Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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September 29th, 2025
Image credit Blue Origin
Blue Origin’s fleet of two New Shepard suborbital launch systems will be phased out by the close of 2027, with the firm moving forward on phasing in a trio of new vehicles. Those vehicles will offer rapid turn-around technologies, with the goal of achieving a weekly launch rate.
In addition, Blue Origin is interested in possibly offering the suborbital flight service from another location beyond the current West, Texas spaceport, including outside of the United States.
Image credit: Global Spaceport Alliance
These plans were unveiled by Phil Joyce, the firm’s senior vice president, during the September 28th Global Spaceport Alliance forum held in Sydney, Australia.
Meanwhile, Blue Origin is set to fly soon its 15th crewed flight of a New Shepard suborbital vehicle.
For more information, go to this Irene Klotz story:
https://aviationweek.com/space/launch-vehicles-propulsion/blue-origin-expand-new-shepard-fleet
Image credit: Global Spaceport Alliance
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Image credit: Keldysh Center
Russia is showcasing high-power plasma engines designed for deep space missions. They can be used for interorbital cargo transportation as well as support expeditions to the Moon and Mars and distant objects in the Solar System.
The engines, developed by the Keldysh Center (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), are on display for the first time at the International Atomic Week now being held in Moscow from September 25 to 28.
The KM-50M and ID-750 high-power plasma thrusters have been developed jointly with the Russian Federation’s TRINITI (part of the Rosatom State Corporation).
KM-50M thruster details
According to the Keldysh Center, the first prototype, the KM-50M Hall effect thruster, was developed using state-of-the-art magnetic shielding technology, ensuring an operational life of over 20,000 hours.
KM-50M has a power output of 50 kW and produces a thrust of 1.5 N and a specific impulse of 3800 s with xenon, and a thrust of 1.6 Newtons and a specific impulse of 4200 seconds with krypton.
The Keldysh Center’s high-power plasma engines are on display for the first time at the International Atomic Week.
Image credit: Keldysh Center
In 2024, the KM-50M engine successfully completed firing tests in the Keldysh Center’s vacuum chamber, including thruster configuration of a four-engine module, confirming its readiness for cluster deployment.
ID-750 ion engine details
The second prototype, the ID-750 ion engine, demonstrates offers a power output of 80 kilowatts. The plasma exhaust velocity — depending on the propellant — ranges from 80 to 100 kilometers per second.
Use of carbon-carbon composites as the material for the ion acceleration system ensures an engine service life of over 50,000 hours.
The Keldysh Center reports that tests of a module of three such engines have demonstrated their stable and reliable operation in conditions as close to those found in space as possible.
Artwork depics an interplanetary tug for deep space missions.
Image credit: Keldysh Center
Electric rocket technology
Both engines operate on xenon and krypton, inert gases ideal for long-term storage and operation in space.
The Keldysh Center’s general director, Vladimir Koshlakov, states that these systems could form the basis for interorbital transport systems of the future.
“We see them as a key solution for delivering cargo and expeditions to lunar orbit, Mars, and even the outer planets of the Solar System,” Koshlakov explains. “Russia has traditionally remained a leader in electric rocket technology, and these new models confirm this status.”
The Keldysh Research Center has developed and produced a series of electric propulsion thrusters of different typical size, a wide range of power and higher specific impulse used in the assembly of space vehicles designed for different purposes.
Image credit: Keldysh Center
This image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera on 21 July 2025.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)
By all accounts, that interstellar interloper — object 3I/ATLAS – is a big story. And it’s gotten bigger.
It turns out that this celestial wanderer is massive and large.
New research using data on the motion of 3I/ATLAS — as compiled by the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory – implies that 3I/ATLAS is more massive than 33 billion tons and its diameter is larger than 3 miles (5 kilometers).
3I/ATLAS will be near Mars on October 3, 2025. That would allow the super-powerful High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera to snag imagery of the object.
On patrol – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Image credit: NASA/JPL
All in all, exciting detective work is ahead on watching this weirdo of a world.
Major anomaly
The object’s lack of non-gravitational acceleration implies an anomalously massive object reports Richard Cloete of the Institute for Theory & Computation at Harvard University, along with Harvard’s Avi Loeb, as well as the Minor Planet Center’s Peter Vere.
Their collective work – “Non-Gravitational Acceleration and Lower Limits on the Nucleus Mass and Diameter of 3I/ATLAS” – is a September 24th draft version and is available here at: https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/CLV.pdf
Avi Loeb
(Image Credit: Chris Michel, National Academy of Sciences, 2023)
Alternative technological origin
Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project at Harvard, and never short on stirring up cosmic ponderings about the significance of 31/ATLAS.
The newly published research suggests that 3I/ATLAS is more massive than the other two interstellar objects, 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov by 3–5 orders of magnitude, “constituting a major anomaly,” Loeb points out.
“A future detection of a major maneuver of 3I/ATLAS would suggest propulsion by a technologically manufactured engine,” suggests Loeb in a recent essay, available at:
Loeb points out that, if the nucleus diameter of 3I/ATLAS is found to be larger than 5 kilometers in the HiRISE image, “then an origin associated with the interstellar mass reservoir of rocky material will be untenable,” boosting the view by the scientist of an alternative technological origin.
3I/ATLAS as captured August 27 by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South at Cerro Pachón in Chile.
Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist. Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Stay curious
Is 3I/ATLAS an unusually massive comet with an unusual chemical composition on an unusually rare trajectory, Loeb says, or alien technology?
“In both cases, the object could shed CO2 and H2O ices from material that collected on its frozen surface as it plowed through interplanetary and interstellar space. We should not decide about the nature of 3I/ATLAS based on the chemical composition of its skin, for the same reason that we should not judge a book by its cover,” Loeb advises.
“Hopefully, we will know more in the coming weeks. Stay curious,” Loeb concludes. “As Galileo Galilei instructed us, scientific truth is revealed by data, not by authority.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-20 astronauts have wrapped up their 4th series of extravehicular activities, spacewalking outside the country’s Tiangong space station.
According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie worked for roughly six hours in space, completing a set of assigned tasks and aided by Chen Dong inside the facility, along with ground controllers.
Image credit: CCTV/CMSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The duo completed the installation of debris protection devices and the inspection and maintenance of external equipment, according to the CMSA.
This crew has been in orbit for more than 150 days, entering the space station on April 25 for a mission expected to last around 6 months.
China’s Tiangong space station as imaged by MAXAR satellite.
Image credit: MAXAR
Image credit: NordSpace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
NordSpace’s inaugural flight from the Atlantic Spaceport Complex has been complex and perplexing. Repeat launch attempts have been thwarted to fly the group’s pathfinder mission, called “Getting Screeched In”, a demonstration flight of the fully Canadian-made sub-orbital rocket – Taiga.
As Canada’s first commercial spaceport, the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) can support equatorial to polar orbits, multiple launch pads, and represents a milestone in the making from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Image credit: NordSpace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Fuel-rich scenario
Following this week’s latest technical snag to loft the Taiga rocket, the update from NordSpace is the following:
September 25, 2025 08:00:
“We have made the decision to postpone our launch attempt, and we will share a new expected launch date in the coming weeks. After detailed review over the last 15 hours, the root cause has been discovered to be related to our propellant quality slightly differing between vehicle tests at our test facility in Ontario, compared to our first launch test in Newfoundland and Labrador at our spaceport.”
Image credit: NordSpace
This led to a fuel-rich scenario, NordSpace posts. “All systems on the rocket and ground performed nominally after careful review.”
As the NordSpace manufacturing and testing facilities are located in Ontario, “there’s no expedient way to make the necessary modification with the temporary infrastructure and suppliers we have in place at our launch site.”
Permanent presence
Undaunted, although all of their major facilities and capabilities are located in Ontario, “we are rapidly developing our permanent presence in Newfoundland and Labrador both in St. John’s and in St. Lawrence to better support Canada’s sovereign launch efforts.”
Image credit: NordSpace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
That permanent presence includes on-site propellant generation, manufacturing, water deluge systems, range tracking radar, weather monitoring stations, satellite communications, mobile all-season launch hangars, permanent mission control, and more.
Lastly, NordSpace appears resolute in their quest:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,” points out the group. “It is the courage to continue that counts. Codspeed!”
