Category: Behind The Black

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.

• SpaceX registers the trademark “Starfall” at the U.S. Patent Office
  No real information beyond that. The tweet adds this tantalizing tidbit, stating that this action is “through the island nation of Tonga covering: launch, on-orbit, and reentry services, spaceflight travel, in-space manufacturing services, custom manufacturing & processing of pharmaceuticals.” Tonga is east of Australia in the Pacific. Is SpaceX planning Starship landings there?

• Vast’s CEO touts his company’s commitment to building an American space station
  He notes that of the three stations that making real progress (Vast, Axiom, Starlab), Vast is the only one that entirely built in the U.S. Obviously this will be a big selling point to NASA, and the Pentagon.

• Video of successful suborbital test launch from Norway’s Andøya spaceport
  The test was for the German space agency DLR testing “materials, cooling techniques, miniaturized non-intrusive sensors and aerodynamic properties for future reusable space vehicles.”

• Japan’s space agency JAXA says its next HTV-X cargo ship to ISS will remain in orbit as “a technology demonstration platform” after undocking
  It will remain in orbit for an additional three months, carrying three experiments.

• Space station startup Axiom signs agreement with Senegal’s space agency
  The details are vague, but likely involve putting Senegalese experiments on the station and maybe even an astronaut (if Senegal can pony up the cash).

• On this day in 1995 scientists discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star

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.

• Canadian Space Agency awards $13.2M to 17 companies for technology development
  All are very small grants, for relatively small projects. The awards however signal the government’s desire to promote its aerospace industry.

• Roscosmos names its new National Space Center after Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
  The tweet notes a lot of unusual negative commentary about the decision, suggesting that “No one likes her.”

• On this day in 1882 Robert H. Goddard was born
  His most important achievement was launching the first liquid fueled rocket.

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.

• Ispace’s lunar lander passes structural ground testing
  This lander is an upgrade from the two landers the company tried to land on the Moon (unsuccessfully), and is for a Japanese mission targeting a 2028 launch.

• Lunar Outpost touts its manned lunar rover proposal by showing it off at the Kennedy Space Center October 2-10
  Unlike many other federal visitor centers that have been shuttered due to the government shut down, this visitor center is remaining open.

• Astronomers detect phosphine in nearby brown dwarf
  This is the same molecule that astronomers thought they might have maybe detected in the atmosphere of Venus. And just like then, this brown dwarf detection has been followed immediately with joyous cries “We’ve found evidence of life!” Hardly. They have found unexpected chemistry, but that is a far cry from a biosignature.

• Europe and Japan further solidify their Ramses and Destiny+ joint mission to the asteroid Apophis
  It appears Japan will launch both together, with Destiny+ doing a fly-by of the asteroid prior to Ramses’ arrival.

• Axiom extends its agreement with the United Kingdom for access to both its ISS module and future free-flying Axiom station
  The UK is essentially buying space and passenger seats for future missions

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.

• Lockheed Martin signs non-profit to study if a commercial mission with Orion, launched on other rockets, would make sense
  Very preliminary, but it indicates the company is searching for ways to make money on Orion once SLS is eventually cancelled.

• Ispace to fly two South Korean commercial rovers on its future lunar lander missions
  The rovers will be built by a company called UEL. Each are two-wheeled and would fly prior to ’27.

• Intuitive Machines completes acquisition of KinetX
  The deal gives Intuitive Machines deep space navigation and communications capabilities.

• Japanese rocket startup Innovative Space Carrier purchases engines from American rocket company Ursa Major
  The deal was signed in early July. Jay has doubts about Innovative Space Carrier, which seems to have very big dreams for a startup.

• Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS shows “extreme negative polarization”
  Already some of making more into this than justified. It is merely a known aspect of comets, though the number here appears to be an outlier, not surprising as it comes from outside our solar system.

• On this day in 1958, the NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) officially became NASA
  For some reason, while we pronounce “NASA” as a word, “NACA” was always spelled out when named, as in “the EN-A-SEE-A”.

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.

• Orbital tug startup Momentus signs deal with satellite propulsion startup Pulsar Fusion to test its engines in orbit
  The mission will fly in 2026 on Momentus’ Vigoride tug.

• Orbital servicing startup Starfish Space touts its Otter Pup 2 demo mission to test its simplified docking system
  It claims Otter Pup 2 will rendezvous using just one thruster and autonomous software.

• India rocket startup Agnikul says it plans to vertically land and recover its Agnibaan rocket’s first stage
  The stage will land on a drone ship.

• Blue Origin signs deal with Luxembourg Space Agency to develop a project to map the Moon’s water ice and resources
  Like all of Blue Origin’s proposed projects, it is long on pretty graphics and high-minded goals, but short on any specific details.

• China releases an image of its Tianwen-2 asteroid probe on its way to near Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa
  It has been in space now for 125 days, and is now about 28 million miles from the asteroid.

• A list showing every delay since Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser was first proposed
  Quite disgusting. First proposed in 2007 with a launch promised in 2009, there follows almost two dozen announced delays, steadily pushing the launch back to late ’26, if then.

• This week in 2022, Juno flew by Jupiter’s moon Europa
  Cool image at the link. It was the first close look in two decades, since the end of the Galileo orbiter.