Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman
Emmylou Harris – Tulsa Queen
Scientists produce new estimate of the thickness of Europa’s icy crust
January 27, 2026 Quick space links
Windswept Martian volcanic ash?
Astronomers use AI to discover hundreds of weird galaxies in Hubble archive
Musk: Next Starship/Superheavy test launch in mid-March
Avio gets two new launch contracts for its Vega-C rocket
NASA targeting January 31, 2026 for Artemis-2 dress rehearsal countdown
NASA makes it official: Oman signs the Artemis Accords
Restless Viking – When Michigan and Ohio went to war
January 26, 2026 Quick space links
The profound life’s work of Richard Rodgers
Oman says it wants to sign the Artemis Accords
SpaceX launches 25 more Starlink satellites
“AI isn’t getting smarter. We are getting dumber.”
Dragonfly’s rotors complete testing
Russia delays launch of its own “Starlink” constellation
ESA awards startup Rocket Factory Augsburg a two-launch contract
January 23, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
826aska – James Bond theme
January 23, 2026 Quick space links
Blue Origin to reuse first stage on next New Glenn flight
Paul McCartney – Let It Be
Fake scientist Michael Mann slapped down hard by DC superior court
Blue Origin’s proposed TeraWave constellation: Is it really competition with SpaceX?
January 22, 2026 Quick space links
New gullies on Mars?
Rocket Lab completes its first launch in 2026
Isar postpones 2nd Spectrum rocket launch attempt, no new date set
French smallsat rocket startup Latitude targeting a first launch in early ’27
German startup Spark Microgravity to build first space-based commercial cancer lab
Rocket Lab experiences a tank failure during Neutron pressure test
Orbex’s Danish subsidiary to file for bankruptcy
Orbital tug startup Starfish Space wins $52.5 million Space Force contract to de-orbit its defunct satellites
SpaceX launches 25 more Starlink satellites
January 20, 2026 Zimmerman/Space Show appearance
January 21, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Dionne Warwick, Hal David, Burt Bacharach – I Say A Little Prayer studio rehearsal
Communications resume with Mars
Haven-1 launch delayed until 2027
January 21, 2026 Quick space links
French startup The Exploration Company negotiating purchase of UK rocket startup Orbex
JAXA releases preliminary results of investigation into December 2025 H3 rocket launch failure
Foreigner – Urgent
January 20, 2026 Quick space links
I will be on the Space Show with David Livingston tonight
Computer simulations suggest Jupiter and Saturn have fundamentally different interiors
Australian rocket startup Gilmour Space raises $145 million in investment capital
Update on NASA’s damaged Goldstone antenna
New spaceport proposed in India independent of its space agency ISRO
Another Zimmerman op-ed today at PJ Media
Badgerland Birding – Five things you didn’t know about Owls
January 19, 2026 Quick space links
“A new empire has sprung into existence, and there is a new thing under the sun.”
A 10-mile-long avalanche on Mars
Japanese rocket startup Interstellar raises another $129.7 million in private investment capital
China launches more satellites in its Guowang satellite constellation
Startup focused on mining helium-3 on the Moon teams up with JPL for private rover mission
Japan’s government gives Ispace a $125 million contract to build a high-precision lunar lander
China’s damaged Shenzhou-20 manned capsule successfully returned unmanned today
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
SpaceX yesterday completed one launch while China had two launch failures
January 16, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Gravity – Rocket Size Comparison as of 2024
January 16, 2026 Quick space links
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s high resolution camera is showing its age
Astronomers detect a bar of iron in the center of the Ring Nebula
The recent computer hack of the European Space Agency was bigger than it admitted
China launches four satellites for another Chinese constellation
French rocket startup MaiaSpace wins ten-launch contract from Eutelsat
Chris Rea – The Road To Hell
January 15, 2026 Quick space links
Martian glacier flowing past small peak
Lockheed Martin and General Electric complete tests of a rotating-detonation engine
The European Space Agency and China hold the first joint meeting in almost a decade
China launches classified military satellite in partnership with Algeria
Indian startup raises seed money to build robotic satellite servicing “jetpacks”
Expedition-11 crew splashdowns safely
January 14, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Endeavour undocks from ISS, carrying the Expedition-11 crew
Anabasis – Dead Can Dance
Because Boeing did nothing to replace a defective part, an airplane crashed killing fifteen
January 14, 2026 Quick space links
Axiom has delayed the launch of its first space station module to ’28
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
Update on Starship launchpad construction in Texas and Florida
Another ESA rendezvous demo mission proposed
A small European prototype re-entry capsule survived PSLV launch failure
ULA loses another launch contract to SpaceX
NASA and Department of Energy agree to place nuclear reactor on Moon by ’30
HotPlays – Beethoven’s 5th Symphony
China launches twice from today different spaceports
January 13, 2026 Quick space links
Exposed weirdness on floor of Martian crater
China claims it has launched and landed a new suborbital reusable spacecraft
No alien civilizations? After analyzing two decades of data SETI@Home produces 100 signals “worth a second look”
Mitsubishi buys space on proposed Starlab space station
Portugal signs Artemis Accords
Isaacman makes it official: Artemis-2 will fly manned around the Moon, despite Orion’s heat shield concerns
Christina Petrou – Ta Pedia Tou Pirea
SpaceX launches another 29 Starlink satellites
January 12, 2025 Quick space links
New research supports theorized intermittent ocean exiting Mars’ giant Valles Marineris canyon
Comparing the global ground stations of China and the U.S.
