Tag: quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Blue Origin’s CEO touts a recent hotfire test of its upper stage BE-3U engine
  He claims it “reached more than 211,500 lbf thrust [making it] the highest thrust-to-weight hydrogen engine in history.”

• PR video showing how Starlink is installed on an airplane.

• French rocket startup Latitude commits €8M to build its launchpad in French Guiana
  It is entirely unclear when this startup will do its first launch. It initially targeted 2024, which obviously did not happen.

• 40 years ago today the prototype space shuttle Enterprise was delivered to the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center

• On this day in 1970 the Soviet Union’s unmanned lander Luna 17 touched down the Moon, delivering the Lunokhod-1 rover
  Lunokhod-1 operated for eleven months, traveling 6.5 miles. In 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia sold it at a Sotheby’s auction for $68,500, even though it still sits on the Moon.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Vast reports its Haven Demo continues to function as planned almost two weeks after launch
  The tweet includes some nice pictures.

• Another new Chinese pseudo-company called Welight
  It touts the construction of an engineering model of its rocket for testing. The rocket itself however does not yet exist. According to Jay, “Searching other sources, it is a carbon fiber resuable rocket focused on ‘cost disruption'”. That source says the first launch is supposed to occur this year. Don’t bet on it.

• On this day in 2022, NASA successfully launched the SLS rocket for the first time
  Sent Orion around the Moon and back to Earth, and found its heat shield had serious technical flaws. So of course NASA is going to fly astronauts around the Moon in Orion early next year, without fixing the problem. Par for the course for this incompetent agency.

• On this day in 1980 Voyager-1 took a magnificent image of Saturn just days after its fly-by
  One of the most iconic images taken by any planetary probe. The approximate distance at the time of the photograph was 3.3 million miles.

• On this day in 1973, the Skylab 4 crew launched to Skylab.
  It was the third and final mission to the United States’ first space station. The crew spent 84 days in space, then a major record for longest manned mission in space.

• It appears India’s space agency has merged the design of two of its planned new rockets
  The NGLV-SH and LMLV now “share a unified core architecture for faster production.” Or at least, that’s what this tweet speculates.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Scientist think they’ve made the first confirmed sighting of coronal mass ejection (CME) from a nearby star
  CMEs are common from our Sun. In fact, a recent one is the cause of the geomagnetic storm that hit the Earth this week and produced auroras at unusually low latitudes. Detecting one on another star is cool, though of course there is some uncertainty about these results.

• China touts the installation of new propellant tanks at Wenchang’s commercial launchpad
  The tanks for future launches of the Long March 12 rocket, which has already launched three times previously and twice from Wenchang.

• Op-ed touting the benefits of a spaceport in Yuma, Arizona
  This proposal has been bouncing around Arizona now for about six years, with little progress. Its biggest problem is that almost all launches would have to fly over Mexico, and based on conflicting reports it is unclear Mexico is willing to agree.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Northern Lights set to dazzle UK and US this week due to possible ‘severe’ geomagnetic storm
  From Jay: “I saw it outside while observing the Starlink ‘train’ of satellites, a deep red color. NOAA has it listed as a ‘G4 (severe) storm.'” Sounds terrible, but don’t panic. The biggest threat is to the power grid, and utilities have now spent decades planning for these kinds of storms.

• On this day in 1966, NASA launched the last Gemini mission, Gemini-12
  Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin spent close to three days in orbit, with Aldrin performing three spacewalks, proving it was possible to do productive work in a spacesuit.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• On this day in 1967 the ATS-3 weather satellite captured the first color picture of the entire daylight side of Earth from space
  The take-away for all humanity then was the cloud cover, far more than anyone had imagined, and the dominance of the color blue.

• ULA’s CEO touts his growing stock of BE-4 engines
  The images show six engines in total, enough for three Vulcan rocket launches. According to an October 24 report, Blue Origin has so far delivered 30 engines.

• Indications in China’s state-run press suggest an empty Shenzhou-22 capsule will be launched on a Long March 2F to bring the Shenzhou-20 crew home
  So far nothing official has been announced, nor has that government-controlled media released any details about the damage to the Shenzhou-20 capsule from “space debris.”

