We are cutting through the orbital debris for you. In other words, we’re keeping an eye on space news on the web so you don’t have to.
Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of October (space orders can be found in another post):
Major science missions
Europa-Clipper mission
is finally on its way to the Jupiter-Europa system after a Falcon Heavy launch
Falcon 9 sends Hera asteroid strike analysis mission on its way
Anomalies and failures
Falcon 9 upper-stage fault
during deorbit worries some
ACS3 Solar sail falls into uncontrollable spin
Human space
Crew Dragon returns four crew back to Earth, but one becomes ill after landing
First USSF ‘guardian’ astronaut in space flew into orbit in late September
NASA understands there is a heatshield charring/gouging issue with Orion…even if it won’t give out details
China is on schedule to land humans on the Moon in time for 2030
Ars Technica notes what should be done for the US to keep up with the Chinese
Michael Bloomberg slates Artemis as a waste of time
China’s Deep Blue Aerospace plans for human suborbital spaceflight in 2027
NASA may not want continuous human LEO presence after all
No surprises that after mishap NASA delays first fully operational Starliner mission
Boeing to take further US$250 million charge on accounts for troubled CST-100 Starliner
Space Technology
Using a Starfighter as the first stage of a cubesat launcher
Inversion gets launch and re-entry licence from FAA for its Ray reusable cargo spacecraft
Vast plans to launch Haven-1, its first small single module space station, next year – but it has also just released the design for Haven-2, a larger, multi-module station
International Space
Administrator Nelson says that Elon Musk’s contacts with Putin are “concerning”
Dominican Republic signs Artemis Accords
Military Space
X-37B spaceplane to use aerobraking to change orbital parameters
France and Germany to join US-led Operation Olympic Defender alliance
US relaxes some space technology export controls
Companies/Money:
Airbus Defence and Space plans to make 2,500 space lay-offs
PLD has plans for bigger rockets and crewed spacecraft
mPower gets solar power modules contract from Airbus
Ororatech gets funding for its wildfire detection constellation
Anduril and Impulse Space to collaborate on AI-driven satellite mobility
Astra is still in the rocket launcher game as it receives US$44 million investment from the US military
HALO development contract awarded to Apex for bus design
Russia learns how to get around western space tech via substitution for Express AMU-4 comsat
Elon Musk to sue panel planning to limit SpaceX launches in California
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured images of the C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS comet from the International Space Station. Courtesy: Matthew Dominick/NASA
