Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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February 18th, 2026
Sparks of creativity. Mass driver workers Gerard O’Neill (center), Henry Kolm (left), Kevin Fine (right).
Image credit: SSI
Earlier this month, SpaceX leader and his own catapult of vision, Elon Musk, advised newly acquired xAI workers that he sees need for a factory on the Moon to fabricate artificial intelligence (AI) satellites.
To churn out those spacecraft he called for a colossal catapult planted on the lunar surface to fling them into space.
Elon Musk showcases electromagnetic mass driver on the moon during xAI staff meeting.
Image credit: SpaceX/xAI
The Musk 21st century revelation is not new, but nevertheless welcomed.
In 1974, Princeton professor and space visionary, the late Gerard O’Neill first proposed use of an electromagnetic rail gun to lob payloads from Earth’s Moon.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Elon Musk wants to put a satellite catapult on the Moon. It’s not a new idea” – at:
Also, go to the Space Studies Institute for detailed information on Gerard K. O’Neill’s pioneering work at: https://ssi.org/
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Artwork depicts Orion spacecraft plowing through Earth’s atmosphere at high speed.
Image credit: NASA
The high-speed, safe return to Earth from lunar distance of the Artemis II crew depends on the thermal protection system of Orion’s crew module. It must endure blistering temperatures to keep crew members safe.
However, following the flight of the uncrewed Artemis I lunar flight test in late 2022, it was found that ablative thermal protective material had unexpectedly chipped away from the Orion heat shield during its plunge through Earth’s atmosphere.
Root cause
Image credit: NASA OIG
But in a post-flight analysis of the Artemis 1 heat shield, NASA identified more than 100 locations where ablative thermal protective material was liberated during its speedy reentry.
NASA, along with contractors and an independent review team, an investigation was launched to establish the technical cause of the issue. An analysis was done, including over a 100 tests at unique facilities across the country.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story — The Artemis 1 moon mission had a heat shield issue. Here’s why NASA doesn’t think it will happen again on Artemis 2 – at:
Justin Cyrus, founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost.
Image credit: Lunar Outpost/Castrol
“Drive Me To The Moon” is a firsthand look at the Colorado-based private group, Lunar Outpost, and its inaugural mission to the lunar surface.
Their Lunar Voyage 1 mission is captured in this documentary, offering a rare look at what it truly takes to reach the Lunar South Pole.
This is the story of the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), an advanced robotic Moon rover.
Image credit: Lunar Outpost/Castrol
Unfortunately, MAPP was entrapped by a faulty touchdown of the Intuitive Machines Athena lander on March 6, 2025.
The Intuitive Machines craft landed on its side, precluding recharging and deployment of payloads.
Image credit: Lunar Outpost/Castrol
This video highlights Lunar Outpost’s MAPP, moving forward, and what’s next for the private company.
Go to this informative video at:
For more information on Lunar Outpost, go to:
Also, go to my recent Space.com story – “Lunar Outpost’s Eagle Vehicle – The Drive for Mobility on the Moon” – at:
https://www.leonarddavid.com/lunar-outposts-eagle-vehicle-the-drive-for-mobility-on-the-moon/
The number of objects in orbit has surged over the past two decades, driven largely by the expansion of commercial space activity.
This critical orbital infrastructure is under threat. Congestion from space debris is rising, creating a strategic vulnerability for the entire planet.
Without mitigation, the probability of a serious collision occurring by 2032 is potentially 29% in certain altitude zones.
Those are a few observations by a new report — Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on Space Debris — from the World Economic Forum and the Center for Space Futures. They have jointly led several community consultations to assess the escalating risk and economic cost of space debris, particularly the growing collision risk it presents over the coming decade.
Image credit: World Economic Forum/Center for Space Futures
Economic forecast
The report is a product of a close collaboration with the Saudi Space Agency and LeoLabs to develop an orbital population model, and with Novaspace to produce an economic forecast that quantifies the potential economic impact of space debris on the global space economy.
The new forecast projects that space debris could impose a direct cost of up to $42.3 billion over the next decade, a “hidden tax” on the space economy.
To access the full report, go to:
https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Clear_Orbit_Secure_Future_2026.pdf
Image credit: CMSE
China rocket makers are high-fiving the recent launch of the Long March-10, seeing its flight as paving the way for future rocket reuses.
The February 11 flight of the Long March-10 is China’s first-ever rocket first-stage booster maritime salvage and recovery mission.
Meanwhile, the test flight also signaled advancement in the country’s crewed lunar exploration program.
Maximum dynamic pressure
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), last Wednesday’s test conducted a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight test of its Long March-10 carrier rocket and a maximum dynamic pressure abort flight test of its new-generation crewed spacecraft Mengzhou.
Image credit: CMSE
CMSEO said the success of the tests has provided valuable flight data and engineering experience for crewed lunar exploration.
Both the rocket and spaceship are still in their prototype phases.
Three tasks
On Wednesday, China successfully conducted a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight test of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, along with a maximum dynamic pressure abort flight test of its new-generation crewed spaceship Mengzhou, with both the rocket and spaceship still in their prototype phases.
New generation Mengzhou spacecraft.
Image credit: CMSA
China’s Xinhua news service reported that, during the tests, the rocket prototype undertook three tasks. According to
Yang Shutao, an expert from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) that the trio of tasks were:
- verifying the maximum dynamic pressure abort conditions during the Mengzhou spaceship’s ascent
- demonstrating the reliability of its multi-stage parallel operations, and
- testing critical return-phase technologies
Two configurations
The Long March-10 rocket series includes two configurations: the Long March-10 with three stages and “bundled boosters,” and the Long March-10A with two stages and no bundled boosters.
Shades of SpaceX. China Long March-10 stage heads for ocean landing in this artwork.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The prototype Long March-10 is roughly 180 feet (55 meters) in length and powered by seven liquid oxygen/kerosene engines in parallel. They produce nearly 1,000 tons of thrust. It currently has the largest single-module thrust among China’s rockets, CASC’s Yang said.
In the future, citing Yang, the Long March-10 rocket will integrate two identical boosters in parallel with its seven-engine core stage, giving it a significantly larger carrying capacity.
Net recovery
Yang told Xinhua that the Long March-10 rocket series will adopt a rocket-ground coordinated recovery solution.
That solution involves “four tethering structures onboard the rocket and a ground-based grid-shaped net recovery device,” Yang said, which will transfer the functions of capture, buffering and stabilization from the rocket to the ground-based net.
That tactic will reduce the onboard complexity while enhancing the rocket’s carrying capacity.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Return and recovery
After the Mengzhou spaceship separated, the rocket continued its flight until the first stage reached the predetermined height and speed, at which point its engines were shut down.
As reported by Xinhua, during the unpowered upward glide phase, the rocket continuously adjusted its attitude, shifting from nose-forward to tail-forward, to meet the subsequent ignition requirements.
At an altitude of about 70 miles (110 kilometers), the rocket deployed its four grid fins, getting ready for the return and recovery.
The first stage of the Long March-10 carrier rocket used in a flight test for China’s crewed lunar exploration in future has been successfully fished out and retrieved from the sea, marking China’s completion of its first-ever rocket first-stage booster maritime salvage and recovery mission. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Powered deceleration
The powered deceleration phase meant use of two engines that were ignited for the second time to decelerate while correcting the rocket’s flight position and attitude.
Xinhua said when the engines shut down and the rocket entered the aerodynamic deceleration phase, it further slowed down by relying on its own drag and the aerodynamic forces generated by the grid fins, while deflecting the fins to adjust its position and attitude.
During the final landing phase, reported Xinhua, three engines ignited successively, and the rocket maneuvered toward the predicted ocean landing site.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Controlled splashdown
At about 394 feet (120 meters) above sea level, the onboard tether mechanism was deployed to simulate the capture by a ground-based recovery net system.
When the first stage reached about 16 feet (5 meters) in altitude, the rocket achieved “a quasi-hovering state,” Xinhua stated, before executing a controlled splashdown in the sea.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Rocket reuse can significantly reduce launch costs and increase launch frequency. It is an essential path for large-scale free access to space in the future and provides important support for the progress of China’s space sector,” Yang said.
Go to this video that spotlights first stage recovery operations at:
Captured by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), this long-exposure photograph showcases Earth’s city lights, the upper atmosphere’s airglow, and streaked stars. The bright flashes at the center are reflections of sunlight from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit.
Image credit: NASA
The consequences of more and more “megaconstellations” of satellites being shoved into Earth orbit also gives rise to what are the chances of being conked in the head by the in-coming remnants of those spacecraft?
“What happens if the minimum lethal amount of debris from each satellite does not burn up and reaches the ground intact?”
