Tag: spaceflight

Like the Senate the House appropriation committee rejects Trump’s NASA cuts, but differently

9:20 am

The NASA 2026 budget approved this week by the House appropriation committee has rejected the 24% cut proposed by the Trump administration, in a similar manner as the parallel Senate committee.

However, the two congressional committees are not in agreement on any of their spending proposals.

The totals recommended by the two committees are similar — $24.8 billion in the House, $24.9 billion in the Senate — but the specifics are different in many cases.

For example, the House wants to spend $300 million for NASA’s very messed-up Mars Sample Return project, while the Senate eliminated it entirely. The House also increases NASA’s manned exploration budget over Trump’s proposal, while the Senate cuts it. In science spending the House is less generous than the Senate, though both houses reject Trump’s cuts. In education the House agrees with Trump, zeroing out that funding, while the Senate wants to increase the ’25 budget slightly.

Before the 2026 budget is approved the two houses will have to negotiate an agreement to make their numbers match. What has usually happened in past negotiations is that the houses agree to approve the highest spending numbers in any budget item so that nothing gets cut and the budget continues to go up uncontrollably. We should not be surprised if our corrupt Congress does exactly that.

Even so, we should expect Trump to force significant changes at NASA, including budget reductions. Recent Supreme Court rulings have confirmed the president’s right to reorganize and even eliminate bureaucracies, as long as Congress doesn’t specify a particular spending item.

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Russia launches two weather satellites

8:36 am

Russia today successfully placed two weather satellites into orbit, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from its Vostochny spaceport in eastern Russia.

Video of the launch here. This was the second launch for this new constellation of satellites. The rocket flew north from Vostochny, crossing Russia with its lower stages and four strap-on boosters falling in designated drop zones inside Russia. No word if anything landed near habitable areas.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

91 SpaceX
37 China
10 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 91 to 65.

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The glaciers on Mars are almost pure ice with only a thin cover of dust and debris

9:55 am

A map of glaciers on Mars
A map of glaciers on Mars.

According to new research, scientists now think that the glaciers on Mars are almost pure ice, protected from sublimation by a thin cover of dust and debris.

Work over the last 20 years has demonstrated that at least some of these glaciers are mostly pure ice with only a thin cover of rock and dust, but according to a new paper published in Icarus, glaciers all over the planet actually contain more than 80% water ice, a significant finding. Ultimately, this means that Mars’s glacial ice deposits are nearly pure across the globe, providing a clearer understanding of Mars’ climate history and a possible resource for future utilization.

The researchers analyzed mid-latitude glaciers at five different locations in both the north and south hemispheres, and found that at every location the data suggested almost pure ice.

The map to the right, from earlier research, shows the prevalence of near-surface ice once you get above 30 degrees latitude. From the poles to the mid-latitudes it appears there is an ice sheet or “ice table” just below the surface. In the mid-latitudes glaciers dominate, as this appears to be the region where that ice is beginning to dissipate. In the equatorial regions little or no near-surface ice has been detected, though there has been some evidence in some places of ice at deeper depths.

This data once again demonstrates that Mars is not a desert like the Sahara, as we once believed. Instead, it more resembles Antarctica, where there is ice everywhere that simply needs to be processed for use.

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T-Mobile makes its Starlink capability available to everyone

9:34 am

T-Mobile officials yesterday announced that it is now offering its Starlink text and location cellphone capabilities available by subscription to all users, whether or not they are a T-Mobile customer.

On Wednesday, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert announced that the Starlink-powered service is officially out of beta, though it only supports text messaging and location-sharing for now. The new satellite coverage option is called “T-Satellite,” and it’s currently available as a standalone subscription. It’s being offered at $10 per month for a “limited time,” before increasing to $15 per month. It also comes included for customers on the carrier’s $100 per month Experience Beyond or older Go5G plans.

Your device will automatically connect to T-Satellite if you’re in an area with no cellular coverage. As long as there isn’t a heavy amount of cloud coverage or trees blocking your view of the sky, you should be able to send and receive text messages, including to 911, as well as share a link that temporarily tracks your location.

At present, the service is only available in the United States, though it will expand as SpaceX launches more cellphone-to-satellite Starlink satellites. T-Mobile also expects to add voice capability as well.

Nor is this the only option. AT&T is partnering with the satellite company AST SpaceMobile to offer similar services.

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Mexico’s president says it will investigate SpaceX for doing salvage operations off its coast

9:26 am

Mexico to SpaceX:
Mexico to SpaceX: “Nice business you got here. Shame
if something happened to it.”

You can’t win with these people: First Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum complained loudly about the debris that landed or washed up on its beaches after several of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy test launches, demanding an investigation followed by sanctions against the company.

Now Sheinbaum is complaining and demanding a new investigation about SpaceX’s effort the last two weeks to salvage and remove that debris from the ocean off its coast.

During a passage of her daily press conference, Sheinbaum said the agencies are analyzing whether the company has to be sanctioned after its unit tasked with clearing debris from the Starship launch, located in the Gulf of Mexico, worked without proper authorization. “We are investigating but the Environment, Navy, Digital Transformation, Government and Foreign Relations secretariats are conducting their research. The study is practically done,” Sheinbaum said.

Navy Secretary Raymundo Pedro Morales Angeles said the company hired by SpaceX to retrieve debris from its Starship rocket was allowed to enter the country but didn’t fulfill the requirements to work and ended up leaving the country.

If this behavior doesn’t prove Sheinbaum’s lust for power and control, nothing will. She doesn’t really care about Mexico’s beaches or environment. If she did, she would celebrate SpaceX’s salvage operations. What she really doesn’t like is that someone is doing something without her permission. She is the boss, and SpaceX better remember that!

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Rocket startup IRocket mergers with investment company

9:10 am

The rocket startup IRocket has now gone public by merging with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) BPGC, with the latter committing $400 million in investment capital in the merged company.

Innovative Rocket Technologies Inc. (iRocket), a next-generation reusable space rocket developer, and BPGC Acquisition Corp. (BPGC), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by The Hon. Wilbur Ross, the 39th U.S. Secretary of Commerce with more than 55 years of private equity and investment banking experience, and BPGC Management LP, an independent private equity firm dedicated to opportunistic buyouts and special situations transactions in the global industrials, materials and chemicals sectors, jointly announced today that they have entered into a definitive Merger Agreement and Plan of Merger dated July 22, 2025, in connection with the previously-announced letter of intent.

Upon closing, the combined company will operate under the name iRocket Technologies Inc. and the parties will plan to list the combined company on Nasdaq.

The press release at the link makes a lot of very ambitious claims about the company’s proposed rocket, claims that so far appear to be nothing more than nice PowerPoint graphics.

iRocket’s Shockwave launch vehicle is uniquely designed for recovery and reuse of all of its stages. Just as airplanes fly multiple flights, iRocket will Recondition, Reload, and Relaunch™ its rockets in under 24 hours. iRocket’s patented liquid rocket engines will maintain high efficiency through descent as well as ascent. iRocket’s engines will be fueled with sustainable liquid oxygen and methane, which burns cooler, imparts less stress on components, and further supports iRocket’s unique 24-hour turn-around time. Being on a leading edge with its rocket engine expertise, iRocket is also developing solid rocket motors that will transform boosters, missiles, and interceptors.

The company has been around since 2018, yet as far as I can determine has never launched anything. One would hope that something real will begin to finally happen with this infusion of significant new capital.

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Study identifies range of interference produced by Starlink satellites

8:58 am

In analyzing about 76 million radio images produced by the new Square Kilometer Array (SKA) in Australia scientists have found within them signals produced by SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

PhD candidate and study lead Dylan Grigg said the team detected more than 112,000 radio emissions from 1806 Starlink satellites, making it the most comprehensive catalogue of satellite radio emissions at low frequencies to date. “Starlink is the most immediate and frequent source of potential interference for radio astronomy: it launched 477 satellites during this study’s four-month data collection period alone,” Mr Grigg said. “In some datasets, we found up to 30 per cent of our images showed interference from a Starlink satellite.”

Mr Grigg said the issue wasn’t just the number of satellites, but the strength of the signals and the frequencies they were visible at. “Some satellites were detected emitting in bands where no signals are supposed to be present at all, such as the 703 satellites we identified at 150.8 MHz, which is meant to be protected for radio astronomy,” Mr Grigg said. “Because they may come from components like onboard electronics and they’re not part of an intentional signal, astronomers can’t easily predict them or filter them out.”

