Plus: Vandenberg's proposed heavy-lift launch site
| By Jeff Foust
In this today's edition: Vandenberg seeks users for a new heavy-lift launch site, China's next reusable rocket project, progress in producing semiconductors in space and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
The European Space Agency confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack but downplayed the severity of the incident. Hackers claimed to have accessed confidential documents, source code and other materials from ESA systems, posting screenshots of some of 200 gigabytes of data such as technical details about one mission in development. ESA confirmed Tuesday there had been a data breach, but said it was limited to "a very limited number of science servers" outside of the ESA corporate network that did not contain classified data. [SpaceNews]
Vandenberg Space Force Base is offering a new launch site for heavy-lift vehicles. The Space Force released this week a request for information about potential uses of SLC-14, a proposed launch site on the southernmost part of the base that is currently undeveloped. The service said it is looking to host heavy or super-heavy vehicles there, particularly those that do not have other launch sites at the base. The RFI includes financial and technical requirements that may give an edge to SpaceX's Starship, although the company has not disclosed any plans so far to develop a Starship launch site at Vandenberg. [SpaceNews]
China is planning to launch a reusable variant of a new rocket for crewed missions next year. China Rocket, a spinoff from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, stated earlier this month that it aims to launch a five-meter-diameter reusable liquid propellant launch vehicle in the first half of 2026. That rocket appears to be a derivative of the Long March 10A, a rocket being developed to launch the new Mengzhou crew spacecraft. This new variant, called Long March 10B, would be used to launch satellites for the Guowang broadband constellation. [SpaceNews]
British space manufacturing startup Space Forge says it has achieved a key milestone in its efforts to produce semiconductors in orbit. The company said its first satellite, ForgeStar-1, successfully generated plasma in orbit, which the company says shows it can create and maintain conditions needed for semiconductor manufacturing. Space Forge disclosed few details about the test but said the demonstration is a first for a commercial free-flying satellite, outside a space station environment. Space Forge ultimately plans to produce materials in space such as gallium nitride, silicon carbide, aluminum nitride and diamond, used in applications ranging from power electronics and communications to defense and high-performance computing. [SpaceNews]
Planet says its work with Google on demonstrating orbital data centers could be a huge long-term opportunity for the company. Planet and Google announced last month a partnership to demonstrate technologies needed for orbital data centers through what they call Project Suncatcher. That effort involves two tech demo satellites built by Planet to launch by early 2027 carrying AI-optimized processors developed by Google. The satellites will test how the processors work in space and demonstrate formation flying between the two spacecraft to enable high-bandwidth intersatellite links. Google envisions clusters of satellites operating in orbit, taking advantage of solar energy to overcome the power constraints of terrestrial data centers. In an earnings call earlier this month, Planet said that while Suncatcher is still in the R&D phase at this time, it could be a "huge market opportunity" down the road with the potential for thousands of satellites. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
China closed out a record launch year with the launch of a pair of technology demonstration satellites Tuesday. A Long March 7A lifted off at 5:40 p.m. Eastern from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, placing into orbit the Shijian-29 A and B satellites. The two satellites will be used to "conduct verification tests of new technologies for space target detection," Chinese officials reported, which could include space situational awareness applications. The launch was the 92nd this year by China, shattering last year's record of 68 launches. It is also likely the final orbital launch worldwide this year, setting another record with more than 320 launch attempts. [SpaceNews]
The Indian space agency ISRO has completed tests of an upgraded stage for a small launch vehicle. ISRO said Tuesday it performed a static-fire test of a new third stage for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), qualifying it for flight. The solid-fuel stage will increase the payload performance of the SSLV, currently about 500 kilograms, by 90 kilograms thanks to decreased weight of the stage's motor case. [PTI]
ESA has called off plans to purchase a commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station. The agency said this fall it planned to purchase commercial cargo services to the ISS as a "strategic offset" for flight opportunities for its astronauts. The procurement appeared to favor Northrop Grumman's Cygnus, whose pressurized cargo module is made by Thales Alenia Space in Italy. However, ESA canceled the procurement earlier this month, citing only "the implementation of programmatic adjustments." That could be linked to potential delays in the flight of an ESA astronaut, Raphaël Liégeois, to the station. [European Spaceflight]
One of the women who flew on Blue Origin's all-female New Shepard flight earlier this year said the public backlash to the mission led to depression. In a recent social media post, Amanda Nguyen said the experience of going to space on the suborbital flight in April was "buried under an avalanche of misogyny" in public reaction to the flight, including criticism that it was a wasteful stunt. Nguyen said she could not get out of bed for a week after the flight and broke down in tears when a senior Blue Origin official called her a month later. However, she said now the "fog of grief has started to lift." Nguyen was one of six women on the NS-31 flight that also included pop star Katy Perry and TV host Gayle King. [The Guardian]
A NASA payload has demonstrated the ability to roam among different communications networks. The Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT), hosted on a York Space Systems satellite, launched this summer to test the ability of the terminal to operate on different networks. Since its launch, PExT has successfully communicated with NASA's TDRS satellite network as well as commercial systems. PExT is part of efforts by NASA to transition its missions from TDRS to commercial networks. Additional PExT tests are planned for 2026. [NASA]
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| "In a nod to pop culture, engineers also demonstrated low-latency and high-data-rate communications by playing the video game DOOM and the Rick Astley music video that spawned the popular 'rickroll' meme in real time on the terminal."
| | – From a Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab release about its work testing the PExT communications terminal.
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