China proposes building two new satellite constellations, each with about 100,000 satellites
Space station Starlab gets major new investor
India’s PSLV rocket experiences the second launch failure in a row
Former astronaut once again blasts NASA decision to fly Artemis-2 manned
SpaceX launches NASA’s Pandora exoplanet space telescope
Space Force awards nine launch contracts to SpaceX
French rocket startup MaiaSpace announces its launch schedule
FCC approves SpaceX request to expand Starlink by 7,500 satellites
An outline of NASA’s present schedule leading up to the Artemis-2 manned lunar fly-by mission
ISS crew to return on Wednesday January 14, 2026
Stefan Langer – Compilation of glider low passes over beach, lake, and mountains
SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites
January 9, 2026 Quick space links
Isaacman okays flying Artemis-2 manned, despite heat shield questions
The first preliminary research into landing a Mars helicopter in the Starship landing zone
Another spiral galaxy that should not exist discovered in the early universe
Chinese pseudo-company building 3/4 billion dollar rocket factory
January 8, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Marshall Crenshaw – Whenever You’re On My Mind
ISS expedition 11 will return early due to medical issue
January 8, 2026 Quick space links
Icy Mars
South Korean rocket startup Innospace signs deal with Portugal’s Santa Maria spaceport
Billionaire to fund construction of an orbiting optical telescope larger than Hubble
Second Escapade Mars orbiter completes a delayed engine burn
Medical issue forces NASA to postpone spacewalk and consider an early crew return
Zimmerman Op-Ed at PJ Media
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – Summer Nights
January 7, 2026 Quick space links
Scientists: Methane from spacecraft landing on the Moon could “obscure” evidence of life
Rubin Observatory’s first observations detects more than 2,000 asteroids
Study: If Europa has an underground ocean, it is lifeless and dormant
January 6, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Veritasium – The Ames Window
The growing X-ray shell of the 1604 Kepler supernova
Scientists: We think the little red dots in the early universe are supermassive stars
An excellent summary of Europe’s rocket companies, both established and startups
Computer model: A thin ice cap can preserve liquid water on Mars
Sunspot update: Ramp down to minimum continues?
