Greg Howard – Tomorrow Never Knows/Norwegian Wood
An evening pause: Another unusual instrument producing great music, this time on a “bamboo Chapman Stick“. Performed live 2009.
Enjoy your weekend!
Hat tip Cotour.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
September 12, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Voyager’s AltiusSpace celebrates winning contract from Maxar to build two robotic arms
These arms are for in-orbit robotic servicing of satellites.
- China touts the second successful static fire test of its Long March 10 rocket
The test ran for 320 seconds. The rocket is intended for China’s manned lunar missions. Video can bee seen here.
- China says its Lijian-2 rocket is now being prepped to launch its Qingzhou cargo spacecraft to Tiangong-3
Launch is expected before the end of the year.
- Isar touts its entire manufacturing process making rocketss
Lots of dramatic music and quick cutting. Not a lot of detailed information. Jay notes that he “learned that it is pronounced ‘E-Sar.’ Young Frankenstein joke in there.”
- Another quasi-moon of Earth has been found
Orbital estimates say it has been in this orbit for at least a few decades, and will remain in this orbit for at least a few decades more.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Voyager’s AltiusSpace celebrates winning contract from Maxar to build two robotic arms
These arms are for in-orbit robotic servicing of satellites.
- China touts the second successful static fire test of its Long March 10 rocket
The test ran for 320 seconds. The rocket is intended for China’s manned lunar missions. Video can bee seen here.
- China says its Lijian-2 rocket is now being prepped to launch its Qingzhou cargo spacecraft to Tiangong-3
Launch is expected before the end of the year.
- Isar touts its entire manufacturing process making rocketss
Lots of dramatic music and quick cutting. Not a lot of detailed information. Jay notes that he “learned that it is pronounced ‘E-Sar.’ Young Frankenstein joke in there.”
- Another quasi-moon of Earth has been found
Orbital estimates say it has been in this orbit for at least a few decades, and will remain in this orbit for at least a few decades more.
The left’s face of evil
Laughter at learning Charlie Kirk had been shot
In the past day social media has been filled with numerous examples of individuals on the left proudly posting videos and commentary on line celebrating gleefully the murder of Charlie Kirk (here, here, here, here, here for just a few examples). There is even now a webpage, Charlie’s Murderers, that is complying these examples, having already obtained more than 20,000 submissions.
One could reasonably argue that these videos and hateful comments do not represent the left and the Democratic Party. They are put out by “influencers” who want to impact opinion. Ordinary Democrats are simply not like that.
Sadly, that is not true. These leftist “influencers” represent without doubt the left’s base culture, and the picture to the right proves it. It comes from a video taken by a student in a class at North Texas University. Apparently the class had just learned that Kirk had been killed, and were joyfully laughing about it. The student recorded this reaction, and then in horror protested.
Why are we cheering for someone getting shot? … He has a family!
Her protests was immediately ridiculed by the others, who as the picture shows were happy to learn Kirk was killed for his political beliefs. Worse, according to the tweet, the teacher “singled her out and asked her to leave.” Watch for yourself:
» Read more
House committee support for threatened NASA missions is actually quite questionable
According to a House appropriations committee spending bill that it approved this week, it appears on the surface that it is canceling the proposed 24% cut by Trump to NASA’s budget as well as endorsing continued funding for some threatened missions. A close look however suggests this congressional support for NASA is somewhat superficial, and might actually be ephemeral.
The key is the language of the bill. From the link above:
The bill was largely unchanged from what the CJS [commerce, justice and science] subcommittee approved July 14. It includes $24.838 billion for NASA, nearly the same as the $24.875 billion the agency received in fiscal 2024 and 2025, and far above the $18.8 billion the administration proposed for fiscal 2026 in May.
Members adopted a manager’s amendment, a package of noncontroversial changes and corrections, on a voice vote. That amendment also made additions to the report accompanying the bill. The report includes language expressing support for several NASA missions targeted for cancellation, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Juno mission at Jupiter and the New Horizons mission in the Kuiper Belt.
The report does not specify funding levels for those missions, but the “continues support” language signals to NASA that it should fund continue operations within the agency’s science budget. [emphasis mine]
It is the vagueness of this language that suggests the support is ephemeral. The courts recently have consistently ruled that if Congress doesn’t specifically mandate spending on a project, the White House is free to move money around as it sees fit. By not expressly outlining funding for Chandra, Juno, and New Horizons, these congressmen are playing a shell game, whereby to their constituents they can point to this vote and claim they wholeheartedly supported NASA and these missions. At the same time, they also appear to be allowing Trump the freedom to go ahead and shut the missions down, as his budget has already proposed.
None of this is yet real. The bill still must be passed by the full House, as well as the Senate. It then has to be signed by Trump. A lot of changes would happen in that process.
Either way, it appears that within the House at least, there is some movement to at least make some budget cuts possible. The sad thing is that the House is not actually cutting the budget, even as it is allowing Trump a way to cut these relatively inexpensive on-going missions. Considering the debt, it would have been much better had the committee actually trimmed NASA’s budget, even a little, while at the same time allocating specific funds to keep these very cost-effective missions alive.
According to a House appropriations committee spending bill that it approved this week, it appears on the surface that it is canceling the proposed 24% cut by Trump to NASA’s budget as well as endorsing continued funding for some threatened missions. A close look however suggests this congressional support for NASA is somewhat superficial, and might actually be ephemeral.
The key is the language of the bill. From the link above:
The bill was largely unchanged from what the CJS [commerce, justice and science] subcommittee approved July 14. It includes $24.838 billion for NASA, nearly the same as the $24.875 billion the agency received in fiscal 2024 and 2025, and far above the $18.8 billion the administration proposed for fiscal 2026 in May.
Members adopted a manager’s amendment, a package of noncontroversial changes and corrections, on a voice vote. That amendment also made additions to the report accompanying the bill. The report includes language expressing support for several NASA missions targeted for cancellation, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Juno mission at Jupiter and the New Horizons mission in the Kuiper Belt.
