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.

• Lockheed Martin signs non-profit to study if a commercial mission with Orion, launched on other rockets, would make sense
  Very preliminary, but it indicates the company is searching for ways to make money on Orion once SLS is eventually cancelled.

• Ispace to fly two South Korean commercial rovers on its future lunar lander missions
  The rovers will be built by a company called UEL. Each are two-wheeled and would fly prior to ’27.

• Intuitive Machines completes acquisition of KinetX
  The deal gives Intuitive Machines deep space navigation and communications capabilities.

• Japanese rocket startup Innovative Space Carrier purchases engines from American rocket company Ursa Major
  The deal was signed in early July. Jay has doubts about Innovative Space Carrier, which seems to have very big dreams for a startup.

• Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS shows “extreme negative polarization”
  Already some of making more into this than justified. It is merely a known aspect of comets, though the number here appears to be an outlier, not surprising as it comes from outside our solar system.

• On this day in 1958, the NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) officially became NASA
  For some reason, while we pronounce “NASA” as a word, “NACA” was always spelled out when named, as in “the EN-A-SEE-A”.

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.

• Orbital tug startup Momentus signs deal with satellite propulsion startup Pulsar Fusion to test its engines in orbit
  The mission will fly in 2026 on Momentus’ Vigoride tug.

• Orbital servicing startup Starfish Space touts its Otter Pup 2 demo mission to test its simplified docking system
  It claims Otter Pup 2 will rendezvous using just one thruster and autonomous software.

• India rocket startup Agnikul says it plans to vertically land and recover its Agnibaan rocket’s first stage
  The stage will land on a drone ship.

• Blue Origin signs deal with Luxembourg Space Agency to develop a project to map the Moon’s water ice and resources
  Like all of Blue Origin’s proposed projects, it is long on pretty graphics and high-minded goals, but short on any specific details.

• China releases an image of its Tianwen-2 asteroid probe on its way to near Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa
  It has been in space now for 125 days, and is now about 28 million miles from the asteroid.

• A list showing every delay since Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser was first proposed
  Quite disgusting. First proposed in 2007 with a launch promised in 2009, there follows almost two dozen announced delays, steadily pushing the launch back to late ’26, if then.

• This week in 2022, Juno flew by Jupiter’s moon Europa
  Cool image at the link. It was the first close look in two decades, since the end of the Galileo orbiter.

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.

• Axiom signs deal to establish an astronaut training program with the Maldives
  The deal also includes working with the Maldives’s space agency on other space-related projects.

• Honda and Astrobotic sign deal to work together in creating a power system for lunar bases
  Astrobotic is developing a solar array system. Honda will add its regenerative fuel cell for power storage.

• ISRO announces it is now targeting early 2027 for the first manned Gaganyaan mission
  The only change here is that ISRO wants to launch early in the year.

• Sierra Space touts completion of critical design review for its missile tracking satellites for military’s Space Development Agency
  It will now begin production of the eighteen satellites.

• Rocket Lab wins another ten- launch contract from Synspective
  Synspective has now bought a total of 21 launches from Rocket Lab, making it the rocket company’s biggest customer.

• On this day in 2004, Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne to an altitude of 64 miles
  This was the second of three flights, which won SpaceShipOne the X-Prize.

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.

• Northrop Grumman successfully tests autonomous rendezvous and docking using planned Starlab port
  It used a Cygnus docking interface to do this, demonstrating that when Starlab launches Cygnus can deliver cargo to this commercial station.

• Blue Origin’s CEO shows off the first stage booster to be used in New Glenn’s second launch
  Now tentatively targeting a late October or early November launch date.

• Blue Origin’s CEO touts a vacuum test of its BE-7 engine
  Intended for the company’s Blue Moon lunar lander, both manned and unmanned.

• Rocket Lab to acquire Mynaric for $75 million in cash or stock
  Mynaric specializes in laser communication technology, a field that is only now beginning to take off in space.

• Scientists find proof that an asteroid hit the North Sea over 43 million years ago
  Interesting, with the uncertainties less than usual for these kinds of stories.

• In 2008, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 1 rocket, its first orbital launch vehicle
  And the rest is history.

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.

• Rocket Lab touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications orbiter
  The company is one of several bidding for this contract. Hence the repeated X tweets plugging it.

• Nineteen and a half minute Dragon engine burn to raise ISS’s orbit cuts off prematurely at 3.5 minutes due to “being on unexpected tanks”
  Both Dragon and ISS are safe, but it is not yet clear exactly what the problem was.

• On this day in 1992, the Mars Observer mission was launched by a Titan III rocket
  The orbiter was lost three days before it was to enter Mars orbit from a catastrophic failure in its propulsion system.

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.

• CEO Chris Kent of rocket startup Astra calls Firefly’s engines garbage during presentation
  Firefly has put an unmanned lander on the Moon. It also has a rocket that has had launch successes. Astra doesn’t have anything at the moment. You decide the credibility of Kemp’s statement.

• Isar Aerospace gets multi-launch contract from satellite startup R-Space
  The first launch in ’26 will put two satellites in orbit, with later launches through ’27.

• Vast touts its partnership with watch company IWC, its “Official Timekeeper”
  Mostly vapid PR, except that almost as an aside during the video Vast revealed that it now plans to keep its demo Haven-1 single-module station operational for three years during which it will be visited by four 2-week manned missions.

• NASA touts the credentials of one of its new astronauts named this week: Dr. Lauren Edgar
  Edgar spent 17 years working on various Mars rover operations, including Curiosity.

• Yesterday was the anniversary of the discovery of Neptune by German astronomer Johann Galle in 1846
  He found it using French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier’s calculations predicting its location.

• Two years ago today OSIRIS-REx’s samples from the asteroid Bennu landed on Earth

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.

• Rocket startup Exos Aerospace brags its tanks are so strong you can jump on them
  Jay notes that the “Russians walk on theirs all the time.”

• Blue Origin touts the sunshield it will use on its Lunar Transporter
  The shield will protect crews from radiation while acting as a solar panel generating 23 kilowatts, which Jay says “is a lot, enough to power two average U.S. homes.”

• PLD touts the first fully intergrated Teprel-C engine for its Miura-5 first stage
  It is targeting producing one engine every two weeks by the end of this year.

• SpaceX releases video of the successful full duration static fire test of the next Starship to fly
  Right now the eleventh orbital test flight is targeting an October launch.

• NASA awards Firefly $10 million bonus for providing more data than required by its initial contract

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.

• UAE touts its Rashid-2 lunar rover, now undergoing thermal vacuum tests
  It will be carried to the Moon in 2026 on a Firefly Blue Ghost lander.

• SpaceX launched 88.5% of all satellites in second quarter of ’25, on track to hit the 90% for the year, as Elon Musk predicted
  It also put up 86% of the mass.

• NASA’s corrupt safety panel once lambasts SpaceX for the delays in its Starship program, even though the main culprit was red tape during the Biden administration
  I wonder when our propaganda press will stop paying attention to this junk panel, that hasn’t gotten anything right in years. It continues to ignore or poo-poo the real safety issues with Orion and Starliner, while consistently attacking SpaceX wrongly.

• XRISM detects a slow, dense wind from a distant neutron star, while Chandra found a supermassive black hole growing faster than predicted by theory

• On this day in 1974 Mariner 10 had its second encounter with Mercury
  The science team did this by using the gravity of Venus to slingshot the spacecraft back to Mercury. This was the first time such a technique had been tried.

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.

• Starcloud and Mission Space forge partnership to integrate Starcloud’s “orbital data centers” with Mission Space’s weather data, using AI
  More AI, and a press release that makes it almost incomprehensible what these companies plan to do.

• Stoke Space touts installation of its flame diverter at its launchpad in Florida
  Water suppression tests are next.

• The Parker Solar Probe completes its 25th Sun close flyby
  This fly-by matched the records of two previous close approaches, getting within 3.8 million miles of the Sun at a speed of 430,000 miles per hour.

• On this day in 1977, Voyager 1 took the first image of both Earth and Moon, in a single frame
  It was taken from 7.25 million miles away, two weeks after launch as the spacecraft headed out into the solar system.

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.

• JP Aerospace touts its Ellipse prototype airship
  The design is radical and looks nothing like the blimps we are accustomed to seeing.

• Vast: The welds on the flight hull of its demo station Haven-1 are now finished so that testing and integration can follow
  The company is still targeting a launch in the spring of 2026 with plans for a manned occupancy during a 30-day mission.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer shows off the extra clamps used during its static fire test this week of its Tianlogn-3 rocket’s first stage
  “8 holding points at lower ring + 16 holding points at upper ring + 4 cables at the top to hold down the rocket.”

• Another new Chinese rocket startup pseudo-copmany: Space Spark (Hefei Xinghuo Space Technology Co., Ltd)
  Not to be taken seriously at this point.

• On this day in 1976 the cast of Star Trek were present when Enterprise, the space shuttle prototype test vehicle, when it rolled out of the Palmdale facility
  The original name, Constitution, was abandoned in response to the demands of Star Trek fans.

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.

• ESA delivers to NASA the third service module for Orion
  The first was used on the Artemis-1, that went around the Moon unmanned in 2022. The second will be used on the first manned mission, presently scheduled for April 2026 to also fly around the Moon. This third service module will be used on the planned landing mission, Artemis-3, scheduled for 2027 (very unlikely).

• SpaceX’s new water ship to transport Starship from Starbase to Cape Canaveral is launched
  Suggests that the first Starship launches in Florida are not far off.

• NASA plugs a book by one of its employees, giving his perspective on the space shuttle Columbia tragedy
  It is a free download. Be aware that this book is published by NASA’s history office. It might give a good account, but the track record of NASA history books is that they rarely tell the whole truth.

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.

• Axiom touts the testing of the thrusters it wants to use on its first station module
  This is their eighth iteration of the thrusters.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts testing of thrust vector controls for its Tianlong-3 rocket

• Space Pioneer also touts successful static fire test of the Tianlong-3 first stage
  This company had a first stage launch itself during a static fire test in 2024. Jay says they doubled the number of hold-down clamps for this test.

• Satellite startup Astranis signs Impulse Space to use its Helios tug for a 2027 launch
  SpaceX will put both into orbit on a Falcon 9, and then Helios will put the six satellites into their final orbits.

• Amazon touts its Kuiper manufacturing process in Washington state and in Florida
  It claims it is now producing five satellites a day.

• An attempt to compare the re-entry and landing burn timings between China’s Long March 10 rocket and SpaceX’s Falcon-9
  Speculative. They used the timings during the Long March 10 static fires.

• On this day in 2017 Cassini orbiter ended its mission, burning up in Saturn’s atmosphere
  The video at the link has some nice imagery from the mission, along with sci-fi-style graphics, dramatic music, and overheated narration.

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.

• Voyager’s AltiusSpace celebrates winning contract from Maxar to build two robotic arms
  These arms are for in-orbit robotic servicing of satellites. UPDATE: This is an old tweet, from three years ago. As of now, there is no sign this work has happened.

• China touts the second successful static fire test of its Long March 10 rocket
  The test ran for 320 seconds. The rocket is intended for China’s manned lunar missions. Video can bee seen here.

• China says its Lijian-2 rocket is now being prepped to launch its Qingzhou cargo spacecraft to Tiangong-3
  Launch is expected before the end of the year.

• Isar touts its entire manufacturing process making rocketss
  Lots of dramatic music and quick cutting. Not a lot of detailed information. Jay notes that he “learned that it is pronounced ‘E-Sar.’ Young Frankenstein joke in there.”

• Another quasi-moon of Earth has been found
  Orbital estimates say it has been in this orbit for at least a few decades, and will remain in this orbit for at least a few decades more.

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.

• Today in 2007 Cassini snapped the first high-resolution image of Saturn’s moon Iapetus during its closest flyby
  The picture at the link is quite amazing.

• A very short video from Axiom showing Thales-Alenia technicians and engineers working on the first planned module of Axiom’s space station

• ESA completes mission design review of lunar rover Magpie, being built by the European division of Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace
  It will land near the Moon’s south pole, with a launch date targeting 2028.

• On this night in 1967 Surveyor 5 landed on the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility
  It was the first spacecraft to conduct a soil analysis on the Moon. Jay adds, “Surveyor 5 landed nearly out of fuel and on a nearly 20° slope.”

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.

• Startup Venus Aerospace touts the capabilities of its RDRE rocket engine
  It claims the engine is “flight-proven and delivers at least 15% higher efficiency than any rocket engine in use today.”

