March 25, 2026 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.
- Astronomers think they have imaged two exoplanets forming in disk around young star
I reported this discovery in October 2025. The scientists have now published their paper [pdf].
- On this day in 1961 Explorer 10 was launched to study the Earth’s magnetic field
It was the first satellite to measure the “shock wave” generated by a solar flare.
- Tom Mueller, SpaceX employee #1, marks the first launch of Falcon 1 20 years ago today
He notes, “Very short flight less than a minute up and back down to crash on the reef. We learned a lot that day.”
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
- Astronomers think they have imaged two exoplanets forming in disk around young star
I reported this discovery in October 2025. The scientists have now published their paper [pdf].
- On this day in 1961 Explorer 10 was launched to study the Earth’s magnetic field
It was the first satellite to measure the “shock wave” generated by a solar flare.
- Tom Mueller, SpaceX employee #1, marks the first launch of Falcon 1 20 years ago today
He notes, “Very short flight less than a minute up and back down to crash on the reef. We learned a lot that day.”
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
In a House Armed Services Committee hearing, the Space Force is forced to admit how ugly it’s getting dealing with Vulcan’s grounding delays:
https://spacenews.com/space-force-weighs-launch-alternatives-as-vulcan-faces-potential-months-long-grounding/
I’d rather DoD money go to SpaceX anyway. I would like for Elon to perhaps allow Space Force a franchise so they could play around with Falcon design, since he’s all-in on Starship.
ULA would then just build Centaurs to go atop USSF Falcons to get some of that ABMA mojo back.
I’d like to see winged Falcon cores, heck…. maybe two SRBs with steel casing, with a steel outer nozzle.
An end of life FH core would perhaps be air started, Centaur atop that.
That might allow for a fast probe.
I want to see Falcon ‘s envelope pushed.
That big new interview TIME magazine has with Gwynne Shotwell is worth reading:
https://time.com/article/2026/03/26/spacex-gwynne-shotwell-full-interview/
Among the interesting revelations was Gwynne indicating that SpaceX is planning on “140-145” launches of Falcon rockets this year, and tapering downward beyond that as Starship comes online. That’s down a little from 2025’s 165 launches, but that reflects the fact that LC-39A is prioritizing Starship pad construction over Falcon launches.
Just in:
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-earth-magnetic-field-previously-undetected.html
This zone of protection could be of use
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv1908
Richard M,
Yeah that 140 – 145 thing surprised me too. Especially as SpaceX was launching at an annualized rate of 150 at the end of February and looks as though it will bump that up to an annualized rate of 160 by the end of March. With today’s launch from Vandy, SpaceX has already locked in an annualized rate of no less than 152 as of the end of March. All of these numbers represent increases over last year. Given the fact that SpaceX has historically increased its launch tempo as the year progresses, I thought it entirely possible it could hit 180 for the year. We’ll have to see. Admittedly, if SpaceX can get even one or two Starship-loads of V3 Starlink sats up this year, that would represent about as much additional constellation bandwidth as 10 – 20 F9 Starlink launches.