Go to this informative website to keep an eye on NordSpace at:
China’s Chang’e-6 lander/ascender in farside sampling scenery.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
An international team of researchers from China, along with collaborators from the University of Hawaii, have used China’s Chang’e-6 lunar lander data to probe water distribution on Moon.
The research highlights the roles of solar wind and impact-driven gardening in the formation and evolution of lunar surface water.
Lander plume
Analyzing data from the Chang’e-6 landing site, the scientists found that areas disturbed by plumes generated by the lander display distinct temperature and water-content patterns, driven by the redistribution of fine regolith.
Image credit: Bin Liu , et al.
According to the team, lunar lander plumes displace and expose millimeter to centimeter-sized regolith during descent, providing the opportunity to study subsurface water.
Their work has been just published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Landing site water content differences
The average water content at the Chang’e-6 landing site in 2024 is, on average, notably higher (roughly twice the content) than that at the Chang’e-5 landing site in 2020.
Map of Rümker region, target of Chang’E-5 sample return mission. Credit: Y. Qian, et al.
“The above difference in the water contents could be interpreted as being due to correlations with the glass contents, particle sizes, depths and local times, although more observations are needed to untangle these parameter dependencies,” reports study leader Bin Liu of the Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration in Beijing China.
Water formation
“Our findings highlight the roles of solar wind implantation and impact gardening in water formation and its distribution in the lunar surface and subsurface, with implications for other airless bodies like Mercury, Vesta and the near-Earth objects, Bin and colleagues report. “The fine regolith from the lunar surface to subsurface depths of millimeters to centimeters or deeper will probably be an important source of lunar water.”
Shuai Li of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, also took part in the study.
Far side scenery taken by Chang’e-6 lander/ascender.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
Interesting question
But how much plume effluents, therefore contamination, had to be weighed and what was the impact of that additive engine exhaust on the findings?
Responds Shuai Li of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawaii.
“The short answer is we do not exactly know,” Li told Inside Outer Space.
“But my guess is that the plume fine particles from the shallow subsurface may cover greater than 50 percent of the surface in the deposition zone that shows very low surface temperature – almost no thermal contamination up to 3.2 micron,” Li said. “This is an interesting question to many people in the community and I think there will be more efforts working on this problem.”
Artwork shows Chang’e-7 deployment of Moon hopper. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Future landers
The Chang’e-6 mission rocketed to Earth the first-ever sampling from the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon.
The Chang’e-5 lunar sample probe touched down on the northwest region of the Ocean of Storms.
As noted by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, more lunar landers from China are on tap.
The Chang’e-7 lunar lander mission in 2026 is to touch down at the Moon’s south pole, making use of a mini-hopping probe and a rover. It will be followed by the Chang’e-8 mission targeted for the Leibnitz-Beta Plateau near the lunar south pole region.
Artwork depicts China lunar research station. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
These two lander mission are to lay the groundwork on the Moon for China/Russia collaboration in establishing a multi-phased International Lunar Research Station.
To access the study – “Lunar surface and subsurface water revealed by Chang’e-6” – go to:
Specialists examine flies and other animals kept within the Bion-M no. 2 module.
Image credit: Roscosmos
They came from outer space – 75 mice, cell cultures, microorganisms, plant seeds, and other items.
A Russian biological research satellite toting more than 30 experiments landed September 19 in the steppes of the Orenburg region after spending 30 days in Earth orbit.
Why was this mission important for future human space travel?
For details, go to my new story on Space.com – “Russian ‘Noah’s Ark’ probe carrying 75 mice and 1,500 flies lands back on Earth” — at:
Image credit: Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic and Purdue University announced today a groundbreaking partnership to send an all-Boilermaker crew on a suborbital research flight, the first of its kind for a U.S. university.
The mission, Purdue 1, is slated for launch in 2027 and will include Purdue engineering professor Steven Collicott and distinguished graduate student(s) and alumni who will conduct live, human-tended experiments in microgravity.
Purdue engineering professor Steven Collicott.
Image credit: Purdue University
Collicott started flying experiments on Blue Origin’s sub-orbital New Shepard rocket and was selected by NASA as the first professor to fly with an experiment to space and back in the sub-orbital Virgin Galactic spaceship.
Designed to seat up to six passengers, Virgin Galactic’s next generation spaceship is customizable and will have one seat removed for this mission to fly the five crew members and allow space for a payload rack to hold the research experiments.