• Firefly touts the engineering behind its second BlueGhost lunar lander, heading to the far side of the Moon
  The image shows “the structure qualification models” for both the Blue Ghost lander and the company’s Elytra Dark orbiter, that on the mission will be released in lunar orbit.

• Relativity’s August update on its progress leading to the first Terran-R rocket launch
  As with all the recent monthly updates, the company appears to be aggressively and successfully moving towards a 2026 launch date, though it however has made no firm schedule commitments.

• A section of the Israeli rocket that placed its Ofek 19 reconnaissance satellite into orbit last week has been found near the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean, south of Italy
  The tweet says it’s the rocket’s fairing, but it looks more like a rocket stage to me.

• Blue Origin touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
  Blue Origin’s bid for this NASA contract might carry a bit more weight if it started launching some New Glenn rockets and payloads first.

• Rocket Lab touts its proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
  If it was my decision at NASA and my choice was between Blue Origin and Rocket Lab, Rocket Lab would win hands down. It has launched stuff that works. Blue Origin so far is mostly just smoke and mirrors

• On this day in 1959, Big Joe—an uncrewed Mercury capsule—was launched on a suborbital test flight
  This was the second launch of the Mercury program and the first to use an Atlas booster. Big Joe was recovered in the Atlantic after reaching a peak altitude of 95 miles.

• On this day in 1975, Viking 2 launched to Mars
  Like its twin Viking 1, it included an orbiter and a lander. Both landers were focused far too much on looking for evidence of Martian life, a search that was unrealistic for the first two human spacecraft to arrive on a planet with the surface area equivalent to the continents on Earth.

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.

• Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace and Indian startup Digantara to build private lunar mission
  The mission’s goal will be providing “situational awareness” in lunar space, and appears instigated by the Indian government’s future manned space plans.

• Vast touts its testing program of the ventilation fans on its Haven-1 space module
  As far as I know, they are still targeting a 2026 launch.

• Air Force awards Blue Origin and Anduril study contracts using rockets to move military cargo around the world
  This story is from two weeks ago, but I missed it at the time.

• Indian rocket startup Skyroot describes how it developed its Kalam-1200 solid-fueled motor
  The company successfully test fired it on August 8, 2025. It is the most powerful solid-fueled motor ever developed in India. It will be used in the company’s Vikram-1 orbital rocket, which the company hopes to launch for the first time before the end of this year.

• Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, scientists claim the main belt asteroid Ceres may have been energetically active
  The speculations here are so over the top that I hesitated including it. Moreover, the claim is hardly news, as there has been ample evidence for years that Ceres was once active.

• On this day in 1995 the space shuttle Endeavour launched carrying the Spartan 201 satellite, which flew on five shuttle missions
  The satellite would be deployed by the shuttle arm at the start of the mission, provide a testbed for technological and scientific experiments, and be retrieved near the end of the mission for return to Earth.

• On this day in 1944, Germany conducted the first two operational launches of its V-2 rocket, the first long-range ballistic missile
  Both rockets, aimed at Paris, failed due to premature engine cutoffs.

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.

• AST SpaceMobile updates the status of its next eleven BlueBird satellites, all in various stages of production
  #6 is ready for shipment, and the company hopes to begin launching one every one or two months, beginning next year.

• Startup PERSEI Space plans to test the use of tethers to remove space junk
  The concept, using the electromagnetic force produced as the tether moves through the Earth’s magnetic field to lower defunct satellites, is actually an old one. There have been a number of attempts to test it previously, especially by the space shuttle, but every time technical problems prevented the test from succeeding.

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.

• Interlune wins $4.8 million grant from Texas Space Commission to build a facility to study lunar regolith simulants at the Johnson Space Center in Houston
  The company has developed a proprietary system it claims can harvest resources from lunar soil, such as helium-3. It will use this facility to further test this system.

• Axiom touts its completion of six custom hatch units to be used on the first two modules of its station
  It is not clear from the tweet whether these are engineering test hatches or the actual flight units. Either way, they have been shipped to Thales-Alenia in Italy for testing.

