Space Explored

SpaceX is making its quickest turnaround yet for the Starship rocket, hopefully launching some five weeks after Flight 5. This mission will have more big milestones for the company while other companies still work towards competing with its older Falcon 9 rocket.

Former President Trump came away Tuesday night with a decisive Electoral College victory to return to the White House next year. With this being his second term, how could these next four years look for NASA, the Space Force, and commercial companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin?

Boeing, the once esteemed aerospace contractor has had its hands in almost every national space program since Apollo. However, it seems likely that the company wants to divest itself of almost all of its space programs.

New photos and planning documents show potential Starship-sized expansions at SpaceX‘s Roberts Road facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The company is also planning four Falcon 9 launches this week. Meanwhile, its closest thing to a near-term competitor, Blue Origin, is gearing up to debut its New Glenn rocket.

NASA shared that the Voyager 1 team has moved the spacecraft to a lower-powered transmitter after something triggered its fault protection system. NASA and JPL are still evaluating what caused the loss of communication and the fault system to trigger.

SpaceX is under pressure to keep its part of the bargain as close to the schedule as possible with providing its Starship rocket as NASA’s Artemis Human Landing System. A major component of both that mission and Starship’s Mars mission will be orbital refueling.

Just a couple of weeks ago, SpaceX launched its fifth Starship rocket on its most successful and daring mission yet. It now has a regulatory open lane for a sixth mission, and if recent activity has anything to show for it, it could be sooner rather than later.

NASA shared that it has finished an analysis on the cause of more than expected erosion on the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft’s heat shield from two years ago. However, the agency hasn’t yet shared any details with the public as to what might have caused the issue.

This week we discuss the political tension for NASA and the possible conflict of interest that is Elon Musk. A recent report yet again confirmed that the billionaire has talked with US adversaries and has been asked to do something that would either harm his business-wise or the US strategically with Starlink.

NASA is moving forward with critical decisions on its Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, aiming to reduce costs and expedite the return of samples from the Red Planet. On October 15, NASA received the final reports from 12 studies commissioned to explore alternative architectures.

The national airline of Qatar, Qatar Airways, has equipped the first Boeing 777 long-range aircraft with Starlink service and is ready for service. The airline also plans to equip its entire fleet of 777s by the end of 2025.

This week, SpaceX hit its first triple-digit launch year and continues to extend that number in the remaining months of 2024. Blue Origin might finally get its NS-27 mission off the ground to certify its new New Shepard rocket. Finally, NASA’s Artemis program is once again under fire for being behind schedule and so much… so much… over budget.

This week, a significant event is unfolding as leading figures in space architecture gather in Milan. The aim is to formally establish space architecture as a discipline. Interest in space-related architecture has been growing rapidly in recent years, as developments in off-Earth construction methods, zero-gravity design, and academic programs dedicated to this field have gained traction. 

Sunday, SpaceX successfully launched and caught its Starship booster down in Starbase, Texas. A feat that many didn’t think would come true when watching the renders. However, SpaceX once again defied the odds and made fiction a reality and can now move on with its much more ambitious Starship plans.

Defying all belief in the previous timelines, SpaceX and what sounds like both local and federal agencies have begun preparations for Starship Flight 5 for no earlier than October 13. The mission will be full of high stakes both for SpaceX and NASA, which is hoping to keep the program on the right course ahead to meet Artemis Program deadlines.

HALO Space, a Spanish startup focused on near-space tourism, is preparing to expand its testing and assembly operations to Saudi Arabia. The company plans to conduct a series of test flights for its Aurora capsule, a stratospheric balloon system designed to carry passengers to the edge of space. 

This week SpaceX returns with the FAA‘s okay to resume launches, starting with ESA‘s Hera mission to the asteroid Didymos. Late-week weather around the Florida Peninsula will, however, likely delay several missions the company has.

For the next couple months, Earth will have a temporary “mini-moon.” Known as asteroid 2024 PT5, this small celestial body is approximately 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter and was only detected on August 7 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in South Africa. It was captured by Earth’s gravity September 29 and is expected to remain bound to the Earth-Moon system until November 25 before continuing on its heliocentric trajectory.

ULA launched its Cert-2 mission on its brand new Vulcan rocket early Friday morning. While there was an obvious anomaly in one of its solid rocket motors, the company states the mission was a success. Now ULA and the Space Force will have to review flight data in order to gain certification for its lucrative National Security Space Launch missions.

SpaceX has run into another issue with its Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, this time having an “off-nominal” reentry burn after Crew-9‘s orbit insertion. This comes just a short time ahead of two important science missions for both NASA and ESA that have October launch windows.

It will be another quiet week with SpaceX having yet another issue with its second stage. On Friday, SpaceX hopes to return, but the more exciting mission will be Vulcan‘s second flight, also on Friday. This mission will be its second and hopefully final certification flight for NASA and the Space Force.

SpaceX launched the two person crew of Crew-9 for NASA early Saturday afternoon from SLC-40. The mission is sending a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut to the ISS for a six month stay, the two spare seats will be used to bring Starliner’s crew back at the completion of their mission.

The launch of Crew-9 is underway and is set to launch at 1:17 P.M. ET from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Update: Launched!