Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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November 14th, 2025
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The return capsule of the Shenzhou-21 spaceship, carrying the Shenzhou-20 astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, still attached to China’s space station, did not meet the requirements for the astronauts’ safe return.
For the first time it was revealed that tiny cracks were found in the return capsule’s viewport window — likely caused by external impact from space debris — stated the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Longest in-orbit stay
The Shenzhou-21 return capsule with the trio of taikonauts touched down at 16:40 Beijing time (0840 GMT) at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Chen Dong, commander of the Shenzhou-20 crew. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
This crew, sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on April 24, 2025, spent 204 days in orbit, setting a new record for the longest in-orbit stay among Chinese astronaut crews.
The crew’s return, originally scheduled for November 5, was postponed due to safety concerns.
Hardships and challenges
Chen Dong, commander of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceflight mission was the first of the three-member Shenzhou-20 crew to get out of the return capsule.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Taking the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft home is very reassuring. The path of human space exploration is far from easy, filled with hardships and challenges, and that is why we take this path,” Chen said. “I believe this mission was not only a training opportunity but also a real test. We are proud that we have successfully completed the mission. China’s space program has withstood the test, and the entire project has delivered an outstanding result.”
A replacement ship, a Shenzhou-22 spacecraft, will be launched at an appropriate time in the future, according to the CMSA.
Go to this link for coverage of the recovery of the Shenzhou-20 crew at:
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Artwork depicts China’s Tiangong space station.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
China’s Shenzhou-20 astronauts are returning to Earth using a non-space debris impacted and fresh ship – the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.
According to the Xinhua state-run news service, the Shenzhou-20 crew is slated to return on Friday aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.
The spaceship will return to the Dongfeng landing site in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
Shenzhou-20 crew is seen in this pre-launch image.
(Image credit: China Manned Space Agency)
At the ready
Onboard: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie with landing zone technical staff at the ready for the touchdown.
The crew’s return was originally scheduled for a November 5 departure from the Chinese space station but was postponed due to a suspected space debris impact on the Shenzhou-20 spaceship.
Work appears underway to launch a Shenzhou-22 spacecraft to replace the debris damaged Shenzhou-20 vessel.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Meanwhile — although not spelled out in detail by space officials — the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft would be launched “at an appropriate time in the future,” according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), likely to be lofted in an uncrewed state to assure that the orbiting Shenzhou-21 crew have a trustworthy route home.
Nicholaus Parziale (right) and his students are preparing for a wind tunnel experiment.
Image credit: Stevens Institute of Technology
A study suggests that building hypersonic planes may not require a significantly different design approach – a finding that could also alter future space transportation concepts.
Revolutionizing global travel could mean transforming day-long international flights into brief commutes no longer than a feature length movie. How about cutting the duration of a hop between Sydney to Los Angeles from 15 hours to just one?
“It really shrinks the planet,” says Nicholaus Parziale, a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. “It will make travel faster, easier and more enjoyable.”
Turbulence and heat
Parziale explains that what’s standing in the way of such ultra-fast planes becoming reality is the turbulence and heat they generate as they fly.
To build hypersonic planes requires understanding how airflow works at greater Mach numbers — like five or ten times the speed of sound.
Enter the Morkovin’s hypothesis.
Nicholaus Parziale: “I’d suggest that everything seems impossible until it isn’t.”
Image credit: Stevens Institute of Technology
Formulated by Mark Morkovin in mid-20th century, the hypothesis postulates that when air moves at Mach 5 or Mach 6, the turbulence behavior doesn’t change all that much from slower speeds.
Go with the flow
Although air density and temperature change more in faster flows, the hypothesis states that the basic “choppy” motion of turbulence stays mostly the same.
“Basically, the Morkovin’s hypothesis means that the way the turbulent air moves at low and high speeds isn’t that different,” says Parziale.
“If the hypothesis is correct,” Parziale adds, “it means that we don’t need a whole new way to understand turbulence at these higher speeds. We can use the same concepts we use for the slower flows.”
Therefore, hypersonic planes don’t need a significantly different design approach.
Wind tunnel testing
In the study, Parziale’s team used lasers to ionize a gas called krypton which is seeded into the air flowing inside a wind tunnel. That temporarily made krypton atoms form an initially-straight, glowing line.
Then researchers used ultra high-resolution cameras to take pictures of how that fluorescent krypton line moves, bends, and twists through the wind tunnel’s air — akin to how a leaf swirls through the little eddies in a river, explains a Stevens Institute of Technology media statement.
“As that line moves with the gas, you can see crinkles and structure in the flow, and from that, we can learn a lot about turbulence,” says Parziale, adding that he spent 11 years building that clever setup. “And what we found was that at Mach 6, the turbulence behavior is pretty close to the incompressible flow,” he states.