• Engineers propose new rectangular-shaped telescope for use in space
  The concept produces a mirror that is smaller than Webb&s but with a greater ability to gather light. The article at the link touts this as a way to find alien life, a completely idiotic supposition and typical of the utter stupidity of our modern press.

• On this day in 1988 contact with the Mars-bound Soviet spacecraft Phobos 1 was lost
  The spacecraft shut down due to a faulty command sequence that was sent by mission control. The failure continued the curse that has hounded Russia’s missions to Mars: They all seem to fail before or at arrival.

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.

• China touts the successful static fire test of the upper stage of its Kinetica-2 rocket
  This engine would be used for missions to geosynchronous orbit or deep space.

• On this day in 1979, Pioneer 11 made its closest approach to Saturn.
  Though it discovered a new ring of Saturn and two new small moons, its main purpose was engineering, proving out the technology for such long interplanetary missions.

• On this day in 1804, asteroid 3 Juno was discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.

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.

• Rocket Lab shows off a fire-tested Archimedes rocket engine, to be used on its new Neutron rocket.
  According to the tweet, this engine includes parts from a number of different engines.

• French rocket startup MaiaSpace completes pressure testing of subscale prototypes of its Maia rocket’s tanks
  The company also announced it is beginning development of an orbital tug, based on the design of the rocket’s optional third stage.

• Video describing a new Earth observation constellation being built by four Indian startups—Pixxel, PierSight, SatSure, and Dhruva Space
  Another example of India’s shift away from government-built satellites to a private space industry that designs, builds, and owns its products and makes money from them.

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.

• ULA CEO interviews Amanda Bacchetti, one of ULA’s directors for Vulcan development
  Lots of blather, but the key take-away is that they are now focused on iterative development of Vulcan as it launches, similar to SpaceX’s approach, and vastly different than ULA’s past culture. They also hinted a something radical that might involve reuse of the rocket’s upper stage.

• Scientists claim they can date Jupiter’s age from meteorites
  Need I say it how completely and utterly uncertain this is?

• The Starship landing video in the Indian Ocean was taken from a camera bolted to a Starlink terminal sitting in a kiddie pool
  Simple and amazing.

• On this day in 1993, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew by asteroid 243 Ida and discovered it had a tiny moon, Dactyl.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who apologizes for the lateness due to a hectic day at work. 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.

• Chinese pseudo-company Nayuta Space releases movie animation showing how its proposed first stage will return to Earth
  It would land horizontally, not vertically. Assuming this fantasy ever actually happens.

• Astronomers prove that millimeter radiation is generated close to the core of a supermassive black hole
  Need I say it?

• India’s space agency ISRO touts a fullscale model of the 1st module of India’s Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS)
  The full station will have five modules, assembled in orbit from ’28 to ’35, if all goes as scheduled.

• 60 years ago Gemini-5 was the first mission to use fuel cells to power a manned spacecraft
  Proving out that technology was essential for the Apollo missions, as NASA had determined that solar power was not yet ready.

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.

• Starfish gives update on its Otter Pup 2 rendezvous and docking demo mission
  Though the update is vague, it appears the tug is now doing its initial rendezvous maneuvers.

• Another new Chinese pseudo-company, Arktech, touts its Bingchuan-1/Glacier-1 rocket, with a reusable first stage
  As always, these fake Chinese companies produce great graphics, based on already launched American rockets. Whether anything ever gets built is another story.

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.

• Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first Command Computer Subsystem (CCS) on Viking 1
  The link goes to a video about the primitive computer system that both Viking orbiters and landers used, as well as Voyagers 1 and 2, still operating almost a half century after they were turned on.

• Chinese researchers date the formation of the Moon’s Apollo Basin on its far side as occurring 4.16 billion years ago
  They used data from samples brought back by the Chang’e-6 mission.

• Chinese institute proposes an orbiter and lander mission to the Saturn moon Enceladus
  The lander would include a drill able to drill down as much three miles.

• On this day in 1977 Voyager 2 was launched.
  Still working after almost a half century.

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 view from a Kuiper satellite launched last week by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
  This imagery was captured over a 24-minute period — enough time for the satellite to travel 5,500+ miles in orbit, from over Italy to the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.

• BlackSky signs seven-figure space domain awareness expansion contract with HEO Space for fully automated non-Earth imaging missions
  Essentially, HEO’s software will be used by its customers to task BlackSky’s satellites “to detect, track, characterize, and classify objects in orbit, as well as assess potential threats and predict their effects.”

