Tag: politics

Voyager completes purchase of Astrobotic; obtains $250 million credit line

9:15 am

Starlab design as of December 2025
Starlab design as of December 2025

The space station startup Voyager Technologies — the lead company in the consortium building the Starlab space station — has in the past week made major moves to solidify its financial situation as well as diversify its holdings.

First, it announced it had “closed a $250 million credit facility led by J.P. Morgan.”

The upsized facility expands Voyager’s financial flexibility, providing liquidity at scale to support accelerating customer demand across the company’s space, defense and national security portfolio.

I don’t claim to understand the jargon of the banking business, but I think this translates into a $250 million credit line with J.P. Morgan, giving Voyager access to cash when it needs it. The collateral for this credit line is probably based on the undisclosed capital investment the company obtained in January and May 2026. It also provides us a good indication of the amount of capital obtained in those earlier announcements.

Next, Voyager announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the lunar lander startup Astrobotic, first revealed in early June. In doing so, it also noted the new $298 million contracts NASA had issued to Astrobotic on June 30, 2026 for two more Peregrine lunar landers.

The Astrobotic subsidiary will now operate under the name Voyager Lunar Systems.

These announcements once again strengthen the position of Voyager and its Starlab station in the competition to win a construction contract under NASA’s station program.

My updated ranking of the five American space stations presently under development:
» Read more

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ISRO completes more ground tests of its Gaganyaan capsule, confirming launch delay

8:47 am

Artist rendering of India's Gaganyaan capsule
Artist rendering of India’s Gaganyaan capsule

India’s space agency ISRO yesterday announced it has successfully completed three qualification tests of engineering required by its manned Gaganyaan capsule during re-entry and splashdown.

First, it successfully tested the system that will disconnect the electrical and fuel lines between the crew module and its service module just before re-entry. Next it tested the structural integrity of the capsule during the release of its parachute cover and deployment of the parachutes during descent. Finally, it tested the balloon system that will inflate upon splashdown to make sure the capsule stays upright.

That ISRO is only testing these items now confirms what was rumored in December 2025 and in February 2026. Though government officials in January 2026 claimed the first unmanned test flight of Gaganyaan would take place in March 2026, apparently the agency’s management had already decided further testing and redesign was necessary after drop tests in late 2025, and that such unmanned test flights would be delayed at least a year, with the manned flight probably pushed back to 2028.

Once again, the problem here is not the required redesign and new testing. It is good they are doing the right due diligence to make sure everything works. The problem is the lack of transparency and the refusal to say honestly the present state of the schedule. All we get are contradictory hints that only serve to cause distrust, which in turn serve to discredit the agency.

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SpaceX officials attend Louisiana government event outlining its effort to reduce red tape

10:53 am

Pecan Island SpaceX facility?

Though everyone continues to say “No comment” when asked about the rumors that SpaceX is about to buy a 200+square-mile parcel of land on the Louisiana coast near the unincorporated village of Pecan Island (see map to the right), two SpaceX officials attended in late June a Louisiana government event outlining its effort to reduce red tape in coastal areas.

The meeting on June 26 was primarily aimed at discussing ways to speed permitting and other regulatory steps for projects, which often require [Army Corps of Engineers] involvement and approval. The meeting included a broad range of attendees from government agencies, ports, contractors, industry associations and relevant nonprofits.

Two SpaceX representatives involved in governmental and regulatory matters participated, including one, Owen McDonough, who specialized in water and wetlands issues for the Environmental Protection Agency during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Michael Hare, executive director of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said he invited McDonough because he knew him from previous work and believed he could provide valuable insight into regulations surrounding water and wetlands issues. The other SpaceX representative, Brandon Conroy, was involved in required environmental mitigation efforts related to the company’s “Starbase” industrial and launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.

It sure appears as if the Louisianan government knows something about SpaceX’s intentions and is working hard to get it to sign on the dotted line. In May the Louisiana state legislature passed laws expressly designed to encourage SpaceX to come to the state, limiting the ability of activists to file frivolous lawsuits while providing tax breaks for “aerospace flight entities”.

At the same time, nothing concrete has come from SpaceX. It has submitted no permit applications with the Corp of Engineers, and its only comment about the rumors was vague and non-committal, saying merely that it is continuously exploring potential new launch sites for Starship.

Regardless of whether SpaceX actually buys this land, the effort by the Republican Louisianan government to encourage new industry in its state contrasts quite sharply with that of Democrats nationwide, who are routinely opposed to any new or old industry, seeing it as evil that must be shut down as quickly as possible.

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Democrat running for Texas attorney general wants to investigate Musk if elected

10:32 am

The Democratic Party in proper perspective
The Democratic Party, in proper perspective

They’re coming for you next: A Texas Democrat, Nathan Johnson, running for that state’s attorney general position, yesterday announced in an interview that he intends to investigate Elon Musk and SpaceX if elected, claiming the almost $110 million grant given to the company for its Starlink rural service was favoritism and corruption.

Not surprisingly, the Democrat sprinkled his accusations with a lie.

Johnson, who won the Democratic primary runoff for attorney general in May, said the award by Texas Republicans of 99% of the available grant funds to a company led by billionaire Musk, a Donald Trump ally, was lopsided. [emphasis mine]

The problem with Johnson’s claim is that it is utterly false. Texas awarded $1 billion in total grants to 17 different internet providers, with SpaceX getting a grant in the middle of the pack and only 11% of the total awarded. Other companies got far more, for doing far less.

Not surprising, both sources in the propaganda press, The Guardian and The Dallas Morning News, accepted this lie blindly, proving that neither has the slightest interest in reporting the news or any real facts, and are in fact more interested in acting as PR firms for the Democrats. Neither outlet spent even one nanosecond checking up on the Texas grant program. Its press release outlining the awards was remarkably transparent about the awards.

This story nicely exemplifies the modern ugly nature of both the Democratic Party and its supporters. They lie, are filled with envy, and are quite eager to use the power of government to destroy anyone who opposes them. No wonder the party has had no problem nominating and electing rapists, Nazis, and perverts as its candidates and officials.

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Japan’s space agency JAXA test flies and vertically lands a prototype first stage

9:27 am

Japan’s space agency JAXA today successfully completed a 40-second vertical take-off and landing of a small scale prototype Grasshopper first stage.

At its Noshiro testing center in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, the RV-X test rocket slowly landed after rising about 11 meters and moving horizontally while maintaining a vertical position during its 40-second flight. JAXA found no major issues with the test rocket after the landing.

…The 7.3-meter-long, 1.8-meter-diameter test rocket, which uses liquid hydrogen fuel, is a prototype of the reusable first stage of future large rockets. [emphasis mine]

This is a typical government test program, like many at NASA. Private companies in general have moved away from the use of hydrogen as a fuel because of the difficulty of obtaining and managing it, moving instead to methane. Thus, this project is not tied to any specific financial goals, and will likely dies stillborn once it is complete.

It also illustrates how far behind Japan has fallen when compared to China. China is building multiple reusable rockets, has tested three with one landing successfully. Japan at present is struggling to get any of its three government and one private rockets off the ground.

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BepiColumbo’s team prepares for arrival at Mercury in the fall

12:36 pm

The arrival plan for BepiColombo
Click for original graphic.

After eight years of travel through the inner solar system to get to Mercury, the European/Japanese dual orbiter mission BepiColombo is finally getting close to arrival at Mercury in the fall, and the science team has been doing rehearsals to prepare for that orbital insertion.

Teams must align timelines, verify readiness criteria and maintain a common understanding of what constitutes a ‘go’ or ‘no-go’ decision. During one recent simulation, controllers were confronted with an anomaly that forced them to abort and re-schedule a planned separation scenario. “It generates continuous discussions and iterations between the different teams,” Nacho adds.

The exercise highlighted an essential aspect of Mercury arrival: success depends not only on operating the spacecraft, but on ESA and JAXA working together as one team.

