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.

• Smallsat startup True Anomaly touts its new “Jackal spacecraft for GEO and Cislunar space”
  The company is angling for defense work.

• Vast signs deal with NASA’s Glenn center to do environmental testing of its Haven-1 manned space station
  This testing is set for early ’26, which makes for a very tight schedule to meet the present May ’26 launch date.

• Space Force awards Northrop Grumman two contracts to demonstrate in-space refueling technologies

• Rocket Lab touts its satellite radio units

• SpaceX completes static fire test of Superheavy booster recovered from the seventh test flight
  The tweet says this booster could very well be reused on test flight 9, the next planned test flight.

• Kongsberg to deliver 280 microsatellites to SpinLaunch’s LEO satellite communication constellation
  My readers might remember SpinLaunch as the startup aiming to put payloads into orbit by spinning them to high speeds and then releasing them. They did some tests, got some investment capital, and then apparently switched focus to satellite communications.

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 the qualification of the upper stage of its new Neutron rocket
  They are still targeting a first launch this year.

• On this day in 1960 the first weather satellite, Tiros-1, was launched
  Took the first weather images from space, reshaping how weather would be forecast for the rest of history.

• On this day in 1968 “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington, DC
  While many still rave about this film, and I myself literally had a mind-blowing experience watching it for the first time (without any drugs in my system), the movie has not aged well. Each time I watch it my opinion of it as a film goes 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.

• FAA confirms that it has closed its investigation into the seventh flight of Starship/Superheavy
  The FAA also noted the flight’s failure posed no safety issues, something that was clear almost immedately.

• Cuba’s state-run press attacks the arrival of Starlink in Cuba, claiming it is a plot by Trump and Musk to “destabilze” the island
  In other words, Cuba’s communist dictators don’t like it that its citizens might now have other options for getting information that those dictators don’t control.

• On this day in 1997 Pioneer-10’s mission ended, 25 years after launch
  It continued to send signals back through 2003.

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.

• Senator raises concerns over Air Force possibly shifting satellite contracts to SpaceX
  Though no decision has yet been made, the plan would abandon the smallsat constellation presently being built and rely on SpaceX’s StarShield constellation instead.

• Space Force adds Rocket Lab and Stoke Space to its list of rocket companies that can bid on certain launch contracts
  Both join already approved Blue Origin, SpaceX, and ULA.

• ULA launchpad at Vandenberg receiving new 70k gallon (265k liter) liquid hydrogen tank for Vulcan upper stage

• More additions to the same ULA launchpad at Vandenberg
  Both tweets are by ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno, touting Vulcan upgrades.

• Chinese satellite pseudo-company Genesat to up satellite production to one satellite per day for its Qianfan/Thousand Sails constellation
  One of several Chinese projects aimed at providing a state-controlled option to Starlink.

• One powerpoint slide outlining China’s Chang’e-7 south pole mission
  Mostly useless unless you read Chinese.

• Overview of China’s present space effort
  A good summary but not much new information.

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 Interstellar touts is rocket engine, powered by “liquid biomethane, a renewable fuel”
  Jay looked up “biomethane,” and discovered it is manufactured using manure.

• China touts a toy model display showing the future for its Wencheng coastal spaceport
  The model shows more than a dozen launchpads, packed close together. We shall see what the future really brings.

• ESA confirms that its very successful Gaia spacecraft has gone silent and has been shut down
  Over its decade-long mission it precisely measured the distances to more than a billion objects in the Milky Way, revolutionizing astronomy most significantly.

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’s present planetary exploration roadmap
  • 2028: Tianwen-3 Mars sample return
  • 2029: Tianwen-4 to Jupiter and Callisto
  • 2033: Venus atmospheric sample return
  • 2038: Mars Research Station for ISRU
  • 2039: Probe to Neptune and Triton

  Jay notes correctly that China has apparently dropped a planned mission to Uranus, listed in a similar presentation in February 2023. The schedule has for all these missions also been pushed back significantly.

• On this day in 1948 Chuck Yaeger flew Bell X-1 to the highest velocity and altitude of any piloted airplane up to that time
  The speed record set was Mach 1.45. The altitude record was 71,900 feet.

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.

• SLS core stage for next Artemis mission lifted upright
  This will be for the first Artemis manned mission around the Moon. I fear for those astronauts’ lives.

• China touts the construction progress for its Long March 10 launchpad at Wenchang spaceport
  This is where it hopes to launch its manned Moon missions.

• Video showing disassembly of high bay at Starbase to make room for much larger “Giga Bay”
  The larger bay will allow faster assembly line manufacture of Starship/Superheavy.

• Happy 97th birthday to astronaut Jim Lovell, who in the 1960s and 1970s was the world’s most traveled spaceman
  Lovell flew on Gemini 7 (the first mission lasting two weeks), Gemini 12 (refining docking, rendezvous, and spacewalk technology), Apollo 8 (the first human mission to orbit another world), and Apollo 13 (which started out as a lunar landing mission and instead became one of the greatest space rescue missions of all time).

• On this day in 1655 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, Saturn’s largest moon

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

• Using Webb to characterize the nature of the dwarf planets in the outer solar system

• Summary of Chinese rockets which plan to have maiden flights in 2025
  Lists ten new rockets. I am willing to bet that half will not fly this year, and a good percentage will never fly. The successes however will be important, since some include reusability.

• On this day in 1965 Ranger 9 successfully crashed on the Moon, as planned
  Link includes a video made up of the photos taken as the spacecraft descended.

• Hubble image showing the impact clouds on Jupiter from Comet Shoemaker-Levy’s collision in 1994
  Fortunately the impact occurred after Hubble’s eyesight was fixed.

• Ten years ago today the Mars rover Opportunity exceeded 26.2 miles, the length of a marathon
  It is still a record for any rover, but expect both Curiosity and Perseverance to eventually break it.

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 SPHEREx space telescope ejects its dust cover
  The telescope will compile a spectroscopic sky survey over its two-year prime mission.

• European Space Agency (ESA) releases a report outlining its overall strategy through 2040
  Contains lots of typical bureaucratic blather. It actually means little, as the real strategies are presently being established by the individual European nations independent of this central bureaucracy. Rather than depend on ESA, the member nations are one-by-one encouraging private enterprise, not government projects. ESA is likely going to become a backwater in the next decade, and unnecessary after that.

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.

• New Horizons detects too much ultra-violet light coming from blank patch of sky
  Or to put it more clearly, this is just another example of the uncertainty of science.

• Axiom touts new work on its station modules by Thales-Alenia in Italy

• Commercial radar satellite company Iceye assures the Ukraine it will continue to make its orbital data available
  I am sure Iceye is being well paid for its data.

• SpaceX’s launch tonight will use a first stage booster less than ten days after its previous launch, a new turnaround record

• Starlink competitor in the Falklands touts his company as superior
  It appears he is trying to hold onto his monopoly, and failing.

• On Gemini 3 this week in 1965 astronaut John Young took out a corned beef sandwich, bought at a local restaurant, and ate it while in orbit
  The NASA bureaucracy, mighty pissed off at Young for doing this, imposed new stricter rules thereafter on what astronauts could take on board their flight. Young, who was one of America’s truly great space pioneers, never suffered however, flying two Gemini missions, two Apollo missions, and two shuttle 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.

• Andoya spaceport signs partnership deal with satellite packager Exolaunch
  Exolaunch will act to help Andoya integrate satellites on future launches.

• Chinese pseudo-company touts its capsules for both manned and cargo flights
  It claims it will begin test flights in “2027 or 2028,” but the graphic at the link mostly shows copies of Dragon and Cygnus capsules.

• Exlabs and Antares form partnership to develop spacecraft using nuclear power for operations
  The idea is to create better on-board power systems so that interplanetary missions will be less reliant on solar power.

• This week in 2011 NASA’s Messenger spacecraft became the first to enter Mercury orbit
  It operated for four years, collecting data and images.

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 another new rocket doing tower tests
  No information other than two pictures.

• Update on the testing status of Sierra Nevada’s first Dream Chaser cargo shuttle, Tenacity
  Includes almost no new information. Suggests the first launch will occur “this year,” which seems remarkable vague considering previously they thought they would launch last spring.

• On this day in 1965 Russian Alexei Leonov became the first person to do a spacewalk
  The spacewalk had been quickly improvised to beat the planned American spacewalk during its Gemini program, and so the spacesuit ballooned out so much during the walk Leonov initially could not get back through the hatch. He had to literally dump some of his own air to shrink the suit enough to squeeze back in.

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

• South Korean rocket startup Innospace touts video of tests of its rocket strongback
  It is targeting a July 2025 first launch attempt.

• Rocket Lab touts its fairing design for its new Neutron rocket
  Rather than separating, the fairings are integral to the reusable first stage, and merely hinge open.

• China opens its Mars sample return mission to international participation
  Considering the mess the NASA/ESA sample return mission is in, it might make sense for neutral countries to consider hitching a ride with China.

• China shows off graphic of its own Webb copycat space telescope
  Merely a powerpoint slide. Nothing real as yet.

• NASA touts Lucy’s next asteroid rendezvous
  The release cites some theories about the age of the asteroid, but mostly it touts Lucy.

• ISRO gets approval from government for joint Chandrayaan-5 mission with Japan
  Includes an Indian lander and a Japanese rover landing somewhere in the south polar regions of the Moon. Expect more information by tomorrow.

• On this day in 1958 the U.S. launched its second satellite, Vanguard 1.
  It was the first to be solar powered. It is also still in orbit, and is expected to remain so for at least another 150-plus years.

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.

• Varda releases video showing the inside view during its second capsule’s return from space
  The capsule returned on February 27, 2025.

• Cool video of Blue Ghost shooting four tethered electrodes from an 8-foot mast at the top of the lander
  The electrodes flew quite a distance, though the fisheye lens exaggerates that impression.

• NASA and the press team up to lobby against possible significant cuts to the agency’s science budget
  I have been following NASA science work for decades, and though much of it is extremely worthwhile, much of it is also fat that could be trimmed, most especially centers and programs that have been shown to fudge climate numbers to fit the theory of human-caused global warming (I’m most specifically looking at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York). These should be shut down as fast as possible.

• China’s government endorses its pseudo-commercial space industry
  It definitely likes the innovation and lower costs that come with competition, but it also still retains a very tight grip of control over these pseudo-companies. They do nothing on their own, but do what the government wants them to do.

• X-37B successfully de-orbited early this morning, landing at Vandenberg in California
  More information to come.

• On March 6, 2009 the Kepler space telescope was launched
  Over nine years of observations it discovered over 2,600 transiting exoplanets.

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.

• Astroforge releases a detailed debrief of its Odin mission failure once in space
  It seems their engineers have gained a great deal of experience that can be applied to future missions, whether with Astroforge or elsewhere.

• The shipping container transporting the next Cygnus freighter to its launch site has been damaged
  It is presently unknown whether the capsule was unharmed. NASA is putting more ISS cargo on the next SpaceX Dragon, just in case.

• Axiom and Red Hat are partnering to launch a data-center unit to ISS in 2025

• On this day in 1969 Russell “Rusty” Schweickart performed the first spacewalk of the Apollo program during the Apollo 9 mission

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.

• Boom and NASA partner to create imagery showing its XB-1 supersonic plane breaking the sound barrier during its February 10, 2025 test flight

• Starlab’s space station design passes its preliminary design review in collaboration with NASA
  The company says it is now starting full development, but the list of things it plans to do in the next year look more like prep work at relatively low cost while it waits to see if it will win the big contract from NASA.

• Astronomers use Webb to detect features of free-floating object 20 light years away that could be super-Jupiter exoplanet or a brown dwarf
  The uncertainty of science.

• On this day in 1959 Pioneer 4 launched attempting (and failing) to do a close fly-by of the Moon
  It was however the first American spacecraft to achieve solar orbit. It also provided more detail on the Van Allen radiation belts that circle the Earth.

• On this day in 1979 Voyager-1 detected the first evidence of a ring around Jupiter

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 Resilience lunar lander has successfully completed a deep space engine burn as it works its way for a May landing
  As the company notes, it “is now on a path towards the boundaries of the Earth gravitational influence, a region so far from Earth that the gravity of the Sun starts to be relevant.”

• Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander has successfully inserted into lunar orbit in advance of a March 6, 2025 landing

• Arianespace scrubbed its second Ariane-6 launch today, providing no explanation so far as to why
  The launch itself was delayed six months because of issues with the engine on the upper stage during the first launch.

• Earlier this week protesters blocked the entrance to one of the space facilities of India’s space agency ISRO
  They also tried to deface “the hindi text” on some signs. No word on what they were protesting.

• On this day in 1969 Apollo 9 launched, on a mission to do the first in-space tests in Earth orbit of the lunar module

• On this day in 1972 Pioneer 10 was launched, the first American mission to the outer planets
  It flew past Jupiter in December 1973, surviving both its journey through the asteroid belt to get there as well the harsh environment around Jupiter. Its flight also proved that Jupiter’s gravity could be used successfully to slingshot missions to other locations, a technique that is now standard on almost all interplanetary 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.

• Stoke Space touts another video of a 30-second static fire engine test of its multi-nozzle Andromeda upper stage rocket engine
  Apparently the test destroyed the camera, though it did its job. Stoke seems to be closing in on getting that reusable upper stage with its very radical design ready for launch.

• NASA uploads the directive that approved the return of Starliner unmanned [pdf]
  A lot is redacted, and the rest really doesn’t add anything to what we already know, as far as I could see.

• China agrees to carry Pakistani astronaut to its Tiangong-3 space station
  China has very few substantial partners in its lunar base alliance, so this deal is to highlight one.

• Rocket Lab touts its new “flatellite” satellite design for launching large constellations
  It is designed to be built quickly in an assembly-line manner and launched stacked to maximum the number on each launch. The company provides the satellite basics, all a customer need do is add on its own instruments, whether for communications, remote sensing, or whatever.

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.

• Gilmour’s demo payload on the first launch of its Eris rocket will be a jar of Vegemite
  Launch is scheduled for March 15, 2025, and if successful will be the first private launch by an Australian company, from Australia.

• Astroforge has issues communicating with Odin asteroid probe launched yesterday
  It appears, with the help of ham radio operators they have a plan to fix the issue. More here.

• Vast touts the testing of “trace contaminant control system” to be used to scrub its Haven-1 environment
  They also plan to use this same system on future Haven modules.

• AST SpaceMobile wins $43 million contract from the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency
  It appears the contract is to upgrade its phone-to-satellite satellite technology for secure military use.

• A map showing the part of the Moon captured by one of Blue Ghost’s recent lunar orbital movies
  The region was in the southwest quadrant of the Moon’s far side.

• On this day NASA pilot Bill Dana flew the experimental HL-10 lifting body to 90,030 feet
  It is that lifting body design that Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser uses, as well as the military’s X-37B. The Soviets also copied it and did the only lifting body orbital test flights. It only took almost a half century for someone in the U.S. to finally utilize it as a method for returning from space.

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

• Blue Origin’s New Shepard flies another suborbital hop

• Two of NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas look up at Jupiter and Mars
  The Mars antenna is in contact with the orbiter Maven, and the Jupiter antenna is talking to Juno.

• Data from China’s Zhurong rover suggests an ocean once existed in the northern Martian lowlands
  As always, the assumption of liquid water is very uncertain. It could have been ice.

• Scott Pace, NASA swamp creature who pushed SLS for years, suddenly questions its practicality
  Pace was a completely useless advisor to Trump’s National Space Council in the first administration, as he routinely pushed for big NASA projects built by NASA in league with the old space companies. He had no use for private space, and actually worked to hinder it. To suddenly change his tune now is nice, but it simply illustrates why he is not someone Trump or any NASA official should go to for worthwhile advice.

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.

• Astroforge details its first deep space mission to an asteroid, set to launch tomorrow
  It is mainly an engineering test mission to see if a private commercial cubesat can get close enough to an asteroid to gather data.

• French rocket startup completes static fire test of “thrust chamber” of proposed engine
  The company has great ambitions, but will only be doing engine tests through this year.

• One hour interview with Vast CEO Max Huot
  Haven’t watched it yet but it appears to be well worth it.

• Sierra Space touts its research into growing plants in space

• On this day in 1969, Mariner 6 was launched on a Mars flyby mission
  Like the previous fly-by mission, Mariner 4, and Mariner 6’s parallel mission, Mariner 7 and launched at approximately the same time, Mariner 6 focused on getting images of the dark areas of Mars as seen from Earth, which we now know are the Martian cratered highlands. Thus, all these missions suggested quite incorrectly that Mars was just like the Moon.

• On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union’s second lunar sample mission, Luna 20, delivered its core sample to Earth

• On this day in 2009 the Hubble Space Telescope capture an image of Saturn silhouetted by four of its moons
  Pretty but hardly historic.

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.

• Varda about to de-orbit its second orbiting capsule
  It will land in Australia (because the U.S. bureaucracy made landing it in the U.S. too complicated). Varda also predicted it will do three more similar capsule missions this year.

• Rocket Lab’s Pioneer service module (used by Varda’s capsules above) has now been approved by the Space Force for a mission to test rendezvous and proximity operations in orbit
  The contract also requires Rocket Lab to launch Pioneer on an Electron rocket with only 24 hours notice, in order to prove its rapid response capability.

• Blue Ghost has completed its last orbital engine burn, placing it in the final orbit for descent to the Moon’s surface on March 2, 2025
  The tweet includes a spectacular movie of the Moon produced by Blue Ghost’s camera shortly after its previous orbital engine burn.

• On this day in 2011 the space shuttle Discovery launched on its final flight, docking with ISS
  After this mission there were only two more shuttle missions, both in 2011.

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.

• Failed rocket startup ABL renames itself “Long Wall” as it focuses now on military contracts

• Blue Origin touts the successful flight of its Blue Ring engineering test prototype on the first New Glenn launch

• SpaceX touts the launch of its 450th mission today

• China to use AI in its future interplanetary missions
  Jay sums things up quite succinctly: “I hear people, companies, and countries throw that term around. I don’t think they know what that means.”

• BAE wins $230.6 million satellite contract from NOAA
  The company will build NOAA’s next generation solar satellites for monitoring space weather, with launches scheduled in ’29 and ’32.

• Space Force shows off a photo of Earth, taken in 2024 by the X-37B’s onboard camera

• On this day in 1969 the Soviet Union attempted the first launch of its giant N1 rocket, intended to match the U.S.’s Saturn-5
  This as well as three subsequent launches all failed.

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.

• India decides to forego a heavy lift rocket for its manned Moon missions
  Essentially they are going to use their own variation of the concept developed in NASA in the 1960s for getting to the Moon that used the Gemini capsules and smaller rockets, assembling the lunar mission in Earth orbit.

• India’s Mars lander/rover/helicopter mission gets preliminary government approval
  It still needs approval by the government’s Union Cabinet. The mission is targeting a launch in the 2031 window.

• Rocket Lab touts a video showing all sixty of its launches in 60 seconds
  I am pretty certain it does not include the company’s relatively few launch failures, which were simply par for the course in building new rockets.

• Another Chinese pseudo-company, Space Epoch (Jianyuan) touts the upcoming hop test of the first stage of its Yuanxingzhe-1 rocket
  It appears the flight will attempt a soft splashdown in the ocean. According to Jay, “Looking at the numbers, it is less than a Falcon-9 rocket.”

• China’s first asteroid sample return mission is being readied for launch this spring
  The article provides a nice summary of the planned mission.

• Intuitive Machines next lunar lander, Athena, is now installed in its Falcon 9 rocket for launch
  Launch is targeting February 26, 2025.

• On this day in 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth
  He completed three orbits in a five hour flight.

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.

• Short video by Rocket Lab touting the advantages of owning its own launch facility in New Zealand
  The most important point is that it is the first privately owned and operated launch facility in the history of orbital rocketry.

• Image of likely Falcon 9 upper stage pressure vessel that crashed in Poland
  It appears it is from a launch on February 1, 2025, in which this video shows the upper stage re-entering the atmosphere over Europe this morning.

• China’s Wenchang new launchpad has begun building its methane tank farm, with plans to finish by September
  That date lines up well with the first launch of China’s Long March 12A, which will likely launch from this site.

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.

• Mysterious X-ray flash detected in Chandra X-Ray Observatory archives
  The flash occurred in 2020 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, with its source unknown.

• By today NASA’s workforce will shrink by 10%
  The layoffs are as per Trump’s order to lay off all new provisional employees, plus the 750 or so who accepted the buy offer. The article is another example of the media wailing over a staffing reduction that private companies do all the time, usually to the benefit of the company.

• Interview with Yao Song, co-founder and CEO of pseudo-company Orienspace
  I haven’t watched it, because it is almost 40 minutes long. Jay’s comment is entertaining, “The co-Host mentions Mao more than Yao!” The pseudo-company itself has completed one launch.

• Space News article touting the wonders of China’s pseudo-commercial sector in Beijing
  Is it any wonder this industry is booming in the nation’s capital, where all the power resides that also dictates everything these so-called private companies do? The article claims that by ’28 the many pseudo-companies based in Beijing will be doing 100 launches per year. We shall see.

• The next Progress to bring cargo to ISS is now being prepped for launch
  Launch is scheduled for February 27, 2025.

• ISRO touts the first completed upper stage that will place its manned Gaganyaan spacecraft into orbit
  The stage will be used on India’s HLVM3 rocket (Heavy Lift Vehicle Mark 3), its planned most powerful rocket, presently being developed.

