launch cadence. He added that a cadence of between six and eight next year “will be great.”

If the company does manage eight Ariane 6 flights in 2026, it will already be close to reaching the stated maximum launch cadence of between nine and ten flights per year. When asked if this cadence could be increased, Cavaillès explained that the decision would be driven by customer demand.

Since customer demand for Ariane-6 has been quite low, because of its high cost, don’t expect this launch rate to rise much higher. Arianespace’s only big contract is 18 launches for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation. Once that is completed it is not clear where much future business will be coming from, even with some bureaucrats lobbying the European Space Agency to require its members to use it. There are too many cheaper options available now, with many more coming on line, both in America and Europe.

Next, a SpaceX official noted at a conference this week that the company hopes to complete another 25 to 30 Falcon 9 launches before the end of the year.

“We’re aiming for around 170 — between 165 and 170 — which means 25 to 30 more launches to go,” Kiko Dontchev, the company’s vice president of launch, said during a Wednesday session at the Space Economy Summit 2025.

…All together, “we’ll get to 2,400, 2,200 [metric tons launched] or something like that, which is absurd in the grand scheme of where things have been,” he added. Historically, that is close to the global record for metric tons launched to space by all companies and nations — about 2,500 metric tons in 2024, according to Jonathan’s Space Report, compiled by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

In other words, SpaceX hopes its Falcon 9 rocket will this year alone place in orbit almost the same tonnage launched previously by everyone in the three-quarters of a century since Sputnik.

Cavaillès’ forecast means the company is likely to get very close to its prediction for launches at the beginning of the year, 180, that also included its Superheavy/Starship test launches. Quite an amazing achievement.

And as Al Jolson once said, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

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Two American launches today, setting several new launch records

8:58 pm

The beat goes on! Three different American companies attempted launches today, with two successfully getting off the ground while the third was forced to scrub due to an unspecified technical issue.

First Rocket Lab successfully launched another radar satellite for the Japanese company Q-Shu Pioneers (iQPS), its Electron rocket lifted off from one of Rocket Labs’ two New Zealand launchpads. This was the fifth launch out of a total eleven-launch contract that Rocket Lab has from Q-Shu. The launch also tied Rocket Lab’s record for the most successful orbital launches in a single year, 14, set in 2024.

Next, SpaceX launched another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The launch once again set a new annual launch record for SpaceX.

Only about two hours later, ULA attempted to launch a Viasat communications satellite using its Atlas-5 rocket, also lifting off from Cape Canaveral. At T-minus 4 minutes however there was an unplanned hold. After trouble-shooting the problem for almost an hour, they scrubbed the launch with only a few minutes left in the launch window. They will try again tomorrow.

With the two successful launches, the world’s global launch industry tied the record that was set last year for the most successful orbital launches in a single year, 256. That record will certainly be passed in the next few days.

What is more significant is that until 2020, the industry struggled to reach 100 launches per year. Since then the numbers have skyrocketed, led mostly by SpaceX’s overwhelming success.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

144 SpaceX (a new record)
67 China
14 Rocket Lab (tying its previous record)
13 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 144 to 112.

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Someone is apparently considering putting a helicopter on Starship when it goes to Mars

2:53 pm

Potential Starship helicopter location

In my regular trolling through the images sent down from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), I sometimes come across things that imply truly exciting future missions. That happened when in 2019 I found a bunch of photos each labeled as a “candidate landing site for SpaceX Starship”. Without fanfare SpaceX had begun researching locations for where it intended to land Starship on Mars, in the northern lowland plains, research that it later solidified considerably.

Similarly, I have found MRO images in 2022 suggesting scientists were thinking of running a helicopter mission inside Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system. Another image in 2024 suggested that a helicopter mission might go to another region in Mars’s southern cratered highlands.

The image to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, is another new example of a potential Martian helicopter mission. It was taken on August 19, 2025 and is labeled provocatively “Characterize Possible Rotorcraft Landing Site.” Unlike the previous two proposed helicopter locations, however — which appeared to be aimed at uncertain NASA funding — this image’s location suggests it is far more certain, and might launch far sooner than you can imagine.
» Read more

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A think tank releases its detailed review of the American satellite communications industry

11:09 am

The state of the satellite constellation industry
Go here and here for originals.

Link to the press release is here. To read the actual report go here.