That arrival is made more complicated in that BepiColombo is not a single orbiter. It is made up of the following parts:

  • The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which provided the service module and ion engines for the journey, including six fly-bys of Earth, two ofVenus, and six of Mercury
  • The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) from the European Space Agency (ESA)
  • The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) from Japan’s space agency JAXA
  • The Mio Sunshield and Interface Structure (MOSIF), which protected everything during its journey in the inner solar system close to the Sun

The graphic to the right outlines the arrival plan. First the MTM must separate. Then the two orbiters enter Mercury orbit. Next Japan’s Mio separates and is deployed in its own orbit. Then the sunshield is ejected from Europe’s orbiter and it moves into its planned orbit.

As the spacecraft uses ion engines, with low but continuous thrust, these maneuvers can take weeks.

Both orbiters have complementary orbits to study different aspects of the planet. Europe’s orbiter will orbit closer to get a better look at the planet, while Japan’s Mio’s orbit is highly elliptical, to study the planet’s magnetic field.

During the journey to Mercury BepiColombo overcome several problems. First, the Covid panic threatened operations by limiting staffing and preventing normal behavior. Next the solar panels failed to produce the expected power, a problem that appears to still exist but which has not prevented operations. Finally, its thrusters produced less thrust than expected during a mid-course correction in 2024, causing an eleven month delay in arrival.

It is now however about to arrive. Let us hope that arrival proceeds as planned.

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Interior Dept requests advice from offshore launch platform companies

11:11 am

Because it appears the space industry might soon wish to launch rockets from offshore platforms within the 200 mile ocean economic zone the Interior Department administers and issues leases for oil rigs, its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued on July 7, 2026 a request for information (RFI), asking public input before it creates its regulatory framework for such platforms.

BOEM is considering whether these concepts may encompass the repurposing of existing offshore infrastructure (e.g., mobile offshore drilling units or other fixed platforms previously used for oil and gas operations), as well as the potential development of new, purpose-built offshore facilities dedicated to commercial space launches, space re-entry, and related activities on the OCS. The siting, construction, and operation of such platforms or facilities—whether repurposed or newly constructed—would likely implicate multiple Federal authorities and legal frameworks. BOEM is issuing this RFI to improve its understanding of these considerations and to inform potential future interagency coordination, policy development, or guidance before any policy positions or decisions are finalized.

Artist's rendering of Seagate platform
Artist’s rendering of Seagate platform. Click for original.

The only previous American offshore launch platform, SeaLaunch, always launched outside the economic zone, far out to sea, but that company has been defunct for more than a decade. A new offshore launch company, Seagate, is partnering with Lockheed Martin and Firefly to develop a new platform, and it appears it might launch Firefly’s Alpha rocket closer to home.

In its RFI, BOEM references President Trump’s Executive Order 14369 (“Ensuring American Space Superiority”), which requires government agencies to establish policies that encourage the space sector. Thus, it appears the RFI is not to burden the private sector with more red tape, but to facilitate the legal framework for it to operate within the 200-mile economic zone.

As always, however, we must recognize that Trump will not be in office forever, and that future presidents might act more like Joe Biden, and use such regulation to squelch the industry.

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Space Force adds two startups to its list of space companies that can bid on its contracts

8:01 am

The Space Force on July 8, 2026 added the rocket startup Relativity and the rocket engine company Impulse Space to its list of approved space contractors, awarding both a $5 million task order to “conduct an initial capabilities assessment.”

The U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) acting Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space Access awarded two additional Firm Fixed-Price (FFP), Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contracts to Impulse Space and Relativity Federal Inc., a subsidiary of Relativity Space. The two providers join Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA who were on-ramped in FY24, and Rocket Lab and Stoke Space who were on-ramped in FY25.

…Phase 3 Lane 1 contract provides commercial-like launch services for Space Systems Command’s (SSC) more risk-tolerant missions. The Lane 1 contract focuses on rapid contract award, streamlined integration phases and reduced timelines from award to launch.

What this means is that these two companies will be able to bid on certain projects that are tailored for smaller newer companies in which the Space Force can accept a higher risk of failure.