Artist’s view of Space Launch System/Orion spacecraft on the launch pad.
Credit: NASA
Space transportation
The study findings also hold promise for changing how space transportation is done, Parziale explains.
“If we can build planes that fly at hypersonic speed, we can also fly them into space, rather than launching rockets, which would make transportation to and from low Earth orbit easier,” Parziale says. “It will be a game-changer for transportation not only on earth, but also in low orbit.”
Parziale’s bottom line: “I’d suggest that everything seems impossible until it isn’t.”
To go to the study – “Hypersonic turbulent quantities in support of Morkovin’s hypothesis” — published in Nature Communications, go to:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65398-4
Also, go to this video at:
While natural metal layers form in the upper mesosphere due to meteor ablation, new light detection and ranging (lidar) measurements have found additional mass and elements are being introduced via the re-entry of artificial satellites. This type of pollution has unknown consequences for the upper atmosphere and ozone layer.
Image credit: Robin Wing, et al.
The upsurge in placing mega-satellite constellations is not only amplifying the concern over Earth-circling space debris. Reentering spacecraft and rocket stages may also be impacting Earth’s atmosphere, as well as increasing the risk of space waste hitting the Earth.
New research is underscoring how incoming “space waste” is injecting a considerable amount of its matter into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere – enough to cause concern for the Earth’s ozone layer.
Credit: CORDS/The Aerospace Corporation
Re-entry survival
The term space waste is contrasted with orbiting space debris. Space waste is identified by a study group as incoming human-made material and the resulting effects on Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, there is a need, they say, for dedicated searches for space waste that survive re-entry, resulting in an impact here on Earth.
For full details, go to my new SpaceNews story – “‘Uncontrolled experiment:’ Study links harmful atmospheric metals to spacecraft reentry” – at:
[Open in incognito mode]
‘Uncontrolled experiment:’ Study links harmful atmospheric metals to spacecraft reentry
Shenzhou-20 crew is seen in this pre-launch image.
(Image credit: China Manned Space Agency)
Due to a suspected impact from space debris, China’s Shenzhou-20 three-person crew are delayed in their return to Earth.
It has been a week since the re-entry wave-off on November 5th was called.
Meanwhile, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) stated on Tuesday that all preparatory work for ensuring the safe return of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship has been progressing orderly.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Implementing the plan
Related contingency plans and measures have since been put in place to comprehensively conduct simulation analysis, tests and safety analysis for the Shenzhou-20 spaceship and study the plan for implementing the crew’s return to Earth, said the CMSEO.
All systems are conducting various tests and coordinated adjustments and tests in strict accordance with the procedures as well as assessing the status of key products and checking their quality, while the landing site is organizing comprehensive rehearsals for the return mission, CMSEO added.
The Shenzhou-20 crew has been conducting scientific experiments and tests together with the newly-arrived Shenzhou-21 crew.
Astronauts on the Shenzhou-21 manned spaceship were greeted by the Shenzhou-20 crew, who they will be replacing, after successfully docking with China’s Tiangong space station in orbit on November 1 to begin the handover of duties.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Safety first
Following the decision to rearrange the crew’s return, mission planners and engineers promptly started following emergency response measures based on the principle of “putting the safety of astronauts first”, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
What is not known is where the space debris struck the Shenzhou-20 return craft.
There is the possibility that an uncrewed Shenzhou-22 may be flown to China’s space station.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A just-issued China Central Television (CCTV) video seemingly shows ground crews working at the launch site under nighttime conditions, perhaps indicating the booster and spacecraft are being readied – although this is speculation.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to video at: https://www.facebook.com/reel/674928955688540
Shenzhou-20 crew is seen in this pre-launch image.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
The decision by China to delay the return of its Shenzhou-20 crew from the country’s space station due to a possible impact from space debris has led to yet another “stranded in space” state of affairs.
In addition, the situation is sparking discussion of space rescue planning – or lack of it.
That trio of Chinese space travelers — Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — have been orbiting Earth for more than six months. They were due to parachute to Earth on November 5.
Artwork depicts China’s Tiangong space station.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced the landing wave-off, explaining in a posting:
“The Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft is suspected of being struck by small space debris and impact analysis and risk assessment [s] are underway. To ensure the safety and health of the astronauts and the complete success of the mission, it has been decided that the Shenzhou-20 return mission, originally scheduled for November 5th, will be postponed.”
For details on this topic, go to my new Space.com story – “Space rescue services needed? 2 ‘stranded’ astronaut incidents are a ‘massive wake-up call,’ experts say” – at:
Life first, safety first
UPDATE: China today made this statement via the China Manned Space Engineering Website
Today, the U.S. Space Force does not have their guardians operating in the space domain for military missions.