The report does not specify funding levels for those missions, but the “continues support” language signals to NASA that it should fund continue operations within the agency’s science budget. [emphasis mine]
It is the vagueness of this language that suggests the support is ephemeral. The courts recently have consistently ruled that if Congress doesn’t specifically mandate spending on a project, the White House is free to move money around as it sees fit. By not expressly outlining funding for Chandra, Juno, and New Horizons, these congressmen are playing a shell game, whereby to their constituents they can point to this vote and claim they wholeheartedly supported NASA and these missions. At the same time, they also appear to be allowing Trump the freedom to go ahead and shut the missions down, as his budget has already proposed.
None of this is yet real. The bill still must be passed by the full House, as well as the Senate. It then has to be signed by Trump. A lot of changes would happen in that process.
Either way, it appears that within the House at least, there is some movement to at least make some budget cuts possible. The sad thing is that the House is not actually cutting the budget, even as it is allowing Trump a way to cut these relatively inexpensive on-going missions. Considering the debt, it would have been much better had the committee actually trimmed NASA’s budget, even a little, while at the same time allocating specific funds to keep these very cost-effective missions alive.
Italian rocket company Avio commits $469 million to expand operations
The Italian rocket company Avio, which owns the Vega-C rocket, today announced that is has approved a $469 million fund to expand its manufacturing capabilities, including building a production facility in the United States.
Announced on 12 September, the capital raise is part of a new ten-year business plan targeting an average annual growth rate of about 10% in turnover and more than 15% in core profit (EBITDA). This growth will be driven by a higher Vega C launch cadence, the introduction of Vega E, continued participation in the Ariane 6 programme, and the construction of a new defence production facility in the United States, which is expected to be completed by 2028.
The management of Vega-C had previously been controlled by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial arm, Arianespace, which had owned and operated all of Europe’s rockets. ESA however is eliminating that commercial arm, shifting from the government-run model to the capitalism model, whereby it simply acts as a customer buying services from the private sector.
As part of that shift, Avio is in the process of taking back its Vega-C from Arianespace. Beginning next year it will be marketing the rocket directly to customers. This major investment reflects this change. The company is now free to pursue profits wherever it can find them, and it appears it wishes to market itself aggressively to American satellite companies as well as its defense industry.
The Italian rocket company Avio, which owns the Vega-C rocket, today announced that is has approved a $469 million fund to expand its manufacturing capabilities, including building a production facility in the United States.
Announced on 12 September, the capital raise is part of a new ten-year business plan targeting an average annual growth rate of about 10% in turnover and more than 15% in core profit (EBITDA). This growth will be driven by a higher Vega C launch cadence, the introduction of Vega E, continued participation in the Ariane 6 programme, and the construction of a new defence production facility in the United States, which is expected to be completed by 2028.
The management of Vega-C had previously been controlled by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial arm, Arianespace, which had owned and operated all of Europe’s rockets. ESA however is eliminating that commercial arm, shifting from the government-run model to the capitalism model, whereby it simply acts as a customer buying services from the private sector.
As part of that shift, Avio is in the process of taking back its Vega-C from Arianespace. Beginning next year it will be marketing the rocket directly to customers. This major investment reflects this change. The company is now free to pursue profits wherever it can find them, and it appears it wishes to market itself aggressively to American satellite companies as well as its defense industry.
SpaceX launches Indonesian commercial communications/broadband satellite
SpaceX tonight successfully launched an Indonesian commercial communications/broadband satellite, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The first stage completed its 23rd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairings completed their 16th and 24th flights respectively.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
116 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
12 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 116 to 91.
SpaceX tonight successfully launched an Indonesian commercial communications/broadband satellite, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The first stage completed its 23rd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairings completed their 16th and 24th flights respectively.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
116 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
12 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 116 to 91.
Dennis James – Mozart’s Adagio for Glass Harmonica
An evening pause: Performed live 2017. And yes, that is a real instrument, using “a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction.” What is even more interesting is that it was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
An evening pause: Performed live 2017. And yes, that is a real instrument, using “a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction.” What is even more interesting is that it was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
September 11, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Today in 2007 Cassini snapped the first high-resolution image of Saturn’s moon Iapetus during its closest flyby
The picture at the link is quite amazing.
- ESA completes mission design review of lunar rover Magpie, being built by the European division of Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace
It will land near the Moon’s south pole, with a launch date targeting 2028.
- On this night in 1967 Surveyor 5 landed on the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility
It was the first spacecraft to conduct a soil analysis on the Moon. Jay adds, “Surveyor 5 landed nearly out of fuel and on a nearly 20° slope.”
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Today in 2007 Cassini snapped the first high-resolution image of Saturn’s moon Iapetus during its closest flyby
The picture at the link is quite amazing.
- ESA completes mission design review of lunar rover Magpie, being built by the European division of Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace
It will land near the Moon’s south pole, with a launch date targeting 2028.
- On this night in 1967 Surveyor 5 landed on the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility
It was the first spacecraft to conduct a soil analysis on the Moon. Jay adds, “Surveyor 5 landed nearly out of fuel and on a nearly 20° slope.”
America’s educational system is failing because it no longer teaches students how to think
From the movie Idiocracy: “But Brawndo’s
got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes!” Click for video.
Recently the satirical site the Babylon Bee illustrated starkly and with great humor the sad state of American universities.
Trump’s plan was praised by national security experts, who cited it as a brilliant maneuver to reduce China’s influence on global affairs in the long term by shrewdly allowing their students to be made substantially less intelligent at educational institutions in the U.S.
“Pretty soon, Chinese kids will all be dumb, just as dumb as American students,” the president reportedly told his advisors. “We’ll let in hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, have them waste their time at American universities sitting in gender studies classes and college courses about Taylor Swift, and the next thing you know, China will be in the toilet. If it worked here, it can work there. It’ll make things very difficult for the Chinamen, believe me. Very difficult.”
The joke worked because it has now become common knowledge that for much of the American educational system — especially at its so-called “elite” universities — the quality of education has hit rock bottom. Students are not only not learning much of importance, they are being indoctrinated into believing in absurdities, such as a man can become a woman merely by saying so, or that communism will finally work if only the right people were given the power to install it.