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• European Atmos space cargo startup signs deal to fly payloads on French rocket startup HyprSpace’s suborbital Baguette-1 rocket next year
  Atmos wants to test components of its proposed orbital re-entry capsule

• Sierra Space is seeking $300 million in fresh funding to shift focus from civilian space to defense contracts
  The full article is behind a paywall so no details are available, though the company’s shift in this direction does appear real based on other recent stories.

• Delivery of 17 new Globalstar satellites being built by MDA (with Rocket Lab as its subcontractor) delayed until 2026
  It appears the cause is a new MDA production facility not yet up to speed. It also appears Globalstar will claim damages from MDA.

• India’s space agency ISRO declares its NISAR radar satellite, built in partnership with NASA, is now operational
  The satellite is designed to study the Earth’s forests and ice surfaces.

• Fairing pieces from a Chinese Smart Dragon-3 (Jielong-3) rocket found on Japanese coast
  This is the second time pieces from the September 24, 2025 sea platorm launch have ended up on someone else’s territory. Previously a burned tank was found in the Australian outback.

• Roskosmos is apparently switching from 6-month to 8-month missions on ISS, reducing launches from 2 to 1.5 per year
  The reduction is not news (though I can’t find the original announcement from several months ago). It is caused by Russia’s bad cash shortage, resulting from the international sanctions imposed after its invasion of the Ukraine.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• South Korean rocket startup Innospace to attempt its first launch on November 22, 2025 from Brazil
  The rocket, dubbed HANBIT-Nano, will deploy five smallsats if it reaches orbit.

• A detailed review of New Zealand’s failed MethaneSAT climate satellite
  The bottom line: Bad decisions in development were made based not quality but on politics, resulting in a faulty spacecraft. This was further compounded by the project’s lack on honesty and transparency.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• The utility providing power to Russia’s Vostochny spaceport has cut off service due to chronic non-payments
  Spaceport officials say the power cuts do not affect “strategic” sites or the construction of the Angara facilities but that doesn’t make sense. As Jay notes, “They want a new space station, but they can’t pay their own bills?”

• Japanese amateur astronomer detects the flash of new impact on the Moon
  The impact occurred on November 1, 2025 on the Moon’s night side.

• A graph showing the schedule of eight manned-related missions India hopes to launch through 2029
  The first three are unmanned Gaganyaan test flights, followed by manned missions of increasing complexity, with the last few involving its proposed space station.

• On this day in 1971, Europe’s first attempt at an orbital launch vehicle, Europa, launched for the last time
  The tweet also notes that the launch was a failure, just like the three previous Europa launches.

• Firefly acquires the national security firm SciTec
  The company’s recent acquisitions have all been aimed at diversifying its capabilities in the direction of military contracts. Nor has Firefly been alone in this. It appears the space industry now sees defense as a future big profit center.

• Starlink rolls new reduced prices for roaming plans in Europe
  The price drop is about 40%

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• A review of the 11 new Chinese rockets that were supposed to launch for the first time in 2025
  Only one has launched, the government’s Long March 8. One government and three pseudo-company rockets have done static fire tests and appear ready for launch. Of the remaining six no news.

• Scientists claim a flare from an active galaxy 10 billion light years away that was detected in 2018 was the biggest black hole flare ever detected
  All together now: The uncertainty of science!

• Stilsat-1: A Russian-owned and Chinese-built satellite watching Ukraine
  Apparently the Russians bought a Chinese satellite for military reconnaissance. Apparently Russia has trouble doing this kind of thing itself these days.

• Chinese astronauts enjoy ‘1st ever space BBQ’ from Tiangong-3’s brand-new oven
  Unlike the prototype oven tested on ISS but then returned to Earth, this oven is permanent and intended for regular use by the astronauts.

• China completes ground testing of its own inflatable space module
  Based on their graphics, they are basically copying the Orbital Reef station design as well as Sierra Space’s LIFE inflatable modules.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• We Could Use Neutrino Detectors As Giant Particle Colliders
  Sounds cool but the scientists also admit the present neutrino detectors can’t do anything better than the existing colliders, and in fact in most cases can’s do as much.

• Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy touts a successful static fire test of the first stage of its Pallas-1 rocket
  This rocket was first unveiled in 2023, and then did not appear reusable. The images now confirm this, showing no landing legs. The company however has implied that it will eventually land vertically for reuse.