The report was issued by the LEO Policy Working Group, which calls itself “an independent body dedicated to providing forward-looking, data-driven analysis and policy recommendations to ensure the successful and sustainable deployment of next-generation Low Earth Orbit satellite systems.” In reviewing the membership of this group, I noticed that only one member appeared drawn from the industry itself (a former OneWeb advisor). The rest of the members were from lobbying groups, government agencies, academia, or DC think tanks.

Thus, I immediately wondered if this report was aimed against SpaceX and its present dominance, designed to justify further government regulation against it.

In reviewing the report however it does not seem so, at least on the surface. The report very accurately and detail describes the present state of the industry and all the players, including all the present constellations in orbit or under construction. It also describes the state of the launch industry on which they depend, including the risks entailed by SpaceX’s present dominance. At the same time it also notes at length that there is no evidence that SpaceX is doing anything to take advantage of that dominance.

Its recommendations are generally vague, and can be summed up simply as “Government should remain vigilant but do nothing drastic at this time.”

The report’s main benefit however its overall summary of the industry, as well as its detailed description of how the spectrum is regulated by government agencies.
» Read more

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Two overnight launches

9:24 am

The beat goes on: Since yesterday there were two more successful rocket launches, from India and SpaceX.

First, SpaceX last night launched its fourth Bandwagon mission carrying 18 mid-sized smallsat payloads, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its third flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral. The fairings completed their 11th and 13th flights respectively.

Bandwagon rideshare missions are dedicated missions by SpaceX. SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program provides small satellite operators with regularly scheduled, dedicated Falcon 9 rideshare missions to mid-inclination orbits for ESPA-class payloads, starting at $300,000 per mission and including up to 50kg of payload mass.

Among these payloads two were most notable, a South Korean military surveillance satellite and a demo module for the space station startup Vast. With the latter, the company will use this unmanned orbiting prototype to test operations to prepare for the launch in the spring of its full-sized manned demo station, Haven-1.

Next India’s space agency ISRO today launched its largest rocket, LVM3, lifted off from its Sriharikota spaceport, carrying the heaviest payload India had yet launched, a government communications satellite.

It appears the LVM-M3 has finally be given a real name. Previously ISRO called it the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV). When it was upgraded to a more powerful version intended for India’s manned program, the name was revised to LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3). News reports today referred to the rocket now as Bahubali, calling it a “nickname.”

In all of ISRO’s missions the agency routinely uses very generic official names, but appears to eventually accept nicknames that the press uses, such as Chandrayaan for its moon missions, Mangalyaan for its Mars orbiter, Gaganyaan for its manned missions, and now Bahubali for this rocket. Increasingly however the Modi government seems to be pushing to use these names instead of those generic titles.

This was India’s third launch in 2025. The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

143 SpaceX (a new annual record)
66 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 143 to 109.

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SpaceX launches 28 more Starlink satellites

3:33 pm

SpaceX this afternoon successfully placed another 28 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off form Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage (Booster 1063) completed its 29th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. With this flight this booster has now flown more times than the space shuttle Columbia, as shown below in the rankings for the most reused launch vehicles:

39 Discovery space shuttle
33 Atlantis space shuttle
31 Falcon 9 booster B1067
29 Falcon 9 booster B1071
29 Falcon 9 booster B1063
28 Columbia space shuttle
27 Falcon 9 booster B1069

Sources here and here.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

142 SpaceX (a new annual record)
66 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 142 to 108.

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New orbital radar data confirms large ice deposits in Phelgra Mountains near Starship landing zone

3:18 pm

Overview map

A new paper published this week used the SHARAD radar instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to confirm that the glacial features found everywhere within the Phlegra Mountains where one of Starship’s four prime landing sites is located contains significant quantities of very accessible pure water ice.

The red dots on the map to the right mark two of those prime landing sites, with one inside the Phelgra Mountains in a region directly studied by this paper. The numbered black dots were other images taken by MRO for SpaceX, reported here in 2020. From the paper’s abstract:

We examined mid-latitude landforms on Mars that resemble Earth’s debris-covered glaciers in a region called Phlegra Montes. Our study site is a 1,400-km-long mountain range in the northern hemisphere of Mars that houses numerous debris-covered glaciers also called Viscous Flow Features (VFFs). Using data from the SHallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument, we detected eight new glaciers and estimated the thickness and volume of ice within them as well as the thickness of the debris on top insulating the ice. Our findings suggest that the region holds around 1.2 trillion cubic meters of ice below the surface. We detected two notable types of glaciers for the first time on Mars using SHARAD: (a) a glacier system with terrace-like steps and (b) a perched “hanging” glacier on the eastern side of the mountains

The study also found that the layer of dust and debris that covers these glaciers and protects them from sublimating away ranges from 6 to 25 feet in thickness, well within reach of any future colonists.

