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.

• French smallsat company signs deal to launch satellites on Impulse’s Helios orbital tug

The smallsats will form a communications satellite constellation called Kaon for the French startup Space Network Services.

 

• ULA official says 2nd launch of Vulcan will occur within the next month

ULA desperately needs this launch to go off without a hitch so that it can begin launching satellites for the military.

 

• Blue Origin plans to have a fleet of at least four New Glenn first stages flying by the end of 2025, each designed for 25 flights

The company is going to try to land its first stage and reuse it from the very first flight.

 

• Rocket Lab is now targeting September 19, 2024 for its eleventh launch in 2024

More details about this launch here.

 

• Astronomers detect a black hole that is “starving” its galaxy to death

The black hole has essentially driven all the gas from the galaxy, ending all star formation.

 

• A review of what little China has told us about its future planetary program

I did not see much in this article that was new, though the summary was worthwhile.

 

• On this day in 2017 Cassini ended its mission by plunging into Saturn

Details about its final orbits here.

Like yesterday, reader Gary has stepped in to cover for BtB’s stringer Jay, who is off on a work trip this week. 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.

• Roscosmos had offered help to NASA in connection with the Starliner situation

I am sure this is so, but I am also sure there was little Russia could do, without requiring a lot of cash from NASA as part of the deal.

 

• We’re all gonna die! SpaceX blew a hole in the atmosphere when it test launched Starship/Superheavy!

For a more sane discussion of this research, which was really only about the increased sensitivity of modern instruments, go here. That some are using it for political purposes to whack SpaceX is disgraceful.

 

• ArianeSpace CEO Stéphane Israël criticizes billionaires in space

But then, Israel has generally been a head-in-the-sand fool for more than a decade when it comes to reusability and commercial space. His insistence ten years ago that it made no financial sense to make Ariane-6 reusable resulted in that rocket being overpriced in today’s market, which is why Europe is right now pushing Arianespace and Stephen Israel out and replacing both with private commercial rocket companies competing for business. All he does here is provide proof that getting him out of the way is the best thing the European Space Agency has done in years.

As BtB’s stringer Jay is on a work trip this week, reader Gary volunteered to send me some links. 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 now controls two-thirds of all active satellites in orbit

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace completes 10-kilometer vertical take-off and landing of a first stage prototype

The test rocket is a single engine smaller version of its Zhuque-3 orbital rocket’s first stage, and like SpaceX’s Grasshopper test vehicle, provides the engineers the test data needed to build the full scale reusable rocket. This video indicates the pseudo-company is getting close to success.

 

• Stennis makes deal with Sidus Space to continue operations of its test payload in orbit

Sidus has a smallsat in orbit, and Stennis’s payload is part of it.

 

• Video of on-going tests of SpaceX’s tower chopsticks intended to catch Superheavy at landing

The tweet notes that this test was “the fastest the chopsticks have closed in the catch position on the tower so far.”

 

• Blue Origin official says it will do a static fire test of New Glenn’s upper stage this week

The official also said the first static fire test of New Glenn’s first stage, with all seven BE-4 engines, will happen “in the near future.”

 

• On this day in 2001 Frank Culberton on ISS photographed from orbit the World Trade Center burning after both buildings were hit by commercial planes flown by suicide Islamic hijackers

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.

• Watch the unmanned landing of Starliner at White Sands

The landing is scheduled for 12:03 am (Eastern) tonight.

 

• Astra confirms that two of its new satellite engines have test fired successfully in orbit

The company has had serious financial troubles, and has thus pulled back from building and launching rockets to simply making small engines and thrusters for satellites.

 

• Webb spectroscopic data suggests a nearby exoplanet with a mass 2.31 times greater than Earth’s has a sulfur-rich atmosphere

The star it orbits is M-dwarf about 35 light years away, and has a solar system of four known exoplanets, so far.

 

• Computer modeling suggests some debris from DART impact of asteroid Dimorphos could reach Earth

The models suggest some debris could reach both Earth and Mars in about thirteen years, producing the first man-made meteor shower. The debris poses no threat however.