A new study by a team of Canadian researchers looks into the fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere of eleven megaconstellations. What are the charred, declarative results?
They find that there’s a 40% collective risk of on-ground casualties if satellites do not burn up entirely.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Satellite megaconstellations continue to grow. Could their debris fall on us?”
Image credit: CMSE
China is stepping up its activities in testing various elements of its humans-to-the-Moon program.
“It is estimated that by the end of this year, China will fully achieve testing and launch capabilities for the crewed lunar exploration program,” said Zhong Wen’an, a technician at China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Next-generation spaceship
On February 11, China test launched its Mengzhou (dream vessel) spacecraft, China’s new-generation spaceship for crewed flight, also successfully conducting a maximum dynamic pressure abort test.
The uncrewed Mengzhou was flown on a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight test for the Long March-10 carrier rocket – a derivation of the booster to be utilized for China’s human Moon exploration undertaking.
Image credit: CMSE
Mengzhou is designed primarily for China’s crewed lunar exploration initiative, and can also be used for space station operations. Its return capsule is capable of multiple reuses, reports China Central Television (CCTV).
Ocean recovery
This week’s test flight involved the first ignition flight of the Long March-10 rocket. Both the rocket’s first stage and return capsule landed in their designated ocean recovery zones.
The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule then splashed down separately in their designated sea areas, as planned.
Image credit: AsiaToday/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The test flight saw the first evaluation of a sea landing and recovery of Mengzhou’s return capsule, which will bring China’s spacefarers back to Earth.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“This laid the foundation for completing verification flights for the crewed lunar exploration program, and eventually, lunar landings. Efforts to build the equipment and facilities required for a comprehensive launch and test system are progressing as planned,” said Zhong.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Significant flight test
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program told CCTV: “This was a highly significant flight test, especially the retrieval technologies, which are entirely new to us. Achieving success on the very first attempt represents a leapfrog development.”
Wang Zhifei, a researcher at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said the successful soft splashdown and retrieval from the sea “marks a crucial and significant breakthrough in China’s reusable carrier rocket technology and will also greatly promote the upgrading of China’s carrier rocket technology.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space program officials heralded the successful test of its new-generation heavy-lift rocket and next-generation piloted spacecraft as a significant step forward for China’s crewed lunar program.
For a newly-issued video focused on the test flight, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2689199744771289
For the first stage ocean landing, also go to:
Image credit: ULA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket delivered a national security spacecraft directly to geosynchronous orbit for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command on the USSF-87 mission. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Feb. 2.
Solid observation
Image credit: ULA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors, the team is currently reviewing the data. The booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued to perform on a nominal trajectory,” explains ULA.
Go to launch video replay at:
Image credit: B612 Foundationu
They are mean and malicious – and could mess up your day big time here on our home planet.
It is a cosmic roll of the dice. There’s no doubt that a major asteroid strike could cause widespread devastation and profoundly impact life on Earth. To thwart an incoming object that has Earth in its crosshairs means warding off the hazardous space rock.
Enter the heads-up and off-world reality of the private nonprofit B612 Foundation.
This sky rendering is a reconstruction of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013.
Image credit: Sandia National Laboratories
Advancing knowledge
Since 2002, the Silicon Valley-based organization has engaged in research, education, and promoting the protection of Earth from asteroid impact but also advancing knowledge about the solar system’s evolution and expanding economic development in space.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Can a nonprofit help protect Earth from dangerous asteroids? How the B612 Foundation has taken on the challenge – “The tools we are building are about our planetary future” – at:
Image credit: CMSE
China’s Long March 10 booster successfully conducted on February 11 a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight, a test that included an uncrewed Mengzhou spacecraft using its abort escape flight system.
Image credit: CMSE
The China Manned Space Engineering (CMSE) website noted that the February 11 test follows (1) the tethered ignition of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, (2) the zero-altitude escape flight of the Mengzhou piloted spacecraft, and (3) the comprehensive verification of the country’s lunar lander craft’s landing and takeoff on the Moon.
Image credit: CCTV/CMSA
This test marked the first ignition flight of the Long March 10 carrier rocket in its prototype state, the CMSE stated. The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule safely splashed down in the designated sea area.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
This flight test was performed at a newly built launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site.
The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule then splashed down separately in their designated sea areas, as planned.
Image credit: AsiaToday/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
CMSE added that the developmental flight test marked a significant breakthrough in China’s plans for its human Moon exploration program.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to video at:
