Author: Robert Zimmerman

Rocket Lab gets two big military contracts, from the Space Force and the UK

9:17 am

Due to its success in quickly redesigning the first stage of its Electron rocket into a hypersonic test vehicle dubbed HASTE, Rocket Lab has now won two very large hypersonic test program contracts from both the American Space Force as well as the United Kingdom.

Rocket Lab has been selected by the U.S. Air Force to participate within its Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC), a $46 billion indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract designed for the rapid acquisition of innovative technologies, engineering services, and technical solutions that develops the Air Force’s new capabilities. The program has a contracting period through to 2031 and is designed to be broad in scope, flexible in funding, and agile for maximum use to enable the Air Force to quickly procure services and technologies across various domains.

Further, Rocket Lab has also been selected by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (UK MOD) for its Hypersonic Technologies & Capability Development Framework (HTCDF), a ~$1.3 billion (£1 billion) framework to rapidly develop advanced hypersonic capabilities for the United Kingdom. As a newly-selected supplier to the HTCDF, Rocket Lab is now eligible to bid to provide services, technologies, and testing capabilities that support the UK’s development of sovereign hypersonic technology.

In both cases Rocket Lab will bid for test contracts using HASTE.

These deals indicate that Rocket Lab has essentially grabbed the business that Stratolaunch had been vying for with its giant Roc airplane and Talon test drop vehicles. Stratolaunch might get some contracts, but it appears the bulk of the work will instead go to Rocket Lab. It also appears that Stratolaunch has also been beaten to this business by the startup Varda, which has also won an Air Force contract for hypersonic testing using its orbital capsules during their return to Earth.

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India’s Spadex mission completes second autonomous docking

9:06 am

According to one government official, India’s space agency ISRO has now successfully completed a second autonomous docking in orbit using the target and chase spacecraft of its Spadex mission, launched in December 2024.

Between the undocking on March 13 and the second docking operation, Isro had carried out a “rolling” or “rotating” experiment — in late March. … At the time, Narayanan [ISRO chairman], while confirming the success of the operation, had said that more experiments were in store. … “…The satellites have a lot of propellant… I have only told [the teams] one thing, please do everything [on] simulation on ground [first]. Let us be very careful. Let us not make any mistakes as a wealth of data can be generated [through various experiments].”

The rolling experiment, which was likened to the Chandrayaan-3 “hop” experiment the space agency conducted on Moon in terms of learning it provides for future missions, helped Isro validate multiple softwares, ground station control and more.

This second docking further confirms the technology and the ability of ISRO’s engineers to perform it. Originally the plan had been to do only one docking. The two spacecraft were to then undock and go their separate ways, doing other orbital research. Narayanan changed that plan, since this technology is essential for India’s planned space station. The focus is now on multiple test dockings, in a variety of configurations, with more to come.

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SpaceX launches cargo Dragon to ISS; Problems with Tenacity?

8:55 am

Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched a cargo Dragon to ISS, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing back at Kennedy. The capsule is on its fifth flight, and is carrying significantly more cargo than previous SpaceX cargo missions because it has had to replace much of the cargo that would have been launched on a Cygnus capsule whose launch was cancelled because it had been damaged during transport.

Furthermore, as part of their updates on this mission NASA officials revealed that Sierra Space’s cargo mini-shuttle, Tenacity, is facing more delays, and is now not expected to launch until late this year. This Dream Chaser spacecraft had begun ground testing early in 2024, with a first launch planned for shortly thereafter. For reasons that have not been explained, that ground testing has now been going on for more than a year, and will apparently continue for most of 2025. My guess is that the spacecraft has experienced engineering problems during that testing, and has required fixes that neither Sierra Space nor NASA wishes to reveal.

The result has been that NASA has had a shortage of cargo vehicles to keep ISS supplied. A significant number of science experiments had to be removed from today’s Dragon to make room for consumerables. NASA officials also stated publicly during this update that it is now definitely considering using Starliner as a cargo vehicle on its next flight, a plan that previously had only been hinted at.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

45 SpaceX (with another launch scheduled for later today)
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 45 to 35.

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Northrop Grumman’s first Mission Extension Vehicle completes first commercial undocking in space

9:50 am

On April 9, 2025 Northrop Grumman’s first Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) successfully undocked from an Intelsat communications satellite five years after attaching itself to it and extending its operational life for that time period.

This was the first autonomous undocking by two commercial spacecraft ever.