 

• Slingshot Aerospace data suggests an Atlas-5 upper stage launched in 2018 has broken up in orbit

The orbit is highly elliptical, and it is unclear at this moment if the debris cloud poses a threat to any other satellites

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.

• Astrobotic touts a tiny cubesat-sized rover it developing for future Moon missions

It can be assembled from anywhere from 2 to 24 cubesat units.

 

• NASA ground worker describes final Starliner preparations before it undocks from ISS tomorrow

He coordinated the cargo work with the two Starliner astronauts.

 

• Part 2 of Tim Dodd’s tour of Blue Origin with Jeff Bezos

I haven’t watched it yet, but the website says Bezos gives a tour of the New Glenn launchpad.

 

• Rocket Lab touts the carbon composite nature of its new Neutron rocket

The picture at the tweet shows the fairing that will be an integral part of Neutron’s first stage, flying multiple times with 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.

• Blue Origin says it is about to conduct a static fire test of New Glenn’s upper stage

Good news in that the company is getting done what needs to be done to fly that first launch. The picture at the tweet however makes me really doubtful it can meet the October 13-21 launch window of its payload of two Mars orbiters.

 

• Tonight BepiColumbo does its fourth flyby of Mercury

It will dip down to within 103 miles of the surface. Images will be released within the next day.

 

• China touts an image taken by its Tianwen-1 Mars Orbiter

The location is in the high latitudes of the southern cratered highlands, and not surprisingly shows a scattering of craters. It was spring when the picture was snapped, so the mantle of CO2 dry ice that covers these high latitudes in the winter is beginning to sublimate away. The terrain itself looks like it is heavily impregnated with ice as well.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, with the last two links today from readers Mike Nelson and Robert Pratt respectively. 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 releases an image of its New Glenn first stage landing ship, dubbed Jacklyn

The tweet says it is “arriving very soon.” Why is it that everything from Blue Origin is “arriving very soon?” Isn’t it time for something to get here already?

 

• Rocket Lab’s CEO shows off factory filled with Electron and Haste rockets, ready to launch

I wonder if they will attempt to recover and reuse any. They had been pushing hard to reuse the first stage last year, but recently that effort seems to have faded.

 

• China touts prototype moon soil bricks to be sent to its Tiangong-3 space station to see how they handle the harsh environment of space

They claim the bricks are stronger than concrete.

 

• India’s space agency is still targeting a December ’24 to February ’25 window for first unmanned Gaganyaan test flight

They still hope to fly the manned mission is 2025.

 

• Scientist obtain first detection of a weak electrical field around the Earth first predicted more than 60 years ago

That early data had found a stream of particles escaping at the poles, and the most likely explanation was this weak field, now confirmed.

 

• Keynote speech by Kathryn Lueders, SpaceX’s general manager at Boca Chica, at an August 27th event run by the Brownsville Chamber of Congress

She outlines the company’s strong commitment to the Brownsville area, and how it will facilitate the fast production and reflight of Starship spacecraft. This commitment also includes the hiring of 300 more engineers.

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 near completion of its space station’s Habitat One pressure vessel

The module is being built by Thales-Alenia in Europe and is targeting a 2026 launch date.

 

• NASA time-lapse video of the assembly of Europa Clipper, focusing on the installation of its solar panels

How nice. Meanwhile the agency is considering launching this multi-billion spacecraft with transistors that will likely fail quickly in the high radiation environment of Jupiter.

 

• Space Force: China is not as transparent as it should be about its creation of space junk

The story is focused on the debris left by the break-up of several Long March 6A upper stages. Jay succinctly sums it up: “China does not listen to anyone.”

 

• Video of the launch of China’s Ceres-1 rocket from an offshore barge

You can view another angle, with heroic background music, here. The rocket was built by the Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy, doing its third sea launch.

 

• Firefly touts the successful ongoing testing of the second stage engine of its Alpha rocket

The engine is dubbed Lightning. This testing will hopefully help overcome the issues the rocket has had with its upper stage on two previous launches.

 

• The first launch in Russia’s own Starlink constellation likely delayed from 2025 to 2026

As Anthony Zak notes in the tweet, Russian officials are certain of this new date because they have promised “passenger rail/air Internet via sat by 2028. …Good news — Russia still intends to have rail, air service in 2028!”