Back in 2014 the Air Force (which then ran the military’s space operations) was so hidebound it would only entertain bids from one launch company, ULA. SpaceX had to sue to end that monopoly. Even so, for years the Air Force was reluctant to expand this list beyond these companies, which is one reason the Space Force was created. The Air Force wasn’t really interested in space; the War Department needed an agency focused on these assets exclusively.

Since then the Space Force has aggressively expanded this list of approved companies, almost faster than the companies become operational. This has resulted in more launches at lower cost, benefiting both the military and private sector.

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China successfully launches and recovers first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket

10:14 pm

The first stage of Long March 10B after recovery
The first stage of Long March 10B after recovery

China’s state run press has now confirmed that today (July 10, 2026 in China) it successfully launched and recovered the first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket on that rocket’s very first launch.

The second link above shows the launch, cued to just before lift-off. The two images to the right come from the third link, a tweet showing the first stage captured on its recovery vessel, using a net catch system. The location of this recovery was in the middle of the South China Sea, about 300 nautical miles west of the Philippines.

Video of the first stage landing is here.

It is not clear if the launch was placing any payloads in orbit, but I will assume so, and add it to my launch count. If this changes I will update.

Either way, China has now joined a very small select group (SpaceX and Blue Origin) capable of landing and recovering a first stage. What is even more impressive about this achievement is that China did it with a completely different recovery technique — a net — that does not require legs (saving weight) that no one else has tried or proposed. Moreover, it demonstrated the ability to bring that stage down precisely and in a controlled manner.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

82 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
8 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 82 to 77.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the live stream and landing images and video.

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Vantor’s 10-satellite imaging constellation now providing high resolution 3D pictures

10:16 am

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris

The satellite company Vantor is now offering high resolution 3D imagery from its 10-satellite constellation at resolutions in some cases able to see objects as small as six inches across.

The Vantor image to the right of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has such a resolution.

The product is available through two options designed for different mission needs:

  • Rapid 3D: Designed for time-sensitive missions where terrain conditions can change quickly, this product delivers updated 3D terrain within 24 hours of image collection with just a single satellite pass. Accessible via Vantor™ Hub, it delivers 50 cm-class resolution and 4 m accuracy in all dimensions.
  • High-definition (HD) 3D: Designed for missions that require greater fidelity, this product provides detailed 3D maps at 15 cm resolution and 3 m accuracy in all dimensions. Available globally on a project basis, this capability can also be delivered through change-based refresh subscriptions for customers who need to monitor terrain and infrastructure over time.

The company began launching its 10-satellite constellation in 2024 under the ownership of Maxar. In 2025 the Maxar Intelligence division running the project was rebranded Vantor. Its constellation “can revisit the same location on Earth 15x per day, with downlink speeds as fast as 15 minutes after collection.”

The commercial and military possibilities of this technology can hardly be measured. I also suspect that Vantor and the War and State departments have a close working relationship as to the release of this data and who can get it.

Vantar is also once again demonstrating the advantages of freedom, competition, and capitalism. A decade ago the military struggled to build on its own such imaging constellations. Little got built, though budgets ballooned. Since it shifted to the capitalism model, hiring private companies to do the work, it has gotten it done fast, cheap, and with capabilities the military couldn’t dream of in the past.

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Saxavord approves August launch window for Rocket Factory Augsburg

8:40 am

Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe
Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe

The Saxavord spaceport yesterday announced it has approved a five week launch window beginning on August 10, 2026 during which the German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg will be permitted to attempt a launch of its RFA-1 rocket.

SaxaVord Spaceport said the launch window was designed to minimise disruption to everyday life in Unst while maintaining the highest safety standards. The window spans five weeks from Monday 10 August, but restrictions will not be in place continuously throughout that period. Instead, potential launch attempts can only take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 4pm and 8pm.

In April Rocket Factory had applied for a launch window opening on July 1st. As expected, Saxavord did not give it, likely because of regulatory demands by the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It appears the CAA had in 2024 required Saxavord to put in a perimeter fence surrounding the facility, and it had not done so. Last week the spaceport announced it would spend more than $100K to install the fence. I suspect this last delay is to give it time to do the work.