This study only confirms what all the orbital data for the past two decades has suggested, that Mars is an icy world like Antarctica, not a dry desert like the Sahara. As the researchers themselves note in the very first line of their paper, “Mars is a frozen world where water ice is abundant above, at, and under the surface.”

Their research also confirms that SpaceX has made a good choice for its Starship prime landing sites. Though it will likely not make its first landing at site #3, because it is inside the mountains and thus more risky, expect a landing there not long thereafter.

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SpaceX: Starship will be going to the Moon, with or without NASA

12:27 pm

Artist's rending of Starships on the Moon
SpaceX’s artist’s rending of Starships on the Moon.
Click for original.

In what appears to be a direct response to the claim by NASA’s interim administrator Sean Duffy that SpaceX is “behind” in developing a manned lunar lander version of Starship, SpaceX today posted a detailed update of the status that project, noting pointedly the following in the update’s conclusion:

NASA selected Starship in 2021 to serve as the lander for the Artemis III mission and return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo. That selection was made through fair and open competition which determined that SpaceX’s bid utilizing Starship had the highest technical and management ratings while being the lowest cost by a wide margin. This was followed by a second selection [Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander] to serve as the lander for Artemis IV, moving beyond initial demonstrations to lay the groundwork that will ensure that humanity’s return to the Moon is permanent.

Starship continues to simultaneously be the fastest path to returning humans to the surface of the Moon and a core enabler of the Artemis program’s goal to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface. SpaceX shares the goal of returning to the Moon as expeditiously as possible, approaching the mission with the same alacrity and commitment that returned human spaceflight capability to America under NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

The update then provides a list of the testing and engineering work that SpaceX has been doing on the Starship lunar lander, including full scale drop tests simulating lunar gravity, qualification of the docking ports, and the construction of a full scale mock-up of the Starship cabin to test its systems.

A close list of the work done is actually not that impressive, but at the same time this is not surprising. SpaceX is now mostly focused on getting Starship into orbit, proving it can be refueled there, and proving it can fly for long enough to get to the Moon. This part of the update was most exciting, as it confirms what I have suspected for next year’s flight program:
» Read more

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Lawsuit against Amazon for favoring Blue Origin over SpaceX to launch Kuiper satellites gets new hearing

8:01 am

The lawsuit originally filed in 2023 against Amazon because it favored other less reliable rockets, including Blue Origin’s forever-delayed New Glenn, instead of using SpaceX to launch its Kuiper constellation of satellites, got a new hearing yesterday after the suit was dismissed in February.

The suit is now being pursued a pension fund that apparently invested in the Kuiper constellation, and claims Jeff Bezos used his influence to convince Amazon to avoid using SpaceX when it signed launch contracts with ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin in 2022, even though none of those rockets were even operational at the time. Even now they appear unable to meet Amazon’s launch requirements.

Amazon has until 2026 to send up the first 1,600 satellites and three more years to launch the next batch. That broader backdrop barely came up during the appeal proceedings, which zoomed in on allegations that the board made no effort to oversee self-dealing by Bezos as he directed billions from Amazon to his own rocket company, Blue Origin, despite SpaceX’s superior capabilities.

Vivek Upadhya, counsel for the pension fund, stressed the “billions of dollars flowing directly from Amazon to a company owned and controlled by Amazon’s CEO and chairman.” The sheer scale of the conflict of interest made the Blue Origin contract “a truly exceptional transaction” requiring attentive board supervision, regardless of the actual role Bezos played in negotiations, according to Upadhya. “Delaware law doesn’t require that directors harbor some innate suspicion” before taking steps to manage conflicts, but the board “failed to lift a finger,” he said.

Following the filing of the 2023 lawsuit, Amazon signed SpaceX to a three-launch contract, which SpaceX has now completed. Meanwhile, only ULA has managed any of the other launches, three also. As for Arianespace and Blue Origin, it is not clear when either will begin doing any Kuiper launches.

It does appear Amazon’s board played favorites here, and did so in a way that was harmful to the company’s bottom line. Whether this can be proved to the satisfaction of the court however is very uncertain.

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SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites

9:43 am

SpaceX once again broke its annual record for successful launches today, placing 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its 15th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

141 SpaceX (a new record)
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 141 to 107. The U.S. launch total in 2025, now 159, is also a new record.