Worse, they are being taught that the left is the only correct political choice, and any other ideas are simply evil. The murder of conservatives is therefore absolutely a just act. From an April 7, 2025 tweet by Charlie Kirk:
» Read more
Russia launches Progress to ISS
Russia today successfully launched a Progress freighter to ISS, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.
The freighter will dock with the aft port of the Zvezda module in two days. When it does so, expect NASA to require its astronauts to close the hatch between the American and Russia parts of ISS. The agency has real concerns about the stress fractures in Zvezda’s hull that are the cause of the station’s air leaks, and fears it could at some point fail catastrophically during a docking. The odds of this happening are small, but they are larger than they should be.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
115 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
12 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 115 to 91. The company has another launch scheduled for later today.
Russia today successfully launched a Progress freighter to ISS, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.
The freighter will dock with the aft port of the Zvezda module in two days. When it does so, expect NASA to require its astronauts to close the hatch between the American and Russia parts of ISS. The agency has real concerns about the stress fractures in Zvezda’s hull that are the cause of the station’s air leaks, and fears it could at some point fail catastrophically during a docking. The odds of this happening are small, but they are larger than they should be.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
115 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
12 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 115 to 91. The company has another launch scheduled for later today.
NASA bans Chinese citizens from its facilities or operations
Earlier this week NASA moved to block Chinese citizens with visas from having access to its facilities as well as its entire operations, citing security concerns.
“NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said on Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, Chinese nationals had previously been allowed to work as contractors or students contributing to research, although not as staff.
But on 5 September several individuals told the outlet they were suddenly locked out of IT systems and barred from in-person meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
Though both the Chinese press and the leftist news outlet above (The Guardian) whine about this move, it makes great sense, and should have been done years ago. Though I am sure most of these Chinese citizens are not spies, China’s policy has been to consistently use such citizens for spying, and letting such people into NASA operations makes no sense.
Moreover, shouldn’t NASA be hiring Americans first and foremost?
Earlier this week NASA moved to block Chinese citizens with visas from having access to its facilities as well as its entire operations, citing security concerns.
“NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said on Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, Chinese nationals had previously been allowed to work as contractors or students contributing to research, although not as staff.
But on 5 September several individuals told the outlet they were suddenly locked out of IT systems and barred from in-person meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
Though both the Chinese press and the leftist news outlet above (The Guardian) whine about this move, it makes great sense, and should have been done years ago. Though I am sure most of these Chinese citizens are not spies, China’s policy has been to consistently use such citizens for spying, and letting such people into NASA operations makes no sense.
Moreover, shouldn’t NASA be hiring Americans first and foremost?
September 10, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
Gentle Giant – The Advent Of Panurge
An evening pause: From the peak of “art rock” in the 1970s. Performed live 1975.
Hat tip Diane Wilson.
SpaceX launches military payload for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency
SpaceX early today successfully launched a classified military payload for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
I did not post this in the morning because there was a second SpaceX launch scheduled for the afternoon, and I planned on posting both launches in one post. That launch however was scrubbed and rescheduled for tomorrow.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
115 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 115 to 90.
SpaceX early today successfully launched a classified military payload for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
I did not post this in the morning because there was a second SpaceX launch scheduled for the afternoon, and I planned on posting both launches in one post. That launch however was scrubbed and rescheduled for tomorrow.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
115 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 115 to 90.
Democrats today showed us their murderous colors
The left’s response to this murder
is to celebrate it
I had an essay planned for completion this afternoon on how to reform our education system, but that can wait until tomorrow. What matters today is the public assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a college-focused pro-American conservative organization that has done more in the past ten years to reshape American culture than any pundit or politician anywhere.
Why was Kirk murdered? The murderer is still at large but we can make a reasonable guess. Kirk, only 31, was an outspoken conservative who unequivocally believed in the fundamentals of American society, including freedom, small government, color-blind rules, and the right of every person to pursue happiness. This is not propaganda on my part. I have listened to many of Kirk’s speeches and appearances, and at no time did he do anything to contradict these conclusions. If anything, he made these beliefs crystal clear to anyone who would listen.
Because of those beliefs, he had become a major opponent of the Democratic Party and its now radical Marxist/leftist/queer agenda, which also now hates America and everything it has stood for since its founding almost 250 year ago.
As such, the left — including numerous mainstream elected Democrats and their minions in the propaganda press — have repeatedly slandered him — without any evidence — as a fascist, racist, Nazi, hate-monger, and bigot. Those ugly words — utter lies — made him a target for the crazies on the left, and now one of those crazies has snuffed out his life prematurely.
The left and its propaganda press will work hard to make excuses for this evil act, but as they do so they will simply prove my point above. Already anchors on MSNBC are slandering him again, calling him “divisive” and “awful” who said things that upset people and thus we shouldn’t be surprised he was killed. “It was HIS fault!” On social media leftists are celebrating this evil act, showing us how utterly evil they are.
Charlie Kirk
Kirk’s work will go on. In fact, expect it to expand considerably on campuses nationwide. The American people will no longer tolerate this evil. They are going to shut it down, aggressively, and with joyous fervor. And the left will once again scream “Facists!”, but the only fascists Americans will see are the murderous hate-mongering people on the left.
As for Kirk and his family, today’s events are horrible beyond words. We can only express the deepest sympathy to his wife Erika, who is now left a widow with two small children. She and those kids have been robbed of a husband and father, for no more reason that the words that Charlie Kirk spoke.
America stands for better. Kirk knew this, and spent every day of his short life trying to bring our country back to its original values of freedom and good will. It is our obligation to honor that man and those values and do whatever we can to make his dream a reality.
September 10, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Startup Venus Aerospace touts the capabilities of its RDRE rocket engine
It claims the engine is “flight-proven and delivers at least 15% higher efficiency than any rocket engine in use today.”
