Astronomy Prints 🌌: Panel warns SpaceX's Starship lunar lander could delay Artemis 3

09/22/2025

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A NASA safety panel warned Friday that development of SpaceX's Starship lunar lander could delay the Artemis 3 mission by years. Members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said that after visiting SpaceX's Starbase test facility and meeting with company executives, they concluded the development of the Human Landing System (HLS) version of Starship is "significantly challenged" and could push back the scheduled 2027 Artemis 3 mission that will use it by years. They cited concerns about demonstrating the in-orbit cryogenic propellant transfer needed to fuel Starship for its trip to the moon. They also warned of "competing priorities for Starship and HLS development" as SpaceX seeks to use Starship for other roles, like deploying Starlink satellites. [SpaceNews]

NASA has revived the VIPER lunar rover mission with a surprise award to Blue Origin. NASA said late Friday it issued a task order through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to Blue Origin to deliver VIPER to the south polar region of the moon in late 2027 on the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. The award has a total value of $190 million, including an option for the actual landing that would be exercised if design work to accommodate VIPER on Blue Moon is completed and the lander makes a successful first landing on the moon. NASA announced last year it would cancel VIPER because of cost and schedule overruns and concerns about additional delays linked to its original lander, Astrobotic's Griffin. NASA looked into commercial partnerships to deliver VIPER but said in May it would instead pursue unspecified alternatives. NASA has not previously disclosed plans to award another CLPS task order for VIPER. Astrobotic, which still has the original CLPS award for VIPER, said it elected not to bid on the new task order. [SpaceNews]

Quantum Space is acquiring propulsion technologies and facilities from Phase Four. Quantum Space announced Monday the deal to acquire multi-mode propulsion technology from Phase Four, along with its facilities in Southern California, for an undisclosed sum. That propulsion technology allows a thruster to use the same propellant, including hydrazine or nontoxic ASCENT, in both chemical and electric propulsion modes. Quantum Space said it will use the technology for Ranger, the highly maneuverable spacecraft it is developing. The deal comes 10 days after satellite manufacturer Apex said it was acquiring Hall Effect thruster technology from Phase Four. [SpaceNews]

China has moved to promote direct-to-device (D2D) services through new guidelines and licensing. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which oversees China's industrial policies and standards, issued a set of guidelines last month on D2D services. The guidelines explicitly support phone direct-to-satellite services, encourage partnerships between telecommunications giants and satellite firms, and commercial trials for Internet of Things (IoT) services. It calls for having large-scale services in place by 2030 that can serve more than 10 million customers. Following this, MIIT granted a license Sept. 9 to telecommunications firm China Unicom, one of three major telecom companies in the country, to operate satellite mobile services, positioning it to offer direct-to-phone satellite connectivity. [SpaceNews]

Space is a strategic priority under Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy to help diversify its economy. That effort is being led by Neo Space Group (NSG), a company backed by the country's Public Investment Fund that has grown to nearly 800 employees in just 18 months. NSG has acquired a geospatial data platform and a provider of in-flight connectivity services but the company's CEO said in a recent interview that it is still weighing other deals to meet sovereign demand in Saudi Arabia. That process may continue for another year before making "informed decisions" on acquisitions, partnerships or building its own capabilities. [SpaceNews]

Other News

SpaceX conducted a pair of Starlink launches on opposite coasts over the weekend. One Falcon 9 lifted off Friday at 12:31 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, placing 24 Starlink satellites in orbit. The launch came after weather scrubbed attempts the previous two days. Another Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:53 a.m. Eastern Sunday, putting 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. [Spaceflight Now]

A Russian biomedical research satellite landed Friday after a month in orbit. The capsule for the Bion-M No. 2 mission landed in Russia's Orenburg region 30 days after its launch. The capsule carried payloads to study how exposure to high-radiation environments in polar orbit affected plants and animals. This was the first Bion-M mission since 2013. [TASS]

Maxar Intelligence will provide a navigation system for a Taiwanese drone manufacturer. Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) said it will deploy the Maxar Raptor software across Taiwan's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, allowing drones to operate safely in regions where GPS signals are jammed. Raptor is a vision-based software suite that enables autonomous drones to navigate and extract accurate ground coordinates in the absence of GPS, using 3D maps derived from Maxar satellite imagery. [SpaceNews]

The Indian government is reportedly proposing to develop "bodyguard" spacecraft to protect its satellites. The move came after an incident last year when a spacecraft from an unnamed country passed within one kilometer of an Indian remote sensing spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The report provided few details about how the bodyguard satellites would prevent further incidents beyond being able to identify and counter any threats. Such spacecraft have been proposed by other countries, primarily to protect high-value spacecraft in GEO. The move comes as India plans to invest $3 billion to produce dozens of satellites for national security applications. [Bloomberg]

A Scottish community has given up on plans to turn an airport into a spaceport. The South Ayrshire Council said last week it was writing off nearly £3.3 million ($4.5 million) it has spent so far on an effort to establish a spaceport at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow. The council concluded that industry changes and the loss of key partners meant there was no longer a way to proceed with the spaceport plans. The spaceport would have been used for horizontal launches of spaceplanes, with few such vehicles in active development. [STV]

The Week Ahead

Monday:

Houston: NASA announces its next class of astronauts in an event at the Johnson Space Center at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the NROL-48 mission at 1:38 p.m. Eastern.
Online: Firefly Aerospace releases its second quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Monday-Wednesday:

National Harbor, Md.: The AFA's Air, Space & Cyber Conference includes sessions on the Space Force and military space operations.

Tuesday:

Chinese Coastal Waters: Anticipated launch of a Jielong-3 rocket with an undisclosed payload at 4:15 a.m. Eastern.
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying NASA's IMAP and Carruthers Geocoronal Observatory and NOAA's SWFO-L1 space science missions at 7:32 a.m. Eastern.

Wednesday:

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 9:57 p.m. Eastern.

Wednesday-Friday:

Washington/Online: A National Academies committee on Key Non-Polar Destinations Across the Moon to Address Decadal-level Science Objectives with Human Explorers meets to discuss heliophysics, physics and physical sciences.

Thursday:

Online: The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium holds a workshop on "Lunar Power Applications at Varying Scales" starting at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 4:36 a.m. Eastern.
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of an Atlas 5 carrying a set of Project Kuiper satellites at 8:09 a.m. Eastern.

Friday:

Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 2D carrying an undisclosed payload at 3:20 p.m. Eastern.
Washington/Online: CSIS holds a presentation on "Rocket Dreams: Inside the New Space Race with Christian Davenport and former National Space Council leaders" at 12 p.m. Eastern.

Sunday:

Sydney: The GSA International Spaceport Forum by the Global Spaceport Alliance will discuss spaceport issues ahead of the International Astronautical Congress.
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 3:30 a.m. Eastern.
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 7:32 p.m. Eastern.

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