Is China preparing to return its stranded astronauts in its damaged Shenzhou capsule?

10:00 am

According to reports from China, it appears they are preparing to return the three-person Shenzhou-20 crew on their damaged Shenzhou-20 capsule on November 14, 2025, rather than launch a replacement capsule as had been rumored previously.

China has issued a temporary airspace restriction over Inner Mongolia for 3:20 to 3:50 a.m. Eastern (0820-0850 UTC, or 4:20-4:50 p.m. Beijing time) Nov. 14, according to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) published by the Hohhot Flight Information Region under the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The airspace closure notice matches an area covering the Dongfeng landing site, an area in Inner Mongolia roughly 60 to 90 kilometers to the east-southeast of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which has been used for all Shenzhou crewed spacecraft returns since 2021.

None of this is confirmed as yet, as China’s state-run press continues to be very secretive about this entire affair. It as yet not released any details about the damage to Shenzhou-20, nor has it been forthcoming with any details about the next steps it plans to take.

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The earliest observations ever of a supernova exploding suggest the blast was bi-polar

9:29 am

Figure 4 from the paper
Click for full graphic. CSM stands for the
circumstellar matter that surrounded the star
prior to eruption.

Using the Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers were able to observe a supernova in its very earliest moments after eruption, the earliest yet, and determined the eruption did not flow outward in all directions, but appeared to be bi-polar, as indicated by the cartoon to the right.

To capture the snapshot of the April 2024 supernova, astronomers used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, which was able to look at the polarization, or orientation, of the supernova’s light. Using a technique called spectropolarimetry, the researchers used the light’s polarization to re-create the explosion’s shape in its first moments. Their results showed that the light emanated not uniformly, like the light from a typical star, but elongated, shaped like an olive.

You can read their paper here. The cartoon comes from Figure 4, and is their “most plausible” interpretation of the data.

This bi-polar shape suggests that in the initial stages of the eruption the material shot out the star’s poles, as seen routinely in planetary nebulae as well as other eruptive stars like Eta Carina. The data also suggests the initial explosion was shaped by the circumstellar material surrounding the star. Such material tends to concentrate at a star’s ecliptic, like our solar system, With less material at the poles, the initial blast favored those directions.

Theorists will now use this data point to better refine the models that attempt to explain how supernovae explode.

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Genesis cover

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 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

German rocket startup Isar Aerospace is getting ready for 2nd launch attempt in Norway

9:15 am

Isar's first launch attempt fails
Spectrum falling seconds after its launch
in March 2025

The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace has now delivered the stages of its Spectrum rocket to Norway’s Andoya spaceport, in preparation for its second launch attempt following the first launch failure in March.

On 13 November, an Isar Aerospace update on its social channels revealed that, just over seven months after its first flight ended in a fireball, the company had returned to its launch facilities at the Andøya Spaceport in Norway in preparation for the rocket’s second flight. While brief, the update stated that the main and upper stages for the flight had arrived at the company’s launch pad and that it was “gearing up for pre-flight testing.” The update did not include an expected launch date.

The company in September had completed its investigation into the March failure, determining the failure was an inability of the rocket to maintain its proper attitude control.

Road closure announcements in Norway suggest that this launch will occur prior to December 21, 2025, but this is decidedly unconfirmed. If the launch takes place then and is successful, Norway’s Andoya spaceport will have become the first European-based spaceport to launch an orbital rocket, beating out the two spaceports in the United Kingdom and the Esrange spaceport in Sweden.

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Space energy startup Star Catcher successfully tests power beaming using lasers

9:02 am

StarCatcher laser transmitting to solar panel
StarCatcher laser transmitting power during Florida tests.

Space energy startup Star Catcher last week successfully completed a demonstration in Florida of its power beaming technology, transmitting energy using lasers to off-the-shelf solar panels used by satellites and spacecraft.

Using an advanced suite of multi-wavelength lasers, the team delivered more than 1.1 kW of electrical power to commercial off-the-shelf solar panels at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility. … During the demonstration, Star Catcher delivered one to ten Suns of optical energy to multiple commercial off-the-shelf single- and triple-junction solar panels commonly used in space, confirming compatibility with standard spacecraft hardware, and validating the company’s approach to “supercharge” satellites with significantly more power via highly concentrated beams of light. Among them was an Astro Digital triple-junction solar panel — the same hardware used on the company’s flight-proven satellite buses — demonstrating readiness to power customer missions in orbit.

Star Catcher also delivered power to several customer payloads representing key market segments such as space data centers, in-space manufacturing, and remote sensing. The systems operated on beamed power as customers conducted live experiments, demonstrating both hardware compatibility and strong interest in this emerging power infrastructure.

Among the demonstrations, Star Catcher wirelessly transmitted energy to Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) and recharged its onboard batteries.

The company plans to fly an orbital power-beaming demonstration satellite next year. If successful, it will try to raise the investment capital to launch power-beaming satellites in both Earth and lunar orbits by 2030, where they can more efficiently provide power. It already has signed six preliminary agreements with a variety of space-based companies such as Intuitive Machines. In the case of rovers like Intuitive Machines LTV, this technology will be an excellent way to charge batteries in the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon, where direct sunlight will not be available.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Conscious Choice cover

Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!

From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.

 
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.  
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.

 

“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.

 

All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.

Uzbekistan signs deal to possibly fly astronauts on Vast’s Haven-1 space station

8:28 am

Haven-1 with docked Dragon capsule
Haven-1 with docked Dragon capsule

According to a press release earlier this week from the Uzbekistan government, it has signed an agreement with the American space station startup Vast to possibly fly its astronauts on Vast’s Haven-1 space station, scheduled for launch early next year for a three year mission that will include four two-week manned occupancies.

The parties discussed prospects for long-term cooperation with Vast, including participation in joint scientific research, personnel exchange programs, and the involvement of Uzbek specialists in upcoming missions following the successful launch of the Haven-1 orbital station.

Discussions also covered the potential involvement of Uzbek scientists and engineers in research on artificial gravity, life support systems, and orbital architecture within the framework of the Haven-2 project, the proposed successor to the International Space Station.

Neither Vast nor Uzbekistan apparently made any firm commitments to fly astronauts to Haven-1, but the agreement clearly laid the groundwork for doing so, if not on Haven-1 then on Vast’s follow-up much larger station, Haven-2. At the moment Vast has not yet announced any of passengers or crew for the four Haven-1 manned missions, so there clearly is room for an astronaut from Uzbekistan, assuming it is able and willing to pay the freight.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Firefly identifies cause of first stage explosion during static fire test in September

8:01 am

Alpha on the launchpad
The Alpha first stage, prior to September explosion

Firefly yesterday announced it has completed its investigation into the explosion during a static fire test in September that destroyed the first stage of the Alpha rocket during final preparations prior to launch.

Following a thorough review of the Alpha Flight 7 first stage ground test on September 29, Firefly identified a process error during stage one integration that resulted in a minute hydrocarbon contamination, which then led to a combustion event in one of the engines during the ground test. The test stand structure remained intact and no other facilities were impacted.

…Firefly immediately took action and implemented corrective actions, which included increasing inspection requirements for the fluid systems, optimizing the first stage sensors, and incorporating additional automated aborts. Firefly also implemented key process improvements following a daylong quality stand down where the production, integration, and test teams conducted exercises to review and optimize existing procedures. As part of Firefly’s effort to improve reliability and quality, the team will continue to hold regular exercises for sustained process enhancements.

The company also said the problem was not a design issue with the rocket.

It appears from the company’s press release that the contamination occurred because of a work force quality control issue, that required a major daylong review by all their employees to make sure their operations in building the stage would be more rigorous going forward.

The plan now is to pull another first stage from the company’s production line and stack that with the original upper stage. The target date for launch is late this year or early next year, “depending on range availability.”

Firefly had hoped to do five launches in 2025. At this moment it has only attempted one, in April, which failed. That investigation took until mid-September to complete. The next launch attempt was then delayed by the first stage explosion.

I imagine the company very much wants to get at least one launch off this year. I also imagine it is aggressively reviewing its rocket work force due to these issues.

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Leaving Earth cover

Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.

If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.

 
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke

Saturn’s rings, warped by one of Saturn’s moons

3:09 pm

Daphne inside Saturn's rings
Click for original image.

Cool image time! Rather than post another Mars image, I decided today to dig into the archive left from the Cassini orbiter that circled Saturn from July 1, 2004 until September 15, 2017. The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on September 13, 2017, only two days before the orbiter burned up in Saturn’s atmosphere. From the caption:

This image of Saturn’s outer A ring features the small moon Daphnis and the waves it raises in the edges of the Keeler Gap. The image was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 13, 2017. It is among the last images Cassini sent back to Earth. The view was taken in visible light using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of 486,000 miles from Saturn. Image scale is 2.7 miles [per pixel].

The moon is traveling downward in this image. As it moves past the outer ring, its gravity causes that edge to ripple, producing the waves.

The scale will give you an idea of how big the rings of Saturn are. The Keeler Gap is at the outer edge of the A ring of Saturn, which is the outermost ring that is clearly visible using ordinary amateur telescopes. That edge however is more than 90,000 miles from Saturn. And grayish bands to the right of Daphne and the Keeler Gap are only the outer half of the A ring, which is by itself about 9,000 miles wide.

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November 12, 2025 Quick space links

2:57 pm

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.

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The leftist protest at Berkeley this week: Feel the hate!

12:45 pm

All this guy wanted to do was selling
All this guy wanted to do was sell
“Freedom” t-shirts. Click for video.

While a lot of reports have done good work documenting the Antifa and leftist protests that attempted to shut down a Turning Point USA event on the campus of UCLA at Berkeley earlier this week (here, here, and here), I want to highlight one fundamental and truly ugly aspect of these protests that I think we no longer see because it has become so common.

While it is clear these leftist protesters have nothing positive to propose, it is their hate and anger that stands out above all. All they can do is vent hate, pure and simple.

The screen capture to the right is a typical result of this hate. It comes from video whereby this guy had set up a table outside the event, attempting to sell a variation of the “Freedom” t-shirt that Charlie Kirk was wearing when he was assassinated. A crowd of leftist mask-wearing protesters soon surrounded him, shouting obscenities and threatening him. Finally, one protester named Jihad Dphrepaulezz grabbed the t-shirts as well as a chain necklace from the man and ran. The man chased him and they got into a fight, resulting in this man’s bloodied face.

Dphrepaulezz has now been charged with assault and robbery. The t-shirt seller, who remains unidentified, was initially arrested but then released when the police determined he was the victim.

This violence however is typical now of the left at these protests, so typical we are no longer even shocked by it. It stems from blind angry emotions, driven further by an utter ignorance that embarrasses them if challenged in any way. If you were to ask them to give any examples proving that Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA supported bigotry or “fascism”, their response would be incoherent or confused, because they clearly have never listened to even one nanosecond of any Turning Point USA event, with or without Charlie Kirk. I have, and I can say unequivocally that Kirk or his organization were and are the exact opposite of these false slanders. Kirk and his organization have always stood for individual rights, freedom, and open debate. They also stand for an end to bigotry, for not ranking people by their skin color or religion but solely based on their character and actions.

And above all, Kirk and his organization have always stood for bringing the two sides of the political debate together to talk as civilized rational human beings about the issues everyone so passionately cares about.

The left however can no longer debate anyone rationally. Instead, we have these protests, designed to silence debate. And to do so they scream obscenities and insults, chanting “Fascists out of Berkeley!” repeatedly as if that means anything. And if that doesn’t work, they next turn to violence, as happened above to this t-shirt vendor.

This tactic — of screaming and disrupting events to silence them — isn’t news, as this kind of violent protest behavior has been standard leftist tactic to silence speech now for more a decade. At Berkeley in 2017 it prevented then-Breibart editor Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking there. Since then it has been used in numerous campuses nationwide to shut down conservative events.

What is different now is the level of emotional hate exuded by these protesters. They are literally so filled with this venom that they now almost routinely lose control of themselves, resulting in violence and vandalism of the sort seen above, that even a decade ago was rare.

Below are two more clips. All I see is hate. Hate for the right. Hate for debate. Hate pure and simple.
» Read more

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First Soyuz-5 rocket arrives at Baikonur

9:50 am

According to Russia’s state-run press, the first Soyuz-5 rocket has arrived at the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, with a targeted maiden launch scheduled for December.

Soyuz-5 is designed to replace Russia’s soon-to-be retired Proton rocket, as well as the Ukrainian Zenit rocket that is no longer available because Russia invaded the Ukraine. It was first proposed in 2016, with its development proceeding in fits and starts since then. Part of the problems has been Kazakhstan, which demanded (and apparently received) a larger cut from Russia before it would allow Soyuz-5 to launch at the planned launchpad at Baikonur.

A larger factor in the delays has been a shortage of cash in Russia itself, as well the generally slow culture of its aging aerospace industry. However, in the case of Soyuz-5, it appears Russia managed to speed things up, as previous reports in 2024 suggested this first launch would be delayed until 2026.

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