- Firefly touts the engineering behind its second BlueGhost lunar lander, heading to the far side of the Moon
The image shows “the structure qualification models” for both the Blue Ghost lander and the company’s Elytra Dark orbiter, that on the mission will be released in lunar orbit.
- Relativity’s August update on its progress leading to the first Terran-R rocket launch
As with all the recent monthly updates, the company appears to be aggressively and successfully moving towards a 2026 launch date, though it however has made no firm schedule commitments.
- A section of the Israeli rocket that placed its Ofek 19 reconnaissance satellite into orbit last week has been found near the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean, south of Italy
The tweet says it’s the rocket’s fairing, but it looks more like a rocket stage to me.
- Blue Origin touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
Blue Origin’s bid for this NASA contract might carry a bit more weight if it started launching some New Glenn rockets and payloads first.
- Rocket Lab touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
If it was my decision at NASA and my choice was between Blue Origin and Rocket Lab, Rocket Lab would win hands down. It has launched stuff that works. Blue Origin so far is mostly just smoke and mirrors
- On this day in 1959, Big Joe—an uncrewed Mercury capsule—was launched on a suborbital test flight
This was the second launch of the Mercury program and the first to use an Atlas booster. Big Joe was recovered in the Atlantic after reaching a peak altitude of 95 miles.
- On this day in 1975, Viking 2 launched to Mars
Like its twin Viking 1, it included an orbiter and a lander. Both landers were focused far too much on looking for evidence of Martian life, a search that was unrealistic for the first two human spacecraft to arrive on a planet with the surface area equivalent to the continents on Earth.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Startup Venus Aerospace touts the capabilities of its RDRE rocket engine
It claims the engine is “flight-proven and delivers at least 15% higher efficiency than any rocket engine in use today.”
- Firefly touts the engineering behind its second BlueGhost lunar lander, heading to the far side of the Moon
The image shows “the structure qualification models” for both the Blue Ghost lander and the company’s Elytra Dark orbiter, that on the mission will be released in lunar orbit.
- Relativity’s August update on its progress leading to the first Terran-R rocket launch
As with all the recent monthly updates, the company appears to be aggressively and successfully moving towards a 2026 launch date, though it however has made no firm schedule commitments.
- A section of the Israeli rocket that placed its Ofek 19 reconnaissance satellite into orbit last week has been found near the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean, south of Italy
The tweet says it’s the rocket’s fairing, but it looks more like a rocket stage to me.
- Blue Origin touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
Blue Origin’s bid for this NASA contract might carry a bit more weight if it started launching some New Glenn rockets and payloads first.
- Rocket Lab touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
If it was my decision at NASA and my choice was between Blue Origin and Rocket Lab, Rocket Lab would win hands down. It has launched stuff that works. Blue Origin so far is mostly just smoke and mirrors
- On this day in 1959, Big Joe—an uncrewed Mercury capsule—was launched on a suborbital test flight
This was the second launch of the Mercury program and the first to use an Atlas booster. Big Joe was recovered in the Atlantic after reaching a peak altitude of 95 miles.
- On this day in 1975, Viking 2 launched to Mars
Like its twin Viking 1, it included an orbiter and a lander. Both landers were focused far too much on looking for evidence of Martian life, a search that was unrealistic for the first two human spacecraft to arrive on a planet with the surface area equivalent to the continents on Earth.
Update on what SpaceX learned about Starship’s tiles during the 10th test flight
Superheavy after the October 2024 flight,
safely captured during the very first attempt
Link here. The update comes from a presentation given this week by Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s executive in charge of build and flight reliability, at the American Astronautical Society’s Glenn Space Technology Symposium in Cleveland.
Lots of new details. First, almost no tiles fell off during this flight. More significant, they found that the use of metal tiles won’t work. They tested three, and found that “The metal tiles… didn’t work so well.”
Gestenmaier also outlined how the flight provided the necessary data for sealing the gaps between the tiles better.
Gerstenmaier pointed to a patch of white near the top of Starship’s heat shield. This, he said, was caused by heat seeping between gaps in the tiles and eroding the underlying material, a thermal barrier derived from the heat shield on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Technicians also intentionally removed some tiles near Starship’s nose to test the vehicle’s response.
“It’s essentially a white material that sits on Dragon and it ablates away, and when it ablates, it creates this white residue,” Gerstenmaier said. “So, what that’s showing us is that we’re having heat essentially get into that region between the tiles, go underneath the tiles, and this ablative structure is then ablating underneath. So, we learned that we need to seal the tiles.”
They hope to do the 11th test flight in October, repeating the same suborbital configuration of previous flights, using the same version 2 of Starship. The plan will then be to follow up with a first suborbital flight of version 3 in 2026, followed quickly by orbital flights. During one of those orbital flights they will also try to do a chopstick catch of Starship. They also hope to do the first refueling tests next year.
All in all, it appears the test program is proceeding as hoped, and is about to accelerate significantly.
Superheavy after the October 2024 flight,
safely captured during the very first attempt
Link here. The update comes from a presentation given this week by Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s executive in charge of build and flight reliability, at the American Astronautical Society’s Glenn Space Technology Symposium in Cleveland.
Lots of new details. First, almost no tiles fell off during this flight. More significant, they found that the use of metal tiles won’t work. They tested three, and found that “The metal tiles… didn’t work so well.”
Gestenmaier also outlined how the flight provided the necessary data for sealing the gaps between the tiles better.
Gerstenmaier pointed to a patch of white near the top of Starship’s heat shield. This, he said, was caused by heat seeping between gaps in the tiles and eroding the underlying material, a thermal barrier derived from the heat shield on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Technicians also intentionally removed some tiles near Starship’s nose to test the vehicle’s response.
“It’s essentially a white material that sits on Dragon and it ablates away, and when it ablates, it creates this white residue,” Gerstenmaier said. “So, what that’s showing us is that we’re having heat essentially get into that region between the tiles, go underneath the tiles, and this ablative structure is then ablating underneath. So, we learned that we need to seal the tiles.”
