Vol 45, Week 33

NASA & NEWSPACE

• Blue Origin is constructing LC-36B at Cape Canaveral to support New Glenn 9×4 (9 boosters and 4 upper-stage engines) launches, while New Glenn 7×2 will launch from LC-36A after its rebuild. 
• Virgin Galactic opened public voting to name its new “Delta-1” SpaceShip vehicle, which is planned for test flights in October. 
• NASA subcontractor Paragon Space was forced to lay off 70 people due to cancellation of the HALO module contract.

GLOBAL REPORTS

• Early reporting indicates the Long March 7A failure from Wenchang is unlikely to affect the launch of China’s Chang’e-7 mission on the Long March 5 set for the morning of August 24.
• India concluded its 9th India-U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group meeting, and had a successful ground static test of the solid booster stage (SS1) of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle.
• Rocket Lab Germany GmbH is being established to advance satellite manufacturing and launch services across Europe.

BEYOND EARTH

• Uranus’ major moons, except for Miranda, have a deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio that is nearly five times higher than the planet’s, indicating they did not form from Uranus.
• Corundum identified in Martian data in 2026 is an unexpected surprise as Mars lacks the plate tectonic activity and specific silicon-depleted chemistry usually needed to form it.
• The first-ever identified globular cluster stellar stream beyond the Milky Way Galaxy has been identified in UGC 9050-Dw1, about 115 million light-years from Earth.