By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: SpaceX readies for the next Starship test flight, China's weekend launch doubleheader, companies set their sights on Mars and more.
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Top Stories
SpaceX is moving ahead with plans for the next Starship test flight as soon as this weekend. The company said Friday it has scheduled the tenth launch of Starship/Super Heavy for no earlier than Aug. 24 from its Starbase facility in Texas. The announcement came after the FAA said it closed the investigation into the previous flight in May. That mission failed because of a problem SpaceX traced to a component in the fuel system called the main fuel tank pressurization system diffuser. That created a "large amount of attitude error" after engine shutdown, SpaceX said, eventually leading to the dumping of remaining propellants and reentry in the wrong attitude. The upcoming suborbital flight will attempt many of the same milestones planned for previous flights, including deployment of Starlink mass simulators and an in-space engine relight. SpaceX also will not attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster, instead testing alternative configurations of engines for the landing burn. [SpaceNews]
Blue Origin is offering NASA a version of its Blue Ring spacecraft as a Mars relay satellite. The company announced last week it has designed a spacecraft called the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter based on Blue Ring that would serve as a communications relay between the Earth and spacecraft in Mars orbit and on the surface. The budget reconciliation bill passed last month included $700 million for such a spacecraft, and Rocket Lab has announced its interest in developing a Mars relay satellite. The announcement comes as Blue Origin and other companies are sizing up a proposed NASA program, Commercial Mars Payload Services, modeled on the CLPS lunar lander program where the agency would buy services such as payload delivery, imaging and communications. [SpaceNews]
The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) has new ties with the U.S. Space Force. SDL announced last week that the Space Force, through the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, is the new sponsor of the lab in its role as a University Affiliated Research Center. SDL says the new sponsorship will allow the lab, affiliated with Utah State University, to align its expertise with key Space Force priorities in areas such as dynamic space operations and small satellites. [SpaceNews]
The NISAR Earth science satellite has successfully deployed its large radar antenna. JPL announced Friday that the spacecraft, launched July 30, had deployed its 12-meter radar antenna at the end of a 9-meter boom. The antenna will be used by the dual-band radars on NISAR for synthetic aperture radar imaging of land and sea surfaces. NISAR was jointly developed by NASA and the Indian space agency ISRO. The radar antenna is one of NASA's contributions. [NASA/JPL]
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Other News
China conducted a pair of launches Sunday, including another set of Guowang megaconstellation satellites. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off at 10:15 a.m. Eastern from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center carrying the 09 group of satellites for Guowang. The U.S. Space Force cataloged five satellites in roughly 985 by 1,010-km orbits inclined by 86.5 degrees. This was the fifth launch of Guowang satellites within 21 days, with a potential further mission before the end of August. Separately, a Long March 4C rocket lifted off at 4:55 a.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It placed the Shiyan-28B (02) experimental satellite into an orbit similar to Shiyan-28B (01), launched last month. No details about the mission of the satelite were disclosed. [SpaceNews]
Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk outside the Tiangong station Friday. Astronauts Chen Dong and Wang Jie spent six and a half hours outside the station, installing debris protection devices and other equipment while also performing inspections of the station's exterior. The spacewalk was the third for the Shenzhou-20 mission since its arrival at the station in April and the sixth overall for Chen, the most experiences Chinese spacewalker. [Xinhua]
The Indian government has picked a team led by startup Pixxel to develop an Earth imaging satellite constellation. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre announced lats week it picked the bid submitted by Pixxel and its partners for a 12-satellite constellation to be built as a public private partnership. Pixxel's bid was for 0 rupees, meaning it will fund the entire constellation, estimated to cost 12 billion rupees ($138 million), on its own. The constellation will include radar, hyperspectal and high-resolution optical satellites. Pixxel's team includes PierSight, SatSure and Dhruva. [The Times of India]
Agile Space will provide thrusters for The Exploration Company's Nyx spacecraft. The Exploration Company said last week it selected Agile Space's DS250 hypergolic bipropellant thrusters for Nyx Earth. That is a spacecraft The Exploration Company is developing to transport cargo to low Earth orbit destinations, with a demonstration mission to the International Space Station planned for 2028. [European Spaceflight]
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The Week Ahead
Monday:
Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Plesetsk, Russia: Projected launch of an Angara 1.2 rocket carrying an undisclosed payload at 4:30 a.m. Eastern.
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying an X-37B spaceplane on its eighth mission at 11:40 p.m. Eastern.
Friday: Sunday:
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying a cargon Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-33 mission to the ISS at 2:45 a.m. Eastern.
Starbase, Texas: Scheduled launch of Starship/Super Heavy on the Flight 10 test flight at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
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