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.

• 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.

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.

• Boeing’s VP Mark Nappi has left his Starliner position for an advisory role before retiring later in February
  This is only one of many management changes that have been going on in Boeing’s space division. Expect more to come.

• Rocket Lab ships its newest Archimedes engine for testing at Stennis
  The new engine is for its new Neutron rocket, which the company hopes to launch for the first time this year.

• SpaceX installs the chopsticks on its second launch tower at Boca Chica
  It appears they want this second tower available soon to support Starship/Superheavy test flights.

• Another new Chinese pseudo-company, Astronston, that is going to use chopsticks to catch its rockets
  It also apparently stole SpaceX artwork created by Alex Svan

• ISRO completes preliminary design of new methane-fuel engine
  It plans to use it on its new larger NGLV rocket, necessary for its planned manned space station program.

• UK space agency touts a £3.5 million grant program to bring internet access to remote places in the country
  It might give you cash, but whether you’ll ever be able to launch anything in the UK is questionable. The paperwork is endless.

• On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 lifted off, carrying Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell

• Modified to fix the issues that caused the Apollo 13 failure, the mission initially had its own problems
  They had difficulty docking the Apollo capsule to the lunar module, requiring six attempts and firing the thrusters to force the docking latches to catch.

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.

• Thales Alenia gets $900 million ESA contract to build descent module for Argonaut lunar lander
  As always, Europe is slow and far behind. It is scheduled for launch in the “2030s” (if then), by which time private companies in the U.S. and Japan will flying numerous such landers and return spacecraft for a fraction of this cost. And that doesn’t include the landers that China and India will be flying by then as well.

• China releases images of satellites it normally keeps under wraps
  One was a technology test satellite, and the second was a five-satellite batch as part of one of its mega-internet satellite constellations.

• On this day in 1964, Ranger 6 was launched
  It was the sixth attempt to take many photos the Moon as the spacecraft approached and then crashed on the surface. It was also the sixth straight failure. It wasn’t until the last Ranger mission six months later, Ranger-7, that success was finally achieved, sending back more than 4,000 pictures.

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.

• Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle passes payload intergration tests
  Still no firm word on when it will launch.

• ESA awards Thales-Alenia contract to build Envision probe to Venus
  The launch is not scheduled until “the 2030s” so don’t hold your breath, especially because European planetary probes routinely fall behind schedule, and having a decade to build it might not be enough.

• On this day in 1965 the crawler at the base of the mobile launcher at Kennedy did its first crawl
  The short video at the link reviews the history and touts the success of the mobile launcher, ignoring the insane amount of money NASA has spent in the past decade (more than $2 billion) modifying and then building two new launchers, one of which will only be used twice, at most.

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 images suggest Russia’s “Inspector” satellites are based on the Karat-200 design, aimed at building lots of satellites quickly
  Russia has used these satellites to move from location to location and get close looks at other satellites.

• On this day in 1986 the space shuttle Challenger broke up 73 seconds after lift-off
  Astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair lost their lives.

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.

• Hacking yourself a satellite – recovering BEESAT-1
  Hour long video describing how a satellite with corrupted software and no planned way to update it was brought back to life after a decade.

• China touts the planned addition of two new launchpads at its coastal Wenchang spaceport

• On this day in 1967 the crew of Apollo 1 died when a fire ignited inside their capsule during a dress rehearsal countdown
  Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee died within seconds because they had no way to open the hatch from inside. This failure caused a major change in the Apollo capsule design and a major re-emphasis at NASA at getting it right.

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.

I also want to thank all my readers for their best wishes and prayers. Both Diane and I appreciate it beyond words.

• Intuitive Machines wins $2.5 million NASA contract to study the logistics and cargo systems necessary for a lunar base

• Sierra Space touts winning a $2.5 million contract to study lunar logistics for a permanent lunar base

  Both contracts are to study the same issues.