 

• On this day forty years ago the space shuttle Discovery was launched on its maiden flight

Discovery right now holds the record as the most reused spacecraft ever, with 39 flights total. Expect that record to be broken within the next five years by a Falcon 9 first stage, and later smashed by Starship.

BtB’s stringer Jay had no quick link stories today, but I thought for completion’s sake I should include this one from yesterday:

• Blue Origin’s New Shepard yesterday completed its 8th manned suborbital flight

Not much else to say. These suborbital flights are nice, but they no longer represent the future, only the past. The future will be illustrated by Polaris Dawn, SpaceX’s next manned commercial orbital flight, scheduled to take off sometime in the next week or so, depending on weather and the FAA’s intransigence.

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 touts the assembly of New Glenn’s first flight first stage

The tweet does not say when this was accomplished, but considering the scheduled launch date is only a little more than six weeks away, it seems they are cutting things close indeed. It is clear they are getting close to that first launch, but it is also unclear they can meet the launch window required for their payload, two Mars orbiters.

 

• Rocket Lab’s CEO shows off two completed engines intended for its new Neutron rocket

The company hopes to do the rocket’s first test launch next year, and as it seems they are now producing engines quickly, that target seems realistic.

 

• New data precludes the existence of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS), one of many proposed explanations for dark matter

The experiment is not yet complete, but the data after 280 days (out of a thousand) says WIMPs don’t exist.

 

• NASA touts the status of its Lunar Gateway space station with a few pictures

With decidedly mixed feelings I look forward to the day that Starship docks with this boondoggle, as it will make the station look puny in comparison, despite the fact that Gateway’s cost will be far higher.

 

• On this day in 1962 Mariner 2 was launched to fly past Venus

This was the first planetary probe to reach another planet and send back data. Its data proved that Venus is a hellish place, with a surface temperature exceeding 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

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.

• Astrobotic releases final report on fuel leak during its Peregrine lunar lander mission [pdf]

The newest and most important take-away is that engineers were able to precisely duplicate the valve failure on the ground that caused the leak in space, making it possible to prevent the problem with great confidence on future landers.

 

• German company Mynaric fires its CEO because of production problems making optical terminals to be used on American military satellites

This is a follow-up on a quick links story from August 23rd.

 

• ULA’s CEO touts a short video showing two Vulcan first stages being placed in storage in Florida, ready for launch

For ULA this is great news, because it means it will almost certainly be able to do more launches of Vulcan this year.

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.

• Astronomer spots a ribbon of gas extending more than 20 kiloparsecs (65,000 light years) from Seyfert galaxy

That filament is almost as big as the galaxy itself, which is also an AGN galaxy like the galaxy image I posted earlier today. You can read the paper here.

 

• On this day 25 years ago Chandra released its “first light image,” an X-ray false-color image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A

The gas cloud shown in X-rays is estimated to be about 10 light years across, formed when the star went boom 300 years ago.

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.

Only one today from Jay. A quiet day.

• Mynaric’s manufacturing woes threaten to delay production of U.S. military satellites

The German company is to supply the optical terminals that the satellites will use to send and receive laser signal, and its contract involves supplying these terminals to four other companies in their contracts with the Pentagon. It apparently is having problems scaling up the production of these units from making a few to many in order to serve a plethora of constellations.

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.

• Data suggests a second exoplanet is tugging at orbit of first

The data comes from TESS in orbit, and is among the plethora of new exoplanets that spacecraft has found in its monthly survey of 93% of the sky.

 

• Private Polaris Dawn mission now targeting an August 27, 2024 launch

The tweet includes a video (with dramatic music to make something already exciting seem like a fake movie) in which it appears the hatch for the spacewalk during this mission is not going to be at the top, where Dragon capsules have had their docking port, but on the side.

 

• China proposes its own exoplanet-hunting space telescope

Launch is targeting 2028. The telescope’s program will be similar to Kepler, looking at the same regions in the sky over four years in the specific hope of detecting an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone.