They hope to do the 11th test flight in October, repeating the same suborbital configuration of previous flights, using the same version 2 of Starship. The plan will then be to follow up with a first suborbital flight of version 3 in 2026, followed quickly by orbital flights. During one of those orbital flights they will also try to do a chopstick catch of Starship. They also hope to do the first refueling tests next year.
All in all, it appears the test program is proceeding as hoped, and is about to accelerate significantly.
NASA promotes the non-discovery of life on Mars by Perseverance
It’s all a game!
In what can only be called a kabuki theater stunt, NASA today held a press conference and issued a press release promoting what is essentially the non-discovery of life on Mars by the science team operating the rover Perseverance.
Agency officials, led by acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy, proudly claimed the discovery justified the oft-stated goal of Perseverance, to find life on Mars.
“This finding by Perseverance, launched under President Trump in his first term, is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars. The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
This is all garbage. First, Perseverance’s real objective has never been to find life on Mars. It is there to study the planet’s geology. If it should happen to detect a biosignature that would be great, but doing so has always been highly unlikely.
Second, the discovery that Duffy touts is itself quite underwhelming. The key quote from the press release that immediately precedes Duffy’s claim is very telling:
A potential biosignature is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin but requires more data or further study before a conclusion can be reached about the absence or presence of life.
Furthermore, the biosignature that Duffy touts is actually not really a biosignature. They found “a distinct pattern of minerals” that might be sometimes be related to life processes, but not always.
The combination of these minerals, which appear to have formed by electron-transfer reactions between the sediment and organic matter, is a potential fingerprint for microbial life, which would use these reactions to produce energy for growth. The minerals also can be generated abiotically, or without the presence of life. [emphasis mine]
In other words, the data is very uncertain. It certainly doesn’t merit the loud push NASA and Duffy is giving it.
I suspect this push is the result of NASA’s fundamental lie about Perseverance’s so-called search for life, a lie that can never really be fulfilled. It is also related to hiding Perseverance’s limited capabilities. For example, Curiosity has a small lab allowing scientists to analyze samples in great detail. If Curiosity came across a real biosignature, it would be able to identify it.
Perseverance lacks this ability, because in its stead it has equipment for preserving core samples for later pick-up. All it really was designed to do was to gather those core samples. It can’t really do the same kind of ground analysis as Curiosity.
It’s all a game!
In what can only be called a kabuki theater stunt, NASA today held a press conference and issued a press release promoting what is essentially the non-discovery of life on Mars by the science team operating the rover Perseverance.
Agency officials, led by acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy, proudly claimed the discovery justified the oft-stated goal of Perseverance, to find life on Mars.
“This finding by Perseverance, launched under President Trump in his first term, is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars. The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
This is all garbage. First, Perseverance’s real objective has never been to find life on Mars. It is there to study the planet’s geology. If it should happen to detect a biosignature that would be great, but doing so has always been highly unlikely.
Second, the discovery that Duffy touts is itself quite underwhelming. The key quote from the press release that immediately precedes Duffy’s claim is very telling:
A potential biosignature is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin but requires more data or further study before a conclusion can be reached about the absence or presence of life.
Furthermore, the biosignature that Duffy touts is actually not really a biosignature. They found “a distinct pattern of minerals” that might be sometimes be related to life processes, but not always.
The combination of these minerals, which appear to have formed by electron-transfer reactions between the sediment and organic matter, is a potential fingerprint for microbial life, which would use these reactions to produce energy for growth. The minerals also can be generated abiotically, or without the presence of life. [emphasis mine]
In other words, the data is very uncertain. It certainly doesn’t merit the loud push NASA and Duffy is giving it.
I suspect this push is the result of NASA’s fundamental lie about Perseverance’s so-called search for life, a lie that can never really be fulfilled. It is also related to hiding Perseverance’s limited capabilities. For example, Curiosity has a small lab allowing scientists to analyze samples in great detail. If Curiosity came across a real biosignature, it would be able to identify it.
Perseverance lacks this ability, because in its stead it has equipment for preserving core samples for later pick-up. All it really was designed to do was to gather those core samples. It can’t really do the same kind of ground analysis as Curiosity.
Scientists detect methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune
Makemake and the discovery of its small moon,
as seen by Hubble in 2016. Click for original image.
Using the Webb Space Telescope, scientists have identified the spectroscopic signal of methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake that orbits the Sun in the Kuiper belt, suggesting this planet like Pluto might have an intermittent atmosphere.
At about 890 miles (1,430 km) in diameter and two-thirds the size of Pluto, Makemake has long been a source of scientific intrigue. Stellar occultations suggested that it lacked a substantial global atmosphere, though a thin one could not be ruled out. Meanwhile, infrared data of Makemake — including JWST measurements — hinted at puzzling thermal anomalies and unusual characteristics of its methane ice, which raised the possibility of localized hot spots across its surface and potential outgassing.
…“This discovery raises the possibility that Makemake has a very tenuous atmosphere sustained by methane sublimation,” said Dr. Emmanuel Lellouch of the Paris Observatory, another co-author of the study. “Our best models point to a gas temperature around 40 Kelvin (-233 degrees Celsius) and a surface pressure of only about 10 picobars — that is, 100 billion times below Earth’s atmospheric pressure, and a million times more tenuous than Pluto’s. If this scenario is confirmed, Makemake would join the small handful of outer solar system bodies where surface–atmosphere exchanges are still active today.”
It is also possible that the methane gas detected could be coming from volcanic plumes, not unlike the plumes found on the Saturn moon Enceladus.
These results prove once again that even though planets like Pluto and Makemake sit very far from the Sun and thus get little energy from it, they can still have active geological processes. Of all the discoveries produced by New Horizons when it flew past Pluto in 2015, this discovery was the most significant.
Makemake and the discovery of its small moon,
as seen by Hubble in 2016. Click for original image.
Using the Webb Space Telescope, scientists have identified the spectroscopic signal of methane gas on the dwarf planet Makemake that orbits the Sun in the Kuiper belt, suggesting this planet like Pluto might have an intermittent atmosphere.
