SpaceX Starship, NASA's Artemis III, and Global Space News | Deep Space Updates

Starship and SpaceX Launches

• 🚀 SpaceX achieved a significant milestone with 10,000 Starlink satellites launched from Vandenberg.
• 💡 SpaceX received approval to double its launch rate at Vandenberg, potentially reaching 100 launches per year with a second launchpad.
• ✅ Starship Flight 11 was described as "refreshingly boring" and successful, with improvements noted in avoiding accidental explosions and panel failures, though some tiles fell off during landing.
• ⚠️ Evidence of a large hole in the oxygen tank and possibly the methane tank was observed on Starship during landing, along with an unusual orange color.
• 🛠️ SpaceX is modifying its launch mount to prepare for the V3 version of Starship, with orbital flights anticipated in the coming year.
• 🛰️ Falcon 9 launched Kypers's low Earth orbit internet constellation, marking the third launch for this constellation.

International Space Launches

• 🇨🇳 China's Oran Space launched the Gravity 1 rocket, deploying three Gillin 1 satellites for commercial LEO sensing.
• 🤫 A secret Chinese reconnaissance satellite was launched on a Long March 2D, with amateur photographers capturing impressive footage.
• 🛰️ Long March 8A launched nine G Wang satellites for another low Earth orbit internet constellation, marking the 600th Long March rocket launch.
• 🛰️ Long March 6A launched the Kanfan 18 satellite, part of a thousand-satellite LEO constellation, into polar orbit.
• 🇵🇰 Connecticut 1 launched three satellites, including Pakistan's PRSCHS1 (hyperspectral imaging) and Airsat 3 and 4 (X-band SAR).
• 🇨🇳 China's Long March 5 launched the TJS20 communication technology test satellite for military applications into geostationary orbit.

NASA and Government Shutdown

• 🏛️ The US government shutdown has halted most NASA operations, with no compromise reached in the Senate.
• 📉 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is laying off 550 employees, unrelated to the shutdown but part of a larger trend of workforce reduction due to funding issues, particularly impacting the Mars Sample Return project.
• 🚀 Artemis 2's Orion spacecraft has arrived at Kennedy Space Center for stacking on the SLS, with the flight now targeted for February 2026.
• ❓ Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy has reopened HLS development contracts for Artemis III, potentially allowing for a switch from SpaceX's Starship to Blue Origin's lander or other proposals.
• 🗣️ There are political movements regarding the next NASA administrator, with Jared Isaacman actively campaigning for the role, contrasting with Sean Duffy's reported intentions to merge NASA into the Department of Transportation.

Commercial Space Developments

• 💰 Stoke Space secured an additional $500 million in investment to develop its fully reusable vehicle, similar in concept to Starship but smaller.
• 🌕 Impulse Space, founded by Tom Mueller, announced plans to develop a three-ton lunar lander.
• 🧑‍🚀 Hans Koenigsmann, an early SpaceX employee, will fly to space on Blue Origin with his friend Michaela Bentouse, who uses a wheelchair, marking the first wheelchair user to go to space.
• 📉 Axiom Space has replaced its CEO again, with Dr. Jonathan Certan taking over, raising concerns about the company's financial stability across its various projects, including space suits and a private space station.
• 📡 A study revealed significant amounts of unencrypted traffic over geostationary satellite links, including from commercial organizations and US government entities, despite the low cost of building listening systems.
• 🇪🇺 Three major European aerospace companies (Airbus, Leonardo, Thales) are combining their space businesses into a joint venture, expected to be a significant player in the market.
• 🛡️ Apex Space unveiled Project Shadow, a space-based interceptor demonstrator for missile defense, planned for launch next year.

Space Debris and Incidents

• 🇦🇺 A large piece of space debris, likely the fourth stage of a Gilong rocket, landed in Australia, still smoldering.
• 🎈 The incident involving debris hitting a plane was confirmed not to be space debris, but rather sand ballast from a private weather balloon operated by Windborne Systems.