 

• ISRO to release the Vikram/Pragyan archive of photos to the public tomorrow

The tweet includes some samples, as does this different tweet. The release will celebrate the one year anniversary of Vikram’s lunar landing.

 

• On this day in 1963 Joe Walker made his last X-15 flight—and set an altitude record of 354,300 feet (67 miles)

In other words, he made it into space, which explains why he was finally awarded astronaut wings in 2005. Too bad he had passed away before the honor was bestowed him.

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 celebrates completion of full-duration static fire test of its BE-7 engine

The engine is for the company’s proposed lunar landers. I can’t help noticing how complex it is compared to SpaceX’s more recent engines.

 

• Axiom and Nokia team up to provide wireless service to Axiom’s Moon spacesuits

• For the first time, two rockets are visible at the same time at China’s coastal Wenchang spaceport

The tweet says that the rockets are “Long March 7A in transfer and the Long March 12 in integration.”

 

• Relativity touts the advantages it sees from its use of 3D printing

The company still hasn’t successfully flown a rocket, but without doubt, its 3D printing operation gives it an asset it can sell for billions.

 

• ISRO details the mass and launch vehicle for each of the planned modules of its space station

All will fly on its largest rocket, using two different configuations. The image suggests it is following the simple design concepts first used by the Soviets and since copied by the Chinese.

 

• On this day in 1977, Voyager-2 was launched

It flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus before leaving the solar system. Also, two years earlier on this same day Viking 1 was launched to Mars.

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.

• Viasat has lost more than half its subscribers since Starlink arrived

In 2020 its U.S. subscriber count was 603K. Now it is 257K. The article also notes that Hughes has lost 200K subscribers over that same time period.

 

• Two Chinese satellites, stranded in Earth orbit when the rocket’s upper stage did not function properly, have apparently reached lunar orbit using their attitude thrusters

The two satellites are part of a planned three-satellite constellation (the third was launched separately and is in Earth orbit) to test orbital communications and navigation technology in retrograde lunar orbits.

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 Factory Augsburg offical claims first orbital launch at Saxavord “only weeks away”

The claim is meaningless, in that neither he nor the article provide any update on the approval of a launch license by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The company might be ready, but so was Virgin Orbit, and it was made to wait so long (an extra six months) by the CAA that it ran out of money and went bankrupt. I am willing to bet that this first launch will not happen this year.

 

• Unconfirmed: If the two Starliner astronauts come home on Dragon the two astronauts to fly up on that capsule will be ” Zena Cardman as commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as pilot”

The rumors continue to suggest NASA is going to bring Starliner back to Earth unoccupied.

 

• Juno’s next close fly-by of Io this coming weekend

It won’t get as close as previous fly-bys, with this close approch only getting to within 27,218 miles away. Since Juno’s camera is not particularly high resolutoin, it will only be able to see objects bigger than 18 miles across.

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 Exploration Company touts a picture of its first test Nyx cargo capsule

Sadly the tweet tells us nothing about the capsule and its status. For all we know, this might not even be flight model, or it might be a smaller scale test capsule (which is what I think it is).

 

• Sierra Space touts its Shooting Star cargo module, which will fly with its Tenacity mini-shuttle

This module is essentially Tenacity’s service module. It will carry cargo into orbit, but will not return to Earth, but burn up in the atmosphere. Still no word on an actual launch date.

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.

• Satellite builder Terran Orbital removes Rivada from its list of future revenue

This appears to be a bookeeping maneuver, but suggests that Rivada may be having problems, which is a big deal because its contract with Terran Orbital is for $2.4 billion to build 300 satellites.

 

• Proposed Nova Scotia spaceport Maritime Launch Services signs deal with unnamed rocket company

This is one of those press releases about nothing. Maritime’s spaceport is years behind schedule. The release includes really no information, and appears to have been issued merely to counter another proposed Canadian spaceport, Nordspace, that recently released its own press release about nothing.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts 320 second static fire test of an engine for its Kinetic-2 Falcon 9 copycat rocket

The goal is to do the first test launch in 2025.

 

• On this day in 2007 the Hubble Space Telescope capture a rare edge on view of Uranus and its rings

“Astronomers on Earth can only see the rings’ edge every 42 years due to the planet’s 84 year 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.

• Tim Dodd of Everyday Astronaut to air first tour of Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory with Jeff Bezos

It will be released on August 15, 2025. More and more it appears Bezos is trying to get his so-far failed company off the ground.

 

• NASA buys payload space to put camera on Blue Origin’s first lunar lander mission

A similar camera flew on the Intuitive Machines mission, and is scheduled to fly on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander.

 

• Soyuz-2 rocket carrying next Progress to ISS is now vertical on launchpad

The launch is scheduled for August 15, 2024.

 

• China’s policy for disposal of rocket upper stage’s in orbit (to reduce space junk) is merely recommended, not mandatory

Doesn’t matter much even if it was mandatory if the upper stages break up into hundreds of pieces, right after launch, as China’s Long March 6A has now done on two of seven launches.

 

• On this day in 1977 the Enterprise space shuttle test vehicle made its first free flight and runway landing, crewed by Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton

That was the flight in which Haise commented afterward, “It flies like a brick.” He meant that as a complement, because even so the shuttle made a perfect glided landing.

 

• On this day in 1877, Mars’ moon Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall

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 am finally home. I had hoped to post this during the day, but life got in the way. Posting will resume tomorrow (with a little posting tonight), and I will likely write something up later this week explaining where I have been.

• K2 Space demo service bus for smallsats plans first launch in October on a SpaceX Falcon 9 transporter mission

The idea is to provide a basic service module that any satellite payload could fly on.

 

• Northrop Grumman’s live stream of the Cygnus docking to ISS

As we now know, it succeeded in docking on time despite the abort failures of the initial planned engine burns.

 

• On this day in 1973 Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma deployed a twin-poled sunshade on Skylab to replace the lost sun shielding that had torn off during launch

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 to resume issuing lunar lander contracts after a year-plus pause

The article adds nothing specific or concrete, only a lot of mights and maybes and soons.

 

• Sierra’s Tenacity mini-shuttle begins final preparations for launch

The press release indicates the launch will be on a ULA Vulcan rocket, but no date is revealed.

 

• Japanese rocket startup Interstellar releases the payload user’s guide for buying space on its Zero rocket

The guide says the company has launched a number of times, but those must have been suborbital tests. Its Zero orbital rocket is aiming for a 2025 first launch.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts an image of its proposed Kinetica-2H rocket

This pseudo-company has posted a variety of graphics in the past year, but there has been very little clear information about actual construction.

 

• Northrup Grumman and NASA are targeting August 3rd for the Falcon 9 launch of the next Cygnus cargo capsule to ISS

Weather remains the biggest concern, presently holding at a 50%.

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.

• Dawn Aerospace unveils a docking and fuel port for satellites

The company hopes that many satellite manufacturers will buy it to add to their payloads for later refueling and even de-orbit operations.

 

• New Horizons researchers publish paper outlining the results of their ground-based survey of potential asteroids in the probe’s future path

There are two key take-aways: 1. No asteroid appears reachable for a close fly-by. 2. The data suggests however that there is an unexpected high population of asteroids much farther out than expected.

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.

• Cool video of Starship being rolled down the street in Boca Chica

Hat tip Robert Pratt.

 

• Astroforge updates status of second cubesat demo mission, intended to get close-up views of asteroid

After discovering that the cubesat intended for the mission had serious technical issues, they junked it and have been rushing to prepare the cubesat intended for the third mission. It is not clear yet whether it will be ready on time.

 

• Amateur astronomer snaps magnificent picture of ISS, with Starliner docked in the lower port

The image’s resolution is so good you can also see one of the station’s robot arms inspecting Starliner.

 

• Boeing’s total $1.5 billion cost overrun for Starliner, broken down by year

Sources for these numbers from here, here, and here.

 

• New video of Tianlong-3 test first stage crashing after it launched by mistake during a static fire engine test

This Space News article claims the Chinese pseudo-company, Space Pioneer, is pushing forward anyway, but a close read suggests nothing about its future is certain.

 

• Anthony Zak graphs what I have documented now for several years, that the pace of Russian launches since its invasion of the Ukraine has plummeted

The main cause of the drop is the loss of Russia’s entire international commercial market due to its breakup with Arianespace.

 

• A new Canadian rocket startup, Nordspace, announces its intention to build its own spaceport in Canada

I wish them good luck but note that there is a lot of blarney here, revealed by the fact that it took me a lot of digging to discover they don’t yet have a location for this spaceport, a detail they very carefully fail to mention on their webpage or press materials.

 

• On this day in 1971 Apollo 15 astronauts used a rover for the first time to drive around the surface of the Moon

• On this day in 2008 NASA announced that the Phoenix lander had confirmed the presence of water ice on the high latitude surface of Mars

The discovery was actually not a big surprise to the scientists. The press however thought it a very big deal, since it really knew nothing about the research that had already shown evidence of lots of near surface ice in the high latitudes.

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.

Jay notes, as I do, that today has been a slow news day in the world of outer space.

• Video of fire at a Russian aerospace facility in Yekaterinburg

It is unclear the cause. The facility builds flight control systems for spacecraft and rocketry, including the Soyuz-2 rocket.

 

• Rocket Factory Augsburg touts the successful completion of the test campaign for its orbital rocket’s second stage

That stage is now on its way to Saxavord for stacking with the first stage and a hoped-for launch before the end of the year — assuming the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority will issue a launch permit.

 

• On this day in 1971 the Apollo 15 lunar module Falcon landed on the Moon

Astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin landed at the base of the Apennine Mountains next to Hadley Rille, and produced some of the most spectacular imagery so far from the lunar surface.

 

• On this day in 1964 Ranger 7 crashed intentionally on the Moon, taking 4,309 photographs during its descent

Though the first six Ranger missions failed, the next two also succeeded, producing another 13,000 pictures before crashing on the surface as planned.

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.

• Video of Falcon 9 first stage landing at Vandenberg

Though the tweet congratulates SpaceX for the 300th reuse of a Falcon 9 first stage this past weekend, the video (which is quite excellent) is of a landing earlier this year.

 

• On this day in 1958 President Eisenhower signed legislation that created NASA

The agency was created out of an older government agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Eisenhower had not been enthused by this idea (seeing it as another example of the military-industrial complex teaming up with the federal bureaucracy for their own crony deals), but the politics of the Cold War forced it upon him.

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.

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace to do a vertical 10k test of its prototype first stage hopper today

This is not their actual first stage, but an engineering test stage for learning how to land vertically.

 

• Photo of unpainted “forward module” for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket being transported through Kennedy Space Center

The author notes that with the September 29th launch date closing in, the lack of paint is intriguing. If this component is for that launch, it seems very late to only now be delivering it for assembly.

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 announces completion of a European mini-rover set to fly on its Hakuto-R Resilience lunar lander

The mission is targeting a launch late this year on a Falcon 9. The landing location remains unclear.

 

• Thales-Alenia completes design review of a proposed lunar mobile habitation module

The artist’s rendering suggests this would be like a mini-RV for use on the Moon.

 

• China proposes its own proposed lunar module habitation module

The Chinese graphic looks less well thought out compared to Thales-Alenia’s design.

 

• China university proposes building a intelligent spherical robot for use on its space station

This is essentially a copycat of similar robots already flying on ISS.

 

• New rocket startup New Frontier Aerospace touts first tests of a small-scale prototype of the engine for its proposed point-to-point orbital spaceplane

Though I wish them well, to say we should remain skeptical of this company at this point is an understatement.

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 a picture of a stack of “carbon composite structures” to be used in its new Neutron rocket

The company says it is making progress on “fairing panels, propellant tanks, interstage panels, and more.” The company is targeting mid-2025 for the first launch.

 

• The core stage of SLS for the next Artemis launch, the first manned, has now been delivered to Florida

You can watch the entire unloading process here. The launch is presently scheduled for September 2025, but don’t be surprised if it slips considerably.

 

• On this day in 1969 the Apollo 11 crew went through customs in Hawaii, declaring “moon rock and moon dust samples” as part of their “baggage”

The picture of the customs form at the link is very amusing. As the tweet notes, “Best day in this Hawaiian customs agent’s life.”