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.

• 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

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.