Doris Day – Shaking the Blues Away
An evening pause: From the 1955 film Love Me or Leave Me.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Tag: commercial
SpaceX launches 25 more Starlink satellites
The beat goes on: SpaceX today successfully launched another 25 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage completed its 19th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
It also appears on this launch SpaceX placed its 11,000th Starlink satellite into orbit. The actual number of satellites in orbit presently is much less than this, as SpaceX retires older Starlink satellites on a regularly basis. Nonetheless, the overall number is impressive, in that it was accomplished in less than seven years.
The 2026 launch race:
12 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
Though it is still early in 2026, note that SpaceX has now launched twice as much as the rest of the world, combined.
The Warning – Dust To Dust/Dull Knives
An evening pause: In 2017 I posted an evening pause of this band, when Daniela (on guitar) was 14 years old, Paulina (on drums) was 12 years old, and Alejandra (on bass guitar) was 9 yrs old. Today’s evening pause is from their 2023 tour in Mexico (where they are from), celebrating the band’s tenth anniversary. To put it mildly, they are a bit older.
Hat tip Matt Falk, who adds, “They are all adults now who’ve become one of the best live rock bands playing today, while still maintaining complete control of their career (a feat in itself).”
New ground-based space antenna startup raises $100 million and wins $50 million Space Force contract
In a clear sign that the space industry in space now requires increased support on the ground, the ground-based space antenna startup, Northwood Space, this week announced it has raised $100 million in private investment capital even as it simultaneously won a $50 million Space Force contract.
The funding round, announced January 27, was led by Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz. The financing came on the heels of a $49.8 million contract that was signed with the United States Space Force to help improve the “satellite control network,” which “handles a huge variety of consequential space missions for our government,” said Bridgit Mendler, founder and CEO.
Northwood is an end-to-end ground infrastructure provider for space missions. In other words, it manufactures and deploys antennae systems, which are smaller than older models, that allow Earth to communicate with satellites in space.
Northwood was only formed three years ago, so its success is an clear indication that there is a real need for more and better ground-based facilities.
German government hires German startup Polaris Spaceplanes to build reusable two-stage hypersonic plane
Mira-II prototype following first flight using
aerospike engine in October 2024.
The German government yesterday awarded a contract to the German startup Polaris Spaceplanes to build and fly a reusable two-stage hypersonic plane by 2027.
On 27 January, POLARIS Spaceplanes announced that it had been awarded a contract by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to build a fully reusable, horizontal take-off, two-stage hypersonic vehicle. The primary application of the Hypersonic Test and Experimentation Vehicle (HYTEV) will be as a hypersonic testbed for scientific and defence-related research. A variant of the vehicle with an expendable upper stage will also be capable of deploying small satellites into low Earth orbit.
According to the company, the HYTEV will be roughly the size and take-off mass of a fighter jet. The main stage will be powered by two turbofans and one of the company’s in-house developed aerospike rocket engines. The turbofans will be used for take-off and landing, and the rocket engine will accelerate the vehicle before upper-stage deployment. The upper stage will be entirely rocket-powered, with imagery accompanying the announcement appearing to show a more conventional rocket engine configuration compared with the aerospike engine equipped to the main stage. After completing its mission, it will likely be recovered under controlled glide conditions or potentially by a parachute or parafoil.
This deal appears to be an upgrade to a February 2025 German government deal with Polaris. It also follows Polaris’s successful use of an aerospike engine on a prototype test flight in 2024. While the company has shown some success, doing more than a dozen test flights with small scale prototypes (as shown in the image to the right), this program and schedule still seems quite ambitious.
SpaceX launches GPS satellite
SpaceX last night successfully launched a GPS satellite for the Space Force, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Space Force had originally hired ULA to launch this satellite, but two weeks ago it switched launch provider to SpaceX. Apparently the military wanted this satellite launched now, and for some reason ULA could not do it, even though the Vulcan rocket was supposedly ready for launch.
The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairing halves each completed their second flight.
The 2026 launch race:
11 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
Emmylou Harris – Tulsa Queen
An evening pause: Performed live 1979.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Musk: Next Starship/Superheavy test launch in mid-March
According to a recent tweet by Elon Musk , the next Starship/Superheavy test launch will occur “in 6 weeks,” placing that launch sometime in mid-March.
Musk provided no other information, but this announcement suggests the company’s engineers now understand and have corrected the issues that caused two Superheavy ruptures during two different tank tests in recent weeks. It also suggests that the launchpad repairs and upgrades will soon be completed, and that a new version 3 Superheavy prototype is ready to go, replacing one that was damaged during those tank tests.
The mission specifics however remain unclear. SpaceX could repeat the flight path of the last few tests, in an orbit low enough so that the atmosphere will bring Starship down over the Indian Ocean. In such a flight the company would test refueling within Starship, restarts of its Raptor engines, and deployment of dummy or even real Starlink satellites.
It is possible however that this next test flight will go into a full orbit, and circle the Earth once or several times. SpaceX has said that in 2026 it intends to do a Starship refueling test using two Starships, launched several weeks apart. To do this more ambitious mission however it first needs to do at least one full orbital flight of Starship. Since the company has already tested on previous orbital test flights the restart of Starship’s Raptor engines — proving its capability to do a controlled re-entry — there really is no reason it can’t go for a full orbit on the next flight. There is even the possibility that Starship will come back to Boca Chica and be caught the company’s tower chopsticks, though this remains unconfirmed.
Avio gets two new launch contracts for its Vega-C rocket
The Italian rocket company Avio has won two separate launch contracts for its Vega-C rocket, one from Airbus and a second from Brazil.
It also appears that these two contracts are the ones that Avio touted in late December for a total of $117 million, but did not reveal the customers at the time.
First, Brazil’s government will pay Avio $35.6 million to use the Vega-C rocket to launch its Amazonia-1B Earth observation satellite in 2027. This contract was obtained though the launch services company SpaceLaunch and is likely the deal first announced in September without mention of the customer.
Next, Airbus will use the Vega-C in 2028 to launch the first satellite in its Pléiades Neo Next Earth observation satellite constellation. Though the contract price was not announced, it is likely $84.4 million, the difference between the $117 million total for the two contracts and the $35.6 million Brazil is paying.
The price on both launch contracts illustrates how the competition from SpaceX and Rocket Lab is forcing launch costs down. A decade ago launches never cost less than $100 million. Now they always do, and the Brazil price of $35.6 million indicates even lower prices in the future.
SpaceX launches 25 more Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 25 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The 2026 launch race:
10 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
ESA awards startup Rocket Factory Augsburg a two-launch contract
Screen capture from video of the RFA-1
test failure in August 2024. Note the flame
shooting out sideways.
The European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday awarded the German rocket startup Rocket Factory Augsburg a two-launch contract under its “Flight Ticket Initiative”, designed to encourage the development of a commercial independent European launch market.
With these signatures between ESA and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), two more missions will be launched with the RFA One rocket from Saxavord Spaceport in the UK as part of the Flight Ticket Initiative. ESA and the European Commission have thus once again placed their trust in RFA as a future launch service provider.
…The Lurbat mission will fly a collection of demonstrator technologies and is developed by Added Value Solutions based in Spain. … A second mission will see the launch of two CubeSats developed under ESA contract by the Spanish company Indra Space. The CubeSats will hold five experiments selected by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe IOD/IOV call for Expression of Interest
Rocket Factory also has a launch contract with the German government. However it needs to first complete the first launch of its RFA-1 rocket. That launch was originally supposed to occur in 2024 but was canceled when the rocket’s first stage was destroyed during a static fire test on its Saxavord launchpad that year.
Since then the company has released little information about the rocket’s status. According to this news report today, it hopes to finally do that test launch this year. It better do it soon, as there is a slew of other European rocket companies that intend to do the same.
And then of course there is the question of the Saxavord spaceport and the red tape that has crippled all the spaceports in Great Britain. Both Saxavord and Rocket Factory have previously gotten their launch licenses from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), but it is unclear if those licenses remain valid, especially after the static fire explosion. Based on its past behavior, the CAA could have pulled the licenses, and is now reviewing the whole thing.
If so, it might take years for both to get an approval again. In fact, this might very well be the reason Rocket Factory didn’t launch in 2025.
826aska – James Bond theme
An evening pause: Who needs an orchestra when you have a modern synthesizer, properly programmed?
Hat tip Cotour.
