Author: Robert Zimmerman

The space agencies of Canada and Europe agree to exchange classified information

1:51 pm

Canada:
Canada: “We let our government do it all!”

In what appears to be the increasing policy of the Canadian Liberal government to align its space program with Europe, the Canadian Space Agency this week signed an agreement with the European Space Agency that will make it possible for them to freely exchange classified information.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Canada have signed a General Security of Information Agreement (GSOIA), which will establish a legally binding framework for the exchange of classified information. The agreement was signed on 14 April at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, USA, by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and President of the Canadian Space Agency Lisa Campbell, on behalf of the Government of Canada.

The GSOIA will ensure that both parties uphold the highest standards of security while enabling the secure exchange of sensitive information entrusted to authorised institutions and industrial partners. It provides a robust foundation for cooperation in areas where the protection of classified information is essential. In particular, the agreement will facilitate closer collaboration in strategic domains such as space-based surveillance, disaster response and security-related technologies. It will also support the development of dual-use capabilities, including advanced sensing systems, secure communications and emerging space technologies.

Canada is the only country not in Europe that is a partner in ESA. This deal, plus Canada’s recent commitment to provide a half billion dollars of funding to ESA projects, illustrates the Liberal government’s policy to look to Europe more for its space effort, rather than the United States.

This appears also to be part of the Liberal government’s shift away from capitalism and towards a government-based space effort, a decision that is certain to produce few results while wasting a lot of money.

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The space station startups: NASA’s new space station plan is mistaken

9:01 am

The American space stations under development

At a conference event this week officials from three of the five American space station startups expressed strong disagreement with NASA’s new space station plan.

The new plan would have NASA build and launch its own new core module, dock it with ISS, and have the new stations attach their first modules to it prior to flying freely. NASA proposed this plan because it does not believe there is enough market to sustain the stations independently and NASA doesn’t have the budget to fully fund them.

The officials repeatedly disagreed about the market issue.

“We believe not only we can be ready by 2030” when the International Space Station is slated to be retired, “but we also believe that we can be profitable on the current market, not waiting for the future market we all will develop and will be successful at,” said Max Haot, CEO of Vast [building the Haven-1 and Haven-2 stations].

…Haot and executives from Axiom Space and Starlab Space said their responses to NASA’s request for information — which were due April 8 — show otherwise. “We put in 390 pages of independent analysis, research studies, datas, contracts, those types of things,” said Marshall Smith, CEO of Starlab Space, which is targeting 2029 for its station to be on orbit. “We’re being very clear and what we can do and how that works.”

One prominent revenue stream the panelists pointed to is other space agencies and nations eager to send their astronauts and payloads to space. “We’ve flown 12 people to space that paid us money to do that,” said Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space, referring to the four private astronaut missions it’s conducted to ISS. “We’ve flown 166 payloads today. All of those are paying payloads that generate revenue for the company.” The Texas company plans to begin operating in 2028 when its first two station modules are slated to be in orbit, then gradually grow the station to five modules.

The officials also said the core module idea would actually slow things down. NASA would have to first build and launch it, and would be starting from scratch to do so. It takes years to build such a thing, and it will certainly not be ready by 2030, when ISS is presently supposed to be retired. Moreover, forcing them to dock to this module would force them all to completely change their own plans, something they all find counter-productive.

In announcing NASA’s core module plan, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman also stated that he was open to industry feedback. I suspect that his core module proposal is going to die, and be replaced with the more direct transition from ISS to these private stations, the approach these companies favor.

I should add that the three startups that spoke up at this conference are also the three that are in the lead to build their stations, according to my rankings below. As far as I can tell, they are all tied for first place, with their station development very robust and well financed.
» Read more

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Two launches since yesterday, by Russia and China

8:26 am

The launch beat goes on! Russia and China each completed launches since yesterday, with Russia first placing a classified military payload involving “multiple spacecraft”, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from its Plesetsk spaceport in northeast Russia. The rocket’s flight path took it over the Arctic, so the core stage and four strap-on boosters fell harmlessly in the ocean.

Next, China placed what it claimed was a “high-precision greenhouse gas detection” satellite into orbit, its Long March 4C rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. China’s state-run press provided no other information. Nor did it indicate where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

46 SpaceX
21 China
6 Russia
5 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, 46 to 37.

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Latvia to sign Artemis Accords

3:27 pm

NASA announced today that Latvia will be signing on to the Artemis Accords on April 20, 2026, becoming the 62nd nation to join this American alliance in space.

The Republic of Latvia will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 9 a.m. EDT Monday, April 20, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will host Dace Melbārde, Latvia’s minister for education and science; Jānis Beķeris, chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia to the United States; and Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

With this signing, all three of the Baltic states that were once occupied and part of the Soviet Union have now joined this American alliance. So have the former Soviet provinces of the Ukraine and Armenia, as well as the nations of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, all of which were once part of the Soviet Bloc, behind the Iron Curtain. In fact, almost all of Russia’s neighbors in Europe have allied themselves with the U.S. Artemis space alliance. It does appear that Putin’s stupid effort to recapture the Ukraine has backfired badly, encouraging these nations to come to us out of fear of the aggressive tyrant on their borders. These nations also probably recognize that Russia’s space effort is a Potemkin Village, hollow and of little worth. If they want to go to space, they need to align themselves with American technology.

The full list of all signatories to this American space alliance:

Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.

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April 16, 2026 Quick space links

2:45 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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The movement of surface ash on Mars over a half century

12:08 pm

Viking and Mars Express images side-by-side for comparison
Go here and here for original images.

Overview map

Cool image time! In comparing images of one location on Mars taken a half century apart, scientists using Europe’s Mars Express orbiter have discovered that the dark ash covering this region has shifted south by about 200 miles.

The two images above show the change, with a Viking orbiter image taken sometime in 1976 on the left and the Mars Express image taken in 2026 on the right. Both images have been enhanced to match each other, with the white box marking an area seen in close-up by Mars Express.

The overview map to the right provides the context. This region is inside Utopia Basin, one of the largest ancient impact basins on Mars, thought to have been formed by an impact that occurred a little more than four billion years ago. Much of Mars’ dark volcanic dust is thought to come from the Medusae Fossae Formation, a gigantic volcanic ash field the size of India and located on the other side of the planet, in between all of the red planet’s largest volcanoes. Over the eons that ash has gotten distributed across the globe.

In this case, it not only covers large areas of Utopia Basin, but over a half century the prevailing winds in the thin Martian atmosphere has been enough to shift the edge of this particular ash field south by 200 miles.

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New data from Webb suggests two of Uranus’ outer rings are starkly different

11:03 am

The outer two rings of Uranus as seen by Webb in the infrared
Click for original image.

Using new infrared data obtained by the Webb Space Telescope in February 2025 and combined with optical data previously obtained by the ground-based Keck Observatory in 2007 and the Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 and 2013, astronomers now think that two adjacent outer rings of Uranus are completely different from each other, with one ring largely created by icy material thrown off the moon Mab.

The infrared image to the right was taken by Webb, and shows the two subject rings, dubbed v and μ.

Though they orbit the same planet, Uranus’s μ and ν rings are fundamentally different. Prior observations with the combined Keck Observatory and HST showed that the μ ring appeared blue, a signature of extremely small particles, while the ν ring’s reddish hue points to a more typical dusty ring. Why the rings were so different remained a mystery, though.

When JWST came on-line and observed Uranus, the research team used all its data, taken at different infrared wavelengths, in combination with Keck Observatory and HST observations to construct a complete spectrum from the visible through to infrared. By analyzing how sunlight reflects off the rings, the team identified a strong absorption feature near a wavelength of 3 microns (3 millionths of a meter) visible in the infrared for both rings. Beyond that shared feature, the differences become clear when simulating the detailed spectra: the μ ring closely matches the spectral signature of water ice, while the ν ring is clearly composed of rocky material, mixed with approximately 10–15% carbon-rich organic compounds commonly found in the outer solar system.

The μ ring seems to be made up of tiny icy grains knocked off the planet’s small (12-km sized) moon, Mab, by micrometeorite impacts. Interestingly, the icy composition of the μ ring also confirms that the moon Mab is composed mostly of water-ice.

According to the paper’s abstract, the v ring is dusty and, “like typical dusty rings, is sourced from collisions between, and micrometeoroid impacts on, larger but as yet unseen parent bodies orbiting within this ring. These bodies must be composed in part of organic materials [molecules with carbon as one component].”

This data really only raises more questions than it answers. For one, what are those larger objects within the v ring? Without a nearby orbiter there is no way to find them. For another, this new data really doesn’t explain why these two adjacent rings are so different. What processes force such a distinct distribution of materials?

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India’s space agency: In ’25 it did 20 maneuvers to avoid collisions in space

10:29 am

India's space agency ISRO, as transparent as mud
India’s space agency ISRO.

India’s space agency ISRO today released its annual Space Situational Report, describing the collision possibilities that now exist due to the large increase in orbiting objects. According to this report, in 2025 ISRO did 20 maneuvers to avoid collisions in space.

More than 150,000 alerts issued by the Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) of USSPACECOM for ISRO’s Earth orbiting satellites were analysed using more accurate orbital data from operational flight dynamics. There were 4 collision avoidance maneuvers (CAM) for GEO [geosynchronous orbits], while 14 CAMs, including one for NISAR [A NASA/ISRO radar telescope], which is designated as Risk Mitigation Maneuver in NASA terminology, were performed for LEO [low Earth orbiting] satellites. Wherever feasible, collision avoidance requirements were met by adjusting orbit maintenance maneuvers to avoid exclusive CAMs.

In addition, ISRO had to twice shift the orbit of its Chandayaan-2 lunar orbiter because of an orbital conflict with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

The report has a lot more interesting details, as ISRO is also trying to increase its ability to track everything in orbit, rather than rely on data from the American military or American commercial tracking companies, which has been the policy in the past.

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Saxavord spaceport faces new regulatory and financial issues

9:19 am

Proposed or active spaceports in North Europe
Proposed or active spaceports in North Europe

The long-delayed Saxavord spaceport on the Shetland Islands in Great Britain appears to now face two new problems that could block future launches, one regulatory and the second financial.

First the financial issue: The spaceport, which has lost about $7 million in both ’23 and ’24, appears to be in technical default of a loan of a bit more than $14.3 million. In this case, the lender is willing to ignore the technical issue, assuming the spaceport meets certain conditions presently being negotiated.

The regulatory issue however is more serious, and could block the spaceport’s expected first launch later this year by the rocket startup Rocket Factory Augsburg.

Despite claiming to be ready for launch, the spaceport has also been subject of a formal complaint to the SIC [Shetland Islands Council] over allegations that the facility has not yet been granted a completion certificate or approval for occupation. The complaint alleges that the fire detection and alarm systems appear not to have been installed and that the premises may be in use without adequate fire precautions. It asks the council to confirm whether the premises has been subject to regulatory oversight and whether it has undertaken an inspection of the site.

The SIC said in response: “Concerns have been raised with the council and these are being looked at by our building standards service. A site inspection is scheduled this week as part of the live building warrant process, including to establish the current position in relation to the building on the site that falls within the council’s building standards remit. Any further action will be considered in light of the findings of that inspection.”

In other words, if the local council finds the fire detection and alarm systems not installed and within its regulatory responsibility, it will deny Saxavord its launch permit.

Meanwhile, the spaceport has been trying for years to get other rocket companies interested in using Saxavord, to no avail. Rocket startups have enough difficulties. They quite rightly don’t need the added delays caused by the UK’s red tape, delays that contributed to the bankruptcy of two different rocket startups. For example, most of the regulatory delays — lasting years — have initially come from a variety of national agencies, with Great Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority leading the way. This new issue is local, an additional bureaucratic layer that must be satisfied.

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Vast unveils a proposed docking port more than 3x larger than standard space station ports

8:01 am

Vast's larger port compared to standard ports now used at ISS
Click for short movie.

The space station startup Vast yesterday unveiled its proposed Large Docking Adapter, designed to provide a docking port more than three times wider than the standard space station ports presently used on ISS.

The image to the right provides an clear comparison. The two smaller ports on the left are presently used on ISS. Vast’s new port is on the right.

Vast, the company developing next-generation space stations, announced today at the 41st Space Symposium the Large Docking Adapter, including its current development, its availability for purchase, and Vast’s plans to open-source its interface.

Future space stations will use larger modules, have greater overall mass, and dock with a new generation of bigger crewed vehicles. New docking standards and universal hardware are required for the future generation of space vehicles and habitats. The Large Docking Adapter is engineered to support higher mass and increased structural demands while enabling varying types of modules and vehicles to dock together. By open-sourcing the interface, slated for May 2026, Vast is intending to encourage industry-wide collaboration and accelerate the development of interoperable space systems.

Animations of the adapter at this Vast website suggest strongly that the company wants to encourage SpaceX to use the adapter on Starship. Since the company is releasing the design as open-source, it also wants everyone to use it as the standard.

Such a port could also be used on a variety of other spacecraft designs presently under development, and if used would enhance their capabilities significantly.

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