Author: starpathwp-production
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CAS Space Expands Space Pharma Partnership, Plans 2027 Lihong-2 Debut With Pharmaceutical Payload
CAS Space and Guangzhou Laboratory have begun jointly developing space pharmaceutical payloads and plan to conduct validation experiments for space-based drug research. The first payloads are scheduled to fly aboard the reusable Lihong-2 vehicle on a suborbital mission in the first quarter of 2027. The mission will carry out crystallization experiments involving proteins and small-molecule…
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From Recovery Milestones to Routine Reuse: What Falcon 9 Can Teach China’s Reusable Rocket Industry
As the launch industry demands lower costs, higher flight rates and greater scale, reusability is making rockets function more like transportation systems. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was the first reusable orbital rocket to enter commercial service. Its combination of relatively low costs, frequent launches, large scale and strong reliability has made it a mainstay of the…
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SpaceX Sets Starship’s First Orbital Flight for Sept. 28 With Starlink V3 Deployment
Starship Flight 14, also designated Starlink Group 31-1, is scheduled to lift off at 7:15 am CDT with a 75-minute launch window. Backup opportunities run from Sept. 29 through Oct. 4. The flight follows a suborbital test program that SpaceX pursued specifically to avoid stranding an uncontrolled 52-meter-long, nine-meter-wide, 160-metric-ton vehicle in orbit. Those missions…
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Chinese Researchers Signal First In-Orbit Refuelling of a BeiDou Satellite
The claim surfaced in a paper submitted to the Journal of Deep Space Exploration by a team from the state-funded Deep Space Exploration Laboratory. Research papers cited in reporting suggest the operation occurred in February of last year. The researchers gave no details about how the manoeuvre was conducted. In the paper, the team said…
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Space Force Sets 2027 Flights for Two Commercial Satellite Servicing Demonstrations
The planned missions represent a transition in how the Department of Defense approaches space domain awareness, mobility, and logistics. Historically, military and intelligence satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit were treated as single-use, non-serviceable assets, built with finite station-keeping propellant reserves that fixed their operational lifespans regardless of payload health. Under SSC’s Space Mobility and Logistics…
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Hubble and Webb Team Up to Probe Solar System’s Faintest Icy Relics
Trans-Neptunian Objects are small, faint, icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, most of them more than 100 million times dimmer than objects visible to the unaided eye. These objects offer the best view into an early stage of planet-building, when a disk of dust and pebbles around the Sun coalesced into city-sized planetesimals but…
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Fusion Propulsion Ventures Report Early Milestones as Space Demo Targeted for 2027
Fusion-powered space travel has long promised rapid trips across the solar system, with Mars reachable in weeks and Pluto in years. For decades the concept stayed theoretical. Now Pulsar Fusion, Princeton University, and Helicity Space are each pursuing fusion drives, with what the field describes as significant milestones being reached. Nuclear fusion combines two atoms…
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Planet Labs Delivers Pelican-12 Spacecraft to Cape Canaveral for SpaceX Bandwagon-5 Mission
On Sept. 27, 2026, Earth observation satellite operator Planet Labs delivered its next-generation Pelican-12 satellite to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will undergo final processing, fueling, and encapsulation ahead of launch aboard SpaceX’s upcoming Bandwagon-5 dedicated mid-inclination rideshare mission. Onboard Processing Specs and Hardware Architecture The Pelican-12 satellite features an upgraded…
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Taylor Jordan Puts a $2.35 Billion Price on NOAA’s New Commercial Data Vehicle.
By Nick David, Editorial Lead, SatNews Taylor Jordan, NOAA’s assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, told a Paris conference on Sept. 14 that the agency’s new commercial data contract carries a ceiling of $2.35 billion over 10 years. That figure appears nowhere in NOAA’s solicitation or its award announcements. Jordan, who also…
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NASA Selects Far-Infrared PRIMA Telescope as Initial Billion-Dollar Astrophysics Probe Explorer Mission
On Sept. 23, 2026, NASA selected the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) as the inaugural mission within its new Probe Explorer astrophysics program line. The decision authorizes the far-infrared space telescope project to enter Phase B formulation, establishing baseline technical design, instrument suite integration, and cost architecture ahead of a targeted 2033 launch. Probe…