The launch itself will be Rocket Factory’s first attempt. In 2024 it was gearing up for a launch, but an explosion during the last static fire test of the first stage destroyed the stage and damaged the pad.

If this launch occurs as planned, it will end almost a decade of delays at Saxavord, almost all of which the result of red tape from the CAA. As a result, though Saxavord had a significant head start on the other spaceports shown on the map above, it remains uncertain whether it or Norway’s Andoya spaceport will achieve the first successful launch. The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace has been trying to launch from Andoya since last year. Its first attempt in 2025 was a failure, and its second attempt has been scrubbed three times since January. A new launch attempt is tentatively scheduled for later this month.

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Firefly to build descent aeroshell for NASA’s Mars Skyfall helicopter mission

8:01 am

Skyfall concept
SkyFall helicopter deployment. Click for original animation.

In a press release yesterday, Firefly Aerospace announced it has won a $13 million contract to build the descent aeroshell that will be used to protect the three Ingenuity-class helicopters being sent to Mars in 2028 on NASA’s proposed Skyfall mission.

The SkyFall aeroshell, comprising both the backshell and heatshield, will be developed within Firefly’s new Gloworks innovation lab and manufactured at the company’s Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas. Firefly will utilize advanced carbon composite technologies from its proven Blue Ghost lunar landers, Elytra orbiters, and Alpha and Eclipse launch vehicles to rapidly produce high-strength, lightweight structures.

This press release provides the most details yet about the mission. The graphic to the right is a screen capture from a video from JPL, showing the mission concept. First the helicopters would descend through the Martian atmosphere encapsulated in Firefly’s aeroshell. The bottom half would then drop off, and parachutes would release from above. Once close to the ground, the helicopters would be lowered out of the shell on the frame shown to the right, turn on their rotors, and then be released to fly away and land on their own.

This technique utilizes an entry capsule to release the three helicopters during descent, eliminating the need for a landing platform. The helicopters will then fly to the surface and capture high-resolution surface imagery and subsurface radar data.

We still do not know the chosen landing location on Mars, though the press release mentions a search for water ice, suggesting it will not be in the dry equatorial regions, where almost all landers and rovers have gone, but in mid-latitudes or higher where glaciers and lots of near surface ice has been detected.

The mission is intended after launch to use the nuclear propulsion engines NASA is developing jointly with the Energy Department to get to Mars. I remain skeptical those engines will be ready by 2028.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.

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NASA wants its future space telescopes designed to be serviceable, like Hubble

11:04 am

In a briefing at a recent science conference, a NASA official made it clear that it wants its proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) — presently undergoing its initial design studies for launch in the 2040s — be designed in a way that it can be maintained, repaired, and upgraded, much like the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA is planning for HWO to be serviceable, which means that they will need to figure out a way to work on, repair, and maintain the observatory while it operates roughly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away. “HWO will have to be serviceable to some extent,” NASA’s astrophysics division director Shawn Domagal-Goldman told Space.com during a session at the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) 248th meeting in Pasadena, California.

This design decision not only makes sense, NASA should have made it common practice a decade ago. The ability for robots to do this work is becoming increasingly robust, and in the next decade will become commonplace. For NASA to have launched anything in the past decade without this in mind was shameful.

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Scientists tighten the protocols for announcing any evidence of alien life

10:56 am

New protocols developed by Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project and approved by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) now tighten significantly what the scientific community is expected to do if anyone detects evidence that might be extraterrestrial life.

You can read the full protocols here [pdf]. From the press release:

At the heart of the new rules is a reaffirmation of a core scientific principle: “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Under the revised protocols, no public announcement should be made until a signal or artifact has been rigorously authenticated by independent organisations using different instrumentation.

“We do not shout “alien” the moment we see a strange blip,” Garrett added. “The scientific method demands we check, check again, and then ask others to check. Only when we have reached a consensus that a signal is credible do we bring it to the world.”

SETI’s press release notes this rule is necessary due to the modern nature of social media, which allows the wildest claims to be spread like poison almost immediately. As noted in this story, the new rules almost appear to be a direct slap at hack Harvard scientist Avi Loeb, who with both interstellar objects Oumuamua and Comet 3I/Atlas claimed evidence of alien technology when there was no evidence to say so.

The new rules also underline a second point: Under no condition will any scientist attempt to reply or contact any potential alien source. “The Declaration reaffirms the enduring principle that transmitting a response to an extraterrestrial intelligence is a decision that belongs to all of humanity and should only take place following international consultations, specifically through the United Nations.”

It will be impossible for the science community to enforce this rule, but by stating it they hope to encourage scientists to exercise more caution, and further ostracize those like Loeb who do not. I remain skeptical, especially because it will have no influence on government agencies like NASA, which love to scream “We have found alien biology!” at the slightest hint. Nor will it influence the public, which seems determined to accept such wild claims with no skepticism at all.

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Canada’s Nova Scotia spaceport signs German rocket startup Isar Aerospace

9:45 am

Proposed Canadian spaceports
Proposed Canadian spaceports

After a decade of effort, Canada’s Spaceport Nova Scotia has finally closed a deal with a rocket company. German rocket startup Isar Aerospace yesterday announced it has finalized a deal first signed in May 2026 with Maritime Launch Services, which operates the spaceport for the Canadian government on a 10-year $200 million lease, to launch its Spectrum rocket there.

Maritime Launch Services will provide the licensed launch site, including the launch pad, assembly, integration and testing (AIT) facilities, a launch operations center, and a facility for payload integration. Build-out is planned to begin in 2026, with first orbital launches targeted for 2028. The launch site will be designed to support frequent launches, with the potential for Spaceport Nova Scotia to offer additional capacity for future expansion. To anchor its North American presence, Isar Aerospace has established a dedicated Canadian entity, Isar Aerospace Canada Inc.

Maritime was formed in 2016, but for a decade was unable to attract any customers. That changed in March 2026 when the present Canadian government signed its ten year lease, committing itself to finance the spaceport in order to develop what it called a “sovereign” Canadian launch capability.

This deal apparently convinced Isar that Nova Scotia was a viable launch site. The deal is for ten years, with the option for two more five year extensions. During the first 2.5 years all fees will be waived, after which Isar will pay Maritime $3.75 million quarterly, with the intention to ramp up to 40 launches per year by 2029. It will also pay additional per launch fees.

Isar however still has to successfully complete its first launch. It has had one launch failure in 2025, and has repeatedly scrubbed for technical reasons its second attempt in 2026, first in January, then in March, and then in June. Though there are indications it will try again later this month, no new launch date has been announced. All these launches have been from Norway’s Andoya spaceport.

The irony here is that the Canadian government isn’t really getting its own rocket capability. It is buying it from a German company.

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NASA ends its participation in the lunar orbiter CAPSTONE

8:30 am

After four years of operation, NASA has terminated its participation in the privately built and operated lunar orbiter CAPSTONE.

The orbiter was built jointly by Terran Orbital and Rocket Lab, and launched by Rocket Lab. In space it was operated not by NASA but by the private company Advanced Space. On its way to the Moon Advanced Space’s engineers lost contact with the spacecraft twice, but were able to re-establish communications in time to save the mission, get it into orbit, where it spent four years testing a host of technologies NASA then planned to use in its Artemis program.

The orbiter is not dead however. Advanced Space “will continue to use the spacecraft as a technology development testbed.”

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Saxavord spaceport suddenly wants to spend £120K for a security fence

8:53 am

Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe
Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe

In what might cause another delay in the first launch from the United Kingdom’s Saxavord spaceport on the Shetland Islands, the spaceport’s management last week suddenly submitted a plan to spend £120K to build a security fence around the spaceport, even as the launch window for the German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg’s first launch had opened.

SaxaVord Spaceport has submitted a building warrant application detailing plans for a perimeter fence, which would be built at an estimated cost of around £120,000. The application was submitted last week, just ahead of the provisional launch window sought by German aerospace company Rocket Factory Augsburg, which took effect from 1st July.

It is part of wide ranging safety and security plans set out as part of SaxaVord’s range control licence, which was approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2024.

Since Rocket Factory announced in April its application to launch during this July launch window, there has been no word from Saxavord if that window was approved. Nor has Rocket Factory provided any updates on any specific launch dates. It has delivered both rocket stages to Saxavord, but beyond that there have been no other updates.

This new security fencing suggests that a launch approval was denied by the CAA, because that fencing was not in place as ordered in 2024. It appears Saxavord is now scrambling to get it done so Rocket Factory can launch.

The CAA has a bad track record. The delays caused by that government agency due to its regulatory burdens has resulted in two rocket companies going bankrupt (Virgin Orbit and Orbex) and one spaceport shutting down (Sutherland). It would not surprise me if Rocket Factory does not launch in July. In fact, I predicted this in April. Hopefully my pessimism about the CAA is wrong, but at present I am skeptical.

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Japan’s Hayabusa-2 successfully flies past asteroid Torifune

8:33 am

Torifune as seen by Hayabusa-2

Japan’s Hayabusa-2 asteroid probe successfully flew past the asteroid Torifune yesterday, getting less than 2,000 feet from its surface as it zipped past at a relative speed of more than 10,000 miles per hour.

The picture to the right is the first image released by Japan’s space agency, JAXA. It shows that Torifune appears to be a contact binary, made up of two rubble-pile asteroids that gentle fused together in their dance in space. Contact binaries are presently thought to comprise about 15% of all asteroids, but that estimate might prove to be an understatement as we gather more information. This is the first seen close-up that appears made up of two rubble piles.

While Japan’s press and its space agency touted this fly-by success loudly, both failed to mention the technical problems facing Hayabusa-2, which made the fly-by even more impressive. The spacecraft, which was launched in 2014, rendezvoused and grabbed samples from the asteroid Ryugu from 2018 to 2019, and then returned those samples to Earth in 2020, has been flying somewhat crippled. It has four ion engines for maneuvering, three of which no longer work and a fourth that is showing signs of failure. Thus, it could not do much during this fly-by to control its path or orientation. That it could grab this image as it zipped by is a testament to its engineers.

Hayabusa-2 is on its way to asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031. Whether it will be capable of doing much when it gets there remains at this moment an unknown.

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China’s Tianwen-2 successfully arrives at its target asteroid, Kamo-oalewa

8:01 am

Kamo'oalewa as seen by Tianwen-2
Click for original image.

China has finally confirmed that its first asteroid probe, Tianwen-2, has reached and successfully begun proximity operations next to the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016HO3).

The picture to the right is the first released by China’s state-run press, apparently taken during approach to help guide it.

China’s Tianwen-2 probe has successfully arrived at a distance of 20 kilometers from the asteroid 2016HO3, enabling it to begin scientific exploration after an approximately 400-day journey of about 1 billion kilometers, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Monday.

The spacecraft will spend a year at Kamo’oalewa — which is only 130 to 440 feet across — where it will attempt to grab samples using two different methods. The first is a copy of the touch-and-go technique used by OSIRIS-REx on Bennu. The second method, dubbed “anchor and attach,” is untried, and involves using four robot arms, each with their own drill.

After delivering these samples back to Earth the plan is to send Tianwen-2 out to visit Comet 311P.

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Two launches by SpaceX and China

9:51 am

Two more launches so far today, one by SpaceX in the early morning and a second by China in the evening.

First SpaceX placed 29 more Starlink satellites in orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The first stage (B1090) completed its 13th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Next China placed another 20 Qianfan (Spacesail) satellites into orbit, its Long March 8A rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport. Video of the launch can be seen here. China’s state-run press provided no information about the number of satellites, but this site stated it was 20. Previous Long March 8A Qianfan launches had carried 18 however. Either way, this planned 12,000 satellite internet constellation now has approximately 239 satellites in space, with a goal to place 648 in orbit by the end of this year.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

80 SpaceX
44 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
8 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 80 to 76.

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