Plus: Vulcan's next launch date
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: a medical issue could shorten an ISS mission, Space Force funds work on modular satellite interfaces, ULA sets a date for the next Vulcan launch and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
An unspecified "medical concern" could force an early end to an International Space Station mission. NASA said late Wednesday it was postponing a spacewalk scheduled for Thursday at the station, citing a medical issue with a member of the crew. NASA did not disclose who was suffering the medical concern or other details. Overnight, NASA said it was considering "the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11's mission" and would provide mode details in the next 24 hours. Crew-11 launched to the ISS in early August with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They were expected to remain on the station through at least the latter half of February, with their replacements launching on Crew-12 no earlier than Feb. 15. NASA has never ended an ISS mission early because of a medical issue. [SpaceNews]
NASA says it is still working toward a launch of the Artemis 2 mission as soon as early February. At a meeting of a lunar exploration group this week, Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for exploration systems development, said Artemis 2 could launch in a window in early February provided "a lot of things go smoothly and go well" in the coming weeks, including rollout of the SLS and a wet dress rehearsal. That launch window opens Feb. 6 and lasts for several days, although NASA has not disclosed details about launch opportunities. Backup launch windows are in March and April. NASA has provided relatively few updates about the progress of Artemis 2, the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, in the last few months, although NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on social media recently the agency would be "very transparent about technical readiness and timelines after rollout." [SpaceNews]
The Space Force has selected a company to develop a modular satellite interface. Under a $3.3 million contract awarded late in 2025, the Space Force's Space Safari office selected Falcon ExoDynamics to develop Handle 2.0, an upgraded version of a modular, open-system electronics interface that serves as a common connection point between satellite buses and payloads. The effort supports the military's push to shorten satellite development and deployment timelines under its Tactically Responsive Space initiative. It is based on Handle, originally developed by The Aerospace Corporation to reduce the need for custom redesign when integrating payloads onto small satellites. Handle was tested on Aerospace's Slingshot 1 mission in 2022. [SpaceNews]
U.S. Space Command played a role in the recent military action in Venezuela. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said both U.S. Space Command and Cyber Command provided "different effects" to support a special forces mission into the country to apprehend Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. A Space Command spokesperson said the command provided "overwatch" for the operation but did not disclose specifics. Outside experts said that likely involved secure satellite communications, monitoring for GPS jamming and looking for any missile launches. A former deputy head of Space Command, retired Lt. Gen. John Shaw, said coordination of Space Command with other combatant commands has been increasing in recent years. [Breaking Defense]
| | | | | | Other News
The next Vulcan launch by United Launch Alliance is scheduled for early February. ULA said Wednesday it is planning to launch the USSF-87 mission for the Space Force no earlier than Feb. 2 from Cape Canaveral, deploying a multimanifested payload. The launch will be the fourth overall for Vulcan since its debut two years ago and its second national security mission. [ULA]
South Korean launch startup Innospace announced an agreement to use a European launch site. The company said it signed a deal with Portugal's Atlantic Spaceport Consortium to launch from the planned Malbusca Launch Center in the Azores. The first launch by Innospace could take place there as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026. Innospace conducted the first, unsuccessful launch of its Hanbit-Nano launch vehicle from Brazil in December and recently announced an agreement to also launch from Australia. [Innospace]
ArianeGroup is exploring a way to make its Ariane 6 rocket at least partially reusable. In a study funded by ESA in 2024, ArianeGroup explored replacing the solid rocket boosters currently used on the Ariane 6 with liquid-propellant boosters based on the design being developed by MaiaSpace, an ArianeGroup subsidiary, for a reusable small launch vehicle. In this concept, the boosters would land and be reused, although the core and upper stages of Ariane 6 would continue to be expended. [European Spaceflight]
Astronomers have discovered an asteroid that spins faster than any other of its size found to date. Astronomers working with the Vera Rubin Observatory said Wednesday that initial observations by the large telescope in Chile, as part of the commissioning process, detected 2,100 solar system objects. That included a newly found asteroid, 2025 MN45, that is 710 meters across and completes one rotation in less than two minutes. That is the fastest spin rate for any asteroid more than 500 meters across, and indicates that the asteroid is a solid piece of rock rather than a loosely bound "rubble pile" like some smaller asteroids. The finding is the first peer-reviewed publication from Rubin, which will soon enter regular science operations. [GeekWire]
| | | | | FROM SPACENEWS |  | | How physics AI is transforming the future of space engineering: On this episode of Space Minds, host David Ariosto speaks with Juan Alonso — CTO and co-founder of Luminary Cloud and professor at Stanford University — about the rapid transformation underway in aerospace engineering. Alonso breaks down how advances in computational fluid dynamics and Physics AI are enabling designers to simulate complex aerodynamic behavior in seconds, dramatically accelerating how rockets, aircraft and hypersonic systems are conceived and tested. Watch and listen to this episode. | | | | | | And the Bigger, the Better
| "Why do we need this? Well, we're astronomers. We like big telescopes."
| | – Chad Bender of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, discussing the planned Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope during a session at an American Astronomical Society conference Wednesday.
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