At about 890 miles (1,430 km) in diameter and two-thirds the size of Pluto, Makemake has long been a source of scientific intrigue. Stellar occultations suggested that it lacked a substantial global atmosphere, though a thin one could not be ruled out. Meanwhile, infrared data of Makemake — including JWST measurements — hinted at puzzling thermal anomalies and unusual characteristics of its methane ice, which raised the possibility of localized hot spots across its surface and potential outgassing.
…“This discovery raises the possibility that Makemake has a very tenuous atmosphere sustained by methane sublimation,” said Dr. Emmanuel Lellouch of the Paris Observatory, another co-author of the study. “Our best models point to a gas temperature around 40 Kelvin (-233 degrees Celsius) and a surface pressure of only about 10 picobars — that is, 100 billion times below Earth’s atmospheric pressure, and a million times more tenuous than Pluto’s. If this scenario is confirmed, Makemake would join the small handful of outer solar system bodies where surface–atmosphere exchanges are still active today.”
It is also possible that the methane gas detected could be coming from volcanic plumes, not unlike the plumes found on the Saturn moon Enceladus.
These results prove once again that even though planets like Pluto and Makemake sit very far from the Sun and thus get little energy from it, they can still have active geological processes. Of all the discoveries produced by New Horizons when it flew past Pluto in 2015, this discovery was the most significant.
Croatian startup moves up the launch date for two subscale returnable capsules
The Croatian startup Genesis Space Flight Laboratories (Genesis SFL) has now accelerated the development of its orbital returnable capsule for manufacturing in space, moving up the launch date for its first two subscale demonstrator capsules from 2027 to 2026.
Initially planned for 2027, the missions were moved forward after Genesis SFL announced on 9 September that it had secured earlier slots with an as-yet-undisclosed launch provider.
Speaking to European Spaceflight, Genesis SFL CEO Bence Mátyás explained that the company’s GEN-1 and GEN-2 demonstrators will likely be the smallest reentry capsules ever flown, comparable in size to picosatellites. Despite their diminutive size, the capsules will be capable of remaining in orbit for approximately six months before performing reentry procedures, a capability made possible by the use of a host satellite [essentially the service module] also under development by the company. Once on a reentry trajectory, the capsule will separate from its host satellite and deploy a mini-parachute and antenna to enable recovery following a splashdown.
If these demonstrators succeed, the company plans to scale up later GEN capsules step-by-step, eventually matching and even exceeding those of companies like Varda.
The returnable capsule industry appears at the moment to be bursting with new companies. In the U.S. we have Varda, Inversion Space, Sierra Space, and even SpaceX using Starship. In Europe — in addition to Genesis in Croatia, we have The Exploration Company in France, Atmos in Germany, PLD in Spain, and Space Cargo in Luxembourg. And I am certain there are others that I am missing.
Very clearly the investment community sees big profits in using orbital capsules to manufacture products for later sale on Earth.
The Croatian startup Genesis Space Flight Laboratories (Genesis SFL) has now accelerated the development of its orbital returnable capsule for manufacturing in space, moving up the launch date for its first two subscale demonstrator capsules from 2027 to 2026.
Initially planned for 2027, the missions were moved forward after Genesis SFL announced on 9 September that it had secured earlier slots with an as-yet-undisclosed launch provider.
Speaking to European Spaceflight, Genesis SFL CEO Bence Mátyás explained that the company’s GEN-1 and GEN-2 demonstrators will likely be the smallest reentry capsules ever flown, comparable in size to picosatellites. Despite their diminutive size, the capsules will be capable of remaining in orbit for approximately six months before performing reentry procedures, a capability made possible by the use of a host satellite [essentially the service module] also under development by the company. Once on a reentry trajectory, the capsule will separate from its host satellite and deploy a mini-parachute and antenna to enable recovery following a splashdown.
If these demonstrators succeed, the company plans to scale up later GEN capsules step-by-step, eventually matching and even exceeding those of companies like Varda.
The returnable capsule industry appears at the moment to be bursting with new companies. In the U.S. we have Varda, Inversion Space, Sierra Space, and even SpaceX using Starship. In Europe — in addition to Genesis in Croatia, we have The Exploration Company in France, Atmos in Germany, PLD in Spain, and Space Cargo in Luxembourg. And I am certain there are others that I am missing.
Very clearly the investment community sees big profits in using orbital capsules to manufacture products for later sale on Earth.
Rather than streamline red tape, a UK government committee proposes it should fund its space industry directly
Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
In a move that will do nothing to solve the red tape that has stymied the spaceports in Scotland as well as the launch industry in the United Kingdom, a Scottish government committee has concluded that the solution is for the UK government to become a direct investor in its space industry, increasing funding to both its spaceports and any launch companies that wish to use them.
The Scottish Affairs Committee heard from a number of experts and figures involved in the space industry. Professor Malcolm Macdonald, of Strathclyde University, said the UK had not always sustained its “first-mover” advantage in the space launch sector.
The report’s conclusion stated: “It is clear that the UK is falling behind its European counterparts in terms of public investment, leaving Scottish spaceports at a competitive disadvantage in a fast-moving global market. Without sustained backing from the Government – particularly in infrastructure – Scotland risks missing a generational opportunity to lead in space launch. To fully realise this potential, the UK Government needs to go further and faster.”
The MPs called for sustained Government investment in infrastructure.
The report also noted that despite a half-decade head start in establishing its spaceports in Scotland, the Andoya spaceport in Norway is now winning the race to become Europe’s prime spaceport.
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. The reason the UK’s spaceports have fallen behind is because its regulatory framework is impossible to navigate, taking years to get any approvals. But rather than fix this, this committee proposes throwing taxpayer money at the problem.
My prediction: It won’t work. Outside rocket companies will continue to move away from the UK, while any that get government investment to stay will find it difficult to get business, because it will still be impossible to get launch licenses when needed.
Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
In a move that will do nothing to solve the red tape that has stymied the spaceports in Scotland as well as the launch industry in the United Kingdom, a Scottish government committee has concluded that the solution is for the UK government to become a direct investor in its space industry, increasing funding to both its spaceports and any launch companies that wish to use them.