• BlackSky touts an image of China’s Tiangong space station at a distance of 83 kilometers, taken by one of its satellites
  Quite spectacular. The station was above Bulgaria, and the picture was taken on March 13, 2025.

• Webb discovers another new moon orbiting Uranus
  It is estimated to be about six miles in diameter, and has an orbit close to the gas giant’s rings. Uranus now has 29 moons, but do not be surprised when that number rises significantly.

• NASA celebrates the Mars helicopter Ingenuity on National Aviation Day, noting it carried a small swatch of material from the Wright Brothers flyer
  All told Ingenuity flew 72 times, the first powered, controlled flights on another planet.

• The head of India’s space agency ISRO says its next rocket will be 40 stories tall and carry 75 tons into orbit
  He made a lot more promises. We shall see.

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 rocket startup Reaction Dynamics gets a mulit-launch contract for its proposed Auroro-8 rocket
  The customer, is a new satellite company Galaxia, which wants to put up its own constellation.

• Stoke Space announces the first launch of its new completely reusable two-stage Nova rocket is set for 2026
  No specific date is set but it appears 2026 is the year.

• The next Cygnus freighter has been named after Columbia STS-107 astronaut Willie McCool
  McCool was the pilot on Columbia’s last mission that broke up upon re-entry. The launch is tentatively scheduled for mid-September on a Falcon 9 rocket.

• On this day in 1960 film reconnaissance satellite Discoverer 14 was launched
  Its re-entry capsule was successfully recovered, bringing back the first orbital reconnaissance film photographs every produced.

• On this day in 1877 astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons

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 submits its lunar rover proposal for manned missions to the Moon
  Why am I not surprised that it has a high profile, higher than other proposals?

• New Glenn team just finished aft module tests of 1st stage for its second New Glenn launch
  It appears this is the system that deploys the legs. Launch is scheduled for September 29, 2025.

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.

• Stoke Space touts manufacturing progress for its Nova rocket, including engines, heat shield, and structural testing
  Still no launch date announced.

• Blue Origin pitches a Mars telecommunications orbiter proposal for Mars Sample return
  Yawn. This company sure pitches a lot of cool graphics, while launching almost nothing.

• On this day in 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched
  More than any other orbiter, images from MRO have proven that Mars is an icy world, not a dry desert.

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.

• Relativity releases its July update of the company’s progress towards first launch of its Terran-R rocket
  Though the company remains tight-lipped about a launch date (no longer promising 2026), it increasingly appears as if 2026 is no longer impossible.

• Relativity touts the layout design of the 13 engines on the Terran-R 1st stage
  Nine will gimbal, four will not.

• Russia again delays the launch of its Luna 27A lunar lander to 2029
  A second lander has also been delayed till 2030. Both were originally supposed to launch by 2025. I predict both will be delayed again. And again. And again. etc.

• On this day in 1960 the reentry capsule of the military surveillance satellite Discoverer-13 became the first human-made object to be recovered from orbit
  It was the eleventh attempt, carrying only sensors to track its flight. With this success the next mission a week later carried a film camera for reconnaissance.

• On this day in 1977 the test shuttle Enterprise flew its first manned test flight
  Piloted by Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton, it was released from an airplane at 22,800 feet and glided down to a landing 5.3 min later.

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.

• Long March 10’s first stage is geared up for its first static fire of all seven engines
  This is the heavy lift rocket China is developing for its manned lunar missions, capable of putting 70 tons in Earth orbit and 27 tons toward the Moon. Jay: “They did a firing of just three of the engines a couple months ago.” First test launch is targeting 2026.

• On this day in 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 was launched to the Moon
  Its main goal was to provide high resolution images of the planned Apollo landing sites. It also got the first Earthrise picture, as well as high resolution images of 50% of the far side of the Moon. Its orbit also revealed the first hint of the Moon’s uneven gravity and underground mass concentrations (mascons), making all orbits unstable.

• On this day in 1990 the Magellan spacecraft entered orbit around Venus
  It mapped 90% of Venus’ surface using radar, revealing a planet with millions of volcanoes and no obvious plate tectonics.