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Starship Upper Stage Catch, Artemis 2028 & First Exosatellite Candidate
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
SpaceX preps a never-before-attempted upper stage catch for Starship Flight 15, while NASA locks Artemis IV as the real Moon landing and astronomers may have spotted the first exosatellite beyond our solar system. Plus: why a meter-wide asteroid slipped past every planetary defense network undetected.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
An asteroid passed closer to Earth than the International Space Station on October first. Nobody saw it coming.
The Artemis picture has also sharpened this week. NASA has now confirmed that Artemis III, targeting twenty twenty-seven, will be a docking test in Earth orbit with commercial landers, not a landing mission.
SpaceX completed two key tests for Starship Flight Fifteen this week. Ship forty-two cleared a single-engine cold-soak test and a six-engine deorbit burn simulation.
There's a cleaner story out of ESO. Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope have detected what may be the first exosatellite beyond our solar system.
One thread connecting several of these stories is China's accelerating space program. U.S. intelligence assessments flag a surge in Chinese anti-satellite weapons development and reconnaissance satellite deployment.
The real watchpoints over the next few weeks: FAA licensing for Starship Flight Fifteen, the Artemis III commercial lander docking schedule, and whether ESO releases follow-up observations on the CD-35 two seven two two exosatellite candidate. The asteroid story has no near-term resolution.
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