The researchers were careful to note that SpaceX has been following all international regulations, and that these signals are not a violation of any law or regulation. Further, they emphasized that “Discussions we have had with SpaceX on the topic have been constructive.”

Because many other such constellations are now being launched — with several from China that normally does not negotiate these issues like SpaceX — the scientists want new international regulations imposed to protect their work.

More and more it seems astronomers should simply move their operations into space or the Moon, where such issues will not exist. Getting above the atmosphere and away from our modern technological society provides so many benefits for research the move should be a no-brainer. That it is now also much cheaper to do it (thanks to SpaceX) makes the move even more practical.

For some reason however the idea seems too difficult for many astronomers to fathom.

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JAXA/Mitsubishi test upgraded engines for H3 rocket

8:42 am

Japan’s space agency JAXA, working with Mitsubishi, successfully completed today a static fire test of new more powerful engines to be used on its new H3 rocket, thus eliminating the need for solid-fueled boosters with the goal of reducing the rocket’s cost.

Thursday’s test involved the sixth H3 rocket, which is a Type 30 test vehicle that has three main engines and no boosters. The three main engines were fired for 25 seconds while the rocket remained attached to the launchpad. JAXA will check acceleration, temperature and other data collected during the test.

This new version of the H3 is expected to do its first launch before the end of 2025. If successful, the launch price compared to JAXA’s now retired H2A rocket will be cut in half, to about $35 million, a number that will almost be competitive with the Falcon 9. SpaceX officially charges about $70 million per launch, but it is believed it could reduce that price significantly — some estimate to as low as $20 million — and still make a profit.

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Curiosity amid the boxwork

12:13 pm

Curiosity amid the boxwork, looking uphill
Click for original image.

Overview map
Click for interactive map.

Cool image time! The panorama above, cropped to post here, was taken on July 20, 2025 by the left navigation camera on the Mars rover Curiosity. It looks uphill to the south into the canyon that Curiosity will eventually travel, with the white chaotic upper flanks of Mount Sharp on the horizon. The mountain’s peak itself is out of view, about 25 miles away.

The overview map to the right provides the context. The blue dot marks Curiosity’s present position, on the northern edge of the large patch of very distinct boxwork ridges visible from orbit. You can see these ridges in the foreground of the panorama above.

The yellow lines indicate the approximate area covered by the panorama. The red dotted line roughly indicates the rover’s future travels. At the moment, however, it is going nowhere, as the science team is focused on studying these boxwork ridges in the hope they can determine their origin. Such features are usually associated with cracking later filled with lava, with the polygon-shaped cracking usually associated with a formerly wet environment drying.

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Rocket Lab’s new Neutron rocket faces red tape delays at Wallops

10:00 am

Proposed dredged channel
Proposed dredged channel. Click for original.

We’re here to help you! Rocket Lab appears to be having regulatory problems getting approvals to transport hardware for its new Neutron rocket to its new launchpad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island in Virginia, delays that might prevent it from launching as planned later this year.

It appears the company needs to dredge a deeper channel to ship the heavier Neutron hardware into Wallops, but it has not been able to begin work because of approval delays by the federal government.

The dredging project was approved by VMRC [Virginia Marine Resources Commission] in May, but the company has yet to start digging because it’s still awaiting federal sign-off from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Lacking this approval and unable to get the channel ready for this year’s launch, the company is seeking permission to use a stop-gap different approach to transport the hardware through these shallow waters.

Kedging, a little-known nautical method, is used to ensure the barges can safely navigate the existing shallow channel. Workers would use a series of anchors and lines to steer the barge through the shallow waters. The company is seeking permission to use this method through the end of June 2026 or until the dredging work is complete, whichever comes first.

Lacking an okay to do even this alternative approach, Rocket Lab will be forced to transport the hardware using “ramps and cranes,” an approach that is impractical in the long run for achieving a profitable launch pace. It also would likely result in not meeting its targeted launch date before the end of 2025 for the first Neutron launch.