• Lawmakers warn UK must act now to get space ambitions back on track
  The report, by the House of Lords, is a joke. It says nothing about reducing regulation and red tape, which is the UK’s main problem. Instead, it proposes more funding and more government bureaucracy “to coordinate policy and industry engagement.” We should expect even less (lower than zero?) from the United Kingdom in the coming years.

• The reason Starlink became available in the Falklands was because of the advocacy of Chris Gare of OpenFalklands
  Giving credit where credit is due.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Building the ascent engine on the Apollo lunar module
  Nice detailed video, describing how Bell Aerosystems built an engine that could not fail. It is especially revealing how much testing with real hardware they did prior to launch.

• Another Chinese pseudo-company, Deep Blue, touts the successful static fire tests of its Nebula-1 rocket’s first stage
  It claims the launch is next. When was not stated.

• The Starlab space station consortium touts its on-going preliminary design review of the subsystems for its Starlab single module station
  Of all the four station’s under construction, Starlab has built the least, though it has begun issuing contracts for that construction.

• Space station startup Axion touts the testing of the “conical tunnel for its station’s docking adapter”
  They are checking for cracks, and finding none.

• As of today, humans have been in space continuously for 9,132 days, or 25 years
  Sadly, if that record is to continue it will require help from outside the U.S., as it is not likely any of our proposed commercial stations will be ready for continuous occupation initially.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Blue Origin reports a successfull dress rehearsal countdown and 38 second static fire test of its New Glenn rocket
  This is in preparation for launch on November 9, 2025, carrying NASA’s two Escapade Mars smallsat orbiters. It will be the second New Glenn launch, about 10 months after the first.

• Spaceport startup NordSpace joins the Global Spaceport Alliance (GSA)
  Neither Jay nor I have ever heard of GSA, but that means nothing. Nordspace’s Atlantic Spaceport Complex in Newfoundland is pushing to beat the much older spaceport startup in Nova Scotia in achieving the first launch from Canada.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Vast touts the completion of pressure and load acceptance testing of the primary structure of its Haven-1 station
  The launch date of spring 2026 appears more and more likely.

• Honda releases video of its successful June test flight of its grasshopper rocket prototype
  The video indicates a number of the company’s space goals, but nothing very specific.

• Video of the rendezvous and capture of JAXA’s HTV-X1 freighter to ISS
  It’s three hours long. Go to 2:53 minutes to see the docking.

• There are rumors of a shake-up in China’s space operations which is going to delay all launches of its pseudo-companies
  Supposedly a new department is being formed to run everything, and that some launches will delayed while this is being done. It also suggests that the pseudo-independence of these fake private companies will now become even more obvious.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Shutdown could soon slow preparations for Artemis 2
  The sole source of this story is an official at Lockheed Martin, which makes Orion. That company has gotten since 2005 about $25 billion from NASA to build it, has made less than a half dozen capsules total, and has produced a capsule with an untrustworthy heat shield that still has an untested environmental system. For this company to say the shut down will impact its work is disgusting.

• An engineer looks at a Chinese attempt to reverse engineer SpaceX’s Raptor-3 engine and finds it “funny as hell”
  Quote: “They couldn’t figure out how half the damn thing works so it’s been completely screwed up.”

• A new Chinese pseudo-company Zenkspace to launch their ZH-1 rocket in early 2026
  Jay notes there is zero information about this company on the web. According to another tweet, the rocket’s engines were supplied by the Chinese government. Suggests to me that someone in that government is moving in to grab the business from the other Chinese government-controlled startups, essentially taking advantage of government infrastructure while stealing the engineering from those pseudo-companies (that the government requires them to release to everyone).

• Japan’s space agency JAXA touts the science gained from its recently ended Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter mission

• On this day in 2009 Ares-1x made its only flight
  It was only suborbital, and was supposed to lay the groundwork for NASA’s manned return to the Moon by 2015, as part of the program established by President George Bush Jr. It instead morphed into the never-ending boondoggle that has become SLS, Orion, and the entire Artemis program. And it now 2025, and we are still at least three-plus years from that manned lunar landing.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Everyday Astronaut asks great question: Why is NASA spending $700 million for developing new SLS upper stage when ULA’s Centaur-V is available for only $120 million?
  Tim Dodd seems baffled, but then he is young and hasn’t lived through decades of NASA pork that accomplishes nothing. That new upper stage is just more of the same.