• South Africa rejects Starlink
  Actually, Starlink had already rejected South Africa, partly because of its racist policies confiscating land from whites, and partly because the government there was demanding an exorbitant share of Starlink’s profits.

• On this day in 1965 Ranger 8 intentionally crashed on the Moon, taking 7,137 pictures on the way down

• On this day in 2021 Perseverance landed on Mars

• On this day in 1977 the shuttle engineering test vehicle Enterprise made its first “captive-inactive” flight atop a Boeing 747
  Enterprise never flew in space. Instead, it was used to test various shuttle technologies as the fleet was designed and built.

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 video of static engine test fire of its radical upper stage rocket engine
  The test lasts about 30 seconds, and is very impressive.

• NASA certifies Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket
  This decision is a big deal, as it allows Blue Origin to bid on many NASA launch contracts. It does appear competition to SpaceX is finally on the horizon.

• Photo of what the poster claims is debris from the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket
  There is no further information, such as where the picture was taken, and whether this claim is confirmed. For all I can tell, the pieces could be paneling from anywhere.

• Rocket Lab touts its next Electron launch, scheduled for February 18, 2025
  It does appear the company is pushing hard to get close to two launches per month this year.

• China touts the names it has given to its lunar spacesuits and lunar manned vehicle
  The names are “Wangyu” (Stargazing) and “Tansuo” (Exploration) respectively.

• On this day in 1961 an American Scout rocket became the first solid-fueled rocket to place a satellite in orbit
  It was also the first orbital launch from Wallops Island. The satellite was Explorer 9, a NASA 12-foot-wide balloon to study the density of the atmosphere at orbital elevations.

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.

• Industry analysis says that SpaceX generated $8.2 billion in revenue from its Starlink constellation
  That includes an estimated $2 billion from the Starshield military subconstellation. This is more than enough to make government funding for developing and flying missions on Starship/Superheavy completely irrelevant.

• MDA wins contract to build Globalstar’s next communications satellite constellation
  The contract is listed as worth about $1.1 billion. Apparently, there is plenty of business for more than a few satellite constellations.

• NASA cubesat discovers two new temporary high-energy particle belts circling Earth
  The story is more dramatic. The cubesat had apparently failed in April 2024, but then mysteriously came back to life in June 2024, allowing it to make these measurements.

• Boom confirms its first supersonic flight of its XB-1 successfully broke the sound barrier three times, with no audible sonic boom
  This achievement makes possible commercial passenger supersonic flights worldwide, even over land. Expect production on Boom’s full size Overture plane to begin very soon.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who’s real work has made it difficult to send links this week. I thank him for persevering anyway.

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.

• Sierra Space shares innovation award with Japanese partners for research studying if Dream Chasers can launch and land at Japanese airport
  Sounds interesting, but Dream Chaser needs a rocket to launch, and the airport, Oita airport, has no such capability. Nor does the press release mention what rocket company would do the launches.

• Geost sues Sierra Space for breach of contract
  The suit claims Sierra used Geost to get a satellite contract from the military, then broke the deal to replace it once the contract was won. It wants more than $17 million to recover its costs, plus punitive damages.

• NASASpaceflight.com releases a video touting what it expects to be a big 2025 at the Kennedy Space Center
  Nothing really new.

• On this day in 1971 Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 took his first steps on the Moon
  Shepard was the only Mercury astronaut to get to the Moon.

• On this day in 1995 the space shuttle completed the first shuttle docking to the Russian space station Mir
  The picture at the link is of Mir with cosmonaut Valery Polyakov watching from a window. At that time Polyakov was more than a year into his 14.5 month stay on Mir, which still stands as the longest continuous mission yet for any human being.

• On this day in 2018 Falcon Heavy successfully completed its first launch, placing a Tesla in solar orbit
  The most spectacular part of the launch was the simultaneous landing of both side boosters back at Kennedy.

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.

These are late because my email server was bouncing Jay’s emails. The issue is being investigated.

• Roscosmos cuts ribbon on Angara rocket engine factory, two years late.

• Today in 1974 Mariner 10 flew past Venus and returned the first close-up photo of the planet
  The picture at the link was taken using an ultraviolet filter that revealed dark streaks in the atmosphere, which still remain unexplained now more than a half century later. The mission’s main target however was Mercury, and this Venus fly-by proved a slingshot could get it to the innermost planet.

• On this day in 1971 the lunar module of Apollo 14 landed on the Moon
  The landing site at the Fra Mauro Highlands had been the planned landing site for Apollo 13.