MEV-1 has provided five years of life-extension services to IS-901, allowing Intelsat to operate this space-based asset beyond its design life. In 2020, MEV-1 successfully proved docking with IS-901 was possible in the GEO graveyard orbit and brought IS-901 back into operation in GEO. Now that life-extension services are complete, MEV-1 released the IS-901 satellite back into the GEO graveyard and is relocating to the next servicing mission.

The company did not name the satellite for MEV-1’s next servicing mission. Meanwhile the company’s second MEV remains docked to another Intelsat communications satellite, its contract extended to double the amount of time it will provide service to the satellite.

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Soyuz safely returns three astronauts from ISS

9:42 am

A Russian Soyuz capsule successfully landed in Kazakhstan this morning, bring two Russians and one American back to Earth after a seven month mission to ISS.

The American on board, Don Petit, also celebrated his 70th birthday today, completing his fourth mission in space. According to the article at the link, he did not do well upon landing, requiring significant aid to exit the capsule. The picture released by NASA of him being carried to the medical tent shows him smiling with a thumbs up, but he is clearly unable to walk at this point on his own. That fact by itself is not significant, because many astronauts after missions lasting longer than six months need aid upon return. It does indicate however that this flight is almost certainly Petit’s last one. As that NASA release it notes he “is doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth.”

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SpaceX launches another classified satellite for National Reconnaissance Office

9:34 am

SpaceX early this morning successfully launched a classified reconnaissance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its twelfth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

44 SpaceX
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 44 to 35.

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China launches six technology test satellites

9:50 pm

China today successfully placed a set of six technology test satellites into orbit, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters crashed inside China. Furthermore, the upper stage of the Long March 6 rocket, which reaches orbit, has a history of breaking up and creating clouds of space junk. We have no assurance from China whether they have fixed this issue.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

43 SpaceX
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 43 to 35. (Note: this last number is corrected from the previous update, which was one number short.)

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April 18, 2025 Quick space links

3:39 pm

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.

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Curiosity drill cores suggest there are more carbon-based minerals on Mars than previously believed

12:19 pm

The uncertainty of science: Scientists studying four different core samples drilled by the Mars rover Curiosity have detected abundant amounts of the iron carbonate mineral siderite, suggesting that there is more carbon within Mars’ crust than previously believed.

If that quantity of carbon is confirmed, there might also have been a carbon cycle between Mars’s atmosphere and the liquid water theorized to have once been on the surface. This cycle could also have made the atmosphere both thicker and warmer, conditions necessary for that liquid water to exist on the surface. From the research paper:

[D]ecomposition of siderite occurred in multiple locations and released CO2 into the atmosphere, recycling CO2 that was originally sequestered during siderite formation. Diagenetic carbonate destruction observed elsewhere on Mars, in martian meteorites, and in sandstones on Earth yields nearly identical reaction products to those we found in Gale crater and are observed globally in orbital data. We therefore conclude that in situ, orbital, and terrestrial analog evidence all indicate that postdepositional alteration of siderite closed the loop in Mars’ carbon cycle, by returning CO2 to the atmosphere.

The uncertainties here are gigantic. For these conclusions to be right, the scientists extrapolate without evidence the same amount of CO2 found in these four cores as existing across the entire surface of Mars. That is a very big extrapolation that no one should take very seriously.

Furthermore, this research assumes the geological features we see on Mars were formed from liquid water. More recent orbital data suggests glacial and ice processes might have played a part instead, with one study concluding that Gale Crater was never warm enough for long-standing liquid water, and that ice and glacial processes must have played the larger part in forming what we find there.

The data from these core samples however is intriguing for sure, though it mostly raises more questions about Mars’ past geological history than it answers.

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Two different states in India announce space policies

11:15 am

Map of India

Capitalism in space: In another indication that India’s governments are going full bore for private enterprise in space, two different Indian states this week announced new space policies designed to attract private investment and space startups.

Those two states, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, are shown on the map to the right. Tamil Nadu announced its new space industrial policy hopes to attract more than a billion dollars in space companies to the state. Gujaret in turn announced its own space policy aimed at attracting $5 billion in investment and 25,000 jobs over the next five years.

It is not surprising that Tamil Nadu has issued this policy, considering that it is the state where India’s new second spaceport, Kulasekarapattinam, is located, and is being built as a launch site for commerical operations. Gujaret is at first glance less obvious, but it houses a major facility of India’s space agency ISRO. It is also one of India’s most industrialized states.

Both however illustrate the impact of the Modi government because of its policy to encourage private enterprise and de-emphasize government control. Not only is the federal government pushing capitalism, the country’s individual states are joining in.

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