• NASA astronaut shows off Orion’s bathroom
  Talk about overkill for a capsule. No wonder Orion is too heavy for almost every rocket available.

• Startup Apex to fly a commercially-developed space-based interceptor demo on its own dime
  The company hopes the mission will convince defense contractors and satellite companies to buy its product.

• A rehash of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser project
  No real news, though overall the article underlines the failure of Sierra Space to get off the ground. It also provides evidence to explain why NASA abandoned Dream Chaser as an ISS cargo craft.

• Blue Origin touts the delivery of its 30th BE-4 engine to ULA
  This gives ULA enough engines for at least fifteen launches of its Vulcan rocket, which is about the number of launches the company hopes to do in 2026

• In 2010 NASA analyzed what museums to send shuttles to and ranked Houston low
  So what? These bureaucratic rankings meant nothing. All that mattered for choosing the cities that would get shuttles were political considerations, and Obama wished to reward blue states.

• Video of the demolition of one of the service towers for the Zenit rocket at Baikonur
  Zenit was built by the Ukraine, now banned by Russia from Baikonur. Russia now wants to use this launchpad for its new Soyuz-5 rocket. Kazakhstan, which owns the site, has been resistant. It is unclear if this demolition means Kazakhstan has changed its mind.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Inversion Space touts its two autonomous drop test vehicles, Jaws and Big Tuna
  The company has been using them in helicopter drops to test targeted precise reentry that its proposed Arc orbital capsule will require.

• Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo reportedly agree to merge their satellite divisions
  The article speculates, without solid evidence, that the combined company will build a satellite constellation to compete with Starlink. Jay instead speculates (more accurately) that it “will will just lobby for laws that ban Starlink or tax the hell out of it.” After all, that is the European way in the 21st century.

• Chang’e-6 lunar sample is “a type of meteorite known as Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrite”
  What makes this find significant is that these types of primitive meteorites are very fragile, and almost never survive reentry on Earth. Finding this sample on the Moon will help scientists better determine the overall make-up of the solar system’s asteroid population, which will then allow them to better construct its early formation process.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• NASA’s administrator touts the installation of Orion to SLS for next year’s Artemis II mission
  I wonder if Duffy is even aware of the heat shield issues or the lack of testing of the capsule’s environmental system. That NASA is poo-pooing both makes this manned mission around the Moon essentially a repeat of Challenger and Columbia, placing schedule above engineering.

• On board video from Dawn Aerospace’s Mk-II Aurora record-breaking flight in November 2024
  On the flight this small scale unmanned prototype was the first commercial plane to break the sound barrier since the Concorde.

• Video of a Chinese rocket booster crashing into a ranch in Guinan County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province on October 13, 2025
  This was the launch that day of a Long March 2D rocket from China’s northwest Jiquan spaceport. The rocket uses very toxic hypergolic fuels (note the red clouds) that can dissolve skin. Bad news for this ranch.

• Video of launchpad static fire test of China’s Zhuque-3 rocket
  It is a copy of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with a tentative launch date of November 3, 2025, according to Jay. It is built by the pseudo-company Landspace, which won’t try recovering the first stage until later launches in 2026.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• SpaceX releases video of Superheavy splash down on 11th flight
  Interestingly the video cuts off before the stage hits the water. It also appears that the booster was simulating a tower chopstick catch, so that its engines shut down significantly above the water

• Arianespace delays first Ariane 6-4 flight to 2026
  This is the most powerful version of Ariane-6, with four side boosters. No reason was given for the delay, but officials indicated it will be the first Ariane-6 launch next year.

• Interesting explanation on how JWST corrects electronic distortions
  Good work, but it is important to remember the correction adds one more layer of human manipulation to the data, which must raise reasonable questions about any conclusions drawn from it.

• Was there an issue with the second SpaceX launch yesterday?
  I noticed the same thing, that the video ended prematurely and the normal callouts for engine cutoff and nominal orbit were not announced. At the same time, the stage’s velocity did not stop abruptly, but slowed to zero in a manner similar to all other times the engines shut down.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Intuitive Machines touts its proposed Zephyr returnable capsule
  It already has a deal with Space Forge to use the capsule to produce both pharmaceuticals and semiconductors for sale on Earth.

• Minor damage to Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket’s second stage during transport
  The damage is not expected to impact the scheduled launch now targeting November 9, 2025.

• Citizen scientists discover the most powerful and first double ‘odd radio circle’
  Lots of uncertainty, but a truly intriguing discovery that remains unexplained.

• Astronomers detect what they think is a black hole tearing apart a star
  At least, that’s their best explanation for the strong radio flares coming from the black hole.

• Axiom marks 700 hours of crewed pressurized time in its spacesuit
  This suit is designed for the Moon, but will be quickly adapted by the company for use on both ISS and Axiom’s own station. It also will be available for sale to the other commercial stations under construction.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Eutelsat-Oneweb changes name to Eutelsat Network Solutions
  The OneWeb name now only refers to that constellation, which had merged with Eutelsat in 2022.

• A look at the U.S.’s second satellite, Vanguard-1, still in orbit with some engineers even proposing a mission to bring it back to Earth

• Video and description of Lockheed-Martin’s fourth successful test-to-failure of its own inflatable module design
  This prototype included what they called a “penetration plate”, which simulated a hatch or access point into the module to see if that access point would meet specifications. Lockheed is part of the consortium building the Starlab station, so this module will likely be an addition to that giant single module station launched on Starship.

• Axiom Space appoints Dr. Jonathan Cirtain as CEO and president
  A former NASA guy at Marshall with additional experience in the private sector. I have no idea if he is a plus or a minus for the company.

• Roscosmos decides its future station will be in the same orbit as ISS, rather than the previously proposed near-polar orbit
  This of course assumes it gets launched. Based on Russia’s track record for the past three decades, don’t expect it before 2035, at the earliest. And I am being optimistic.

• Has JWST found an exomoon?
  Interesting, though there remains a lot of uncertainty about these conclusions.

• Uranus And Neptune may not be “ice giants” but the solar system’s first “rocky giants”
  Also interesting, but less so, as it is based entirely on modeling and theories. I suspect most planetary scientists will not take this very seriously.

• First stage of LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 upgraded rocket is on launch pad with land legs
  This Chinese pseudo-company is hoping to launch before the end of the year. Though the first launches of this Falcon 9 copy will not land and reuse the first stage, they plan to begin recovery attempts soon thereafter.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Vast shows off the two Haven-1 primary structures, the qualification and flight article, side by side
  The company is once again pitching the fact that its work is entirely American-made.

• Geologists analyzing old rocks on Earth find they contain potassium isotopes they claim come from very early in Earth’s history
  The press release makes even more outlandish claims. I have tried to distill the claims to their basic form, which tells us they haven’t really found anything significant at all.

• A low-density, puffy planet orbiting relatively far from a young star in a nearly perpendicular orbit
  Or maybe not. It is too far from the star for heat to puff it up, so maybe it isn’t as puffy as first thought.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Thirteen years ago today the space shuttle Endeavour’s was moved from the airport to the California Science Center
  Took 11 hours to go 12 miles, which Jay notes “is pretty typical traffic for LA.”

• Astronomers detect lowest mass dark object ever measured using gravitational lensing
  I remain very skeptical of any claim that relies on gravitational lensing, because though it is a real phenomenon the uncertainties are so great any detailed conclusions from the data — such as this one — are always suspect. That it was further used to detect a “dark matter” object makes me even more skeptical.

• NASA astronaut Don Pettit shows off his best sighting of a Starlink satellite “train” from orbit

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Inversion Space shows off video of a helicopter drop test of a prototype engineering test vehicle of its proposed Arc recoverable orbiting capsule
  The American company has raised $44 million in private investment capital. It has also won financial grants from the Space Force. The prototype resembled a lifting body design, similar to Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser.

• Space Force picks Blue Origin for satellite processing at Cape Canaveral
  Essentially Blue Origin will provide the facilities for integrating satellites prior to launch, whether or not they are launched by Blue Origin.

• Law firm begins investigation in behalf of stockholders against Firefly because its stock dropped after its rocket exploded during a static fire test in September
  It appears to both Jay and I that this law firm, Glancy Prongay & Murray, is fishing for a nuisance lawsuit to shake Firefly down for money. No one has grounds to sue just because a stock lost value because something went wrong. It’s called buyer beware.

• Ispace press conference showing off engineering test prototype of its 2nd generation lunar lander
  After two landing failures with its first generation design, the upgrade will be bigger and will be used on its fourth mission in ’28, for Japan’s space agency JAXA. This prototype has already undergone thermal, radiation, and vibration testing.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Intuitive Machines touts its Moon Racer manned lunar rover proposal

• Vast touts the construction of the flight hull for its Haven-1 demo space station, set to launch next year
  It is the first American-made station flight module built in 20 years.

• Space.com posts a short video showing Blue Origin’s next New Glenn rocket as it is moved to the launch pad
  Space.com also calls this “New Shepard” in the video, a gross error.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Space station startup Axiom signs agreement with Slovakian government
  The deal is very similar to Axiom’s deal with Senegal from yesterday. Slovakia is buying access to Axiom’s expertise and its planned space station.

• Hams confirm Juno is still operating
  It apparently transmitted a signal back to Earth. This however has no bearing on whether the mission will survive the budget process. Right now I remain very skeptical it will.

• A detailed long article describing China’s government space program
  A very nice summary, though as Jay notes, “if a little alarmist.” It is part of the swamp’s tag team effort to convince Americans we need to give NASA and the Pentagon lots of money or else China will destroy us. Meanwhile, all we really need to do is clear the way for private competition and American ingenuity and China will be left in the dust.

• The third set of Kuiper satellites are on the way to one of SpaceX’s Florida launchpad
  The launch is targeting Thursday, Oct. 9 on a Falcon 9.

• On this day in 1985, the space shuttle Atlantis completed its first mission
  This mission, which deployed two military communications satelliets, completed construction of NASA’s initial fleet of four shuttles.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• SpaceX registers the trademark “Starfall” at the U.S. Patent Office
  No real information beyond that. The tweet adds this tantalizing tidbit, stating that this action is “through the island nation of Tonga covering: launch, on-orbit, and reentry services, spaceflight travel, in-space manufacturing services, custom manufacturing & processing of pharmaceuticals.” Tonga is east of Australia in the Pacific. Is SpaceX planning Starship landings there?

• Vast’s CEO touts his company’s commitment to building an American space station
  He notes that of the three stations that making real progress (Vast, Axiom, Starlab), Vast is the only one that entirely built in the U.S. Obviously this will be a big selling point to NASA, and the Pentagon.

• Video of successful suborbital test launch from Norway’s Andøya spaceport
  The test was for the German space agency DLR testing “materials, cooling techniques, miniaturized non-intrusive sensors and aerodynamic properties for future reusable space vehicles.”

• Japan’s space agency JAXA says its next HTV-X cargo ship to ISS will remain in orbit as “a technology demonstration platform” after undocking
  It will remain in orbit for an additional three months, carrying three experiments.

• Space station startup Axiom signs agreement with Senegal’s space agency
  The details are vague, but likely involve putting Senegalese experiments on the station and maybe even an astronaut (if Senegal can pony up the cash).

• On this day in 1995 scientists discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Canadian Space Agency awards $13.2M to 17 companies for technology development
  All are very small grants, for relatively small projects. The awards however signal the government’s desire to promote its aerospace industry.

• Roscosmos names its new National Space Center after Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
  The tweet notes a lot of unusual negative commentary about the decision, suggesting that “No one likes her.”

• On this day in 1882 Robert H. Goddard was born
  His most important achievement was launching the first liquid fueled rocket.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Ispace’s lunar lander passes structural ground testing
  This lander is an upgrade from the two landers the company tried to land on the Moon (unsuccessfully), and is for a Japanese mission targeting a 2028 launch.

• Lunar Outpost touts its manned lunar rover proposal by showing it off at the Kennedy Space Center October 2-10
  Unlike many other federal visitor centers that have been shuttered due to the government shut down, this visitor center is remaining open.

• Astronomers detect phosphine in nearby brown dwarf
  This is the same molecule that astronomers thought they might have maybe detected in the atmosphere of Venus. And just like then, this brown dwarf detection has been followed immediately with joyous cries “We’ve found evidence of life!” Hardly. They have found unexpected chemistry, but that is a far cry from a biosignature.

• Europe and Japan further solidify their Ramses and Destiny+ joint mission to the asteroid Apophis
  It appears Japan will launch both together, with Destiny+ doing a fly-by of the asteroid prior to Ramses’ arrival.

• Axiom extends its agreement with the United Kingdom for access to both its ISS module and future free-flying Axiom station
  The UK is essentially buying space and passenger seats for future missions