• The removal last week by the Air Force of Derek Tournear, head of the Space Development Agency, was apparently related to a bid protest by Viasat
  It appears something he did — not yet revealed — caused Viasat to protest two contract awards.

• Firefly touts the first images of Earth taken by Blue Ghost
  The images are compiled into a very pretty two-second-long movie.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer now says its first launch of its Tianlong-3 rocket will occur in May, with five launches to quickly follow before the end of the year
  This is the company that had a rocket launch itself during a static fire test in June 2024, causing at least a full year delay in its schedule.

• Chinese pseudo-company Star Vision touts its winning a contract to fly a mini-robot on China’s Chang’e-8 lunar landing mission in 2028

• On this day in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh captured one of several images that proved the existence of the planet Pluto

• On this day in 2004 the rover Opportunity landed on Mars
  It ended up operating fourteen years, far exceeding its planned 90-day 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.

• Firefly touts activating another instrument on Blue Ghost
  This instrument appears to be testing using Earth-orbiting GPS-type satellites for tracking.

• Ispace’s Resilience lunar lander yesterday successfully completed its first orbital maneuver
  The press release at the link provides a good summary of the entire mission.

• Chinese pseudo-company Cosmoleap touts video of its testing of its own chopstick launch tower
  It would be nice if there was a bit of information about the rocket, of which very little information has been released.

• Space Force removes head of Space Development Agency, the man who has been pushing for constellations of smallsats instead of big expensive single gold-plated satellites
  There is an investigation underway, but no information was released about it.

• On this day in 1969 the Soviet Union completed the first docking of two manned Soyuz capsules
  The crews then did a spacewalk to transfer crews, as the docking ports had no access tunnel.

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 announces minor name change and major re-organization
  The company has divided itself into three divisions, only one of which is focused on its space station project. The goal is to try to get business in other areas.

• Vast begins lift tests of its engineering module of its Haven-1 module.
  Cool pictures.

• A review of Starliner’s unknown status months after the capsule returned to Earth
  No new information, which in itself bodes badly for Starliner. It appears Boeing is increasingly reluctant to move forward if it will cost it any more money.

• Berger claims multiple sources confirm the arrival of David Limp as CEO of Blue Origin last year saved the company
  No news here either. The change was obvious from day one.

• Hubble faces budget cuts
  To translate: Give us more money! I’d be more sympathetic if NASA was more willing to consider a rescue mission. If not, then there is every reason in the world to begin winding down operations.

• China touts its lunar rover concepts
  The video is in Chinese, has great dramatic background music, but shows nothing but very simple concepts.

• India’s government approves third launchpad at its main spaceport at Sriharikota
  They need more redundancy as their gear up for their first manned 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.

• A video rehash of the Orion heatshield problems during its return to Earth at the end Artemis-1
  Nothing new.

• Gaia mission to end today because its fuel has run out
  The archived data from the mission however has barely been absorbed by the astronomical community, Eventually it will provide very precise distances to billions of stars.

• Vast ships its Haven-1 primary structure qualification article to its testing facility in California
  If this is only a test module, I can’t see how Vast will have the flight model ready for launch later this year.

• On this day in 2006 the Stardust sample capsule returned, bringing with it dust samples from Comet P/Wild-2
  The samples also included the first interstellar particles ever captured.

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.

• Leftist media makes hay because Quantas had to reschedule flights to South Africa due to potential Starship landings in Indian Ocean
  The link goes to The Guardian, but Reuters picked this up as well. There is no story here, but these leftists are trying to gin it up to damage SpaceX and Musk. So what Quantas might have to reschedule a flight or two once every several months? This isn’t an unreasonable burden. In fact, I wonder why the airline didn’t simple re-route the flights to avoid the splashdown zone.

• Axiom touts its progress in 2024 and expected achievements in 2025 in building its space station
  Nothing new, merely pr to convince us all is well. It could be. We shall see.