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One of China’s big satellite constellations appears in trouble

9:35 am

According to a report in China’s state-run press today, one of the giant satellite constellations China is building to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation is in trouble, and will likely fail to meet its international licensing requirement to place more than six hundred satellites in orbit by the end of 2025.

Only 90 satellites have been launched into low Earth orbit for the Qianfan broadband network – also known as the Thousand Sails Constellation or G60 Starlink – well short of the project’s goal of 648 by the end of this year.

Under international regulations to prevent spectrum hoarding, satellite operators must deploy a certain proportion of their constellation within set times after securing orbits and radio frequencies.

Shanghai Yuanxin Satellite Technology, the company leading the project, plans to deploy more than 15,000 satellites by 2030 to deliver direct-to-phone internet services worldwide.

To meet its license requirement, it require a launch pace for the rest of ’25 of about 30 satellites per month, something that the article says is unlikely due to “a severe shortage of rockets” in China.

This story might also explain why China’s government yesterday ordered all its rocket pseudo-companies to speed up their test schedules, pushing to launch their new rockets for the first time this year instead of in 2026. The Xi government’s order appears to be trying to address this rocket shortage.

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Senegal to sign Artemis Accords

9:24 am

According to a NASA announcement today, Senegal will become the 56th nation to sign Artemis Accords tomorrow.

The full list of nations now part of this American space alliance: Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.

It remains unclear whether the second Trump administration has taken a new interest in using this alliance to renew the accords’ original goals, of encouraging private enterprise and property rights in space. The Biden had shifted the purpose away from those goals towards the more globalist approach represented by the Outer Space Treaty.

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Trump administration moving to reduce rocket launch environmental regulations

9:16 am

FAA logo

According to a draft executive order that has not yet been released, the Trump administration is planning a major revision of the FAA’s environmental and launch regulations that has badly impacted rocket companies, with the goal of streamlining licensing.

The order would give Trump even more direct control over the space industry’s chief regulator by turning the civil servant position leading the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation into a political appointment. The last head of the office and two other top officials recently took voluntary separation offers.

The order would also create a new adviser to the transportation secretary to shepherd in deregulation of the space industry.

…The draft order also seeks to restrict the authority of state coastal officials who have challenged commercial launch companies like SpaceX, documents show. It could lead to federal officials interfering with state efforts to enforce their environmental rules when they conflict with the construction or operation of spaceports.

The order would also have the secretary of transportation ‘reevaluate, amend, or rescind’ sections of Part 450, the FAA licensing regulations that it imposed during the Biden administration that was supposed to streamline licensing but ended up adding considerable new red tape which contributed significantly to squelching the new launch industry that had popped up during the first Trump term.

As is usual for the propaganda press, the article at the link implies that these changes would result in horrible environmental consequences as well as increased safety risks to the public. What it does not note is that these changes appear to simply return the regulatory framework back to what existed prior to the Biden administration, a framework that had existed for more than a half century previously. The environment and public safety did just fine under those more freedom-oriented rules. I am sure both will do just fine again.

This order might also help explain Trump’s decision to withdraw Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator and appoint Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as interim NASA administrator. The order puts much of this work on his head, and having him in charge of NASA will likely aid that work.

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First Hubble images of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas released

5:03 pm

Comet 3I/Atlas, taken by Hubble
Click for original.

An undergraduate student has just released the first pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the interstellar object 3I/Atlas, confirming that it is a comet as indicated by the earlier image taken by the Gemini North telescope.

One of those images, taken only hours ago, is the inset on the map showing the comet’s route through the solar system to the right. The streaks on the image are either stars or cosmic rays. Though this image is of significantly lower quality than the Gemini North picture, it once again shows both the comet’s nucleus and developing coma.

A preprint [pdf] of a new research paper based on data from both telescopes further confirms this conclusion:

[T]hese results suggest that 3I/ATLAS hosts a coma containing large water ice grains, and that its dust continuum is stable over at least week-long timescales. The spectral characteristics further distinguish 3I from known ultrared trans-Neptunian objects and align it more closely with active Jupiter-family comets.

The last conclusion is very significant. Though the path and speed of this interstellar object says it must come from beyond the solar system, its cometary make-up more resembles comets that reside in the inner solar system. These facts strongly imply that there is at least one other solar systems not very different from our own.

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SpaceX launches two SES communications satellites

2:41 pm

Despite a launch abort yesterday at T-11 seconds for unstated reasons, SpaceX followed up by successfully completing the launch today, sending two SES communications satellites into orbit with its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

This was SpaceX’s fifth launch for this SES constellation, during which it has placed a total of ten satellites into orbit. The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The fairings completed their ninth and twenty-first flights respectively.

A few hours earlier a different SpaceX rocket had another launch abort at about T-43 seconds, this time because of a local power outage. That launch has been rescheduled for later this evening.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

90 SpaceX
37 China
10 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 90 to 64.

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A galaxy surrounded by galaxies

11:12 am

A galaxy surrounded by galaxies
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a survey of galaxies where Type 1a supernovae have occurred, in order to better refine the precise brightness of these explosions.

What makes this galaxy most interesting are the hundreds of other galaxies that appear to surround it. And that ain’t an illusion.

NGC 3285B is a member of the Hydra I cluster, one of the largest galaxy clusters in the nearby Universe. Galaxy clusters are collections of hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound to one another by gravity. The Hydra I cluster is anchored by two giant elliptical galaxies at its centre. Each of these galaxies is about 150,000 light-years across, making them about 50% larger than our home galaxy, the Milky Way. NGC 3285B sits on the outskirts of its home cluster, far from the massive galaxies at the centre.

As for the survey program, Type 1a supernovae are the measure cosmologists have used to discover the unexpected acceleration of the universe’s expansion rate at the largest scales, something they dub “dark energy” because they really don’t understand what they have discovered. That discovery however hinges entirely on the assumed intrinsic brightness of Type 1a supernovae. Astronomers have assumed these supernovae all have the same approximate brightness, and extrapolate their distance by that brightness.

The problem are the assumptions. We really don’t know if all Type 1a supernovae are approximately the same brightness. And even if they are equally bright, we also do not have a firm grasp of what that brightness should be.

This survey is an attempt to narrow or eliminate these uncertainties.

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Is SpaceX doing ocean salvage operations near Boca Chica?

11:25 pm

Superheavy aft section being salvaged
Click for original source.

SpaceX appears to be recovering the Superheavy booster that soft landed off shore from Boca Chica during the sixth test flight in November.

On Saturday, footage, albeit from a vantage point of someone who should not have been that close to the recovery operations, showed the aft end of a Booster with most of its Raptor engines still attached, being lifted out of the water.

During that November flight mission controllers decided against attempting a chopstick recovery, and sent the booster to do a soft vertical spashdown just off the coast. The booster than fell over and was seen drifting south. It appears SpaceX has now mounted operations to recovery it, possibly in response to the complaints by Mexican officials about its rocket pieces showing up on the beaches. Company engineers likely also wish to take a look at the equipment for their own reasons.

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Update on eye research at ISS

10:03 am

Link here. The NASA update provides a nice overview of the research, beginning with this overview:

When astronauts began spending six months and more aboard the International Space Station, they started to notice changes in their vision. For example, many found that, as their mission progressed, they needed stronger reading glasses. Researchers studying this phenomenon identified swelling in the optic disc, which is where the optic nerve enters the retina, and flattening of the eye shape. These symptoms became known as Space-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS).

The research suspects the changes are due to the fluid shifts in the body that take place due to weightlessness, with blood shifting from the legs to the head. Various projects have studied a number of solutions, including wearing leg cuffs, administering vitamin B, and possibly using centrifuge-created artificial gravity to mitigate the condition. The problem has also generated new work in developing better equipment for to studying the eye, including improved imaging and techniques for measuring the eye’s stiffness.

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Founder of Saxavord spaceport diagnosed with terminal cancer

9:51 am

Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea

Frank Strange, the founder and CEO of the Saxavord spaceport in the Shetland Islands, yesterday revealed that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is given about six months to two years to live.

He said he was hopeful to be present for what could be the first orbital rocket launch from UK soil now expected to happen in November of this year.

Speaking to Shetland News on Thursday, the 67-year-old said the future of the spaceport was in good hands with a highly capable management team and very supportive investors.

Reflecting on his health, Strang said he had been struggling eating over past months. An endoscopy a few weeks ago discovered a tumour in his oesophagus (gullet) which was found to be cancerous and had also spread to the lungs. “I am going to step back but not down,” he said. “If I step down that would probably kill me before the cancer does.

“The spaceport has been my life; it has come at a high personal cost over the years.”

It would truly be a tragedy if this man dies before the first launch at Saxavord occurs. The German rocket startup Rocket Factory Augsburg had hoped to do a launch there last year, but an explosion during a prelaunch static fire test made that impossible. It hopes to try again in December, assuming the United Kingdom’s odious red tape does not get in the way.

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Polish rocket startup signs second spaceport deal this week

9:38 am

Santa Maria spaceport

The Polish rocket startup SpaceForest today announced that it has signed a deal to launch its Perun suborbital rocket with the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium that is developing a spaceport on the island of Santa Maria in the Atlantic.

The launch planned for early 2026 will allow for comprehensive testing of launch procedures and confirmation of the capabilities and compliance of the Polish platform for conducting space experiments and research outside Poland, fully aligned with international standards. The mission will also serve as an opportunity to verify the operation of the PERUN suborbital flight system under nominal mission parameters.

This is the second spaceport launch contract SpaceForest has signed this week, the first being with the Eurospaceport launch platform to be located in the North Sea. According to the press releases, the Santa Maria launch will likely occur first. SpaceForest has also signed an agreement to launch its rocket from Norway’s Andoya spaceport. All three contracts suggest the company is marketing its suborbital rocket to new proposed European spaceports as a way to demonstrate the spaceport’s viability as a launch location.

The Santa Maria spaceport was first proposed by the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium in August 2024, and has already done two suborbital test launches, both using what appeared to be large model rockets. This contract gives it is first customer.

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Musk: 10th Starship/Superheavy launch in “about three weeks”

12:31 pm

According to a very short tweet Elon Musk posted on July 15, 2025, SpaceX will attempt the 10th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy in “about three weeks.”

Musk however provided little information. This is the full text of his tweet:

Launching again in ~3 weeks

The lack of information raises more questions than it answers. For example, how is SpaceX replacing the destroyed Starship that blew up during a static fire test in June on its Massey test stand at Boca Chica? I assume it is using another prototype already in the assembly line, but will it be a version 2 prototype that the company has flown on the past three flights that failed each time after stage separation from Superheavy? Or has SpaceX dumped the prototypes of version 2 and shifted directly to version 3 because of those failures?

How is it going to do its Starship prelaunch static fire tests? Has it gotten its Massey test stand repaired that quickly, or has it found other options? Earlier reports suggested fixing the stand would take much longer. Furthermore, there was the question of fixing it for version 2 or version 3, which require different configurations. Fixing it for version 2 suggested this would delay bringing version 3 on line.

This tweet raises more questions than it answers. However, if Musk is even close to correct than many of these questions will be answered in only a week or two, since that is when prelaunch static fire test must begin.

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Astronomers detect first evidence of gas condensing to molecular solids in baby solar system

11:39 am

Baby star with jets of new material
Click for original image.

Using a combination of ground- and space-based telescopes, astronomers have detected the first evidence of the gas and dust surrounding a young star condensing to molecular solids, thus beginning the initial stages of planet formation.

This newborn planetary system is emerging around HOPS-315, a ‘proto’ or baby star that sits some 1300 light-years away from us and is an analogue of the nascent Sun. Around such baby stars, astronomers often see discs of gas and dust known as ‘protoplanetary discs’, which are the birthplaces of new planets. … Their results show that SiO [silicon monoxide] is present around the baby star in its gaseous state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting it is only just beginning to solidify. “This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc — or anywhere outside our Solar System,” says co-author Edwin Bergin, a professor at the University of Michigan, USA.

…With these data, the team determined that the chemical signals were coming from a small region of the disc around the star equivalent to the orbit of the asteroid belt around the Sun.

The false-color picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile. It shows jets blowing out from the central baby star. Orange indicates carbon monoxide, while blue is the silicon monoxide. Initially the astronomers detected these molecules using spectroscopy from the Webb Space Telescope. This ALMA image was then used to identify where these molecules were located in the system.

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Proposed North Sea offshore launch platform gets ESA okay

10:38 am

Launch platforms proposed for North Sea
Launch platforms proposed for North Sea

The proposed North Sea offshore launch platform of the startup Eurospaceport has now signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to support a test launch of a suborbital test rocket by Polish rocket startup SpaceForest.

The map to the right shows approximately where Eurospaceport’s launch platform will be located for this launch. The map also shows the locations of the two proposed spaceports in the United Kingdom, as well as a second German-based launch platform, Offshore Spaceport Alliance, based out of Bremen.

The SpaceForest launch is targeting a 2026 launch, with the ESA contract covering some of the expenses. As it will be suborbital, the rocket will likely not cross over any nearby habitable land.

The Offshore Spaceport was first proposed in 2020, and has received financial support from the German government, and announced earlier this year that it would be ready to host launches by September 2025. As of yet no launches have been scheduled.

Both of these launch platforms will need to travel farther to the west in the North Sea to provide any orbital rockets a path north that will not fly over other nations. Even so, launches for both will likely be limited to polar orbits, making their value less appealing to rocket companies.

At the same time, their proximity to Europe and the ability of the launch platforms to dock in Europe gives them other advantages that will be of interest to the German rocket startups.

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South Korea to push for a lunar base and Mars missions by 2045

9:58 am

South Korea’s new space agency today announced a long term space exploration road map that hopes to have the nation establish by 2045 a small base on the Moon as well as a Mars orbiter and lander.

The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) categorizes the exploration areas into Earth, the Moon, the heliosphere, and deep space, dividing them into five major programs: low orbit and microgravity exploration, lunar exploration, solar and space science exploration, planetary system exploration, and astrophysical exploration. The roadmap presents scientific missions for each program and engineering tasks to realize them.

When South Korea established this space agency in 2024, its chief emphasized the need to encourage private enterprise. I however had doubts, noting:

If KASA maintains this approach, then South Korea’s future as a space power is bright. If instead KASA moves to control all space development, including the design and ownership of its rockets and spacecraft, then that program will be stifled, as America’s was by NASA for forty years after the 1960s space race.

In January 2025 that space agency announced policies that it said would encourage the private sector, but in reviewing the language of those policies I concluded it sounded more like a power-play by that agency to run everything.

KASA’s new road map today unfortunately confirms that analysis. Over the next two decades South Korea will have a government-controlled “space program,” not a competitive space industry.

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New Space Force policy will encourage a robust private industry to build the capabilities it needs

9:39 am

Capitalism in space: The U.S. Space Force (USSF) today released what it calls an “annex,” outlining its “Principles for Space Access Resourcing Decisions,” that will act as an over-arching guidance to its general space policy. The nine principles listed are expressly focused on encouraging redundancy in launch and satellite military capabilities by using the robust private and competitive aerospace industry that now exists.

The annex details how the service will consider and prioritize commercial space sector requests for government resources, as well as government investment decisions. The annex features nine principles, rooted in law, that will guide the Assured Access to Space Enterprise’s decision-making on a variety of resourcing decisions including acquisition strategies, investment priorities and property allocation. … “These principles reflect our understanding that a strong commercial space industry is a force multiplier for the U.S. Space Force. We are committed to working alongside our industry and allied partners to ensure safe, reliable and resilient access to space for decades to come,” [said Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements Lt. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton.]

The annex signals an acknowledgment of the evolution of the space access landscape from the 1950s, in which the government was the primary customer, to today where commercial space activities account for the preponderance of launch manifest activities.

You can read the full “annex” here [pdf]. The principles clearly emphasize the need to use the private sector for the military’s needs. It also underlines the Space Force’s responsibility to serve the needs of this growing private sector by making its launch ranges as available as possible to that industry.

The principles however also recognize that strain caused that increased use, and adds this last principle as a caveat:

Launch rates at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Space Force Base have increased to the point where commercial and hybrid launches comprise the vast majority of operations. The demand for operational support and infrastructure sustainment and modernization exceeds USSF resources. Therefore, the USSF transparently engages with stakeholders to arrange equitable cost-sharing of multi-use resources and balanced input on public/private infrastructure investment.

It makes excellent sense for the military to re-negotiate its fees with the launch companies that use its facilities to cover costs. In fact, this is a much better way to cover these costs than the launch taxes proposed by Senator Ted Cruz’s budget bill in June. Cruz’s proposal is a legal tax that allows no room for negotiation. The Space Force’s policy will allow it flexibility to negotiate fees as needed and with much greater efficiency and speed.

Sadly, expect Cruz’s taxes to win out, as this kind of heavy-handed overuse of government power has been the default for decades.

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Satellite companies SES and Intelsat complete their merger

9:07 am

The Luxembourg-based satellite company SES has now completed its acquisition of the European-based satellite company Intelsat, giving the combined company 120 active satellites in a variety of low and high Earth orbits.

With a world-class network including approximately 90 geostationary (GEO), nearly 30 medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites, strategic access to low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and an extensive ground network, SES can now deliver connectivity solutions utilising complementary spectrum bands including C-, Ku-, Ka-, Military Ka-, X-band, and Ultra High Frequency. The expanded capabilities of the combined company will enable it to deliver premium-quality services and tailored solutions to its customers. The company’s assets and networks, once fully integrated, will put SES in a strong competitive position to better serve the evolving needs of its customers including governments, aviation, maritime, and media across the globe.

Both companies are long established, with Intelsat initially founded in the mid-1960s as a consortium of 23 nations aimed at launching the first geosynchronous communications satellites over the Atlantic and Pacific serving most of the Old World and linked to the New.

The merger is an attempt by both companies to compete with the new low-orbit constellations of SpaceX, Amazon, and from China.

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Russia: Commercial satellite constellations providing help to the Ukraine are now targets

10:39 pm

Russia this week informed regulators at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that it now considers all European and American private satellite constellations “legitimate targets to be destroyed” if they provide any help to the Ukraine.

Russia tells ITU that GPS/Galileo/GNSS nav & commercial broadcast sats helping Ukraine militarily should expect interference. Same for EutelsatGroup, OneWeb, Starlink constellations, which Russia has said are ‘legitimate targets to be destroyed.

There is more at the full article, but that is behind a subscription paywall.

Russia’s announcement here is probably in response to Trump’s more bellicose statements recently about Putin and Russia.

It is hard to predict what will happen, especially when you have a dictator like Putin in power where rational thinking can never be relied on and no laws apply. For example, destroying any orbiting satellites in low Earth orbit will create space junk that will threaten ISS, and a situation NOT beneficial to Russia.

I suspect Russia will begin by trying to jam these constellations. Let us hope it does not go farther than that.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Mars meteorite sells at auction for $5.3 million

12:46 pm

The largest Mars meteorite found so far on Earth sold yesterday at auction for $5.3 million, a million dollars more than expected.

The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, according to Sotheby’s. The estimated sale price before the auction was $2 million to $4 million.

The identity of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. The final bid was $4.3 million. Adding various fees and costs, the official bid price was about $5.3 million.

Most Mars’ meteorites found on Earth are scooped up in Antarctica as part of government funded research. Thus, they are not available for sale. This rock was found by a private meteorite hunter, who then owned the rock free and clear and could do with it as he or she liked. It appears the hunting paid off handsomely.

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Axiom’s ticket price for India’s astronaut on Ax-4 mission: $59 million

10:38 am

According to reports today in the India press, the price Axiom charged India’s space agency ISRO for training and then flying its astronaut on the just completed Ax-4 two-week mission to ISS was $59 million.

The expenditure by ISRO includes cost of [Shubhanshu] Shukla’s training for the mission as well as that of a seat on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for the 20-day trip that launched Shukla, and three others — Peggy Whitson from the US, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary — to space.

Earlier reports had suggested Axiom was charging $70 million per ticket. If the $59 million is accurate and applies to the charges Poland and Hungary paid, then Axiom’s revenue for the flight was $177 million. From that it would have to pay SpaceX (for the launch and the use of its Grace capsule) and NASA (for the use of ISS). Based on past history, SpaceX likely charged around $70 million for the launch. The cost for using Grace is unknown. NASA’s fees for a two-week visit to ISS were probably around $10 million plus.

My guess, based on this very limited information, is that Axiom made some profit from the flight, ranging from $20 to $50 million.

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