July 10, 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.
- Space Forge signs deal to use Intuitive Machines’ proposed orbital capsule for in-space product manufacturing
Space Forge manufactures semi-conductors, but it has also partnered with Rhodium Scientific, a biotech manufacturer, so the plan is to produce both pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
- Rocket Lab hires Bollinger Shipyard to modify its ship as a landing platform for its Neutron rocket
Delivery is scheduled for early 2026. Since Rocket Lab has been targeting its first Neutron launch for this year, this either means the schedule has been pushed back, or the company doesn’t expect to recover the rocket on the first launch.
- NASA touts Parker images of the Sun
A short video summary describing Parker’s results so far, though heavy on platitudes.
- ESA and France sign new agreement for expanding commercial launch operations at French Guiana
The deal runs through 2035, allowing continued launches of Ariane-6 and Vega-C, but expands opportunities for new commercial rocket startups.
- On this day in 1962 AT&T launched the first private satellite, Telstar-1
It demonstrated relatively inexpensive broadcast and communication between Europe and North America. AT&T’s plan then was to launch a full constellation to provide phone and broadcast service worldwide, replacing the expensive and very limited undersea cables. The plan ended up getting blocked by Congress and President Kennedy, who instead created a monopoly run by the pseudo-company Comsat, partly owned by the government. While Comsat launched a number of geosynchronous satellites, it never came close to the success promised. Had the government stayed out, we would have had large satellite constellations in the early 1960s and a robust private launch industry. Instead, it all died on the vine, and it would be more than a half century before the American commercial space industry recovered.
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.
- Space Forge signs deal to use Intuitive Machines’ proposed orbital capsule for in-space product manufacturing
Space Forge manufactures semi-conductors, but it has also partnered with Rhodium Scientific, a biotech manufacturer, so the plan is to produce both pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
- Rocket Lab hires Bollinger Shipyard to modify its ship as a landing platform for its Neutron rocket
Delivery is scheduled for early 2026. Since Rocket Lab has been targeting its first Neutron launch for this year, this either means the schedule has been pushed back, or the company doesn’t expect to recover the rocket on the first launch.
- NASA touts Parker images of the Sun
A short video summary describing Parker’s results so far, though heavy on platitudes.
- ESA and France sign new agreement for expanding commercial launch operations at French Guiana
The deal runs through 2035, allowing continued launches of Ariane-6 and Vega-C, but expands opportunities for new commercial rocket startups.
- On this day in 1962 AT&T launched the first private satellite, Telstar-1
It demonstrated relatively inexpensive broadcast and communication between Europe and North America. AT&T’s plan then was to launch a full constellation to provide phone and broadcast service worldwide, replacing the expensive and very limited undersea cables. The plan ended up getting blocked by Congress and President Kennedy, who instead created a monopoly run by the pseudo-company Comsat, partly owned by the government. While Comsat launched a number of geosynchronous satellites, it never came close to the success promised.Had the government stayed out, we would have had large satellite constellations in the early 1960s and a robust private launch industry. Instead, it all died on the vine, and it would be more than a half century before the American commercial space industry recovered.