• Today in 2004 the European probe Huygens landed softly on Saturn’s moon Titan
  The probe obtained some great data, but the real achievement was the landing itself. For Europe’s engineers it was a stellar accomplishment.

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’ first lunar lander apparently entered lunar orbit last year with a low point only 1.3 kilometers above the surface, far lower than expected
  The engineers immediately scheduled an orbital burn to raise this low point to a reasonable number, as there was an actual risk the spacecraft might hit a mountain peak if not corrected.

• ESA’s director touts a joint ESA/China solar probe to study solar wind and magnetosphere
  This tweet has very old information, apparently from before 2021. The probe is now scheduled for launch in 2025 on a Vega-C rocket

• Chinese grasshopper test stage spotted during transport
  It appears the plan is to next test fly it up and down from a sea platform off the coast of Haiyang

• On this day in 1968 the Surveyor-7 spacecraft touched down softly on the Moon
  It landed near the crater Tycho.

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 now targeting January 12, 2025 1 am (Eastern) for first launch of New Glenn
  Just stay up late Saturday night to watch. I will try to post the live stream here. [Note: Link fixed! My error. Sorry.]

• Astra touts testing of its Rocket-4 upper stage tank
  Very puzzling, as the company had said it was delaying construction of Rocket-4 for several years as rebuilds the company from its almost bankruptcy. Maybe now that it is in private hands again things are moving. Or not. We shall see. [Note: Link fixed. My error. Sorry.]

• Rocket Lab touts its progress as prime contractor to build eighteen satellites for the military
  My how things have changed. In the old days, it would take almost a decade for the Pentagon to build and launch one satellite, and it would cost billions. Buying the product from the private sector now means they get it fast many times over, and for far less.

• The orbital debris that fell in Kenya possibly identified as coming from an Ariane-5 launch in 2008
  Nothing is confirmed as yet.

• Vast installs hatch on the “primary qualification unit” for its Haven-1 space station
  It remains unclear whether this unit will become the station module itself, or act merely as a testing unit. If the latter, I wonder if it will be possible for Haven-1 to be launched before the end of 2025, as the company promises.

• On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union launched Luna 21, carrying its second lunar rover, Lunikhod-2

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 honors the memory of John Glenn as it refurbishes the launchpad he used for his first American orbital flight
  The company hopes to launch its Nova two-stage reusable rocket there, though no date as yet been announced.

• Rocket Lab touts its proposal to get Perseverance’s sample back
  The company claims it can do the job for less than $4 billion, with samples returned as early as 2031. This is faster and cheaper than what was NASA is now considering, as described at the press conference yesterday.

• Scientists propose a gentle collusion between Pluto and Charon caused the double planet system
  Very cute sales job with its description as “kiss-and-capture”, but the entire theory is very speculative based on such a tiny amount of knowledge we have both planets that it is absurd to take this too seriously.

• A tweet listing the ten new rockets China hopes to launch for the first time in 2025
  Go here for a more detailed report.

• For its Chang’e-7 lunar mission, China will use electromagnetic currents to make its flag “wave” on the lunar surface

• China touts its own Mars sample return mission, Tianwen-3, targeting 2028
  The mission has been kept very simple by scaling up what China’s engineers learned in doing its two lunar sample return missions. Or to put it another way, they will almost certainly fly at least two of these missions before NASA even comes close to deciding how it get Perseverance’s samples back.

• ISRO once again delays the autonomous docking of its two Spadex orbiting spacecraft
  Apparently during the maneuver to bring the chase satellite within 225 kilometers of the target satellite, engineers detected a “drift … more than expected.” Before attempting the docking they need to know exactly where the two spacecraft are, relatively to each other, and apparently this drift requires more analysis.

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.

• Firefly provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
  Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.

• On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
  It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.

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 touts some of the changes in the latest Starship prototype
  More information here. The 7th test flight will deploy 10 Starlink dummy satellites to test the deployment engineering. Superheavy will also re-use an engine that flew on the October test flight.

