Tag: capitalism

One launch today by SpaceX, while ULA scrubs for the second time in two days

7:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched another 28 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage completed its 8th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

ULA for the second day in a row was forced to scrub a launch of a Viasat communications satellite due to “a reoccurrence of the issue with the Atlas V booster liquid oxygen tank vent valve.” No new launch data has as yet been announced.

The contrast between these two rocket companies here is truly striking. In the past two days SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 has launched twice, like clockwork, while ULA can’t get off the ground because of a valve issue, the kind of niggling problem that routinely scrubs its launches. It is thus rare that ULA launches on time, on schedule, as planned.

SpaceX’s launch however sets a new record for successfully launches in a single year by the entire world, 257, breaking the record set last year. These numbers are two to five times what the global launch industry managed annually for most of the space age, and signal the renaissance in rocketry brought on by Elon Musk and SpaceX. Nor I think have we reached peak numbers. Not even close.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

145 SpaceX (a new record)
67 China
14 Rocket Lab
13 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 145 to 112.

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Judge approves plea deal related to Boeing’s malfeasance that caused two 737-Max crashes killing 346

3:03 pm

Boeing Logo

After further hearings during this past month, a judge ruled today to accept the plea deal worked out between Boeing and the Justice Department that allows the companyto avoid a criminal prosecution for its malfeasance and fraud that led to two 737-Max airplane crashes that killed a total of 346 people, thus dismissing the pending criminal charges.

A criminal conspiracy case was held against Boeing following the two fatal crashes of its 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The Department of Justice had initially accused Boeing of deceiving the federal regulators in relation to flight control system issues. Following the dismissal, Boeing has agreed that it would pay and or invest up to $1.1 billion in compensation to victims’ families, alongside other fines.

This dismissal comes almost a year after Boeing had reached an agreement with the DOJ, under which it would see the American plane manufacturer plead guilty and serve a term of probation. In a report by CNBC, the dismissal order acknowledged the victims’ families, many of whom opposed the dismissal, that the agreement could fail to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public, and that the dismissal did not acknowledge that the manufacturer needed to be subject to independent monitoring.

It should be noted that Boeing has not only admitted to its corrupt behavior, it has already thumbed its nose at the Justice Department. As I noted in March,

In 2021 Boeing admitted to these charges as part of a plea deal with Justice, whereby prosecution would be deferred for three years if Boeing took certain actions to clean up its act. When that deal expired in 2024, Justice determined that Boeing had failed to live up to its agreement. Rather than go to criminal trial however government lawyers instead attempted twice to settle the case by having Boeing pay a big fine, first $243 million and then $455 million. In both cases the deals fell through when lawyers for the victims’ families objected.

The families still object, for the very rational reasons listed above. Boeing remains a very untrustworthy company, with a corporate culture that does not appear to require high standards, or even low standards, while allowing corruption and fraud to run rampant. This deal in many ways lets it off the hook.

At the same time, the deal is clearly an effort by Justice to give Boeing another opportunity to reform itself. We shall see if it works. Skepticism is certainly called for.

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SpaceX and Arianespace make launch predictions for ’25 and ’26

9:40 am

In separate announcements this week, officials from Arianespace and SpaceX revealed their launch plans for the rest of this year and next.

First, Arianespace officials revealed yesterday that it is hoping to do six to eight Ariane-6 launches in 2026.

During a post-flight conference following the launch of Sentinel-1D, Arianespace CEO David Cavaillès stated that while the company preferred to wait until next year to reveal details about its 2026 launch manifest, it was aiming to double its launch cadence. He added that a cadence of between six and eight next year “will be great.”

If the company does manage eight Ariane 6 flights in 2026, it will already be close to reaching the stated maximum launch cadence of between nine and ten flights per year. When asked if this cadence could be increased, Cavaillès explained that the decision would be driven by customer demand.

Since customer demand for Ariane-6 has been quite low, because of its high cost, don’t expect this launch rate to rise much higher. Arianespace’s only big contract is 18 launches for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation. Once that is completed it is not clear where much future business will be coming from, even with some bureaucrats lobbying the European Space Agency to require its members to use it. There are too many cheaper options available now, with many more coming on line, both in America and Europe.

Next, a SpaceX official noted at a conference this week that the company hopes to complete another 25 to 30 Falcon 9 launches before the end of the year.

“We’re aiming for around 170 — between 165 and 170 — which means 25 to 30 more launches to go,” Kiko Dontchev, the company’s vice president of launch, said during a Wednesday session at the Space Economy Summit 2025.

…All together, “we’ll get to 2,400, 2,200 [metric tons launched] or something like that, which is absurd in the grand scheme of where things have been,” he added. Historically, that is close to the global record for metric tons launched to space by all companies and nations — about 2,500 metric tons in 2024, according to Jonathan’s Space Report, compiled by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

In other words, SpaceX hopes its Falcon 9 rocket will this year alone place in orbit almost the same tonnage launched previously by everyone in the three-quarters of a century since Sputnik.