The Scottish Affairs Committee heard from a number of experts and figures involved in the space industry. Professor Malcolm Macdonald, of Strathclyde University, said the UK had not always sustained its “first-mover” advantage in the space launch sector.
The report’s conclusion stated: “It is clear that the UK is falling behind its European counterparts in terms of public investment, leaving Scottish spaceports at a competitive disadvantage in a fast-moving global market. Without sustained backing from the Government – particularly in infrastructure – Scotland risks missing a generational opportunity to lead in space launch. To fully realise this potential, the UK Government needs to go further and faster.”
The MPs called for sustained Government investment in infrastructure.
The report also noted that despite a half-decade head start in establishing its spaceports in Scotland, the Andoya spaceport in Norway is now winning the race to become Europe’s prime spaceport.
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. The reason the UK’s spaceports have fallen behind is because its regulatory framework is impossible to navigate, taking years to get any approvals. But rather than fix this, this committee proposes throwing taxpayer money at the problem.
My prediction: It won’t work. Outside rocket companies will continue to move away from the UK, while any that get government investment to stay will find it difficult to get business, because it will still be impossible to get launch licenses when needed.
India’s government finalizes deal to transfer operation of its SSLV rocket to a private company
India’s government and its various space agencies yesterday finalized its deal with the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to take over the manufacture and operation of its government-designed SSLV rocket (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) for the next decade.
Under the technology transfer contract that HAL signed with ISRO, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the aviation major will absorb the technology in the first two years, which will be followed by a 10-year production phase. The agreement grants HAL a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to the SSLV technology, which includes comprehensive design, manufacturing, quality control, integration, launch operations, and post-flight analysis documentation, as well as training and support. HAL will be responsible for the mass production of SSLV to meet Indian and global demands,” the company says in a statement.
Initially the Modi government had implied the transfer would involve ownership of the rocket by the private company, so that it could market the rocket for profit. The actual deal does not do this. Instead, it gives HAL the responsibility to manufacture and operate the rocket, but it appears sales and ownership will still be under the control of India’s space agency ISRO. If this is correct, the deal accomplishes less than nothing, and in fact simply adds another player in the game, making the SSLV rocket less competitive in the international market.
Then again, the Modi government might see this deal as just a first step in the transition from a government-run space program to a competitive independent space industry. It needs to wrest control from ISRO, and this can’t be done politically in one fell swoop.
To me however this deal for HAL is a bad one. It now has the responsibility for making and launching the rocket, but none of the benefits.
India’s government and its various space agencies yesterday finalized its deal with the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to take over the manufacture and operation of its government-designed SSLV rocket (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) for the next decade.
Under the technology transfer contract that HAL signed with ISRO, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the aviation major will absorb the technology in the first two years, which will be followed by a 10-year production phase. The agreement grants HAL a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to the SSLV technology, which includes comprehensive design, manufacturing, quality control, integration, launch operations, and post-flight analysis documentation, as well as training and support. HAL will be responsible for the mass production of SSLV to meet Indian and global demands,” the company says in a statement.
Initially the Modi government had implied the transfer would involve ownership of the rocket by the private company, so that it could market the rocket for profit. The actual deal does not do this. Instead, it gives HAL the responsibility to manufacture and operate the rocket, but it appears sales and ownership will still be under the control of India’s space agency ISRO. If this is correct, the deal accomplishes less than nothing, and in fact simply adds another player in the game, making the SSLV rocket less competitive in the international market.
Then again, the Modi government might see this deal as just a first step in the transition from a government-run space program to a competitive independent space industry. It needs to wrest control from ISRO, and this can’t be done politically in one fell swoop.
To me however this deal for HAL is a bad one. It now has the responsibility for making and launching the rocket, but none of the benefits.
South Korea military begins project to develop a methane-fueled rocket engine
The South Korean defense department has awarded a consortium of Korean aerospace companies a contract to develop a methane-fueled engine that can be used in reusable rockets.
According to the space industry, a consortium led by Hyundai Rotem and Korean Air was selected on the 9th as the preferred negotiator for a 35-ton methane engine technology development project overseen by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). A formal agreement will be signed in November, initiating full-scale research and development (R&D). The project, budgeted at approximately 49.1 billion Korean won [$35 million], will run until 2030.
It appears there has been a turf war between the military and South Korea’s newly formed space agency, KASA. Originally KASA had planned to develop this engine, but apparently the military’s proposal won out. KASA now says it will collaborate with the ADD, but the project’s budget now goes to the military.
The South Korean defense department has awarded a consortium of Korean aerospace companies a contract to develop a methane-fueled engine that can be used in reusable rockets.
According to the space industry, a consortium led by Hyundai Rotem and Korean Air was selected on the 9th as the preferred negotiator for a 35-ton methane engine technology development project overseen by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). A formal agreement will be signed in November, initiating full-scale research and development (R&D). The project, budgeted at approximately 49.1 billion Korean won [$35 million], will run until 2030.
It appears there has been a turf war between the military and South Korea’s newly formed space agency, KASA. Originally KASA had planned to develop this engine, but apparently the military’s proposal won out. KASA now says it will collaborate with the ADD, but the project’s budget now goes to the military.
Keith Emerson & Oscar Peterson – Honky Tonk Train Blues
New study of 300,000 people in Italy proves COVID jab caused gigantic increase in cancer cases
Figure 1 from the study. Click for original. Anything
to the right of the vertical line indicates an increase
cancer diagnoses.
As noted bluntly by Health & Human Services secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. at a Senate hearing last week, “We were lied to about everything:” A new study of the entire population 11 years and older of a single province in Italy, 300,000 people in total, has now proven that the mRNA COVID jab results in a terrifying and skyrocketing increase in the numbers of cancer cases.
The researchers found that “vaccinated” individuals had far higher hospitalization rates for new cancer diagnoses than the unvaccinated, particularly for breast, bladder, and colorectal cancers. Hospitalizations for cancer were 35% higher in the vaccinated (HR 1.23). The risk spike was strongest among men and those with no prior COVID infection.
