AstroYonder

Welcome to AstroYonder, the ultimate destination for all things related to space.

[Blue Origin @blueorigin]

NG-2 Launch Update: Our next launch attempt is no earlier than Wednesday, November 12, due to forecasted weather and sea state conditions. We worked with the FAA and range to select a launch window from 2:50 PM – 4:17 PM EST / 19:50 – 21:17 UTC. The live webcast starts at T-20 minutes.

[Vikranth @VikranthJonna]

Blue Origin is targeting to launch the second flight of New Glenn in a few hours - carrying @NASA's twin ESCAPADE probes to a L2 Loitering Point from where they will move on to Mars starting late next year.

New Glenn's First Stage "Never Tell Me the Odds" shall attempt to perform a landing on their landing platform "Jacklyn" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Here's a small infographic summarising the same:

[AstroYonder @Astro_Yonder]

New Glenn compared to SLS, Starship and other rockets.

[Rocket Lab @RocketLab]

Rocket Lab knows Mars. The Mars Telecommunications Orbiter is where our heritage meets the future of Mars comms.

Our MTO is designed for speed AND value:
✅ Supporting Humans on Mars
✅ Faster sample return
✅ A firm-fixed framework
✅ More exploration

Learn more: https://t.co/gY44HrvfID

[Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_]

The NASA/ESA Sentinel-6B satellite has started pre-launch processing ahead of launch aboard a Falcon 9 NET November 16th! The satellite arrived in August, but had been stored in a NASA hangar until now. It has now been moved to Astrotech where it'll be prepared and encapsulated.

[Casey Handmer @CJHandmer]

NASA pays Collins about $100m per year for a cost-plus-award contract, despite delivery of critical items being years late, if at all.

One of these critical items is a machined plate of aluminum. You could literally buy it through @jimbelosic in a couple of days for a few thousand bucks. Another is a custom designed pump, which already failed once in 2013 nearly drowning Luca Parmitano in space.

@CollinsAero offers up the usual litany of excuses about supply chain, sub contractors going out of business, and COVID, all of which is their problem and part of what the $100m per year pays for.

How is it possible for NASA's "ISS EVA Office within the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, which falls under the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate’s Moon to Mars Program" and Collins to spend $100m per year on a maintenance contract, hand out most of the award fees despite Collins' admission that some of the parts will never be delivered, and to fail to vertically integrate production of key components?

NASA and Collins are strewn with engineers, technicians, and machine shops. You need 6 spare pumps made? A great project for a mid career manager! Have a prototype ready for testing in 6 weeks!

Okay, the entire design is 50 years old (sound familiar?) and largely obsolete. Lucky NASA and Collins both have fully staffed offices with experts on space suit design. For $100m per year, maybe they can do a decadal iteration and sub contractor requalification?

Some of the most horrifying text I've read in quite a while. How could it be this bad?

[Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_]

The next Project Kuiper launch, KF-03, is officially scheduled for NET October 9th at 01:56 UTC! This is the final out of 3 planned launches on Falcon 9. It was originally scheduled for yesterday, but has been delayed due to hurricane Imelda delaying preceding launches.

[Gwynne Shotwell @Gwynne_Shotwell]

Starlink Direct to Cell delivered its first text message in early 2024, and a few months later demonstrated video-calling.

Today, we’re so proud to support continuous data, video, voice, and messaging across 5 continents. Thank you to all our partners who leverage this technology to keep millions of their customers connected! https://t.co/uPK0EsJCYv

[Dave Limp @davill]

With rocket engines, boring is good. To that end, please enjoy this 1,030-second (17+ min!) BE-7 engine burn. This test represents the Apogee Raise Maneuver or ARM burn for our Blue Moon Mark 1 Lunar lander, plus margin, the longest burn required by the mission to reach the Moon. You may have noticed that the engine for this test does not have a nozzle. BE‑7 is tested in both vacuum and atmospheric conditions. This test was at  GEEx—our atmospheric test position in West Texas.

[Axiom Space @Axiom_Space]

We are excited to announce that we have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Resonac Corporation. This agreement will pave the way for a partnership focused on the research and development of high-performance semiconductor material in space, shaping a future of scalable orbital production. Learn more: https://t.co/S72VZlabaE

[Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_]

Looks like Rocket Lab's last orbital Electron launch, "Live, Laugh, Launch", carried more satellites for E-Space! The identity of the payload/customer was not disclosed before launch, but the 5 satellites have now been cataloged as "Calistus A-E" under the flag of Rwanda.

[Jonathan McDowell @planet4589]

The five secret commercial sats launched by Electron on Aug 23 have finally been identified in Space-Track as Calistus A to Calistus E, with country identified as Rwanda. This flag-of-convenience basically confirms the sats belong to E-Space. None have yet manuevered.

[Jonathan McDowell @planet4589]

Space-Track cataloging confirms that the Sep 22 Starshield launch had eight NRO sats, USA 558 to USA 565, in 464 x 470 km x 70.0 deg deployment orbits.

[Charles Boyer @charlesboyer]

I suppose that means no launch forecasts, among other things.

[Charles Boyer @charlesboyer]

Commercial LEO Space Stations Are Closer Than Ever

One or more commercial firms will have habitable modules in orbit by the end of next year.

https://t.co/cztXMrD8ny

[ULA @ulalaunch]

Liftoff! Official RocketCam of Atlas V Kuiper 3

[Blue Origin @blueorigin]

🚀 Meet the New Shepard NS-36 crew: Jeff Elgin, Danna Karagussova, Dr. Clint Kelly III, Aaron Newman, Vitalii Ostrovsky, and an undisclosed sixth crew member. Read more: https://t.co/YkKhZpVJI8

[Firefly Aerospace @FireflySpace]

Look who just landed on the #TIME100NEXT list! We're so proud of Ray Allensworth, our Spacecraft Program Director, who helped lead our team of Ghost Riders to the first successful commercial Moon landing. This honor reflects not only her stellar leadership but the groundbreaking innovation from our entire Blue Ghost Mission 1 team. https://t.co/FfDDAuPCQs

[Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_]

After arriving in Port Canaveral last night, the SpainSat-NG II satellite has successfully been unloaded! It'll now be moved to SpaceX' Payload Processing Facility near SLC-40, where it'll undergo final preparations for launch NET October 22nd.

📸 https://t.co/E4TJKH1qFS

[Intuitive Machines @Int_Machines]

We’ve completed the acquisition of KinetX, Inc. 🌑

KinetX brings decades of #DeepSpace navigation experience, supporting missions to Mercury, Pluto, asteroids, and the Moon. Together, we’re advancing secure data relay & precision navigation for missions from the #MoonToMars Learn more: https://t.co/Ecp8cx75ft