 | Top Stories
SpaceX has halted launches of its Falcon 9 rocket after an anomaly at the end of its most recent mission Saturday. SpaceX said that the upper stage "experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn" that caused the stage to reenter outside of its designated zone in the South Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. The company did not disclose additional details about the incident but said that it would resume launches only "after we better understand root cause." The FAA did not immediately comment on the incident and whether SpaceX will have to complete a mishap investigation before resuming launches. The incident comes as SpaceX prepares for two time-sensitive launches, of ESA's Hera asteroid mission and NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which must lift off by late October. [SpaceNews]
The incident had no effect on the launch itself of NASA's Crew-9 mission. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 1:17 p.m. Eastern Saturday and placed the Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom into orbit. The spacecraft, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos Aleksandr Gorbunov on board, docked with the International Space Station at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Sunday. NASA flew only two people on Crew-9 to free up seats for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who remained on the station when NASA elected to bring back their CST-100 Starliner spacecraft uncrewed. The launch was also the first crewed mission from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40, a pad where SpaceX built a crew tower over the last two years to provide redundancy for Launch Complex 39A, which hosted the previous Crew Dragon missions. [SpaceNews]
Defense tech startup Anduril Industries won a Space Force contract to upgrade elements of the Space Surveillance Network (SSN). The $25.2 million contract, announced Friday, covers work to enhance the data integration and communication systems of the SSN, a global network of sensors including radars and telescopes used to track satellites and launches. Anduril will provide software that uses artificial intelligence to process data from various sensors. [SpaceNews]
BlackSky will add military-compatible laser communications terminals on future satellites. The company intends to equip its future satellites with laser terminals to facilitate satellite-to-satellite data transmission in space and expedite data delivery to ground-based military users. The terminals will not be on the first few Gen3 satellites the company will start launching later this year, but will go on later satellites after BlackSky selects a laser terminal vendor, a process informed by an ongoing US Navy study. [SpaceNews]
China unveiled the spacesuits it plans to use for future lunar missions. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled the extravehicular lunar suit Saturday in Chongqing, southwest China, and is seeking names for the suit. The suit is described as having a comprehensively protective fabric that shields against the harsh thermal environment and lunar dust. The helmet features a panoramic, anti-glare visor as well as cameras. The suit is being developed as one element of China's goal of landing astronauts on the moon before 2030 that also includes a new launch vehicle, the Long March 10, as well as a deep space crewed spacecraft and lander. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
DirecTV announced a deal to acquire rival direct-to-home satellite TV company Dish Network. Private equity firm TPG, which owns 30% of DirecTV, said it will buy the remaining 70% owned by AT&T for $7.6 billion. Separately, DirecTV will buy Dish Network from EchoStar for $1 plus the assumption of $9.8 billion in debt. DirecTV and Dish attempted to merge more than 20 years ago but the deal was blocked by the U.S. government on antitrust grounds. This deal is more likely to win approval given changes in the overall marketplace, including declining demand for linear TV services. [Wall Street Journal]
China launched what it called its first reusable and returnable spacecraft Friday. A Long March 2D lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 6:30 a.m. Eastern and placed the Shijian-19 satellite into orbit. The satellite will host microgravity and life sciences experiments in orbit, returning them to Earth, with the spacecraft designed to then be reused. The announcement of the launch did not disclose how long Shijian-19 would remain in orbit. [SpaceNews]
NASA says Russia has reduced the leak rate from one part of an ISS module. A report from NASA's Office of Inspector General last week stated that NASA raised the risk from the ongoing leak in a vestibule of the Zvezda service module to its highest level after the leak grew to a new peak in April. NASA officials said Friday, though, that recent repair work on the leak reduced the leak rate by one third. The cause of the leak, first detected in 2019, appears to involve internal and external welds, the report said. Station crews keep the hatch to that vestibule closed when not in use to mitigate the leak, and in a worst-case scenario could seal off the vestibule permanently, but that would deprive access to a docking port. [SpaceNews]
Xona Space Systems, a startup developing a constellation of navigation satellites, is expanding to Canada. The California-based startup is opening its first international office in Montréal that will be primarily focused on developing user equipment for its Pulsar PNT service and potentially satellite payloads. That service will use a constellation of smallsats in LEO to provide navigation services as an alternative or backup to GPS. Xona plans to launch its first satellite next year and ultimately operate a constellation of 250 to 300 satellites. [SpaceNews]
Researchers warn of the risks of cluttering cislunar space with debris. A recent study by two Purdue University researchers caution that space domain awareness is lacking at a time when cislunar activity is intensifying. A single fragmentation event, they argue, is risky since the debris would travel well beyond their original orbits. What's needed, they conclude, is better appraisal of the behavior of possible cislunar clutter. [SpaceNews]
ESA is planning to launch a spacecraft to see what happens when it reenters. The agency has provided initial funding to Spanish manufacturer Deimos for the Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (Draco) mission, slated to launch in 2027. Draco will reenter hours after its launch, and a capsule onboard will collect data on the satellite as it breaks up during reentry. The capsule itself is designed to survive the reentry and transmit the data it collects before splashing down. [ESA]
| |  | The Week Ahead
Tuesday: Tuesday-Wednesday: - Vienna: The 18th ESPI Autumn Conference by the European Space Policy Institute has the theme of "Scaling European Space Capabilities for Security & Defence: From Ambition to Implementation."
- Online: The NASA Advisory Council meets for updates on "priority focus areas" and reports from its committees.
Thursday: Thursday-Saturday: - Denver: Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) holds its annual SpaceVision conference at the University of Denver.
Friday: - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a ULA Vulcan Centaur on its Cert-2 test flight.
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