Author: Robert Zimmerman

German startup Spark Microgravity to build first space-based commercial cancer lab

8:56 am

The American space stations under construction
The American space stations under development

The German startup Spark Microgravity announced yesterday it is negotiating with two commercial space stations, one re-entry capsule company, and one French rocket startup to launch the first commercial cancer lab in space.

SPARK Microgravity is collaborating with Axiom Space and Voyager Technologies on commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) opportunities, with ATMOS Space Cargo supporting future return missions. A first flight demonstration with Swedish Space Corporation is scheduled in May. The cancer research will be launched in partnership with HyPrSpace, which developed Baguette-One, the first rocket to be launched from France.

Axiom hopes to launch its first modules in ’28, while Voyager’s Starlab station can’t launch until Starship is operational, possibly about the same time. ATMOS is a German startup developing a returnable capsule that can fly in orbit for several months. It has a deal with Hyperspace to fly a demo capsule on Baguette-1, which is a suborbital rocket.

Similar research has been done on ISS, but NASA’s rules forbid that research to produce a product for sale. Those rules won’t apply on the private stations, and Spark’s existence is a reflection of this new profit-oriented reality. Spark is going to attract investment capital from the pharmaceutical and academic communities, and thus is another profit center for the commercial space stations, outside of government funding.

The market for these new space stations is growing, making any NASA construction contracts less critical in the long run.

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Rocket Lab experiences a tank failure during Neutron pressure test

8:40 am

Artist's rendering of the Neutron first stage deploying its second stage
Artist’s rendering of Neutron’s first stage fairings opening
to deploy the payload with the second stage engine.

According to an update posted yesterday, during a pressure test of a first stage tank for Rocket Lab’s new Neutron rocket, the tank ruptured.

As the company pushes Neutron to the limits and beyond to qualify its systems and structures for launch, qualification testing of the Stage 1 tank overnight resulted in a rupture during a hydrostatic pressure trial. Testing failures are not uncommon during qualification testing. We intentionally test structures to their limits to validate structural integrity and safety margins to ensure the robust requirements for a successful launch can be comfortably met.

There was no significant damage to the test structure or facilities, the next Stage 1 tank is already in production, and Neutron’s development campaign continues while the team assesses today’s test outcome.

The team is reviewing the Stage 1 test data, which will determine the extent of the impact to Neutron’s launch schedule.

The company was aiming to do Neutron’s first launch in the first quarter of this year. Though the press release is vague on this point, its language suggests the rupture did not occur at the expected maximum pressure, but took place sooner, at a lower pressure level. If the tank failed at maximum pressure, then there would be no need to reconsider the launch schedule. A failure at lower pressures would require changes in tank design, and thus a launch delay.

The company says it will provide an update in February, which further suggests a launch in the first quarter is now unlikely.

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Orbex’s Danish subsidiary to file for bankruptcy

8:30 am

In what appears to confirm the story yesterday that the rocket startup Orbex was about to be bought out by the French startup The Exploration Company — thus likely ending operations in Great Britain — there was a second follow-up story later in the day that claimed Orbex’s Danish subsidiary is about to file for bankruptcy.

On 20 January, more than 15 Orbital Express Launch ApS employees announced at around the same time on LinkedIn that they were looking for work. Since then, European Spaceflight has received confirmation from three independent sources, who wished to remain anonymous, that the subsidiary has dismissed its entire workforce, with the company expected to officially file for bankruptcy on 22 January.

The article notes that this subsidiary had been losing millions in the past two years, and was entirely reliant on cash from its parent company. Unfortunately, Orbex has had no incoming revenue itself, because red tape in the United Kingdom had prevented it from launching for the past four years.

If true, this story confirms that Orbex’s negotiations with The Exploration Company is likely an attempt to make as much money from its remaining assets as possible before closing down.

Congratulations to the United Kingdom, the land where rocket companies go to die!

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Orbital tug startup Starfish Space wins $52.5 million Space Force contract to de-orbit its defunct satellites

8:01 am

Remora rendezvous
Images taken by Starfish’s camera during rendezvous
maneuvers.

The orbital tug startup Starfish Space yesterday announced it has been awarded a $52.5 million contract from the Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) to use its Otter tug to de-orbit satellites when they have reached their end-of-life.

Under the contract, Starfish Space will build, launch, and operate an Otter spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) to safely and efficiently dispose of SDA satellites at the end of their operational lives. The mission begins with an initial deorbit, with options for multiple additional deorbits, enabled by Otter’s significant capacity and ability to service several satellites in a single mission. The mission is targeting launch in 2027.

While a number of contracts have been issued in the U.S., Europe, and Japan to demonstrate de-orbit technology, this is the first operational contract ever issued. Moreover, I don’t think any of those other demo missions have actually achieved a de-orbit as of yet. Starfish itself has only successfully demonstrated rendezvous and proximity capabilities on two missions, with a third a failure. In the most recent late last year (as shown by the image on the right), Impulse’s Mira tug used Starfish software and camera to move within 1.2 kilometers of another Mira tug.

As for docking, its Otter Pup tug has flown two missions. The first failed in 2023 when both spacecraft began spinning unexpected. The second was supposed to achieve a docking, but after completing rendezvous maneuvers the company has provided no new updates. As far as we know, the docking never occurred or was a failure.

Nonetheless, it appears Starfish’s overall recent performance convinced the Space Force it could handle this new de-orbit contract.

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January 20, 2026 Zimmerman/Space Show appearance

10:18 pm

David Livingston has now uploaded my appearance on the Space Show from yesterday, January 20, 2026.

You can download the audio of the program here.

To watch the Zoom broadcast go here, here, or here.

Twas I think one of the best shows, especially because of the excellent questions and comments from the other participants. If you don’t know why NASA’s entire Artemis program is a mess, you need to watch or listen to this show.

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Communications resume with Mars

1:02 pm

First images back from Curiosity and Perseverance
Go here and here for the original images.

It appears the solar conjunction that has blocked all communications with the rovers and orbiters for the past three weeks around Mars has now fully ended, with the first new images appearing today from both Curiosity and Perseverance.

The two images to the right were downloaded today. The top image was taken on January 20, 2026 by Curiosity’s front hazard avoidance camera. It appears to be looking uphill in the direction the rover is soon to travel, climbing Mount Sharp. If you look closely you can see the mountain’s higher ranges on the horizon, just to the right of the rover itself.

The bottom picture was actually taken on January 15, 2026 by Perseverance, but was only downloaded today. Both science teams had programmed their rovers to take images throughout the conjunction, scheduled for download when communications resumed.

The picture was taken by Perseverance’s left high resolution camera located on top of the rover’s mast. It looks down at the ground near the rover at the pebbles and rocks that strewn the relatively smooth surface of the terrain west of Jezero crater.

Neither image is particularly ground-breaking. What is important however is that both images prove the rovers are functioning as expected. Expect a lot more data to arrive in the next few days, all gathered during three weeks of blackout.

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Haven-1 launch delayed until 2027

12:35 pm

Haven-1 with docked Dragon capsule
Artist rendering of Haven-1 with docked
Dragon capsule

According to Vast’s CEO, Max Haot, the launch of its single module Haven-1 space station has now been pushed back to the first quarter of ’27.

Last Saturday (January 10) we reached the key milestone of fully completing the primary structure, and some of the secondary structure; all of the acceptance testing occurred in November as well. Now we are starting clean room integration, which starts with TCS (thermal control system), propulsion, interior shells, and then moving on to avionics. And then final close out, which we expect will be done by the fall, and then we have on the books with NASA a full test campaign at the end of the year at Plum Brook. Then the launch in Q1 next year.

Until recently the company had been targeting a launch in the first half of 2026. This is a delay of almost a full year, and suggests the previous launch date has not been a serious target for quite some time.

Haot at the article at the link provides some new details about the manned missions to the station. It will launch unmanned, and after check-out in orbit that could last two weeks or longer, a professional SpaceX Dragon crew will fly a two-week mission there to do further check-outs.

After this up to three more two-week missions are planned, with Vast already having a deposit for the first. It also is willing to do more during Haven-1’s three year lifespan.

More and more it appears to me that in my rankings below of the five commercial space stations presently under development, the top three space stations are practically tied. And of the five stations, three are hoping to begin launching modules in the ’27-’28 time frame.
» Read more

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January 21, 2026 Quick space links

9:20 am

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.

I am posting this early because I am busy this morning dealing with a scheduled family medical procedure. Nothing critical, but I will be out of the office for a good portion of the day. I plan to catch up in the afternoon.

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French startup The Exploration Company negotiating purchase of UK rocket startup Orbex

8:39 am

Prime rocket prototype on launchpad
The prototype of Orbex’s never-launched Prime rocket,
on the launchpad in 2022

In what appears to be a direct consequence of British red tape blocking Orbex from launching in the past four years, it is now in negotiations to sell its assets to the French startup The Exploration Company.

On 21 January, Orbex published a brief press release stating that a letter of intent had been signed and that negotiations had begun. The company added that all details about the transaction remain confidential at this stage. A statement from Orbex CEO Phil Chambers suggests that the company’s financial position factored into its decision to pursue a buyer. “Our Series D fundraising could have led us in many directions,” said Chambers. “We believe this opportunity plays to the strengths of both businesses, and we look forward to sharing more when the time is right.”

Let me translate: In 2022 Orbex had set up a factory close to the proposed Sutherland spaceport on the north coast of Scotland, had signed a 50 year lease with that facility to launch its Prime rocket there, had built a launch platform and tested a prototype of the rocket, and was poised to do its first launch. All it needed was license approvals from the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

And then it waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. By 2024 it gave up on Sutherland, because the authorities (local and national) kept rejecting its spaceport license for environmental and political reasons. It switched its launch site to the SaxaVord spaceport on the Shetland Islands, pushing back that first launch to 2026. Along the way the UK gave it a $25 million grant, likely to keep the company above water because the UK was blocking its ability to launch.

All for naught. It is very clear Orbex has run out of cash waiting, and is now looking to salvage its work by selling everything to the French company, which so far has focused on building a cargo capsule to supply the upcoming commercial space stations.

If the sale goes through, do not be surprised if Orbex’s assets exit the UK entirely. And at that point, the CAA’s red tape can be given credit for destroying a second rocket company, following Virgin Orbit.

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