Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose – Treat Her Like A Lady
An evening pause: Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Category: Behind The Black
August 12, 2025 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.
- Relativity releases its July update of the company’s progress towards first launch of its Terran-R rocket
Though the company remains tight-lipped about a launch date (no longer promising 2026), it increasingly appears as if 2026 is no longer impossible.
- Relativity touts the layout design of the 13 engines on the Terran-R 1st stage
Nine will gimbal, four will not.
- Russia again delays the launch of its Luna 27A lunar lander to 2029
A second lander has also been delayed till 2030. Both were originally supposed to launch by 2025. I predict both will be delayed again. And again. And again. etc.
- On this day in 1960 the reentry capsule of the military surveillance satellite Discoverer-13 became the first human-made object to be recovered from orbit
It was the eleventh attempt, carrying only sensors to track its flight. With this success the next mission a week later carried a film camera for reconnaissance.
- On this day in 1977 the test shuttle Enterprise flew its first manned test flight
Piloted by Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton, it was released from an airplane at 22,800 feet and glided down to a landing 5.3 min later.
Virginia’s politicians whine about a NASA plan to close the visitor center at Wallops
Chicken Little on the march! Virginia’s representatives are now in a panicked tizzy because it appears NASA is considering closing the visitors center at the Wallops Island spaceport on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Members of Virginia’s congressional delegation were shocked by news of the potential closure of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center and worry it will negatively impact the Eastern Shore’s economy.
Employees at Goddard Space Flight Center and Wallops received word last week that management planned to close several facilities, including NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center — and federal workers asked for congressional support to preserve the local landmark.
Congresswoman Jen Kiggans, a Republican who represents Virginia’s 2nd District, said the proposed closure came as a shock. In a statement, she said was committed to supporting NASA Wallops staff. “This is an unacceptable and drastic step that will have a significant impact on local employees, residents, and visitors,” Kiggans said. “My staff and I are in contact with NASA to better understand the reasoning behind this reported decision as it is contradictory to the proposed House budget. Wallops has long been a vital part of our community, and we will do everything we can to support the work that’s done there and the people who work there.”
Nor is Kiggans the only politican whining. The article includes similar quotes from Democrat senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as local state representative Rob Bloxom. All make the absurd claims that closing this one visitor center will destroy American civilization in Virginia.
And as usual for our propaganda press, no alternative opinions are offered. The only side that gets pushed is the pro-spending side.
What crap. NASA’s job is to foster a vibrant American space industry, by either developing or encouraging the development of actual technologies that can be used for this purpose. A visitor center has nothing to do with this job.
Moreover, such a visitor center employs a relatively small number of people. The economy of the Eastern Shore is not going to collapse by its closure. In fact, the economy won’t really notice it is gone in any significant way.
If we can’t cut the budget in this small way, we will never cut anything, and the country is doomed.
France’s military awards orbital tug startup contract for transporting its “inspector” satellites
France’s Directorate General of Armament (DGA) has awarded the orbital tug startup Infinite Orbits a $58.3 million contract to develop a tug that can transport its military “inspector” technology to geosynchronous orbit when it can rendezvous and inspect other satellites.
Under the PALADIN framework agreement, Infinite Orbits will develop a dedicated spacecraft capable of delivering the geostationary orbit inspection and monitoring service that will be utilized by the country’s Commandement de l’Espace (CDE – Space Command). The spacecraft is expected to be ready for launch as early as 2027 and will be based on Infinite Orbits’ Orbit Guard offering.
Infinite Orbits is based in France, though it also has offices in the U.S. and Singapore. It has also flown one demo mission of its Orbit Guard tug, and won a contract for a later mission from France’s space agency CNES. It is also developing a satellite servicing robot dubbed Endurance.
Overall, Europe (and France surprisingly) has latched onto the capitalism model with amazing enthusiasm in the past two years, to a point that it might actually be doing it better than NASA. Europe doesn’t have a giant money-sucking government program like Artemis (though it is partnering on Artemis). Thus, it can spend its money in buying many different but needed space products from its private sector. And it has more money available for these purposes.
NASA can’t do this as effectively, because a much larger portion of its budget is trapped financing the ineffective SLS rocket and Orion capsule.
Two Japanese shipping companies are developing floating landing platforms for rockets
Two different Japanese shipping companies are now developing floating ship platforms that rocket companies could use to land their rocket’s first stages.
Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) is following compatriot Mitsui OSK Lines in targeting space exploration as a new source of revenues.
NYK has obtained an approval in principle from ClassNK for the conceptual design of an offshore recovery system for reusable rockets, an initiative developed through the Space Strategy Fund at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). NYK now aims to carry out a demonstration test of this new vessel type in 2028 working with multiple partners including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Since JAXA and Mitsubishi own and build Japan’s new H3 rocket, JAXA’s funding here suggests both are considering upgrading the H3 for reusability. It is also possible Mitsubishi is mulling plans to build its own new commercial rocket.
Two companies to study ways for extending the life of the Gehrels Swift space telescope
NASA yesterday announced that it has awarded two companies, Cambrian Works in Virginia and Katalyst Space Technologies in Arizona, each $150K study contracts for reviewing whether it makes sense to send a robotic servicing mission to Gehrels Swift space telescope to raise its orbit and extend its life.
Since its launch in 2004, NASA’s Swift mission has led the agency’s fleet of space telescopes in investigating changes in the high-energy universe. The spacecraft’s low Earth orbit has been decaying gradually, which happens to most satellites over time. Because of recent increases in the Sun’s activity, however, Swift is experiencing additional atmospheric drag, speeding up its orbital decay. This lowering orbit presents an opportunity for NASA to advance a U.S. industry capability, while potentially extending the science lifetime of the Swift mission. The concept studies will help determine whether extending Swift’s critical scientific capabilities would be more cost-effective than replacing those capabilities with a new observatory.
According to this paper [pdf], the telescope’s orbit will decay before the end of 2029, so speed is of the essence. Why NASA is thus spending time and money on a “study” contract from companies that don’t do orbital servicing or have orbital tugs is very curious. Wouldn’t make more sense to request bids from the many orbital servicing and tug companies that now exist (D-Orbit, Astroscale, Northrop Grumman, Firefly, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Impulse) to see if any can do the job at a reasonable cost and are willing?
Gehrels Swift has proven to be one of the most valuable and useful high energy space telescopes ever launched. First of all its cost was relatively low. Second, it is designed to quickly observe a gamma ray burst (GRB) location in multiple other wavelengths (optical especially). That ability helped solve the mystery of GRBs, as well as numerous other high energy events. It would be a tragedy to lose it.
It would also be far more expensive to build a replacement.
Munich Bach Orchestra – Brandenburg Concerto No 2 in F major,3rd movement
An evening pause: For those old enough, you will recognize this music, as it was the theme music for the William Buckley’s show, Firing Line, from the 60s and 70s.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
August 11, 2025 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.
- Long March 10’s first stage is geared up for its first static fire of all seven engines
This is the heavy lift rocket China is developing for its manned lunar missions, capable of putting 70 tons in Earth orbit and 27 tons toward the Moon. Jay: “They did a firing of just three of the engines a couple months ago.” First test launch is targeting 2026.
- On this day in 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 was launched to the Moon
Its main goal was to provide high resolution images of the planned Apollo landing sites. It also got the first Earthrise picture, as well as high resolution images of 50% of the far side of the Moon. Its orbit also revealed the first hint of the Moon’s uneven gravity and underground mass concentrations (mascons), making all orbits unstable.
- On this day in 1990 the Magellan spacecraft entered orbit around Venus
It mapped 90% of Venus’ surface using radar, revealing a planet with millions of volcanoes and no obvious plate tectonics.
Radar images of near Earth asteroid as it zipped past the Earth
Click for original. Go here for movie made from these images.
Using the Goldstone radar antenna in California, astronomers have produced a series of 41 radar images of the near Earth asteroid 2025 OW as it made a close pass of the Earth on July 28, 2025.
Those images, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, are to the right.
The asteroid safely passed at about 400,000 miles (640,000 kilometers), or 1.6 times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
The asteroid was discovered on July 4, 2025, by the NASA-funded Pan-STARRS2 survey telescope on Haleakala in Maui, Hawaii. These Goldstone observations suggest that 2025 OW is about 200 feet (60 meters) wide and has an irregular shape. The observations also indicate that it is rapidly spinning, completing one rotation every 1½ to 3 minutes, making it one of the fastest-spinning near-Earth asteroids that the powerful radar system has observed. The observations resolve surface features down to 12 feet (3.75 meters) wide.
The asteroid’s fast rotation suggests it is a solid object, structurally strong, rather than a rubble pile held together loosely by gravity. It would thus be very damaging if it should ever hit the Earth.
No worries however. The refined orbital data says this asteroid will not come this close again in the foreseeable future.
SpaceX launches 24 more Kuiper satellites for Amazon
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 24 Kuiper satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Falcon 9 first stage was new, completing its first flight by landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairings completed their 5th and 28th flights respectively.
This was SpaceX’s second of three launches for Amazon, which now has 102 satellites in orbit. It needs to get another 1,498 in orbit by July 2026 in order to meet its licence requirements by the FCC. While ULA seems poised to begin regular launches for Amazon, having a contract for 46 launches (having so far completed two in 2025), the contracts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn (27 launches), and ArianeGroup’s Ariane-6 (18 launches) are more uncertain. Neither company has achieved any launches on their contracts, and it is not clear when either company, especially Blue Origin, will ever begin regular launches.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
98 SpaceX (with another Starlink launch scheduled for later today)
43 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 98 to 74.
On the radio
I will be appearing on Coast to Coast with George Noory tonight for two hours beginning at 10 pm (Pacific). It seems their scheduled guest had to cancel, and they asked if I’d fill in. I was glad to say yes.
Toyota extends its partnership with Japanese rocket startup Interstellar
In a deal last week Toyota extended its partnership with the Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies from its earlier announcement in January 2025 that it would invest $44 million in the company.
As part of the new agreement, Toyota will dispatch personnel starting in August 2025 to support Interstellar in a wide range of manufacturing efforts, from the development of ZERO’s first flight unit to broader business commercialization. Additionally, Interstellar became the first startup to join “Toyota Woven City” as an Inventor, leveraging Toyota’s decades of manufacturing expertise and strengths. The development of ZERO will continue to be based on Interstellar’s facilities.
Zero is Interstellar’s proposed smallsat rocket. The company, which was founded in 2005, attempted a suborbital launch in 2018 that failed. Until Toyota’s commitments this year, it had done almost nothing since.
FCC eliminates red tape for both satellite companies and space stations
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week announced [pdf] that it has changed a number of regulations to streamline its licensing in connection with satellite constellations, ground stations, and new space stations.
Today’s reforms intend to boost the nascent Ground-Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) business model that allows multiple satellite systems to share the same ground station. The new rules eliminate needless paperwork and clear regulatory barriers to GSaaS, a business model that gives satellite operators—especially startups and emerging growth companies—the ability to send and receive signals without having to build their own ground infrastructure.
…The Order establishes a new process for ground station operators to receive a baseline license without first identifying a specific satellite point of communication. For each new point of communication, only a simple FCC notification will be needed. This one change would eliminate approximately 49% of earth station modification applications.
Today’s action further streamlines and expedites the application process for space stations and earth
stations by moving away from regulations that require FCC approval for making even the smallest
changes to a satellite system.
The direction of regulation has shifted 180 degrees since Trump’s election. Under Biden, federal agencies were constantly tasked to increase oversight so that it often took years to get approvals. Under Trump, those same agencies are now beginning to eliminate regulation across the board.
Elections matter. Anyone who says all politicians are the same is either ignorant or lying.
Starlink now available in Israel
After a year of regulatory paperwork, the Israel government has finally allowed SpaceX to offer Starlink to customers in Israel proper, but not in the West Bank or Gaza.
The company received an operating license from the Communications Ministry last year, following lengthy negotiations and regulatory procedures, but its launch was delayed until now. The restriction on coverage in the West Bank and Gaza is likely due to security concerns over potential use by hostile actors.
Expect the usual leftist anti-Semites to accuse Israel of bigotry for excluding access to Palestinians, but until those Palestinians show some willingness to live with Israel in peace (something they so far show no signs in doing, especially in Gaza), this policy makes perfect sense.
Endurance capsule splashes down safely, returning four astronauts from ISS
SpaceX’s Endurance Dragon capsule successfully splashed down off the coast of California this morning, returning four astronauts from ISS after a five month mission.
I have embedded the live stream below. As of posting the capsule was about to be lifted from the water and placed in its nest on the recovery ship.
Once again it is important to note that this recovery is being done entirely by a private company and its employees. Once Endurance undocked from ISS NASA had no part to play. It purchased the ride from SpaceX, and SpaceX is providing the service.
» Read more
China launches another 11 satellites for one of its mega-constellations
China today successfully placed another 11 satellites into orbit for one of its internet satellite constellations designed to compete with Starlink, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a launch platform off the eastern coast of China.
This was the fourth launch of satellites for Geely constellation. Though the rocket’s lower stages dropped into the South China Sea as well as the Pacific, doing no harm to habitable areas (as China routinely does when it launches from its interior spaceports), earlier this week the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., complained about China’s habit of not giving its neighbors sufficient warning prior to its coastal launches.
Marcos issued the statement after China launched its Long March 12 rocket on Monday [from its coastal Wenchang spaceport], which left debris within Philippine maritime territory. During an interview with the Philippine media delegation covering his state visit to India, the President said this was not the first time suspected Chinese rocket debris had ended up in Philippine waters.
“Well, it’s not the first time that this has happened. And, actually, if you look at the incidents, they did not commit any violations. There have been no casualties,” Marcos said. “We just wish that perhaps they could warn us a little earlier so that we know the path of the rocket, where the path is, and if they will release stages, where they will fall,” he added.
All par for the course for China. It not only doesn’t really care if it crashes rocket stages on the heads of its own people, it cares even less about dropping stages on neighboring countries.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
97 SpaceX
43 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 97 to 74.
August 8, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
Jay Leno’s Garage – 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra Competition
An evening pause: For car buffs, and anyone else who wants to take a drive this weekend.
Hat tip Cotour.
Jim Lovell, the world’s first space cadet, passes away at 97
Jim and Marilyn Lovell aboard the
U.S. Navy sailboat Freedom in 1950
Today we learned the sad news of the passing of Jim Lovell, the last of the three Apollo 8 astronauts as well as a veteran of two Gemini missions and the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. Lovell was 97.
In a statement released Friday, the Lovell family highlighted his “amazing life and career accomplishments” and his “legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight.”
“But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero,” the family said in its statement. “We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.”
“One of a kind” is an understatement. » Read more
Indian rocket startup Skyroot tests solid-fueled motor
The Indian rocket startup Skyroot has successfully tested the solid-fueled motor it plans to use in its three-stage solid-fueled Vikram-1 rocket. From the press release issued by India’s space agency ISRO:
First Static Test of the KALAM 1200 Motor – the first stage of Vikram – 1 Launch Vehicle of M/s Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. (SAPL), Hyderabad is accomplished successfully at Static Test complex of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, ISRO, Department of Space at 09:05 hrs on 08.08.2025. This is a major milestone in the configuration and realization of the systems for Vikram – 1 Launch Vehicle. The motor is a 11 m long, 1.7 m dia monolithic composite motor with a Propellant Mass of 30t. Based on the design inputs, this longest monolithic motor is prepared at the Solid Propellant Plant, Sriharikota. Similarly, ISRO team has provided the design for the Test Stand, which is used for the static test of the motor.
This is in line with the Government of India initiative on Space Policy, 2023 for providing the necessary technical infrastructure and managerial guidance for the Private Sector players to contribute for the space economic growth. The performance of the test bed and the associated systems is normal as predicted.
The last paragraph is the most important. The Modi government has tasked its space agency to provide its facilities and expertise to help rocket startups like Skyroot. It appears from this test and press release the resistance within ISRO to this policy — which cuts into ISRO’s turf — is fading.
Skyroot had said it wants to do the first orbital test flight of Vikram-1 before the end of 2025. It remains unclear whether it will meet that schedule.
Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.