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Startup semi-conductor manufacturer Besxar signs deal to use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage as production platform during its short flight

8:57 am

In what appears to be first, the startup Besxar has signed a deal with SpaceX to fly what it calls its Fabships on the first stage of the Falcon 9 in order to take advantage of the extreme vacuum of space to produce better semi-conductors.

Fabships will be integrated on Falcon 9 first stage boosters and retrieved post launch after the rocket safely returns to land. The campaign marks the first-ever reusable payload program to launch on a SpaceX rocket and will accelerate Besxar’s path toward building the world’s first orbital semiconductor foundry. This flight campaign will debut Besxar’s “Clipper-class” Fabship, engineered for short-duration, quick-turnaround sorties that enable rapid iteration and demonstrate the first phase in Besxar’s broader vision to establish scalable semiconductor production in orbit.

Besxar is pioneering a new class of orbital manufacturing, using the ultra-high vacuum (UHV) of space to produce ultra-pure substrates and precursor materials—the foundational building blocks for AI data centers, quantum computing, nuclear systems, next-generation defense systems, and directed-energy applications. By manufacturing in orbit, Besxar can achieve purity levels and yield efficiencies impossible on Earth, effectively doubling the chip cost-efficiency for next-generation AI workloads.

The deal is for twelve flights, with the first occurring as soon as this year. The deal not only allows Besxar an opportunity to produce a better product it can sell, it gives SpaceX another avenue for profits. It is in fact surprising that SpaceX has not done more deals like this, especially with its Dragon cargo capsule. There is a whole cottage industry now developing using returnable capsules for in-space manufacturing — led by Varda. That SpaceX hasn’t offered Dragon as yet is puzzling. It is possible Dragon is simply too expensive and large at this time, based on the nascent state of this industry. Once investors see profits from the smaller new capsules like Varda’s they will look at Dragon as an option.

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SpaceX settles Cards Against Humanity lawsuit against it

9:26 am

Though no monetary numbers have been released, its appears Cards Against Humanity (CAH) has settled its $15 million lawsuit with SpaceX, instigated when the company illegally stored equipment on a piece of land CAH had purchased in 2017 in an effort to block Trump’s border wall.

Per AP, according to Texas court records, a settlement was finalized last month, prior to the upcoming Nov. 3 jury trial marked on the calendar. SpaceX owns other land plots in the Brownsville, Texas area in Cameron County, but apparently had no right to use this patch.

“The upside is that SpaceX has removed their construction equipment from our land and we’re able to work with a local landscaping company to restore the land to its natural state: devoid of space garbage and pointless border walls,” CAH wrote in a recent message to customers. “Were we hoping to be able to pay all our fans? Sure. But we did warn them they would probably only be able to get like $2 or most likely nothing.”

Based on a somewhat childish and obscene statement from CAH describing the settlement, it got little additional money from SpaceX. The company admitted its trespass, agreed to pay for the restoration, but agreed to nothing else. In response, CAH says it will issue a free new set of cards “all about Musk” to those who donated to buy the land. The tone of CAH suggests the cards will be equally childish and obscene.

As for the border wall, if the Trump administration decides it wants to build it across this piece of land, CAH’s ownership won’t make any difference. The Trump administration will simply initiate eminent domain proceedings to take the land.

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SpaceX launches another 28 Starlink satellites

8:39 am

SpaceX yesterday afternoon added another 28 Starlink satellites to its constellation, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its 17th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. This launch — as will every SpaceX launch for the rest of the year — also set a new annual launch record for both American and SpaceX.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

140 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 140 to 107.

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Two more launches, by China and SpaceX respectively

9:22 am

The global launch industry added two more launches to its 2025 launch totals since yesterday. First, China launched what its state-run press described as a Earth imaging satellite, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No information was released as to where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.

Then early today SpaceX placed another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

With this launch, the U.S. set a new annual record for successful launches, 158, beating the record set in 2024. In both years, the record was almost entirely due to SpaceX and its Falcon 9. Rocket Lab’s numbers continue to rise, suggesting the company is about to finally begin launching more than once a month. All the other American rocket companies, especially ULA, have in the past two years failed to deliver the number of launches promised. All continue to promise big numbers in 2026. We shall see.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

139 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 139 to 107.

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SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites, sets new annual launch record

2:07 pm

SpaceX this morning successfully launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The first stage completed its 19th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

With this launch SpaceX set a new record by a private company for the most successful launches in a single year, beating the record it set last year. In fact, this is the sixth year in a row that SpaceX has reset this particular record. Where once it was difficult for the world’s entire launch industry to complete 100 launches in a year — using government controlled rockets — SpaceX has shown that much greater things can happen if private enterprise, pursing profit, is given its head and allowed to run freely.

This launch also brought the U.S. launch total to 157, which matches the country’s record from last year. Expect a new record to be set before the week is out.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

138 SpaceX
64 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 138 to 105. Japan has a launch scheduled for later today, its H3 rocket carrying Japan’s upgraded HTV-X1 cargo freighter on a mission to ISS.

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SpaceX launches communications satellite for the Spanish government

8:17 pm

SpaceX tonight successfully placed a Spanish communications satellite into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The satellite will provide communications for Spain’s military and government. The first stage completed its 22nd flight, but because of the needs of the payload, there was not enough fuel left for it to land on a drone ship. This was its last flight, the stage falling into the Atlantic. The two fairings completed their 16th and 28th flights respectively.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

137 SpaceX
64 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 137 to 105.

SpaceX has now matched the annual launch record it set last year, and done it with more than two months left to go in 2025. Whether it can reach its goal of about 180 launches this year seems doubtful, but it will definitely come close. It is averaging about 14 launches per month, which means it could complete about 28 to 30 before the end of December.

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Duffy’s shiny object worked

9:21 am

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

As expected, Elon Musk responded yesterday with anger and insults to the announcement by interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy that he will consider other manned lunar landers besides Starship for the first Artemis landing on the Moon.

And as expected, our brainless and generally uneducated propaganda press grabbed the shiny object that Duffy had put out with this announcement to focus entirely on the public spat. Here is just a sampling of the typical reports:

Not one of these articles reported the fact that Duffy’s announcement also included an admission that NASA is now delaying this manned Moon mission until 2028. Not one went into any depth as to why this program is delayed, if they discussed it at all. And any articles that did discuss the program’s overall slow pace, the focus was always entirely on SpaceX, as if its Starship program was the sole cause of all the problems. Essentially, they picked up Duffy’s talking points and ran with them, blindly. In fact, for almost all of these articles, it appeared as if the reporter was writing about NASA’s Artemis program for the first time, and really knew nothing about it.

Only the Ars Technica story attempted some thoughtful analysis, but it focused on the office politics of choosing NASA’s next administrator, missing entirely the fundamentals of this story, that the Artemis program is and has always been a mess, and that Duffy’s decision will do nothing to fix the problem.

Musk of course foolishly played into Duffy’s hands by reacting so violently, with insults, helping Duffy distract from the real issues. At the same time, Musk also spoke truth with this one tweet:
» Read more

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Fake blather from NASA administrator Sean Duffy to hide more Artemis delays

9:47 am

Sean Duffy
Sean Duffy: “Look at the shiny object!”

During a press interview yesterday, interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy revealed almost as an aside that NASA’s mid-2027 launch for the first Artemis manned lunar landing is no longer realistic, and that NASA is now targeting a 2028 launch date instead.

Duffy managed to hide this revelation by also announcing that he is re-opening the bidding for the manned lunar lander NASA will use on that third Artemis mission. To quote Duffy:

Now, SpaceX had the contract for Artemis III. By the way, I love SpaceX and it’s an amazing company, but the problem is, they are behind. They pushed their timelines out and we are in a race against China. The president and I want to get to the moon in this president’s term. So, I’m going to open up the contract and I’m going let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin. Whatever one gets us there first to the moon, we are going to take. If SpaceX is behind and Blue Origin can do it before them, good on Blue Origin.

By the way we might have two companies that can get us back to the Moon in 2028.

The propaganda press of course is going wild about this SpaceX announcement, making believe it signifies something of importance. “SpaceX is behind! Elon Musk can’t do it! Duffy is giving Jeff Bezos the job!” And as I think Duffy intended, everyone is ignoring the fact that NASA has now admitted it won’t meet that 2027 launch target.

The irony is that Duffy’s decision to re-open bidding on that manned mission is utterly meaningless. » Read more

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The three launches completed today including two major new achievements

12:33 pm

The beat goes on: There were three launches globally today, repeating a pattern we’ve seen several times in the past few weeks, with China completing one launch and SpaceX completing two.

First, China’s solid-fueled Kinetica-1 (Lijian-1) rocket placed three Pakistani satellites into orbit, one of which is what Pakistan’s state-run press claimed was its first multi-spectral environmental satellite. China’s press also provided no information about where Kinetica-1’s lower stages crashed inside China, having launched from its Jiuquan spaceport in the country’s northwest. The rocket itself is supposedly commercial, but it is built by a government agency, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the government state-run press illustrated this by making no mention of this agency in reporting the launch.

Next, SpaceX set a new record for the reuse of a Falcon 9 first stage in placing 28 Starlink satellites into orbit, the rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage, B1067, completed its 31st flight, a new record for a Falcon 9 first stage, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The updated rankings for the most reflights of a rocket:

39 Discovery space shuttle
33 Atlantis space shuttle
31 Falcon 9 booster B1067
29 Falcon 9 booster B1071
28 Columbia space shuttle
28 Falcon 9 booster B1063
27 Falcon 9 booster B1069

Sources here and here.

Finally, less than two hours later, SpaceX launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The first stage completed its 11th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

With these two launches, SpaceX has now placed more than 10,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, though a large percentage have been de-orbited over the years as the company has upgraded the satellites. Nonetheless, the number of Starlink satellites presently in orbit far exceeds all the satellites now in orbit for every other planned constellation, combined.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

135 SpaceX
63 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 135 to 104.

In the coming days the global rocket industry will also achieve a number of additional milestones. SpaceX is just two launches short of its record of 137 launches achieved last year, while the U.S. is just three launches short of its own record of 157 launches, also set last year. Similarly, China is just three launches short of its own record of 66 set in 2023.

Globally, the world has presently completed 239 successful launches in 2025, a number only exceeded by the 2024 record of 256. Expect this record also to fall before the end of the year.

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South African red tape will likely delay Starlink there for years to come

10:06 am

According to an article in South Africa yesterday, regulatory red tape and political demands in South Africa will likely block approval of Starlink in that country for years to come, if not forever.

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi gazetted a draft policy direction on the role of EEIPs [Equity Equivalent Investment Programme] in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector on 23 May 2025. He explained that rules requiring electronic communications service providers to have 30% historically disadvantaged ownership prevented some companies from contributing to the country’s transformation in ways other than traditional ownership.

The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and the ICT Sector Code supported the use of EEIPs to allow qualifying multinationals to meet empowerment obligations through alternatives. These can include investing in local suppliers, enterprise and skills development, job creation, infrastructure support, research and innovation, digital inclusion initiatives, and funding for small businesses.

However, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) ownership regulations do not provide for EEIPs.

In other words, the laws contradict each other, and to make it possible to issue any licenses for a foreign company like SpaceX, the government needs to resolve this conflict. That is expected to take years of political maneuvering.

Even if this issue is resolved, SpaceX has already said it would not agree to the racial quota system proposed. It has offered to instead provide Starlink for free to 5,000 schools. It is not clear if politicians in South Africa will consider that sufficient.

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Three launches since yesterday

9:15 am

The beat goes on. Since yesterday there were three launches, one by China and two by SpaceX.

First, China’s Long March 8A rocket placed the twelfth set of satellites in the Guowang internet constellation, eventually aiming to be 13,000 satellites strong. China’s state-run press did not specify the exact number of satellites. Based on previous launches using the Long March 8A, the number was likely nine, bringing the number of this constellation’s satellites now in orbit to 96.

The launch was from China’s coastal Wenchang spaceport, and had a flight path that dumped the lower stages of the rocket near islands in the Philippines.

Next, SpaceX placed 21 satellites into orbit for the Pentagon, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. This was the second launched by SpaceX for this military communication constellation, dubbed Tranche-1, intended to be 158 satellites total. The first stage completed its seventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The fairing halves completed their third and fourth flights respectively.

Finally, SpaceX launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its third flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

133 SpaceX
61 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 133 to 102.

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Space Force approves Vandenberg environmental assessment, allowing SpaceX’s to launch as much as 100 times annually

8:02 am

Map of Vandenberg Space Force Base, showing SpaceX's two launchpads
Figure 2.1-1 of the final environmental assessment report

The Space Force on October 10, 2025 announced it has now finalized and approved the environmental assessment that will permit SpaceX’s to increase its launch rate at Vandenberg to as much as 100 times per year.

The DAF [Air Force] has decided to increase the annual Falcon launch cadence at VSFB [Vandenberg] through launch and landing operations at SLC-4 and SLC-6 [the two SpaceX launchpads], including modification of SLC-6 for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles to support future U.S. Government and commercial launch service needs. The overall launch cadence will increase from 50 Falcon 9 launches per year at SLC-4 to up to 100 launches per year for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy at both SLCs combined. Falcon Heavy, which has not previously launched from VSFB, would launch and land up to five times per year from and at SLC-6. The DAF will authorize SpaceX to construct a new hangar south of the HIF [SpaceX’s horizontal integration facility] and north of SLC-6 to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy integration and processing.

You can read the full environmental assessment here [pdf]. The map to the right, from the assessment, shows the location at Vandenberg of the two SpaceX launch sites. SLC-4 (pronounced “slick-four”) is the pad SpaceX has been using for years to launch Falcon 9s. SLC-6 was originally built for the space shuttle but never used for that purpose. Subsequently ULA leased it to launch its Delta family of rockets. When that rocket was retired SpaceX won the lease to reconfigure the site for both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.

The Space Force apparently decided to ignore the objections of the California Coastal Commission as well as a number of anti-Musk leftwing activist groups. And its decision is well grounded in facts. The report documents at length the lack of any consequential environmental impacts from the increase of launches, which is further supported by almost three quarters of a century of actual use.

The decision is also well founded in basic American culture and law. The Space Force as a government agency must act as a servant of the American people, in this case represented by the private company SpaceX. It must therefore do whatever it can to aid and support that company, not put up roadblocks because it doesn’t like what the company proposes.

At least under Trump, this is the approach the Space Force is taking. I fear what will happen if a Democrat regains the presidency, based on the radical and enthused communist make-up of that party today.

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Three launches in the past day

9:45 am

Even as all eyes focused on SpaceX’s 11th test launch of Starship/Superheavy yesterday, there were three other launches in the past fourteen hours taking place on three different continents by China and two different American companies.

First, China placed a technology test satellite into orbit, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. The only information about the satellite is that it will test “new optical imaging.” No information at all was released on where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China.

Next, SpaceX placed 24 of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its second flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

With this launch, Amazon now has 154 satellites in orbit, out of a planned constellation of about 3,200. Its FCC license requires it to have about 1,600 in orbit by July of ’26, but that goal seems increasingly unlikely to be met. With this launch SpaceX completed its three-launch contract for Amazon. It has contracts with ULA for 46 launches (having so far completed three in 2025), and that company appears ready to launch regularly in the coming months. Amazon’s other launch contracts with Blue Origin’s New Glenn (27 launches) and ArianeGroup’s Ariane-6 (18 launches) however are more uncertain. Neither company has achieved any launches on their contracts, and it is not clear when either company, especially Blue Origin, will ever begin regular launches.

Finally, this morning Rocket Lab placed the seventh radar satellite into orbit for the company Synspective, its Electron rocket lifting off from one of its two launchpads in New Zealand. Rocket Lab has a contract for another twenty Synspective launches over the next few years. The launch also featured a larger fairing that will give the company the ability to launch bigger-sized satellites with Electron.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race, now including yesterday’s Starship/Superheavy launch:

131 SpaceX
60 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 131 to 101.

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Eleventh Starship/Superheavy a complete success

6:18 pm

Starship and Superheavy during ascent
Starship and Superheavy during ascent today.

On the eleventh orbital test flight today of Starship/Superheavy, SpaceX basically achieved all its engineering goals, with both Superheavy and Starship completing their flights as planned, with Superheavy doing a soft vertical splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, and Starship doing a soft vertical splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The Superheavy flown was on its second flight, having flown on test flight #8. Of its 33 Raptor engines, 24 had flown previously. In returning, it successfully used a new configuration of engine burns, first firing thirteen engines, then six, then three.

More significant was Starship’s flight. The engineers had purposely left tiles off in some locations that would experience the greatest heat during re-entry, to find out if the ship could survive a loss of those tiles. It did, and did so in a truly remarkable manner, always flying in a controlled manner, even as it attempted a radical and previously untried banking maneuver as it approached the ocean in order to simulate a return to the launch tower chopsticks at Boca Chica.

Prior to splashdown and during its coast phase, Starship once again successfully tested the deployment of eight dummy Starlink satellites, as well as a relight of one of its Raptor engines to demonstrate it will be able to do a planned de-orbit burn once it enters a full orbit on future test flights.

Once again, the word to describe this flight is remarkable. While no else has yet been able to recover a first stage and reuse it, SpaceX has been doing it with its Falcon 9 for almost a decade, and doing it hundreds of times.

And now it has twice reused a Superheavy booster, out of only eleven test launches. Based on this and the last test flight, the company will almost certainly begin reusing Starship prototypes during next year’s orbital test flights, when it will begin flying full orbits using its third version of Starship, including returns to Boca Chica for chopstick tower catches. Furthermore, expect the deployment of real Starlink satellites on those missions.

The next mission should likely take place close to the end of this year, and it should likely be followed by additional flights about every two months.

The Liberty Bell
“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all
the inhabitants thereof.” Photo credit: William Zhang

While politicians and media swamp creatures focus on the relatively inconsequential race to do an Apollo-like manned landing on the Moon, the real American space program is being run privately by SpaceX, and its goal is to not only go to Mars, but to do so in a manner that will quickly establish a human colony. Along the way the company will help facilitate that government space program, but only as it helps SpaceX learn better how to get humans to Mars.

Most significantly, SpaceX is doing its space program entirely on its own dime. It is being financed by the revenues coming in to the company from the now more than seven million subscribers to Starlink. And those numbers will only rise with time, as Starship begins launching the next generation of satellites with capabilities that will dwarf all of SpaceX’s competitors.

Once again, freedom, private enterprise, and the American dream wins. May all humans someday live under rules that will allow them the same possibilities.

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Watch the eleventh orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy rocket

8:32 am

The eleventh orbital test launch of Starship/Superheavy is scheduled for 6:15 (Central) today. It will be the last flight for version 2 of Starship, and will also include the second reuse of a Superheavy booster.

Starship will repeat its flight plan from the previous flight, testing the deployment of dummy Starlink satellites, the relighting of its Raptor engines once in orbit, and various new configurations of its thermal protection system. It will come down in the Indian Ocean, either controlled or not. Future flights will use version three, and quickly move towards orbital flights and a return to Boca Chica for a tower chopstick capture and later reuse.

Superheavy, which flew previously on the eighth test flight, will do more engine configuration tests on its return, and will attempt a soft vertical splashdown in the Gulf.

You can watch SpaceX’s X live stream at the link above. I have also embedded Space Affairs youtube feed below.
» Read more

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SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites, reuses 1st stage for 29th time

8:31 am

SpaceX last night successfully launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage, B1071, completed its 29th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The present rankings for the most reflights of a rocket:

39 Discovery space shuttle
33 Atlantis space shuttle
30 Falcon 9 booster B1067
29 Falcon 9 booster B1071
28 Columbia space shuttle
28 Falcon 9 booster B1063
27 Falcon 9 booster B1069

Sources here and here.

Note also that SpaceX was able to refly this stage only 24 days after its previous flight. Even after 28 flights, the booster appears so robust the company can get it back in the air only weeks later.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

129 SpaceX
58 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 129 to 98. SpaceX has another launch scheduled for this evening, placing another set of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites into orbit.

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Is the fate of the independent live streams in Boca Chica uncertain?

12:52 pm

My headline paraphrases this interesting, very detailed, and largely accurate article today from Texas Monthly. It outlines how the newly formed town of Starbase there has the power to block the many independent lives streams and tourist operations that have sprung up since SpaceX opened its facility in Boca Chica.

This proxy government also has the power to create zoning rules and enforce them. In July the city adopted a plan that leaves those with the closest views of the launchpads in violation of new zoning designations. The mainstay launch-day ticket sellers here—Rocket Ranch and a few others—operate in what’s now officially a residential area, near newly built homes for SpaceX executives. The same violation applies to the spots where the streamers have mounted their video cameras.

These cottage industries aren’t doomed. Texas law has grandfathering provisions that allow existing businesses to remain open after zoning changes. But Starbase city attorney Andy Messer raised eyebrows during a recent city commission meeting by saying that the grandfathering would be considered on a “case-by-case basis.” Hearing this, some property owners expressed hesitation to approach the city to ask if their status was in question. “I don’t want to poke the bear,” as one put it.

Will SpaceX force the town of Starbase to shut these independent operations down? The article describes the possibilities in great detail. The very nature of SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk, suggests it won’t happen. The company thrives on openness and straight talk. Musk himself is a proven supporter of free speech and competition. It would be shocking if his company suddenly took a different position. Moreover, SpaceX, Starbase, or its residents (almost all of which are SpaceX employees) generally benefit from the good publicity of these independent operations, publicity that the company’s own employees enjoy.

Yet, Starbase is a company town, and the long history of such places is that with time, the company takes over and rules everything, allowing nothing that it does not control.

Stay tuned. Above all things won’t be dull in Boca Chica.

Hat tip Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas.

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