- Overall Cancer Risk: +23% after just one dose
- Breast Cancer: +54% increased risk
- Bladder Cancer: +62% increased risk
- Colorectal Cancer: +35% increased risk
The researchers warn that the danger persisted and continued increasing after multiple doses.
In other words, the entire world is now facing a possibly major increase in cancer cases and a significant lowering of life expectancy, because it panicked in 2020 over a respiratory virus comparable to the flu. Those few voices (such as mine) that tried to resist that panic and call for a reasoned response were routinely blacklisted and silenced, and the result is now an impending disaster, on top of the catastrophes we have already suffered due to lockdowns, social distancing, and mask and jab mandates.
Kennedy summed up this situation quite well at that Senate hearing on September, 4, 2025. He was attacked ruthlessly over and over again by Democratic Party senators, only to hit them back twice as hard, noting how they are all in the pay of the pharmaceutical companies that make the jab, bribes totaling millions. He started however with this stark condemnation:
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China proposes its own mission to Apophis
A cartoon (not to scale) showing Apophis’s
path in 2029
Though it is not clear the Chinese government has approved the mission, Chinese scientists have now proposed a mission to to rendezvous with the potentially dangerous asteroid Apophis when it does its next close fly-by of the Earth in April 2029.
The mission would consist of two small satellites sent into a halo orbit around Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 to await the approach of Apophis and transfer into a flyby orbit so as to meet the asteroid shortly after its close encounter with the Earth. The asteroid is due to pass within the geosynchronous orbit belt on Friday, April 13, 2029.
The Apophis mission would be added to a more ambitious larger asteroid mission, also not yet approved, dubbed CROWN, that would launch six spacecraft into “Venus-like, heliocentric orbits” where they would search and track Near-Earth Asteroids that are hard to spot because they are closer to the Sun than Earth.
China recently unveiled a blueprint to develop what it calls a “near-Earth asteroid defense system.” It appears the scientists for the project above are lobbying to get picked up as part of that blueprint. I should add that they first pushed this project in June, and three months later it still remains unfunded.
At present, there are many flying, planned, and proposed missions to reach Apophis during its 2029 fly-by. Osiris-Apex is on its way, having been repurposed after doing its sample return mission to Bennu. Europe is currently building its Ramses probe, which will also include two cubesats. Though other probes have been proposed, none have yet been approved.
A cartoon (not to scale) showing Apophis’s
path in 2029
Though it is not clear the Chinese government has approved the mission, Chinese scientists have now proposed a mission to to rendezvous with the potentially dangerous asteroid Apophis when it does its next close fly-by of the Earth in April 2029.
The mission would consist of two small satellites sent into a halo orbit around Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 to await the approach of Apophis and transfer into a flyby orbit so as to meet the asteroid shortly after its close encounter with the Earth. The asteroid is due to pass within the geosynchronous orbit belt on Friday, April 13, 2029.
The Apophis mission would be added to a more ambitious larger asteroid mission, also not yet approved, dubbed CROWN, that would launch six spacecraft into “Venus-like, heliocentric orbits” where they would search and track Near-Earth Asteroids that are hard to spot because they are closer to the Sun than Earth.
China recently unveiled a blueprint to develop what it calls a “near-Earth asteroid defense system.” It appears the scientists for the project above are lobbying to get picked up as part of that blueprint. I should add that they first pushed this project in June, and three months later it still remains unfunded.
At present, there are many flying, planned, and proposed missions to reach Apophis during its 2029 fly-by. Osiris-Apex is on its way, having been repurposed after doing its sample return mission to Bennu. Europe is currently building its Ramses probe, which will also include two cubesats. Though other probes have been proposed, none have yet been approved.
China launches classified satellite
China today successfully placed a classified “remote-sensing” satellite into orbit, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wencheng spaceport on the southern island of Hainan.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
114 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 90.
China today successfully placed a classified “remote-sensing” satellite into orbit, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wencheng spaceport on the southern island of Hainan.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
114 SpaceX
53 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 90.
NASA inspector general: Dragonfly mission is vastly overbudget and behind schedule
Artist rendering of Dragonfly soaring
over Titan’s surface
According to a new NASA inspector general report issued today, NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan is now billions overbudget and is likely not be ready to launch in 2028.
You can download the report here [pdf]. From its executive summary:
Dragonfly was selected under a New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity with a $850 million cost cap on Principal Investigator-Managed Mission Costs, which primarily includes development costs but excludes launch vehicle and post-launch operations costs. However, by April 2024, those costs had grown to $2.6 billion and the launch delayed by more than 2 years, from April 2026 to July 2028. The cost increase and schedule delay were largely the result of NASA directing APL to conduct four replans between June 2019 and July 2023 early in Dragonfly’s development. Justifications for these replans included the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, changes to accommodate a heavy-lift launch vehicle, projected funding challenges, and inflation.
The report now estimates the budget will eventually rise above $3 billion, cost that is eating away at NASA’s entire planetary budget, making other missions impossible. The project itself is far from ready, with multiple unfinished issues that make its present launch target of 2028 very unlikely.
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China launches 11 more satellites for its Geely satellite constellation
Earlier today China successfully launched 11 more satellites for its Geely satellite constellation, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a launch platform off the eastern coast of China.
Video of the launch can be found here (Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay). This was the fifth launch for this constellation, bringing the number of satellites in orbit for this planned 240 satellite constellation to 52. The constellation is designed to provide positioning and communications for trucking and other ground-based businesses.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
114 SpaceX
52 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 89.
Earlier today China successfully launched 11 more satellites for its Geely satellite constellation, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a launch platform off the eastern coast of China.
Video of the launch can be found here (Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay). This was the fifth launch for this constellation, bringing the number of satellites in orbit for this planned 240 satellite constellation to 52. The constellation is designed to provide positioning and communications for trucking and other ground-based businesses.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
114 SpaceX
52 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 89.
Camille Saint-Saëns – The Swan
An evening pause: Mischa Maisky on the cello, backed by the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. Performed live 2015.
Hat tip Judd Clark.