• On this day in 1999 the Mars Polar Lander was launched
  The mission failed when the spacecraft crashed on landing.

• On this day in 2004 the probe Stardust made its close approach to Comet Wild-2 in order to capture samples
  Those samples were successfully brought back to Earth two years later.

• On this day in 2004 the rover Spirit landed on Mars
  Built to last 90 days, it continued to rove for six years, traveling almost five miles.

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 rough specs of the Chinese Halong re-usable mini-shuttle being built to ferry cargo to the Tiangong-3 space station
  It can carry two tons of cargo and stay docked for three months, then return with cargo.

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace touts completion of nine engines for its Zhuque-3 rocket
  The rocket is essentially a copy of the Falcon 9, with a re-usable first stage. The first three launches in ’25 will use an older version, followed by the upgraded re-usable version.

• A detailed survey of the new rockets China will launch in 2025
  Most of the rockets are coming from pseudo-companies, with several aiming for re-usability soon thereafter.

• Astronomers now posit that at least one fast radio burst came from the magnetosphere of neutron star
  Interesting study, with a lot of uncertainty.

• Eutelsat-OneWeb constellation down for two days, now back in operation
  The outage was caused because software did not realize 2024 was a leap year.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who surprised me today with these links. I had assumed he’d take the day off!

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.

• Firefly touts a static fire test of its Alpha rocket
  The tweet also suggests the company will launch “multiple” times in 2025. We shall see.

• FCC allocates additional spectrum for commercial launches

• India’s space agency announces it will telecast the docking of its Spadex satellites
  The unmanned docking is scheduled to take place at 4 pm (Indian standard time) on January 7, 2025.

• Video of the two Spadex spacecraft in orbit yesterday
  Over the next week the chase satellite will approach the target increasingly closer, 5 km, 1.5 km, 500 m, 225 m, 15 m, and 3 m, followed by the January 7th docking.

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.

Before we get to the links, I think it is time to send a hearty Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you again for making 2024 the best year so far. And best of all, next year should even be better!

• SpaceX touts the completion of its fifth manned Dragon capsule
  The tweet says this will be the last manned Dragon capsule, but Jay suspects that means the “last built in California.” He thinks future capsules will be built in Florida, the work driven from California due to its almost communist government. I’m not so sure. SpaceX remember is hoping Starship will replace the capsules in the future. Why build more in that case?

• Chinese graphic outlines the many mission configurations available for mounting missions to the Moon, the asteroids, and Mars
  Jay says the graphic includes the option of nuclear propulsion to get to Mars.

• Anatoly Zak notes the Russia launch rate in 2024 fell to its lowest level this century
  I will have more to say about this in my annual global launch report, coming soon!

• Air & Space museum honors the memory of five great astronauts who died in 2024
  The men: – Bill Anders, Joe Engle, Jon McBride, Tom Stafford, Richard Truly

• One hundred years ago this week astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that the spiral nebula Andromeda is a distant galaxy, not part of the Milky Way
  His evidence proved that the universe was filled with many distinct galaxies, with the Milky Way only one of many.

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 Arca unveils clothing fashion line, “made with materials used to fabricate rockets and spacecraft”
  The company was destroyed in 2018 when its CEO was twice arrested (though cleared), first by state officials and then by Homeland Security. At the time it was testing an aerospike engine with prospects for launch soon. All that vanished after his persecution by government officials. It appears whoever runs the company now is trying to earn revenue from the remaining assets.

• Chinese pseudo-company CosmicLeap completes testing of its “chopstick” launch tower
  As Jay notes, “Easy to build the tower, where is the rocket?”

• On this day in 1930 Robert Goddard completed his first rocket flight in Roswell, New Mexico
  He had shifted operations there when he scaled up operations. The southwest gave him better weather and plenty of room for testing.