By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Blue Origin and SpaceX plan big increases in launch rates, more Chinese startups pursue reusable rockets, Space Command's $4 billion new home and more.
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Top Stories
Blue Origin has outlined plans for additional launch pads and other facilities to support a much higher rate of New Glenn launches. In a statement Friday, a Blue Origin executive said the company is planning two pads at locations to be announced at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in addition to the rebuilt LC-36A pad and new LC-36B pad the company announced earlier this year. Blue Origin is also working on two more ships that will serve as landing platforms for New Glenn boosters. It is building additional facilities in and around the Space Coast, including one that will be able to produce as much as 150 New Glenn upper stages annually. Blue Origin said the infrastructure will enable multiple New Glenn launches each week by the end of the decade. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is seeking environmental approval for a sharp increase in Starship launches from Texas. The FAA announced this week it is starting an environmental impact statement for a two-phased increase in Starship launches from Starbase, Texas. The first phase would increase launches from the current limit of 25 per year to 100, along with as many as 200 landings of Super Heavy boosters and Starship upper stages. The second phase would further increase that launch limit to 456 per year, but restrict launches to weekdays. The efforts by SpaceX and Blue Origin to increase launches come as the FAA is taking steps to streamline launch licensing procedures. [SpaceNews]
Three more Chinese launch startups are pursuing reusable rockets, using a variety of design approaches. Juneng Tianqing (Beijing) Space Technology Co. Ltd., which brands itself as Nexus in English, unveiled its Skyhold family of three reusable methalox rockets last week. The QT-1, QT-1M and QT-2 would all use a single in-house 160-ton-class oxygen-rich staged-combustion engine but for different applications, one involving a spaceplane. Shanghai Jianqi Technology, also known as Rocket Nova, announced it had raised a cumulative $29.9 million (200 million yuan) since its founding in January that will fund initial work on Hujian-1, a "second-generation" reusable rocket that would reuse both stages. Shanghai Xuanwu Interstellar Aerospace, or Xuanwu Space, unveiled its Luduan-9 concept, a Falcon 9-like two-stage methalox launcher with nine engines on a recoverable first stage. The company presents itself primarily as a space computing provider. [SpaceNews]
An American startup is targeting a 2028 first flight of a small launch vehicle. LEAP is developing Bighorn, a launch vehicle the company plans to introduce with a payload capacity as much as 145 kilograms to low Earth orbit before increasing its performance in later versions. LEAP, founded in 2022 and legally incorporated as Pivotal Space Inc., has been financed largely with private capital, with ONE Bow River National Defense Fund, a private equity fund, as its primary backer. LEAP believes that demand for rapid satellite replacement, military missions and dedicated launches has strengthened the business case for smaller vehicles. [SpaceNews]
The CEO of commercial space station developer Axiom Space says he is largely satisfied with NASA's call for proposals for supporting such stations. Speaking at an event Thursday, Jonathan Cirtain said that the final RFP released last Friday for NASA's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) program is something "that we can live with." He and others in the industry had raised concerns about an earlier draft RFP, including how it handles crew transportation and the number of requirements it levies on companies. Cirtain said he was still concerned in general that NASA and other government agencies were placing too many prescriptive requirements on companies, limiting innovation. He added that Axiom expects to have its station ready by the current ISS retirement date of 2030. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX launched another classified Space Force mission Thursday. a Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:01 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a mission designated USSF-481. The Space Force did not reveal details about the payload, which appeared headed for a high-inclination orbit. The mission was also designated as "TH-2" in public notices; another Falcon 9 launched TH-1, or USSF-259, a month ago. [Spaceflight Now]
A Dragon cargo spacecraft docked with the ISS Thursday morning. The Dragon docked with zenith port on the station's Harmony module at 10:27 a.m. Eastern, about 52 hours after its launch from Cape Canaveral. The Dragon, flying the CRS-35 or SpX-35 mission, carries more than 2,800 kilograms of cargo for the station, including a new pair of solar arrays that will be installed on upcoming spacewalks. [Space.com]
The new headquarters for U.S. Space Command in Alabama will cost $4 billion. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center is seeking a design-build contractor to deliver the headquarters and supporting data center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, according to a notice to industry published this week. The facility is intended to accommodate approximately 1,800 military and civilian personnel and be ready for operational use by December 2031. The $4 billion price tag is higher than earlier estimates for the headquarters project. The newer estimate covers not only design and construction but also outfitting the complex with communications and computing systems, installing equipment, testing the completed facility and obtaining the security accreditations required for classified operations. [SpaceNews]
BlackSky has extended a contract to provide non-Earth imaging of other satellites and space objects for Australian company HEO. The seven-figure contract extension, announced Thursday, will enable HEO to acquire "fully automated, low-latency" information on space objects by combining data from BlackSky's Gen-2 and Gen-3 satellites with HEO software and analysis. HEO uses satellites from BlackSky and other companies to observe satellites and debris to identify and better characterize them. [SpaceNews]
Construction is underway on a hangar that will host flights of a suborbital spaceplane in Oklahoma. A groundbreaking ceremony this week marked the formal start of construction of the hangar at the Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport in western Oklahoma. The hangar will be used by Dawn Aerospace's Aurora spaceplane, which is scheduled to start flights from the spaceport in late 2027. The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority announced a deal with Dawn last year to buy an Aurora spaceplane and fly it from the spaceport for microgravity and related research. [KOKH-TV Oklahoma City]
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Space Station Smells
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"Space station smells — I could just end the sentence there, I guess, but it doesn't smell that bad, actually."
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– NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, responding to a question during a Crew-12 post-flight briefing Thursday about what space smells like.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Tickets on sale now: Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C., when we announce the 2026 Icon Award winners, recognizing leaders and accomplishments that exemplified excellence across the industry during the last 12 months. See the list of finalists and secure your spot before early bird ticket rates end Oct. 31. |
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