Announced today, flying with Collicott will be current Purdue graduate student Abigail Mizzi; and alumnus Jason Williamson.
Direct access
Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic’s President of Spaceline, is also a Purdue graduate.
“This mission with Purdue University is a powerful demonstration of what becomes possible when research institutions and educators gain direct access to the microgravity environment,” Moses said in a press statement.
“By enabling researchers to accompany and interact with their experiments in real time, we are not just advancing science – we are empowering the next generation of innovators and expanding the frontiers of educational opportunity,” Moses said. “Purdue 1 is a milestone for our Spaceline and for the broader research and education community, showing how suborbital spaceflight can transform both scientific inquiry and hands-on STEM education.”
Steven Collicott, a professor of aerospace engineering, demonstrates an automated experiment that flew on a previous suborbital flight. Collicott will conduct real-time experiments as part of an all-Purdue crew on a Virgin Galactic flight in 2027.
Image credit: Purdue University photo/John Underwood
Announcement and panel discussion with Purdue and Virgin Galactic representatives is available at:
Image credit: NASA/University of California’s Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
Two Mars-bound spacecraft for NASA have been delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for launch, scheduled to occur no earlier than this fall on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
The University of California’s Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory’s ESCAPADE mission probes were built, tested and integrated by Rocket Lab, as part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program.
Image credit: Rocket Lab
Blue and Gold for the Red Planet
Once en route for a 22-month cruise to Mars, the Blue and Gold Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorer (ESCAPADE) twins will settle into their mission, capturing data from two regions of Mars’ magnetosphere.
That information should offer insight into the Red Planet’s atmospheric escape history and space weather environment, informing future human exploration strategies.
Go to an ESCAPADE mission video at:
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
Yet another wait-a-minute moment for NASA’s return to the Moon with humans program.
As it has repeatedly warned, panel members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) – a group that reports to NASA and the U.S. Congress – have once again red-flagged the SpaceX Starship’s development tied to the space agency’s needs to return human boots to the Moon
A September 19th ASAP gathering underscored Starship’s longer than planned evolution to support the Artemis 3 mission to land a crew at the lunar south pole.
Image credit: ASAP
NASA officials are reportedly considering pushing off Artemis 3 to 2028 while other appraisals don’t see a Starship-aided Moon landing before 2032.
If so, the window of opportunity for China’s human exploration of the Moon by 2030 looms large.
Technical readiness level
The ASAP annual report for 2024 provides the backdrop of concern.
“Artemis III is planned as a crewed surface landing and exploration of the lunar south pole region. The Panel remains very concerned that, on the current schedule and with the current technical readiness level of some segments of the architecture, the Artemis III mission is oversubscribed.”
Image credit: ASAP
As the ASAP previously detailed in its 2023 Annual Report, “the aggregated risk associated with accomplishing so many ‘first-time’ milestones, including several critical prerequisite demonstrations, may be too high.”
Bottom line: Starship HLS remains a critical path item for the successful execution of Artemis III.
For details on the recent ASAP meeting, go to Marcia Smith’s detailed reporting on her Spacepolicyonline.com website at:
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-safety-panel-estimates-significant-delays-for-starship-hls/
Hearing – anybody listening?
Angst regarding the status of Artemis 3 also penetrated U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s Senate hearing back on September 3.
Image credit: Inside Outer Space screengrab
That hearing was titled: “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race.”
Among the witnesses testifying, former NASA chief, James Bridenstine stated in written testimony that the United States does not have a lunar lander.
“Unless something changes, it is highly unlikely the United States will beat China’s projected timeline to the Moon’s surface. Our complicated architecture requires a dozen or more launches in a short time frame, relies on very challenging technologies that have yet to be developed like cryogenic in-space refueling, and still needs to be human rated,” Bridenstine said.
Starship 10 departure.
Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“While the capability could be transformational over time if payload capacity increases (so far it has decreased), the complexity of the architecture precludes alacrity,” the former NASA chief added.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship team is making progress on the next flight test of the Super Heavy/Starship at the firm’s Starbase facility in Texas.
No target launch date has been announced as yet for Starship Flight 11.
Fly…learn…repeat…fingers-crossed…fly…learn…repeat…
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
