Tag: quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Live stream from Ispace about its second commercial Hakuto-R lander mission to the moon

The press conference is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15, 8:00 pm (Eastern). The mission has targeted launch in 2024.

 

• South Korea rocket startup Innospace touts reusable rocket engine

The company has completed one suborbital flight in March 2023. No word on when further flight tests will take place.

 

• In connection with its founders move to buy the company and go private, Astra has cancelled its third quarterly earnings call to stockholders

There has also been a shake-up in management. It appears the founders are pushing out the outside investors and their managers.

 

• Satellite companies debate proposal to change the rules limiting satellite power levels

Designed to reduce signal interference in orbit, some companies want the restrictions eased, others want them tightened, and still others like the status quo. Amazon is leading the group wanted a review of the rules.

 

• Juno data and computer modeling suggest a better understanding of Jupiter’s atmosphere and winds

For me, this study defines the uncertainty of science. The data is not rich enough to come to any conclusion at all, though the computer modeling suggests one.

 

• SpaceX gets license to provide Starlink in India

In 2022 SpaceX had regulatory problems in India that forced it to exit the market. This new development indicates those problems have been overcome.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who sent them on time but I am late posting them.

• Blue Origin issues another short PR promo

This is same all-sizzle-no-steak stuff we’ve seen seeing from the company now for seven years.

 

• Astra’s co-founders offer to buy up the company’s stock to take it private

They are offering $1.5 per share, about double the share’s present price. If accepted it will be very entertaining to see if this action saves Astra. It surely appears however that these men, Chris Kemp and Adam London, are still firmly committed to the company.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts its Falcon-9-class rocket targeting a June 2024 launch

The pseudo-company has raised a lot of cash, and has one successful orbital launch with its first version of this rocket.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• DHL touts its deal with Astrobotic to send more than 100,000 messages to the Moon

Anyone can send a picture, which will go digitally on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander scheduled for launch late this year.

 

• Lynk satellite constellation starts cell phone to satellite service in Solomon Islands

Because Lynk only has three satellites in orbit, the service is presently limited to text and emergency messages.

 

• ESA shifts control of Vega-C rocket from Arianespace to the private Italian company Avio

The press release at the link summarizes all the actions taken by ESA at its just ended conference, all except this story had been covered here previously. Avio essentially builds Vega-C. It will now have full ownership and control. Arianespace — the government middle-man that never made a profit — is meanwhile slowly going away.

 

• Three companies tout their partnership to develop nuclear power propulsion for interplanetary travel

Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for DARPA. The contract was awarded in July 2023.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Euclid releases its first images

Euclid is designed to produce a 3D map of billions of nearby galaxies.

 

• Webb and Chandra detect supermassive black hole only a half billion years after the Big Bang

Lots of uncertainty here, with most now centering on the Big Bang theory itself. There shouldn’t be a supermassive black hole that soon after the bang. Not enough time for it to form, based on present models.

 

• Ingenuity completes its 66th flight

As noted in my last Ingenuity post, it was a short flight, 23 seconds long moving less than two feet, merely to reposition the helicopter in advance of the three-week solar conjunction when communications will be cut off.

 

• First data from India’s Aditya-1 solar observatory

The observatory, located a million miles closer to the Sun than the Earth, is presently undergoing its final caliberations even as its instruments begin gathering data.

 

• Dish’s CEO stepping down ahead of merger with Echostar

His resignation was part of the merger deal. Both companies are under severe pressure from competition, which is why they merged.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will carry seeds that also flew on Apollo 14

The Apollo 14 trees, dubbed the Moon Trees, came back to Earth and were planted in many places. It is unclear from the link whether the seeds now going to the Moon are the same seeds, or seeds from a Moon tree subsequently grown on Earth.

 

• ESA head endorses using private enterprise for sending European cargo to ISS and other stations

In other words, the Europe Space Agency has no rocket or capsule to do the job, has no capacity to build either, but sees from America that private enterprise can do it better.

 

• French space agency head blames the government mostly for the failure of ArianeGroup to launch Ariane-6 on schedule

Like the ESA story above, European space leaders are finally beginning to realize the benefits of freedom and capitalism. It just took them a decade longer than it should have.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company rolls its Zhuque-2 methane-fueled rocket to launchpad

The pseudo-company is Landspace, this will be its rocket’s third launch. The first failed, the second was the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit. In related news, the company’s CEO claims it will be doing 100 launches per year within five years.

 

• Video of crashed Long March 6 solid-fueled strap-on booster, which landed in farm country in Ji County of Shanxi Province

Shanxi province is in the middle of China, and to the immediate southwest of Beijing. I am surprised the Chicoms didn’t censor this video.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Firefly puts its new Miranda rocket engine on the test stand, ready for its first hot fire tests

This is the engine that will power the first stage that Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, replacing the Ukrainian stage and Russian engines it used to use.

 

• ULA’s CEO shows off four Vulcan upper stages under assembly at its factory

As Jay notes, “At least he is building something,” taking a jab at another company with the word “blue” in its name.

 

• Bezos is abandoning Seattle and moving to Florida

He says he wants to be closer to both his family and his Cape Canaveral space facilities in Florida, which as he says is “shifting increasingly to Cape Canaveral.” He also likely decided to get out because of a new state tax that will steal $70 million from him for every stock sale of $1 billion.

 

• The Times of India brags about the use of an nuclear power source for the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module still functioning in lunar orbit

The units are engineering tests, designed to work out the kinks so this power source can be used on future unmanned rovers to Mars and elsewhere.

 

• Next Gaganyaan launch abort test scheduled for March 2024

This second test vehicle will be closer to the final capsule version. According to ISRO, four total abort tests are planned before the manned mission.

 

• Review of Kepler archive confirms solar system with seven exoplanets

The review also refined the present understanding of this alien solar system.

 

• NASA officials say they are willing to extend ISS beyond 2030

That’s nice, but the question is whether the Russians will stay on after ’28, and even more important, whether their modules will last until then.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Retired Air Force general joins Rocket Lab’s board of directors

Without question this hire is to help Rocket Lab get military contracts.

 

• New rocket startup Veng in Argentina announces its proposed orbital rocket

The story is in Spanish, but based on Jay’s translation it is targeting a 2029 launch, with suborbital tests of a smaller version first in 2026. All launches will take place in Argentina.

 

• Rocket startup Keka Aerospace in the Congo touts its own rocket

The video is in French. Images of the company’s test suborbital rocket can be seen at the 5 minute mark. It certainly does not look much like a real rocket when looked at closely.

 

• A Chinese university touts its proposed lunar rover

The artist’s rendering looks cool, but that isn’t how one builds real engineering.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Ispace releases video of hop test today of its small scale test vehicle

This is essentially its version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper. Ispace appears to be making good progress towards developing a reusable first stage for its Hyperbola rocket. More information here.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ULA during Vulcan’s Christmas Eve launch will coordinate with NORAD to avoid Santa collision

Silly stuff for a slow day in space news.

 

• New Indian smallsat rocket startup, Spantrik, touts itself at conference

So far no webpage launched yet, and almost no information about the company or its rocket, but as Jay says, “Always good to see a new small sat rocket launcher company.”

 

• Video of test of prototype aerospike engine from Indian rocket engine company, Spacefields

These are preliminary tests, which appear to show that the design works.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• At Boeing’s request the FCC withdraws its license for a low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation, approved less than two years ago

The forfeiture cost Boeing $2.2 million, but is likely necessary because of the company’s many other problems that make building this constellation impossible.

 

• Sierra Space shows of image of its Tenacity Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle

The spacecraft does appear almost finished, making the present ready date for launch the end of this year increasingly likely.

 

• Rocket Lab now targets the end of 2024 for launch of its privately funded Venus mission

Now called Venus Life Finder, this new target date firms up the mission’s schedule, as the last word from the company was that it had delayed it to 2025.

 

• FAA announces it has completed its safety review of SpaceX’s proposed next Starship/Superheavy test launch

A somewhat meaningless announcement, as no license was rewarded because Fish & Wildlife is still doing its own investigation.

 

• PLD touts its Miura-5 orbital rocket, ready to launch in 2025

The only other detail provided is that the rocket will have a thrust of 1 MN and lift at least 500kg to orbit.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• New startup, Interlune, focused on in situ technology for lunar mining and manned operations

Two of the company’s founders come from Blue Origin, while the third is Apollo astronaut Jack Schmidt, the only actual geologist to walk on the Moon.

 

• Visual maps showing who has put the most satellites in orbit in 2023, here and here

Not surprisingly, the maps make it obvious how much SpaceX now dominates the space industry.

 

• An image showing three different next generation Russian manned capsules, all under development

For an assembly production floor, the image shows remarkably little activity, with no workers and very little on the floor itself. Russia might be building these, but I bet the work is going more slowly than anything Blue Origin has done, and that is very slow indeed.

 

• A map of the lunar surface material displaced by the engine thrust of India’s Vikram lander at touchdown

Good information for calculating the work that must be done to reduce the consequences of take off and landing when near a future base.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Blue Origin unveils what looks like a full scale model of its lunar cargo demonstrator

All we have so far is this tweet, but its vagueness suggests this is not even a prototype but a model for show. Jay also noted that it looks completely different than an earlier version from 2019.

 

• Space Force issues small development contacts to two software startups from India

These are the first Space Force contracts with non-U.S. companies. While wonderful news for the companies, one wonders why the U.S. military is not favoring American companies.

 

• Military struggling to take advantage of private enterprise to maintain and augment its satellite tracking system

This ground system of antennas is what is used to track all objects in orbit, including space junk, and is aging and also needs upgrade. The Pentagon apparently can’t get organized to contract private companies to do the work, so it isn’t getting done.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Europe’s smallsat rocket startups issue their own response to a recent Space News article claiming SpaceX’s big rideshare launches was dominating the industry

In essence, they admit SpaceX is making it harder, but also say they can’t begrudge the company’s success. They simply have to do better to compete.

 

• Sierra Space successfully completes first mission Flight Operations Review for Tenacity Dream Chaser

The paves the way for the first Tenacity flight, hopefully next year.

 

• The Centaur V for first Vulcan launch has come out of the High Pressure Test Cell for its final touches before shipment

That December 24th launch date is looking better and better.

 

• Update on ArianeGroup’s demo project to develop reuseable rockets

The Prometheus engine has been doing ongoing tests, while the tanks and landing legs of the Themis demonstrator are being tested.

 

• Video of Shenzhou capsule docking with Tiangong-3 station

So begins this crew’s six month mission.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Northrop Grumman and SpaceX set January 2024 as the target date for first Cygnus mission on a Falcon 9

Northrop purchased three SpaceX launches for Cygnus when its Antares rocket lost access to its Ukrainian first stage and its Russian engines. Until Firefly replaces both, it needs another launch vehicle.

 

• ESA successfully completes full dress rehearsal countdown of Ariane-6 first stage

• China reveals the crew for its next Shenzhou mission to its Tiangong-3 space station

Includes a short clip from the press conference, with English translation, that provides really no new information.

 

• Tiangong-3 solar panel hit by “small space debris”

According to this tweet, the damage was “predicted and controllable”, which really tells us nothing. All space stations in orbit experience micrometeorite hits, often very tiny. Anything larger is significant. If this impact was the latter they should release more information.

 

• U.S. officials have short discussions with Chinese officials coordinating the monitoring of orbiting objects, from space stations to space junk

This discussion would normally violate U.S. law, which forbids government employees and anyone using government money to initiate such discussions without much higher approval. In this case it appears the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo likely gave her okay, as per the strong financial links that exist between Biden and the Chinese, including millions in payoffs. Remember, his loyalty is more to them than to us.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy releases results of its investigation into its Ceres-1 rocket failure on September 21, 2023

It appears a screw was screwed in incorrectly on one nozzle, which caused it to ablate abnormally.

 

• Despite allowing its pseudo-companies to bid to provide cargo to Tiangong-3, China picked four government agencies to do the work

The article at Space News appears to be designed to provide China some nice propaganda, as it makes believe these pseudo-companies are somehow identical to privately owned companies in the west. China might be copying NASA’s capitalism in space approach, using competition to foster innovation and lower costs, but if any of these companies is too successful or does anything the communists don’t like, the government will take over instantly. Note too that the communists weren’t really eager to give these somewhat independent companies any business, favoring government space agencies in awarding the bids.

 

• Dragonfly team touts wind tunnel tests of the rotors to be used by the spacecraft to fly on Titan

• NASA proposes a new framework for regulating “commercial missions not currently licensed by other agencies”

As Jay notes, “We’re the government, and we’re here to help you.”

 

• Details about the Russian spacewalk to inspect the Nauka leak on ISS

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Chinese video fantasizing about building an underground lunar base

Pure powerpoint engineering. The concepts are fun, but this is very removed from reality.

 

• Indian rocket startup Skyroot releases animation of launch of its proposed Vikram-1 rocket

The music track actually detracts from this, as it makes it look like all sizzle and no steak.

 

• International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is considering regulating communications on the Moon

Hey, what could possibly go wrong, especially as the FCC is also getting involved? They are representatives of the government, here to help!

 

• Russia is considering using a Soyuz rocket as a missile to attack the Ukraine

This is junk news that makes little sense. It is unconfirmed, could be disinformation, and besides, it makes no technical sense to use an orbital rocket in this manner.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• China touts proposed in-orbiting manufacturing technology, including 3D printing

This is merely engineering by powerpoint. No actual prototypes appear to yet exist.

 

• Heavy rains cause flooding at construction site of commercial launchpad at China’s Wenchang coastal spaceport

No other details provided, such as the impact this might have on the first launch

 

• NASA convenes team to reassess design of Mars sample return mission

Common sense would cause them to consider a major restructuring that even might include Starship. The track record of Washington suggests instead they will only make some superficial changes, claiming it saves money and addresses the problems outlined by the recent very critical independent review. And most important, they will ask for more money!

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• According to Pakistani officials, that country is joining China’s Moon base project

This confirms a June statement. China and Pakistan had in 2018 discussed flying a Pakistani astronaut to its space station (though no deal was ever announced). This new deal could make that astronaut flight a reality.

 

• Engineers are today uploading a software patch to help extend life of both Voyager spacecraft just outside the solar system

After checking to make sure the patch uploaded properly, they will activate it next week. The patch itself will help make fuel use more efficient. It will also prevent the communications issue that caused problems in 2022. Regardless, both spacecraft likely only have a few more years of operation, after which their nuclear power source will run out of power.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Suborbital Dutch rocket to be launched in 2024 from German ocean platform

The link is in German, requiring a translation tool. From Jay a translation of the lede: “In April 2024, a rocket from the Dutch company T-Minus will be launched for the first time as part of a demonstration mission from a mobile launch platform of the “German-Offshore Spaceport Alliance” (GOSA) in the North Sea.”

 

• Europe posts revised Ariane-6 test schedule

The schedule as now planned:
October: Combined test, launch rehearsal with ignition of the main stage, Kourou, French Guiana
November: Combined test, long-duration firing of the main stage with Vulcain 2.1 engine, Kourou, French Guiana
December: Upper stage firing test, Lampoldshausen, Germany
They then hope to be ready for a 2024 launch.

 

• ESA says next Vega launch will not use the deployer mechanism that failed to deploy 2 of 12 satellites on October 9th launch

No other details about the investigation into the failure were released.

 

• ISRO provides viewing details of Gaganyaan launch abort test on October 21, 2023

The live stream will be here.

 

• Rocket Lab begins integration and testing of its dual NASA ESCAPADE satellites to study Mars’s magnetosphere

The launch is scheduled for 2024.

 

• Long March 2F rocket carrying next manned Shenzhou manned capsule rolled to launchpad

The launch is targeting October 26, 2023.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• FCC approves SpaceX revised Starlink satellite license [pdf]

SpaceX must launch half of this constellation, about 3,750 satellites, by November 19, 2024, and the other half no later than November 19, 2027.

 

• India targets its first manned landing on the Moon by 2040

This was simply Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opportunity to give his Kennedy-like Moon speech, something politicans have been doing over and over again since 1961. Only Kennedy met his goals. All the others have simply been empty political speeches that were never fulfilled.

This is not to say India won’t try, as it certainly appears that the new colonial movement in space is heating up. It just means we should not take his speech very seriously.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves a hat tip for the Hubble budget story earlier today, that I had missed.

• Amazon reports its two prototype Kuiper satellites are functioning as expected

• Russia plan to modernize Gagarin launchpad has failed; now proposed as a museum

This will be a museum few will visit, because of Russia’s strict security controls at its space facilities.

 

• Two of the twelve satellites launched on Europe’s Vega rocket on October 9th failed to deploy, and burned up in the atmosphere

This failure says extremly bad things about the European manufacturer, SAB Aerospace, which built it for the Italian company Avio, which had its contract with Arianespace, which is the commercial arm of the European Space Agency. It also raises more questions about the entire governmental way of doing things in Europe.

 

• Five days before the Gaganyaan launch abort test, an image of the capsule being assembled

If this test goes well, India will be very close to completing its full checklist necessary prior to the actual manned mission.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Relativity signs multi-launch agreement with Intelsat

The launches are for Relativity’s new Terran-R rocket, not yet launched, and will begin as early as 2026. The deal likely also allows Intelsat complete freedom to go elsewhere if Relativity has problems delivering.

 

• Blue Origin confirms that Brent Sherwood, head of the company’s Advanced Development Programs, is retiring

This is likely part of the house-cleaning in connection with the exit of CEO Bob Smith. The company desperately needs new leadership willing to get something, anything, done.

 

• Astra considering selling 51% of its propulsion division as well as parts of other divisions

If so the company would be selling its most productive division at this point, suggesting its future is dim indeed.

 

• A picture of the outside of OSIRIS-REx’s sample collector

The rocks and dirt in the middle right are extra material from Bennu that were captured and retained outside the collector. The scientists say a preliminary look at the material has found carbon and water (held in molecules of other material), but that is not news, as we already knew both were there.

 

• Spacewalk on ISS cancelled as engineers assess the coolant leak from Russia’s Nauka module

This leak is far more serious than the previous two leaks, as it is part of ISS itself, not a Progress or Soyuz capsule that is there only temporarily.

 

• Sierra Space selected by DARPA for its “10-year lunar architecture study”

The tweet suggests merely that Sierra has been selected to enter contract negotiations, not that it has won a contract.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Axiom and ESA sign deal to do more business together

The agreement includes access to Axiom’s proposed station, training of ESA astronauts using its spacesuits, and possible future commercial astronaut missions.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company sold two remote sensing satellites to private Wagner military group

I suspect Russia now controls those satellites, since Wagner’s leader was killed in suspicious plane crash.

 

• Video of dismantling of Saturn-1B rocket at Alabama rest stop

The rocket had been on display there for decades and could no longer be maintained properly. The decision was made in January to remove it and renovate the rest stop entirely.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• B2Space touts its proposed balloon-based launch system in a short video

The concept of a “rockoon” is an old one, never implemented for orbital launches despite its potential.

 

• Amazon outlines the goals of its first two prototype Kuiper satellites

Now scheduled for launch on October 6th on an Atlas-5 rocket. Live stream here.

 

• China’s outlines rough development plan for its lunar base

Unlike a previous presentation, this presentation made no mention of Russia, China’s supposed partner in this project. No surprise, since no one ever expected Russia to contribute much anyway.

 

• China presents a global map of those international partners participating in its space station

The map overstates the level of cooperation from these other nations, since in many cases it is not the government but a few individual scientists participating. Moreover, Alaska is not part of Canada, as the map suggests.

 

• Russia releases final Luna-25 failure report

I hadn’t linked to this previously because it adds nothing significant from the earlier reports.

 

• Russia once again invites Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa to participate in its own unlaunched space station

Any announcement to partner with Russia is merely going to be for the photo op, as it is highly unlikely any independent Russian station will fly anytime in the near or even far future.

 

• A reminder that today is the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik in 1957

Thus, the space age began.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also clued me in on the Artemis Accords story I posted earlier today.

• The Washington Post takes a close look at Boeing’s Starliner

It doesn’t find much to be encouraged by, As Jay noted, “I read the whole article and it seems to me that Boeing is saying about Starliner- ‘To hell with it!'”

 

• Blue Origin reassigned a “majority of its employees working on Orbital Reef” earlier this year

This story confirms the rumors from last week as well as my speculations during the summer, that Blue Origin and Sierra Space are parting ways on this private space station, with Blue Origin’s failure to deliver once again the cause.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• China launches a new sea launch ship, able to accomodate liquid-fueled rockets

This platform allows China to avoid the bad press from crashing stages in inhabited areas of China. Sea launches eliminate that issue.

 

• China will allow international science payloads on its Chang’e lunar lander/rover

The mission is targeting a 2028 launch date, and is presently in its very earliest planning stages.

 

• New Horizons mission extended until the end of this decade

The plan is to operate the spacecraft until it leaves the Kuiper Belt. It will now be used not only to study the outer asteroids, but the Sun’s heliosphere and solar wind.

 

• Astroscale gets $80 million contract from Japan to rendezvous and inspect defunct space junk

The goal is to test rendezvous with an inoperable upper stage, which cannot provide any location data. What is significant is that the Japanese government is hiring a private company to fly the mission, rather than have its space agency JAXA do it. Capitalism in space!

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Nasdaq informs Astra it now in compliance with its rules, and will not be delisted

In other words, the reverese stock split allowed Astra to escape delisting even thought its value has dropped through the floor.

 

• China announces a few basic details of its Chang’e-6 sample return mission

All they say is it will launch on a Long March 5 rocket in May 2024, head to the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon, and operate for 53 days (which likely includes the return of the sample to Earth). Jay spotted one mystery however: The coordinates provided (“S43, W154”) are no where near the south pole, though it is likely in the northernmost part of Aitken Basin.

 

• ESA schedules briefing on Vega-C launch failure investigation to Monday

Jay adds that ESA has been delaying this briefing repeatedly all this week. Apparently they have had some late loose-ends to tie up, and it is taking longer than they expected.

Courtesty of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves hat tips for the Ingenuity and Iran stories earlier today.

• Rocket Lab revises downward its third quarter revenue numbers because of recent launch failure

This revision is required to keep present and potential investors accurately informed.

 

• Related: Rocket Lab touts with a picture the many rockets ready to go, once the launch failure investigation is completed

This is just normal PR, not to be taken too seriously. However Jay adds this comment: “To the new CEO of Blue Origin, take note of this picture.”

 

• China to consider four capsule proposals for bringing cargo to its space station

All of the proposals come from government space agencies. This decision simply allows the four chosen to begin detailed design work.

 

• The most recent 22 Starlink satellites launched included next generation optical lasers

The lasers allow the satellites to connect to each other, creating essentially a communications mesh in space. More information here.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Chinese releases map of its 50 primary candidate landing sites on the Moon

Only two appear to be at the South Pole. The majority are in the mare regions on the Moon’s near side.

 

• Short video showing train bringing segments of the solid rocket boosters for the next Artemis launch

These were delivered to Cape Canaveral today. It is not clear how many segments were on this train.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• The live stream for the OSIRIS-REx sample return in Utah on September 24, 2023

It goes live at 10 am Eastern.

 

• Short video of Ceres-1 launch, possibly capturing indications of the coming failure

Jay notes, “Looks like a gap in the fuel burn then that orange smoke a couple seconds later. Also looks like something fell out. Was there a bubble in the solid fuel or did the fuel fail to burn?”

 

• ISRO engineers have so far failed to re-establish communications with its Vikram lunar lander or Pragyan lunar rover

They are continuing their efforts, but sunrise occurred today, and the longer there is no contact the less chance the lunar rover or lander survived the long lunar night.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• New agreement between Axiom and Hungary strengthens the plan to send Hungarian to Axiom’s space station

This is simply a continuation of the ongoing negotiations from last year, whereby Hungary pays Axiom $100 million for its services.

 

• “Anomaly” during September Ariane-6 engine test causes cancellation of next first stage static fire test on October 3, 2023

Engineers need time to investigate, which now raises the question about when in 2024 Ariane-6 will finally fly. These issues might push that launch into the latter half of the year, further lengthening the time Europe will be forced to rely on non-European rocket companies for its large launch needs.