Blue Origin to reuse first stage on next New Glenn flight
The New Glenn first stage after landing
in November.
In a sign that Blue Origin’s CEO David Limp is beginning to reshape the previously slow culture of the company, it announced yesterday that its next New Glenn launch, set for no earlier than late Feburary, will reuse the first stage that the company successfully landed on the last New Glenn flight in November 2025.
If this launch takes place as scheduled, it will mean Blue Origin was also able to inspect, refurbish as necessary, and prepare that used first stage in a little over three months. While not as fast as SpaceX is now doing with its Falcon 9 first stages, it is still remarkably fast, considering it is the first booster Blue Origin has recovered. SpaceX didn’t attempt its first reuse of a recovered first stage for a little more than a year after its first successful landing.
Of course, SpaceX was breaking new ground, so more caution and engineering work was needed. Blue Origin has the advantage of almost a decade of experience to draw upon. Nonetheless, Blue Origin’s decision to reuse so quickly is still impressive. It suggests its engineering behind New Glenn is very robust.
Limp still has work to do, however, to get Blue Origin operating with the speed matching SpaceX. This third launch of New Glenn will place an AST SpaceMobile Bluebird satellite into orbit, because the original payload, Blue Origin’s unmanned Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander, wasn’t ready as planned, and is still undergoing final ground check-ups.
Paul McCartney – Let It Be
An evening pause: Performed live 2009.
I must ask: It seems almost no one in pop music writes gentle ballads like this any longer. Everything must pound, with beautiful melody no longer a major consideration.
Blue Origin’s proposed TeraWave constellation: Is it really competition with SpaceX?
Blue Origin announced yesterday that it going to build a major satellite constellation — dubbed TeraWave and comprising more than 5,000 satellites — to provide internet service to the globe while also providing data center capability for those companies that wish to establish space-based cloud computing facilities.
It plans to begin launching satellites in 2027.
As I noted in today’s quick links below, such a story would normally merit a full post, “but considering Blue Origin’s inability to get almost anything off the ground, this proposal doesn’t deserve that much coverage at this point.” I just can’t get excited about any Blue Origin proposal, until they actually start launching it. For almost a decade this company has been making these kind of grand announcements, and has only so far managed to achieve one, its New Glenn rocket. And that has come years late and at a pace that is glacial.
Not surprisingly, the mainstream propaganda press immediately went bonkers over this proposal, immediately declaring most absurdly that TeraWave is already a major challenger to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. Here are just a few very typical examples:
- BBC: Bezos’ Blue Origin announces satellite rival to Musk’s Starlink
- CNBC: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches satellite internet service to rival SpaceX, Amazon
- Business Insider: Jeff Bezos’s grand plan for a satellite constellation to rival SpaceX is coming together
- The Verge: Blue Origin’s Starlink rival TeraWave promises 6-terabit satellite internet
This adulation by the mainstream press of Bezos is far from unusual. For reasons that baffle me, the propaganda press has consistently considered any project proposal coming from a Jeff Bezos’ company to instantly be God’s gift to humanity. For more than a decade now it has been touting Blue Origin as the company that SpaceX needs to beat, flipping reality on its head. Now it ranks Blue Origin’s TeraWave constellation a major Starlink rival, when it is at least two years from even launching its first satellite.
There is one aspect of this story however that does deserve to be highlighted because it appears no one else is noticing it, which is why I after some thought I decided to write this full post. » Read more
Rocket Lab completes its first launch in 2026
Early this morning Rocket Lab successfully placed into orbit two satellites for the satellite company Open Cosmos, its Electron rocket lifting off from one of the company’s two launchpads in New Zealand.
The satellites appear to be test satellites designed to demonstrate Open Cosmos’s capabilities.
The 2026 launch race:
9 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
Isar postpones 2nd Spectrum rocket launch attempt, no new date set
Proposed or active spaceports in North Europe
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace yesterday canceled its second attempt to launch its Spectrum rocket from Norway’s Andoya spaceport, citing an issue with a “pressurization valve”.
We are standing down from today’s launch attempt to address an issue with a pressurization valve. The teams are currently assessing the next possible launch opportunities and a new target date will be announced shortly.
The update also stated the company is moving to a “new launch window” without noting the dates of that window. This statement however suggests that no new launch attempt will occur for at least a month. And considering it is winter at Andoya in the high north, it is quite possible the launch will be delayed until March.
Meanwhile, Andoya continues to lead the race to become the first spaceport in Europe to achieve an orbital launch. Sweden’s Estrange spaceport is limited because of its interior location. The two sea platforms proposed for the North Sea are not yet ready.
And the United Kingdom has effectively eliminated itself from the competition. Its bureaucracy and Byzantine regulations have now put two rocket companies out of business, and that same red tape (combined with location opposition) has essentially shut down the Sutherland spaceport. I doubt there are any rocket companies willing to deal with the UK at this point.
French smallsat rocket startup Latitude targeting a first launch in early ’27
In a long interview released yesterday, the CEO of the French smallsat rocket startup Latitude revealed that they expect to do the first launch its Zephyr rocket no later than early ’27, and that launch will not take place in French Guiana, where it is presently developing facilities for launches.
The spaceport at French Guiana is developing a single launchpad designed to serve multiple rocket companies, and so it can’t handle Latitude’s planned launch rate. Thus the company is presently negotiating with other spaceports for its first launch, to give it more flexibility.
Zephyr will also not be reusable, as the company has determined that it isn’t profitable for small rockets.
Latitude has deliberately chosen not to pursue first-stage reusability for Zephyr, a decision Maximin defended with detailed economic analysis. “Our calculations show that with that size, it is not economically viable,” he stated, noting that even with parachute recovery, the maintenance costs and performance penalties outweigh manufacturing savings for a rocket of Zephyr’s class. He pointed to Rocket Lab’s paused reusability efforts as validation: “They have stopped it, despite having done everything. I think it’s not that profitable, if not at all.”
If the company upgrades to a larger rocket in the future it plans to revisit this issue.
Video of the interview is available here.
Rocket Lab experiences a tank failure during Neutron pressure test
Artist’s rendering of Neutron’s first stage fairings opening
to deploy the payload with the second stage engine.
According to an update posted yesterday, during a pressure test of a first stage tank for Rocket Lab’s new Neutron rocket, the tank ruptured.
As the company pushes Neutron to the limits and beyond to qualify its systems and structures for launch, qualification testing of the Stage 1 tank overnight resulted in a rupture during a hydrostatic pressure trial. Testing failures are not uncommon during qualification testing. We intentionally test structures to their limits to validate structural integrity and safety margins to ensure the robust requirements for a successful launch can be comfortably met.
There was no significant damage to the test structure or facilities, the next Stage 1 tank is already in production, and Neutron’s development campaign continues while the team assesses today’s test outcome.
The team is reviewing the Stage 1 test data, which will determine the extent of the impact to Neutron’s launch schedule.
The company was aiming to do Neutron’s first launch in the first quarter of this year. Though the press release is vague on this point, its language suggests the rupture did not occur at the expected maximum pressure, but took place sooner, at a lower pressure level. If the tank failed at maximum pressure, then there would be no need to reconsider the launch schedule. A failure at lower pressures would require changes in tank design, and thus a launch delay.
The company says it will provide an update in February, which further suggests a launch in the first quarter is now unlikely.
Orbex’s Danish subsidiary to file for bankruptcy
In what appears to confirm the story yesterday that the rocket startup Orbex was about to be bought out by the French startup The Exploration Company — thus likely ending operations in Great Britain — there was a second follow-up story later in the day that claimed Orbex’s Danish subsidiary is about to file for bankruptcy.
On 20 January, more than 15 Orbital Express Launch ApS employees announced at around the same time on LinkedIn that they were looking for work. Since then, European Spaceflight has received confirmation from three independent sources, who wished to remain anonymous, that the subsidiary has dismissed its entire workforce, with the company expected to officially file for bankruptcy on 22 January.
The article notes that this subsidiary had been losing millions in the past two years, and was entirely reliant on cash from its parent company. Unfortunately, Orbex has had no incoming revenue itself, because red tape in the United Kingdom had prevented it from launching for the past four years.
If true, this story confirms that Orbex’s negotiations with The Exploration Company is likely an attempt to make as much money from its remaining assets as possible before closing down.
Congratulations to the United Kingdom, the land where rocket companies go to die!