That should change according to a new report by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia.
As humanity’s interests in space go further from the Earth, “astronaut guardians may be necessary to execute and secure missions that cannot be accomplished through remote operations,” explains the report, authored by Col Charles S. Galbreath, USSF (Ret.), a senior resident fellow for Space Studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MI-SPACE).
Image credit: U.S. Space Force
“The adaptability and flexibility of human decision-making, as well as their ability to conduct a variety of mission operations, could present fundamental challenges to an adversary’s decision calculations,” Galbreath notes.
Risk calculus
There is, of course, another facet of humans in space.
That is the potential to raise the threshold of acceptability for hostile actions that may be lethal to humans.
“Harming an uncrewed satellite is one thing; harming a space station with military crew on it is a completely different risk calculus for an adversary to consider.”
An onboard camera captured the military’s X-37B uncrewed space plane and Earth during its OTV-7 flight, during which it also performed an aerobraking maneuver for the first time. Image credit: U.S. Space Force
To access the full report — A Broader Look at Dynamic Space Operations: Creating Multi-Dimensional Dilemmas for Adversaries – at:
https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/app/uploads/2025/11/DSO-FINAL.pdf
Image credit: Blue Origin
The second mission of Blue Origin’s New Glenn launcher (NG-2) is to depart no earlier than Sunday, November 9 from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window is open from 2:45 to 5:11 p.m. Eastern Time.
Image credit: Blue Origin
Atop the booster is the NASA ESCAPADE twin spacecraft to be hurled toward Mars. Also onboard is a technology demonstration from Viasat in support of NASA’s Communications Services Project.
NG-2 Flight Profile
New Glenn will lift off from Launch Complex 36.
Following separation, the first stage is to perform a reorientation maneuver and autonomously descend toward Jacklyn, a landing platform located several hundred miles downrange in the Atlantic.
Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The NG-2 first stage aft module houses six hydraulically-actuated legs to support and secure the first stage during landing on the platform. Post-landing, use of mobile robotic hardware will safe the first stage.
Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Mars-bound probes
New Glenn’s second stage is propelled into space by two BE-3U engines.
Following nose cone fairing separation, the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft will be deployed to begin their trek to Mars.
NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will study Mars’ real-time response to the solar wind, helping to better gauge the Red Planet’s climate history.
Image credit: NASA
The ESCAPADE mission is managed by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, with key partners Rocket Lab, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Advanced Space LLC, and Blue Origin.
For an informative video on the Jacklyn landing platform, go to:
Securing Space Superiority: U.S. Deterrence Options in a Two-Rival Threat Environment has been released by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
Military competition in and for space is rising. Both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation have put significant effort into developing, demonstrating, and fielding counterspace capabilities.
The capabilities—including direct-ascent anti-satellite weapons, co-orbital weapons, directed energy, and electronic warfare and cyber capabilities—could allow the Chinese and Russian militaries to threaten U.S. space systems.
This report contends that the United States cannot treat the space threats from China and Russia in isolation and must instead be prepared to deter or counter both simultaneously.
To access this report, go to:
https://www.csbaonline.org/uploads/documents/CSBA8410_Securing_Space_Superiority_Report_WEB.pdf
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Mars orbiter has snagged images of that interstellar interloper – 31/Atlas – making use of its high-resolution camera, reports the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
During the observation, states China Central Television (CCTV), the Mars orbiter was about 30 million kilometers from 3I/ATLAS, making it one of the closest observations by a probe of this interstellar object.
China’s Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched in July 2020. The probe entered Mars’ orbit in February 2021 and has been operating in a stable condition for roughly four years and eight months, CCTV adds.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Consecutive images
“From Oct 1 to 4, Tianwen-1 captured images each day and sent the data back to the ground. Using these consecutive images, we were able to create an animation that effectively shows its [3I/Atlas] flight path,” said Liu Jianjun, chief designer of the ground application system for China’s first Mars exploration mission.
This successful observation represents an extended mission task for Tianwen-1.
On patrol – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Image credit: NASA/JPL
“The Tianwen-1 team began preparing for the observation in early September,” CCTV reports. “After repeated simulations and feasibility assessments, they determined to use the high-resolution camera on the orbiter and designed optimal imaging strategies, ultimately achieving successful observation.”
HiRISE imagery?
Another spacecraft circling the Red Planet, the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, was supposedly tasked to use its powerful HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera system to also acquire imagery of 31/Atlas.
If so, those HiRISE images have yet to be released.
Reportedly, the end of the U.S. government shutdown will allow release of the HiRISE images of 3I/ATLAS.
Meanwhile, to view a CCTV video discussing the Tianwen-1 orbiter’s imagery, go to:
