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Geely's space subsidiary has raised $281 million to accelerate deployment of an Internet of Things (IoT) constellation. Geespace signed a strategic cooperation agreement with several firms last week and also raised the funding from the Zhejiang New Energy Vehicle Industry Fund. Geespace will use the money for a new global headquarters and global business development of the Geesatcom constellation. Geesatcom currently has 52 satellites in orbit for its IoT constellation, and Geespace said the first phase of 64 satellites is to be completed this year. A launch of a Jielong-3 rocket early Tuesday likely carried several additional Geesatcom satellites. [SpaceNews]

Chinese spacecraft have imaged orbiting U.S. commercial and military assets as the two countries seek to demonstrate and assess respective capabilities. Changguang Satellite Technology, a remote sensing satellite operator spun off from an arm of the state-owned Chinese Academy of Science, published images last week of Maxar's Worldview Legion 2 satellite in orbit. Those images were taken by a Jilin-1 satellite from ranges of 40 to 55 kilometers. The 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 satellites. Separately, Shiyan-12 (02), one of a pair of suspected inspector satellites in GEO, passed by a U.S. SBIRS missile warning satellite earlier this month, enabling it to take images of the American military spacecraft. [SpaceNews]

The U.S. military is watching closely Chinese advancements in reusable launch vehicles. At the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) annual conference this week, senior Space Force leaders said Beijing's pursuit of reusable orbital rockets underscores the national security value of the technology and raises alarm about how China might use it once it reaches maturity. The U.S. has used the high flight rate and low costs of SpaceX's Falcon 9 to rapidly deploy constellations, and Space Force officials said they are concerned China will be able to do the same once they master reusability. Officials believe China's eventual adoption of reusable technology could enable rapid, large-scale deployment of both commercial and military satellites, reducing America's current lead. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force's top general says the service must prioritize speed over perfection when acquiring new space systems. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, speaking at the AFA conference Tuesday, said the Space Force has "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revolutionize how we develop and deliver the space systems our nation needs." He called for a new approach that includes accepting imperfect solutions that can help troops today rather than waiting for flawless systems, emphasizing the need to accelerate capability delivery as U.S. adversaries like China rapidly advance their space warfare programs. [SpaceNews]

Blue Origin was the only company to bid on a NASA task order to deliver the VIPER lunar rover. NASA announced Friday it awarded Blue Origin a task order worth $190 million to take the rover to the south polar region of the moon in late 2027. The decision revived VIPER, which NASA canceled last year because of cost and schedule overruns even though the rover was nearly complete. The agency said this week that it issued a request for proposals just last month for the VIPER mission, with Blue Origin being the only company to submit a bid. That award has a "base plus option" structure with the actual landing serving as an option to be exercised only after completing design studies and confirming a successful landing of Blue Moon on its first mission, planned for later this year. [SpaceNews]

Other News

A Falcon 9 launched three space science missions this morning. The rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:30 a.m. Eastern, with the three spacecraft on board deployed about 90 minutes later. The primary payload on the mission is the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), which will study the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium. NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, which will examine the faint ultraviolet glow created by the Earth's exosphere, also flew on the launch, along with NOAA's Space Weather Follow On - L1 mission to monitor space weather. All three spacecraft will operate at the Earth-sun L1 Lagrange point. NASA arranged this "cosmic carpool" of missions as part of efforts by the agency to provide rideshare services and maximize the value of launches it procures. [SpaceNews]

Lynker Space is working with NOAA to provide tailored space weather forecasts. Lynker will work with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center to develop sector-specific alerts and warnings for operators of power grids and other critical infrastructure. A test to evaluate the new system is planned for next summer. [SpaceNews]

French ground station startup Skynopy is working with ESA to commercialize technology that could double satellite downlink rates. Skynopy said Wednesday it won a small ESA contract to integrate its software with three satellite operators, which will be selected through a competitive process next month. The work will focus on coding and modulation techniques that enable satellites to adjust their signal strength and efficiency to changing conditions, rather than relying on a single fixed transmission mode. That allows satellites to make full use of available bandwidth to transmit data from Earth observation satellites. [SpaceNews]

ESA has selected for development a mission to probe the internal structure of clouds. ESA announced Tuesday it picked the Wind Velocity Radar Nephoscope, or WIVERN, as the 11th mission in its Earth Explorer program. WIVERN will measure the internal structure and wind profile within clouds and deliver precipitation profiles. The spacecraft would operate in low Earth orbit with a launch in the early 2030s. WIVERN beat out another mission concept, CAIRT, to measure links between climate change and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics. [ESA]

SpaceX is a step closer to its next Starship test flight. The company performed a static-fire test of the Starship upper stage at Starbase late Monday. The ship will be used for the Flight 11 mission, which could launch as soon as Oct. 6 based on maritime notices. This will be the last launch of version 2 of Starship as SpaceX plans to move to the larger version 3 for subsequent launches. [Space.com]

To Boldly Go Where No Eye Has Gone Before

"One of the great things about the human being and the human brain and the human eye is that it basically is the best science tool that we have, and so they will be able to probably describe things that no human has ever seen."

– NASA's Jacob Bleacher, discussing at a briefing Tuesday what the Artemis 2 astronauts will see when they fly around the moon on their mission next year.

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