Cavaillès’ forecast means the company is likely to get very close to its prediction for launches at the beginning of the year, 180, that also included its Superheavy/Starship test launches. Quite an amazing achievement.

And as Al Jolson once said, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

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State Department blasts the European Union’s proposed Space Act

9:06 am

The European Union
This label would be more accurate if it read
“NOT made in the European Union”

In a comment the State Department posted on November 4, 2025 on the European Commission’s website for public comment in connection with the European Union’s proposed Space Act, the Trump administration lambasted that law as imposing “unacceptable regulatory burdens on U.S. providers of space services to European customers.”

As a general matter, the United States expresses deep concern regarding measures in the proposed Act that would impose unacceptable regulatory burdens on U.S. providers of space services to European customers.

As close partners in civil, commercial, and security aspects of space cooperation for decades, the EU should proceed cautiously when developing and refining the proposed EU Space Act to ensure it provides a permissive and adaptable framework that promotes innovation, investment, and fair competition for the U.S., EU, and EU member states commercial sectors, while respecting each other’s sovereignty. Otherwise, the ability of the United States, the EU, and EU members to maintain government-to-government burden-sharing partnerships could be threatened. These non-tariff barriers would introduce challenges in the areas of space weather, remote sensing, space exploration, spaceflight safety, space debris mitigation and remediation, communications, as well as cooperations with the European Space Agency.

No one should be surprised by this response. Trump has always been aggressive in his desire to limit regulation. He has also been passionate about defending U.S. sovereignty. As I noted in June 2025 when the law was first released,
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Starlab picks Leidos to assembly, integrate, and test its space station prior to launch

8:07 am

Starlab design in 2025
The Starlab design in 2025. Click
for original image.

The consortium building the large single-module Starlab space station (intended to launch on Starship) yesterday picked the American company Leidos to assembly, integrate, and test its station prior to launch.

Leidos will assemble and integrate the components of Starlab’s space station into a complete system, supporting compatibility and verifying performance through environmental, functional and performance testing in Alabama. Additional responsibilities under the agreement include safety and mission assurance and systems engineering.

Since the consortium’s lead company, Voyager Space, raised nearly $400 million in its first public stock offering in June, Starlab has been signing up a lot of new partners, many of which like Leidos are aimed at building the station itself. First it signed the company Journey to design the station’s interior. Then it signed the Louisiana space hardware company Vivace to build Starlab’s primary structure. Next, a Belgium software company specializing in payload integration joined the consortium. Finally Voyager last week acquired the satellite electric propulsion company Exoterra. Initially I thought this last acquisition was aimed at increasing Voyager’s ability to win military contracts, but it also could provide the station itself with a system for orientation and propulsion.

All in all, this activity continues to strengthen Starlab’s position in the competition to win major contracts and customers leading to the construction of the station itself. Below is my updated rankings of the four commercial stations under development:
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Two American launches today, setting several new launch records

8:58 pm

The beat goes on! Three different American companies attempted launches today, with two successfully getting off the ground while the third was forced to scrub due to an unspecified technical issue.

First Rocket Lab successfully launched another radar satellite for the Japanese company Q-Shu Pioneers (iQPS), its Electron rocket lifted off from one of Rocket Labs’ two New Zealand launchpads. This was the fifth launch out of a total eleven-launch contract that Rocket Lab has from Q-Shu. The launch also tied Rocket Lab’s record for the most successful orbital launches in a single year, 14, set in 2024.

Next, SpaceX launched another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The launch once again set a new annual launch record for SpaceX.

Only about two hours later, ULA attempted to launch a Viasat communications satellite using its Atlas-5 rocket, also lifting off from Cape Canaveral. At T-minus 4 minutes however there was an unplanned hold. After trouble-shooting the problem for almost an hour, they scrubbed the launch with only a few minutes left in the launch window. They will try again tomorrow.

With the two successful launches, the world’s global launch industry tied the record that was set last year for the most successful orbital launches in a single year, 256. That record will certainly be passed in the next few days.

What is more significant is that until 2020, the industry struggled to reach 100 launches per year. Since then the numbers have skyrocketed, led mostly by SpaceX’s overwhelming success.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

144 SpaceX (a new record)
67 China
14 Rocket Lab (tying its previous record)
13 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 144 to 112.

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Arianespace launches European radar satellite

8:32 am

The commercial arm of the European Space Agency, Arianespace, yesterday successfully launched Europe’s Sentinel-1D radar satellite, its Ariane-6 rocket lifting off from France’s French Guiana spaceport.

As noted here,

The 2,184-kilogram Sentinel-1D satellite is a twin of Sentinel-1C, which was launched aboard a Vega C rocket in December 2024. Given that the Ariane 62 can deliver more than 10 tonnes to low Earth orbit, launching the 2.3-tonne Sentinel-1D on a dedicated flight appears excessive, particularly as its twin was launched on a Vega C rocket.

Officials claimed the reason was a need to get the satellite in orbit because one in orbit had failed, and because of the delay in Vega-C launches because of a launch failure. Since Vega-C however has fixed the nozzle issue that caused the failure and resumed launches, this argument is unconvincing. I suspect the real reason is that Arianespace has had problems getting customers for Ariane-6. Other than Amazon, which purchased 18 launches, European companies and nations have been generally reluctant to use Ariane-6 because it is too expensive (it is expendable).

