Vol 45, Week 34

NASA & NEWSPACE

• Firefly awarded Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract from NASA, allowing the company to compete for task orders to support missions launching from Vandenberg. 
• Intuitive Machines will design and manufacture a multi-satellite communications infrastructure—likely three geostationary craft—for an undisclosed customer in a deal valued at over $600 million.
• Private company LandSpace achieved China’s first successful land-based recovery of a reusable liquid oxygen-methane booster (the Zhuque-3 Y2).

GLOBAL REPORTS

• Wenchang hosting Chang’e-7 international payload teams for workshop Aug 23, followed by the mission’s launch set for Aug 24 morning (local time), and an afternoon Wenchang Space Forum.
• At the 10th India SatCom, Broadband India Forum revealed that there are now about 400 space startups in India.
• The European Space Agency has paused its “Block 3” upgrades for the Ariane 6 rocket to cut down on high program costs.

BEYOND EARTH

• LRO images of the Falcon 9 stages impact crater on the Moon reveal the new crater is less than 10 feet deep, and 60 feet wide across the rim. 
• Astronomers have uncovered definitive evidence that dwarf galaxy LKH merged with the Milky Way 11.8 billion years ago, extending our galaxy’s known history by 1.8 billion years.
• The discovery of a massive, rocky “mega-Earth” named GJ 523b, 23 times more massive than Earth, challenges current planet formation models.