Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, a NASA safety panel warns of delays to Artemis 3, NASA announces a new astronaut class and more.
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OUR TOP STORY
| | By Jeff Foust NASA safety advisers say they doubt the lunar lander version of SpaceX's Starship will be ready to support the Artemis 3 mission as planned in 2027.
At a Sept. 19 public meeting, members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said they believed the Human Landing System, or HLS, version of Starship could be "years late."
That conclusion, panelist Paul Hill said, followed a visit last month to SpaceX's Starbase facility and meetings with company executives. Hill attended with fellow panelists and former astronauts Charlie Precourt and Kent Rominger.
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CIVIL
| | At a ceremony at Johnson Space Center, NASA introduced the 10 members of the newest astronaut class, formally known as Group 24. The class includes scientists, engineers and pilots, with experience ranging from flying military aircraft in combat to working on the Curiosity Mars rover.
NASA announced Sept. 19 it had selected Blue Origin to deliver the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to the moon's south polar region in late 2027. The rover will fly on the second mission of Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. Many were surprised because NASA had previously awarded a CLPS task order to Astrobotic to deliver VIPER on its Griffin lander, but Blue Origin was the sole bidder on the NASA task order.
| MILITARY
| | The Space Development Agency (SDA) is gearing up for its second launch of satellites for the Transport Layer Tranche 1 program. SDA is building out a low Earth orbit mesh network for global military communications and missile defense. Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo, acting director of SDA, confirmed Sept. 22 that 21 satellites built by Lockheed Martin are on track to launch in October from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
Military space operations are evolving beyond traditional fixed-orbit satellites toward more agile spacecraft capable of sustained maneuvering to counter threats in space, and U.S. companies in the emerging in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing sector are working to better understand military needs as the U.S. Space Force prepares to rely on commercial firms for satellite refueling and other orbital services.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman outlined his vision for acquisition reform at the Air, Space & Cyber conference, emphasizing the need to accelerate capability delivery as U.S. adversaries like China rapidly advance their space warfare programs. | | |
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LAUNCH
| | The second launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, carrying a NASA smallsat mission to Mars, is now expected in late October or early November. The launch of the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, mission was scheduled for no earlier than Sept. 29 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to a Blue Origin social media update last month.
Chinese commercial remote sensing constellation operator Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST), a spinoff from an arm of the state-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences, published images Sept. 13 of a Maxar Worldview Legion 2 satellite. The CGST release appears to mirror Maxar publishing images in July of Shijian-26, an experimental spacecraft believed to be a test of a new generation of Chinese remote sensing satellite. | | |
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SPONSORED |  | By L3Harris Though rarely featured in public demonstrations of military capability, satellites are indispensable to the defense of America and its allies. They offer near-immediate warning of missile launches, enable strategic communications, and provide precise positioning and timing information for navigation and weapon guidance, to name just a few examples. The Golden Dome for America—a multi-domain, layered missile and air defense architecture that includes satellites for sensing, tracking and countering advanced missile threats—will deepen America's dependence on space assets for security. Our adversaries, fully aware of the asymmetrical advantages provided by superior space capabilities, have been demonstrating the ability to put critical U.S. assets at risk for the last two decades. |
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| |  | Latest Press Releases
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