This was only the fifth launch by Europe in 2025, so the leader board for the 2025 launch race remains unchanged:

143 SpaceX
67 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 143 to 111.

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Someone is apparently considering putting a helicopter on Starship when it goes to Mars

2:53 pm

Potential Starship helicopter location

In my regular trolling through the images sent down from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), I sometimes come across things that imply truly exciting future missions. That happened when in 2019 I found a bunch of photos each labeled as a “candidate landing site for SpaceX Starship”. Without fanfare SpaceX had begun researching locations for where it intended to land Starship on Mars, in the northern lowland plains, research that it later solidified considerably.

Similarly, I have found MRO images in 2022 suggesting scientists were thinking of running a helicopter mission inside Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system. Another image in 2024 suggested that a helicopter mission might go to another region in Mars’s southern cratered highlands.

The image to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, is another new example of a potential Martian helicopter mission. It was taken on August 19, 2025 and is labeled provocatively “Characterize Possible Rotorcraft Landing Site.” Unlike the previous two proposed helicopter locations, however — which appeared to be aimed at uncertain NASA funding — this image’s location suggests it is far more certain, and might launch far sooner than you can imagine.
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Intuitive Machines buys Lanteris, formerly Maxar

11:05 am

The lunar lander startup Intuitive Machines today continued its diversification into other space fields by acquiring the long-established satellite and spacecraft manufacturer Lanteris, formerly known as Maxar, for about $800 million.

The transaction is priced at $800 million, consisting of $450 million in cash and $350 million in Intuitive Machines Class A common stock, subject to adjustment. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. As a stand-alone company, Lanteris is a cash generating business. As a combined company, Intuitive Machines expects to have adequate cash on hand for continued operations.

Intuitive Machines has attempted two lunar landings, both of which were failures when its lander fell over at touchdown. Since then it has made a concerted effort to diversify into other areas, including developing a returnable capsule, Zephyr, a lunar manned rover, Moon Racer, and an orbital tug. It has also acquired KinetX, a company specializing in space navigation and communications.

This new acquisition positions the company to bid on a much wider range of space projects, including military contracts relating to its Golden Dome project that is expected to cost billions.

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MDA invests $7 million to become part owner of proposed Nova Scotia spaceport

9:29 am

Proposed Canadian spaceports
Proposed Canadian spaceports

The Canadian space company MDA Space has now purchased for $10 million ($7 million in U.S. dollars) a part ownership in the proposed Spaceport Nova Scotia that the startup Maritime Launch Services (MLS) has been trying to establish since 2016, with little success.

The transaction includes an Investor Rights Agreement, entered into between MDA Space and Maritime Launch, providing MDA Space with certain rights, including the right to nominate one individual to sit on the board of Maritime Launch and pro-rata participatory rights in future financings of the Spaceport. The investment will be used for applicable research and development initiatives relating to the ongoing development of Spaceport Nova Scotia and will trigger the retirement of convertible debentures.

The history of this spaceport has been a frustrating one. Originally it had partnered with a Ukrainian rocket company, proposing to offer satellite companies both the launch facilities and the rocket. That plan died in 2022, when Russia invaded the Ukraine and the rocket company switched from making rockets to making drones.

MLS then opened up Spaceport Nova Scotia to all rocket companies, hoping the new launch startups building portable small rockets that could be set up anywhere would buy in. Though it periodically announced deals, none were with established orbital companies. Some were startups that after years have yet to launch, such as the British company Skyrora. Other contracts were with startups that weren’t even rocket companies, such as the space station startup Voyager Space.

Meanwhile, a second spaceport startup, Nordspace, appeared in 2022, proposing a spaceport in Newfoundland dubbed The Atlantic Spaceport. While it has not launched anything either, it has quickly signed contracts for ground stations and a mission control center, and even attempted (though scrubbed) a launch of its own rocket.

Whether this new deal can finally get Spaceport Nova Scotia off the ground remains very uncertain. MDA is not a launch company. It is a long established satellite company that also builds the robot arms used on ISS.

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A think tank releases its detailed review of the American satellite communications industry

11:09 am

The state of the satellite constellation industry
Go here and here for originals.

Link to the press release is here. To read the actual report go here.

The report was issued by the LEO Policy Working Group, which calls itself “an independent body dedicated to providing forward-looking, data-driven analysis and policy recommendations to ensure the successful and sustainable deployment of next-generation Low Earth Orbit satellite systems.” In reviewing the membership of this group, I noticed that only one member appeared drawn from the industry itself (a former OneWeb advisor). The rest of the members were from lobbying groups, government agencies, academia, or DC think tanks.

Thus, I immediately wondered if this report was aimed against SpaceX and its present dominance, designed to justify further government regulation against it.

In reviewing the report however it does not seem so, at least on the surface. The report very accurately and detail describes the present state of the industry and all the players, including all the present constellations in orbit or under construction. It also describes the state of the launch industry on which they depend, including the risks entailed by SpaceX’s present dominance. At the same time it also notes at length that there is no evidence that SpaceX is doing anything to take advantage of that dominance.

Its recommendations are generally vague, and can be summed up simply as “Government should remain vigilant but do nothing drastic at this time.”

The report’s main benefit however its overall summary of the industry, as well as its detailed description of how the spectrum is regulated by government agencies.
» Read more

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Is the German government holding up Rocket Lab’s purchase of German space communications company Mynaric?

10:08 am

Even though Rocket Lab announced in March that it was acquiring the German laser communications company Mynaric for $150 million, and entered into the stock purchase agreement in September, the company has not yet gotten approval for the purchase from the German government, raising questions that approval might be denied.

A central question for regulators and industry observers is whether Mynaric, once owned by Rocket Lab, would still be deemed a European entity — a status that could determine its eligibility to compete for Europe’s planned sovereign communications network, known as IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). The multibillion-euro program, backed by the European Union, is designed to strengthen Europe’s independence in secure satellite communications and may restrict participation to European-controlled firms.

Those regulators however also have to consider whether IRIS will even fly. Designed to provide a government option to the internet constellations being operated or built by Starlink, Kuiper, and several Chinese projects, it is significantly delayed, vastly over budget, and unlikely to compete very successfully. There have been rumors several EU nations are even balking at building it at all.

If Rocket Labs’ purchase of Mynaric is denied, it will likely not harm that company significantly. It will however be another example of Europe cutting off its nose to spite its face. It will block this American company from providing business to Europe, even as its own government projects wither on the vine.

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Update on Vast’s first planned space station, Haven-1

9:51 am

Haven-2
Haven-2 station once completed

Link here. The article essentially puts together a number of X links that Jay has provided Behind the Black previously in his daily Quick Space Links reports to provide an overall picture. Two aspects stand out however.

One, the demo Vast launched this weekend on SpaceX’s bandwagon mission is expected to fly for about six months, and has successfully deployed its solar panels. During its flight the company will “test out key capabilities, such as Reaction Control Systems (RCS), power systems, and propulsion, in preparation for Haven-1”, which it hopes to launch in the spring.

Two, Haven-1’s planned mission remains unchanged. The company still intends to fly four crewed missions to it during its three-year mission, though who will make-up the crew and passengers remains unknown. This single module station is aimed at proving Vast’s capabilities at space station design and operation to convince NASA to award it a much larger contract to build its much larger Haven-2 multi-module station.

Max Haot [Vast’s CEO] described Haven-1 as the “minimum viable product”. With its one docking port and reliance on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for key life support systems, the station will enable the company to test out capabilities needed for larger stations in the future. The Dragon spacecraft requires a daily change of its CO2 scrubber; therefore, the station will launch with the necessary amount needed for 30-40 days on station for four astronauts.

All in all, Vast appears to be strongly demonstrating its capabilities, on schedule, making my listing it number one as most likely to win that big NASA contract increasingly correct. That ranking is made even more reasonable with the decision by NASA to now award several of those contracts, at smaller amounts, in a step-by-step process that matches milestones. Below is my updated rankings of the four commercial stations under development:
» Read more

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Two overnight launches

9:24 am

The beat goes on: Since yesterday there were two more successful rocket launches, from India and SpaceX.

First, SpaceX last night launched its fourth Bandwagon mission carrying 18 mid-sized smallsat payloads, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its third flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral. The fairings completed their 11th and 13th flights respectively.

Bandwagon rideshare missions are dedicated missions by SpaceX. SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program provides small satellite operators with regularly scheduled, dedicated Falcon 9 rideshare missions to mid-inclination orbits for ESPA-class payloads, starting at $300,000 per mission and including up to 50kg of payload mass.

Among these payloads two were most notable, a South Korean military surveillance satellite and a demo module for the space station startup Vast. With the latter, the company will use this unmanned orbiting prototype to test operations to prepare for the launch in the spring of its full-sized manned demo station, Haven-1.

Next India’s space agency ISRO today launched its largest rocket, LVM3, lifted off from its Sriharikota spaceport, carrying the heaviest payload India had yet launched, a government communications satellite.

It appears the LVM-M3 has finally be given a real name. Previously ISRO called it the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV). When it was upgraded to a more powerful version intended for India’s manned program, the name was revised to LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3). News reports today referred to the rocket now as Bahubali, calling it a “nickname.”

In all of ISRO’s missions the agency routinely uses very generic official names, but appears to eventually accept nicknames that the press uses, such as Chandrayaan for its moon missions, Mangalyaan for its Mars orbiter, Gaganyaan for its manned missions, and now Bahubali for this rocket. Increasingly however the Modi government seems to be pushing to use these names instead of those generic titles.

This was India’s third launch in 2025. The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

143 SpaceX (a new annual record)
66 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 143 to 109.

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SpaceX launches 28 more Starlink satellites

3:33 pm

SpaceX this afternoon successfully placed another 28 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off form Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage (Booster 1063) completed its 29th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. With this flight this booster has now flown more times than the space shuttle Columbia, as shown below in the rankings for the most reused launch vehicles:

39 Discovery space shuttle
33 Atlantis space shuttle
31 Falcon 9 booster B1067
29 Falcon 9 booster B1071
29 Falcon 9 booster B1063
28 Columbia space shuttle
27 Falcon 9 booster B1069

Sources here and here.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

142 SpaceX (a new annual record)
66 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 142 to 108.

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Two former NASA administrators express wildly different opinions on NASA’s Artemis lunar program

1:07 pm

At a symposium yesterday in Alabama, former NASA administrators Charles Bolden and Jim Bridenstine expressed strong opinions about the state of NASA’s Artemis lunar program and the chances of it getting humans back to Moon before the end of Trump’s term in office and before China.

What was surprising was how different those opinions were, and who said what. Strangely, the two men took positions that appeared to be fundamentally different than the presidents they represented.

Charles Bolden
Charles Bolden

Charles Bolden was administrator during Barack Obama’s presidency. Though that administration supported the transition to capitalism, it also was generally unenthusiastic about space exploration. Obama tasked Bolden with making NASA a Muslim outreach program, and in proposing a new goal for NASA he picked going to an asteroid, something no one in NASA or the space industry thought sensible. Not surprisingly, it never happened.

Bolden’s comments about Artemis however was surprisingly in line with what I have been proposing since December 2024, de-emphasize any effort to get back to the Moon and instead work to build up a thriving and very robust competitive space industry in low Earth orbit:

Duffy’s current messaging is insisting it’ll be accomplished before Trump’s term ends in January 2029, but Bolden isn’t buying it. “We cannot make it if we say we’ve got to do it by the end of the term or we’re going to do it before the Chinese. That doesn’t help industry.”

Instead the focus needs to be on what we’re trying to accomplish. “We may not make it by 2030, but that’s okay with me as long as we get there in 2031 better than they are with what they have. That’s what’s most important. That we live up to what we said we were going to do and we deliver for the rest of the world. Because the Chinese are not going to bring the rest of the world with them to the Moon. They don’t operate that way.” [emphasis mine]

In other words, the federal government should focus on helping that space industry grow, because a vibrant space industry will make colonizing the Moon and Mars far easier. And forget about fake deadlines. They don’t happen, and only act to distort what you are trying to accomplish.

Meanwhile, Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator during Trump’s first term, continued to lambast SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander contract, saying it wasn’t getting the job done on time, and in order to beat the Chinese he demanded instead that the government begin a big government-controlled project to build a lander instead.
» Read more

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SpaceX: Starship will be going to the Moon, with or without NASA

12:27 pm

Artist's rending of Starships on the Moon
SpaceX’s artist’s rending of Starships on the Moon.
Click for original.

In what appears to be a direct response to the claim by NASA’s interim administrator Sean Duffy that SpaceX is “behind” in developing a manned lunar lander version of Starship, SpaceX today posted a detailed update of the status that project, noting pointedly the following in the update’s conclusion:

NASA selected Starship in 2021 to serve as the lander for the Artemis III mission and return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo. That selection was made through fair and open competition which determined that SpaceX’s bid utilizing Starship had the highest technical and management ratings while being the lowest cost by a wide margin. This was followed by a second selection [Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander] to serve as the lander for Artemis IV, moving beyond initial demonstrations to lay the groundwork that will ensure that humanity’s return to the Moon is permanent.

Starship continues to simultaneously be the fastest path to returning humans to the surface of the Moon and a core enabler of the Artemis program’s goal to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface. SpaceX shares the goal of returning to the Moon as expeditiously as possible, approaching the mission with the same alacrity and commitment that returned human spaceflight capability to America under NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

The update then provides a list of the testing and engineering work that SpaceX has been doing on the Starship lunar lander, including full scale drop tests simulating lunar gravity, qualification of the docking ports, and the construction of a full scale mock-up of the Starship cabin to test its systems.

A close list of the work done is actually not that impressive, but at the same time this is not surprising. SpaceX is now mostly focused on getting Starship into orbit, proving it can be refueled there, and proving it can fly for long enough to get to the Moon. This part of the update was most exciting, as it confirms what I have suspected for next year’s flight program:
» Read more

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AST SpaceMobile signs 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia

9:22 am

The American satellite startup AST Spacemobile yesterday signed a ten year $175 million deal with Saudi Arabia’s telecommunications company STC to use is Bluebird satellite constellation provide its phone-to-satellite service to Saudi Arabia.

AST SpaceMobile will integrate its space-based cellular broadband connectivity with stc’s terrestrial infrastructure to expand mobile coverage across Saudi Arabia, as well as select countries in the Middle East and Africa. The partnership aims to eliminate connectivity gaps by delivering 5G and 4G LTE services directly to standard mobile phones without the need of any specialized software or device support or updates, for consumers, enterprises, and government sectors, ensuring seamless voice and broadband access

Under this agreement, the first in the region for AST SpaceMobile, the company will build three ground gateways in Saudi Arabia and establish a Network Operations Center (NOC) in Riyadh to support the network’s operations and service quality. These key infrastructure developments will be instrumental in providing seamless connectivity across the region.

In many ways, this company is the only one that is succeeding in a direct competition with SpaceX. Both companies are launching satellites designed to act as orbiting cell towers for smart phones. Both are now operational to about the same extent. And both are winning contracts in the U.S. and internationally.

With rocketry however no one else is even close to SpaceX. It is a decade since it introduced reusability in rockets, and still no one else has done it. And as for its Starlink internet satellite constellation, only now, five years after that constellation’s first launch, are other satellite constellations beginning to launch. Its 5,000-plus constellation exceeds all other constellations combined.

AST is not only competing with SpaceX, it might even be winning. For that the company deserves great kudos indeed.

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Lawsuit against Amazon for favoring Blue Origin over SpaceX to launch Kuiper satellites gets new hearing

8:01 am

The lawsuit originally filed in 2023 against Amazon because it favored other less reliable rockets, including Blue Origin’s forever-delayed New Glenn, instead of using SpaceX to launch its Kuiper constellation of satellites, got a new hearing yesterday after the suit was dismissed in February.

The suit is now being pursued a pension fund that apparently invested in the Kuiper constellation, and claims Jeff Bezos used his influence to convince Amazon to avoid using SpaceX when it signed launch contracts with ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin in 2022, even though none of those rockets were even operational at the time. Even now they appear unable to meet Amazon’s launch requirements.

Amazon has until 2026 to send up the first 1,600 satellites and three more years to launch the next batch. That broader backdrop barely came up during the appeal proceedings, which zoomed in on allegations that the board made no effort to oversee self-dealing by Bezos as he directed billions from Amazon to his own rocket company, Blue Origin, despite SpaceX’s superior capabilities.

Vivek Upadhya, counsel for the pension fund, stressed the “billions of dollars flowing directly from Amazon to a company owned and controlled by Amazon’s CEO and chairman.” The sheer scale of the conflict of interest made the Blue Origin contract “a truly exceptional transaction” requiring attentive board supervision, regardless of the actual role Bezos played in negotiations, according to Upadhya. “Delaware law doesn’t require that directors harbor some innate suspicion” before taking steps to manage conflicts, but the board “failed to lift a finger,” he said.

Following the filing of the 2023 lawsuit, Amazon signed SpaceX to a three-launch contract, which SpaceX has now completed. Meanwhile, only ULA has managed any of the other launches, three also. As for Arianespace and Blue Origin, it is not clear when either will begin doing any Kuiper launches.

It does appear Amazon’s board played favorites here, and did so in a way that was harmful to the company’s bottom line. Whether this can be proved to the satisfaction of the court however is very uncertain.

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SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites

9:43 am

SpaceX once again broke its annual record for successful launches today, placing 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its 15th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

141 SpaceX (a new record)
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 141 to 107. The U.S. launch total in 2025, now 159, is also a new record.

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Blue Origin officials provide update on their lunar lander program

9:30 am

2023 artist rendering of the manned Blue Moon lander
2023 artist rendering of the manned Blue Moon lander

Link here. According to the article, the company is presently stacking its first unmanned version of its Blue Moon lander, dubbed Blue Moon Mark 1, scheduled for launch now next year.

The 8.1-meter-tall cargo lander will help with ongoing development of their crewed lander, named Blue Moon Mk. 2, which is 15.3 meters tall. Both are powered by Blue Origin’s BE-7 engines, which are being tested on stands in Alabama, Texas and Washington.

…“A big milestone for you to look out for online is that Mk. 1 is three modules that are being stacked as we speak: aft, forward and mid. And once it is stacked in its finished configuration, we will be barging it over to NASA Johnson Space Center Chamber A to do a full up thermal vac campaign,” said [Jacqueline Cortese, Blue Origin’s Senior Director of Civil Space]. “So when you see that on its boat, you will know that big things are happening.”

Both versions of the lander are powered by a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. A key difference though is that Mk.1 can be launched to the Moon with a single launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket while Mk. 2 requires orbital refueling. [emphasis mine]

The highlighted sentence above is important because it illustrates the absurdity of the comments last week by interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy, claiming SpaceX’s program to make Starship a manned lunar lander is “behind”, forcing him to open up the competition to Blue Origin, who might get it done sooner.

One of the big issues used against SpaceX is that Starship will need to be refueled once in orbit to work as a lunar lander, and that technology needs to be developed and tested. The problem with this criticism is that, as noted above, Blue Origin’s manned lunar lander also needs to be refueled.
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Startup semi-conductor manufacturer Besxar signs deal to use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage as production platform during its short flight

8:57 am

In what appears to be first, the startup Besxar has signed a deal with SpaceX to fly what it calls its Fabships on the first stage of the Falcon 9 in order to take advantage of the extreme vacuum of space to produce better semi-conductors.

Fabships will be integrated on Falcon 9 first stage boosters and retrieved post launch after the rocket safely returns to land. The campaign marks the first-ever reusable payload program to launch on a SpaceX rocket and will accelerate Besxar’s path toward building the world’s first orbital semiconductor foundry. This flight campaign will debut Besxar’s “Clipper-class” Fabship, engineered for short-duration, quick-turnaround sorties that enable rapid iteration and demonstrate the first phase in Besxar’s broader vision to establish scalable semiconductor production in orbit.

Besxar is pioneering a new class of orbital manufacturing, using the ultra-high vacuum (UHV) of space to produce ultra-pure substrates and precursor materials—the foundational building blocks for AI data centers, quantum computing, nuclear systems, next-generation defense systems, and directed-energy applications. By manufacturing in orbit, Besxar can achieve purity levels and yield efficiencies impossible on Earth, effectively doubling the chip cost-efficiency for next-generation AI workloads.

The deal is for twelve flights, with the first occurring as soon as this year. The deal not only allows Besxar an opportunity to produce a better product it can sell, it gives SpaceX another avenue for profits. It is in fact surprising that SpaceX has not done more deals like this, especially with its Dragon cargo capsule. There is a whole cottage industry now developing using returnable capsules for in-space manufacturing — led by Varda. That SpaceX hasn’t offered Dragon as yet is puzzling. It is possible Dragon is simply too expensive and large at this time, based on the nascent state of this industry. Once investors see profits from the smaller new capsules like Varda’s they will look at Dragon as an option.

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SpaceX settles Cards Against Humanity lawsuit against it

9:26 am

Though no monetary numbers have been released, its appears Cards Against Humanity (CAH) has settled its $15 million lawsuit with SpaceX, instigated when the company illegally stored equipment on a piece of land CAH had purchased in 2017 in an effort to block Trump’s border wall.

Per AP, according to Texas court records, a settlement was finalized last month, prior to the upcoming Nov. 3 jury trial marked on the calendar. SpaceX owns other land plots in the Brownsville, Texas area in Cameron County, but apparently had no right to use this patch.

“The upside is that SpaceX has removed their construction equipment from our land and we’re able to work with a local landscaping company to restore the land to its natural state: devoid of space garbage and pointless border walls,” CAH wrote in a recent message to customers. “Were we hoping to be able to pay all our fans? Sure. But we did warn them they would probably only be able to get like $2 or most likely nothing.”

Based on a somewhat childish and obscene statement from CAH describing the settlement, it got little additional money from SpaceX. The company admitted its trespass, agreed to pay for the restoration, but agreed to nothing else. In response, CAH says it will issue a free new set of cards “all about Musk” to those who donated to buy the land. The tone of CAH suggests the cards will be equally childish and obscene.

As for the border wall, if the Trump administration decides it wants to build it across this piece of land, CAH’s ownership won’t make any difference. The Trump administration will simply initiate eminent domain proceedings to take the land.

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Voyager Space buys satellite electric propulsion company Exoterra

9:04 am

Voyager Space announced yesterday that it has acquired Exoterra, a company that specializes in building electric propulsion engines for satellites.

ExoTerra’s proprietary technology delivers precise maneuvering, extended lifetimes and high efficiency delta-V – essential for spacecraft across national defense architecture layers that must be able to reposition, avoid threats and sustain mission advantage.

…ExoTerra’s Halo thruster technology is proven aboard DARPA Blackjack ACES spacecraft and the company recently supplied York Space Systems with 21 propulsion modules for the Space Development Agency Transport Layer. The company also has contracts with commercial companies and organizations such as NASA.

Voyager Space began as a space station startup, acting as the lead company in the consortium building the Starlab station. Since then it has diversified its operations to make money in other space-related areas. This acquisition appears aimed at increasing Voyager’s ability to win contracts in connection with the military’s Golden Dome project.

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SpaceX launches another 28 Starlink satellites

8:39 am

SpaceX yesterday afternoon added another 28 Starlink satellites to its constellation, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its 17th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. This launch — as will every SpaceX launch for the rest of the year — also set a new annual launch record for both American and SpaceX.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

140 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 140 to 107.

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Luxembourg capsule startup Space Cargo signs partnership deal with French startup

9:01 am

The Luxembourg capsule startup Space Cargo today announced it has signed a partnership deal with the French startup Comat to work together to develop Space Cargo’s Bentobox orbital platform for in-space manufacturing, “which offers a pressurized and thermally controlled autonomous environment in orbit to operate industrial payloads and return them to Earth.”

COMAT, an experienced space equipment manufacturer, will provide extensive engineering and manufacturing capabilities in space systems, mechanical structures, and payload equipment to design and produce high-performance hardware for in-space manufacturing activities.

Bentobox is not a fully operational capsule. Its design up to now required it to be launched as part of another company’s returnable capsule. It appears this deal with Comat will provide Bentobox greater capabilities, though it is unclear whether it will allow it to return to Earth on its own.

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Ispace signs deals with companies in India and Japan

8:49 am

The Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace today announced it has signed partnership deals with two different companies, OrbitAid in India and Toyota in Japan.

The startup OrbitAid is India’s first “on-orbit refueling company”. It will provide Ispace’s landers with standardized docking ports as well as refueling capabilities.

The two companies aim to demonstrate the critical capabilities required for mission extension in the cislunar environment, enabling long-duration lunar operations and paving the way for a sustainable lunar economy. The integration of OrbitAID’s SIDRP interface is expected to not only optimize refueling, recharging, and data transmission capabilities but also support ispace’s efforts to enhance the performance and reliability of its landers. By enabling lunar refueling, both companies plan to facilitate deep-space exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.

Toyota meanwhile will provide technical support to Ispace as it develops its own second generation lunar rover, dubbed Lunar Cruiser. Ispace is already prepping a smaller rover that will fly on its next lunar landing mission.

Ispace has been signing on a range of customers and commercial partners in recent months, even though its only two attempts to land on the Moon both failed just before touch down. It has contracts with NASA, ESA, and JAXA for future missions. These new deals appear designed to strengthen and extend its capabilities beyond simply landing on the Moon, but also to provide interplanetary spacecraft as well.

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Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander delayed again

8:01 am

Moon's south pole, with landers indicated

According to an update on the status of Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander posted on October 24, 2025, the company has now delayed the launch from the fall of 2025 to July 2026, apparently because the spacecraft is not yet assembled and its many components are still undergoing testing.

For example, none of Griffin’s four propellant tanks have yet been installed. Nor apparently has its core structure been fully integrated, with “tanks, ramps, attitude control thrusters, and solar panels” only now having completed “fit checks.”

The map to the right indicates the location where Griffin is supposed to land, about 100 miles from the Moon’s south pole. Nova-C, Intuitive Machines first attempt to soft land on the Moon, landed at the green dot, but failed when it fell over at landing. Intuitive Machines second lunar lander, Athena, also fell over when it landed in the same region that is now Griffin’s target landing zone.

Griffin has experienced repeated delays since the contract was issued to Astrobotic in 2020. The mission was originally supposed to launch in November 2023, carrying NASA’s Viper rover. In July 2022 however it was delayed one year to November 2024 because Astrobotic said it needed more time.

Sometime after the failure of Astrobotic’s first lunar lander, Peregrine, in January 2024, NASA once again delayed the Griffin mission, pushing it back another year to November 2025.

In July 2024 NASA canceled Viper, removing it as a payload from Griffin, because Viper was significantly overbudget and would not be ready for that fall 2025 launch. NASA however did not cancel Griffin. It appears however that Astrobotic wasn’t ready either for a launch in November, and thus this further delay.

Whether it will be ready by July remains unknown. Based on Astrobotic’s own update I have serious doubts. For a spacecraft that was supposed to originally launch in 2023, Griffin seems woefully unready now, two years past that date.

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Two more launches, by China and SpaceX respectively

9:22 am

The global launch industry added two more launches to its 2025 launch totals since yesterday. First, China launched what its state-run press described as a Earth imaging satellite, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No information was released as to where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.

Then early today SpaceX placed another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

With this launch, the U.S. set a new annual record for successful launches, 158, beating the record set in 2024. In both years, the record was almost entirely due to SpaceX and its Falcon 9. Rocket Lab’s numbers continue to rise, suggesting the company is about to finally begin launching more than once a month. All the other American rocket companies, especially ULA, have in the past two years failed to deliver the number of launches promised. All continue to promise big numbers in 2026. We shall see.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

139 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 139 to 107.

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Nova Scotia spaceport wins $10 million credit line from Canadian government

2:36 pm

Proposed Canadian spaceports
Proposed Canadian spaceports

Maritime Launch Services, the startup that has been trying to establish a spaceport in Nova Scotia since 2016, without any success, was this week awarded a $10 million credit line from Canadian government’s Export Development agency (EDC).

EDC is Canada’s export credit agency, established in 1944 to help Canadian businesses of all sizes grow globally through trade financing, insurance, and market expertise. As part of its corporate strategy, EDC is committed to allocating strategic risk capital to developing trade-enabling infrastructure to help Canada become a more resilient, competitive, and secure global trading nation. EDC’s support of Maritime Launch as it develops Spaceport Nova Scotia will significantly strengthen Canada’s position in the defence and security sector, where space is an increasingly vital domain.

….The terms of the agreement provide development funding for Spaceport Nova Scotia’s next phase of construction, including launch pad and infrastructure development required to support future orbital missions.

This award is a bit puzzling, as Maritime has done nothing in the past decade to instill any confidence it is going to fulfill any of its promises. Its original plan, to offer satellite companies a launchpad and a rocket (made by a Ukrainian company) failed in 2022 when Russian invaded the Ukraine. Since the Maritime has struggled to get any other rocket companies interested in launching from Spaceport Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, a second Canadian commercial spaceport, the Atlantic Spaceport in Newfoundland, was proposed only three years ago. It is developing its own rocket, and has already signed contracts with other companies for its mission control center and tracking stations. In addition, it twice attempted a suborbital test launch of a smaller rocket, though both attempts were scrubbed due to fuel leaks in ground systems.

Whether this grant can jump start Maritime’s spaceport remains an open question. Very clearly, the Canadian government hopes so.

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