Rocketdyne to reappear with sale by L3Harris of its civilian rocket engine division
Jonasquin – If Stayin’ Alive Had Been Written in 16th Century
Detection of the wake of Betelgeuse’s companion star
“Round Deposits” in Martian crater
A UK law professor and news outlet prove the UK is not the place to launch rockets
The station station race: Startup Max Space to establish factory at Kennedy in Florida
Innospace releases preliminary results of launch failure
January 5, 2025 Quick space links
Review of SpaceX’s 2026 Superheavy/Starship test flights
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites, plus a review of its Falcon 9 first stage fleet
NASA: The leak in the Zvezda module on ISS has apparently been sealed
India’s space agency: At least six launches in 2026
SpaceX completes first launch in 2026
Peter Schickele performs Schickele and P.D.Q. Bach
Many Martian mysteries in one spot
SpaceX doing trial runs of specialized barge for transporting Starship/Superheavy from Boca Chica to Florida
ESA funds Danish lunar orbiter
SpaceX to do a major orbital reconfiguration of its Starlink constellation
Sotheby’s – Two impossible watches that shouldn’t exist
The three week communications blackout from Mars has begun
The global launch industry in 2025: The real space race is between SpaceX and China
Bing Crosby – Let’s Start the New Year Right
December 31, 2025 Quick space links
Archeologists find what they think is evidence of fire-making by early Neanderthals
Turkey and Somalia confirm spaceport plans
Space Force requests proposals for new Vandenberg launchpad for heavy and super-heavy rockets
China launches two satellites for “new technology verification for space target detection”
Paolo Ercoli – Song for a winter’s night
President Trump and NASA administrator Isaacman: Please take the crew off of Artemis-2
December 30, 2025 Quick space links
The up and down tale of two rocket startups, Vector and Phantom
Colliding galaxies, as seen in the infrared and X-rays
European Space Agency hacked
Russia’s early warning satellite constellation is apparently no longer functioning
China launches Earth mapping satellite
Rita Hayworth – Steal a Show
December 29, 2025 Quick space links
The headwaters of an ancient Martian channel
SpaceX pulls Starlink service from Papua New Guinea
ESA cancels call for commercial cargo services to ISS
Another American orbital capsule company turns to Australia for a landing spot
Isar ready for second launch attempt
Russia launches more than fifty satellites
China launches weather satellite
Marula Eugster Rigolo – One feather
China launches nine more satellites in Guowang constellation
Former ULA CEO Tory Bruno now working for Blue Origin
Japanese bank invests in Starlab
Brigham Young University Choir & Orchestra – Oh Come All Ye Faithful
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
December 25, 2025 Quick space links
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
The SpaceX alumni that are reshaping the space industry
Avio wins launch contract from Taiwan to launch four satellites
Russia launches classified weather satellite
Hanna-Barbera – Good Will To Men
Kathy Mattea – Mary did you know
December 24, 2025 Quick space links
Layers in the biggest canyon in the solar system
Next Starship/Superheavy launch in March?
Italian rocket company Avio wins two launch contracts valued at $117 million total
Recovering Maven appears increasingly dim
India launches AST SpaceMobile’s sixth Bluebird satellite
Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve/Sarajevo
December 23, 2025 Quick space links
Hubble images gigantic protoplanetary disk
Starlink added a million new customers in just the past month
JAXA identifies cause of H3 rocket failure
No contact with Mars’ rovers for the next month
China’s Long March 12A launches but fails to land the first stage
The first launch by South Korean rocket startup Innospace fails shortly after liftoff
Handel – Pastoral Symphony from Messiah
Tory Bruno resigns as CEO of United Launch Alliance
December 22, 2025 Quick space links
There is little good will on the left, and the right seems eager to lose it too
Two very different galaxies
Florida opposition grows against renewing Blue Origin’s wastewater permit
Third proposed UK spaceport gets conditional airspace approval
A tour of Stoke Space
Japan launches a Japanese GPS-type satellite
Eutelsat/OneWeb to launch new 340 satellites by 2027
Rocket Lab completes its 7th launch for Japanese company iQPS
Axiom gets $100 million of investment capital from Hungarian company
China launches “communications technology test” satellite
December 19, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Toilet Cat, The Kiffness, & Juzzie Smith – Christmas Blues
December 19, 2025 Quick space links
Curiosity’s exploration of boxwork on Mount Sharp
Spherex completes first infrared map of the sky
A new commercial smallsat space telescope is now operational and offering its data to scientists
Scientist think they have detected a collision in the debris disk surrounding the star Fomalhaut
Something caused a Starlink satellite to tumble and its fuel tank to vent
Celtic Woman – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
New Trump executive order today guarantees major changes coming to NASA’s Moon program
December 18, 2025 Quick space links
New study: AI is corrupting the minds of children
Ancient Martian drainage into crater lake, now turned into ridges
More delays expected in India’s first manned Gaganyaan orbital mission
Kenya to build its own spaceport
Station module builder Max Space announces new Thunderbird inflatable module
South Korean rocket startup Innospace signs deal to launch from Australia
Rocket Lab launches a set of technology test satellites for Space Force
December 17, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Geoff Castellucci – I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
December 17, 2025 Quick space links
Jared Isaacman confirmed as NASA administrator
A unique place where waves repeatedly crash against each other
European sea-level satellite releases first data
Two new NASA science spacecraft achieve “first light”
Three launches and one scrub overnight
Elahn Zetlin – Hanukkah in Jerusalem
December 16, 2025 Quick space links
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s high resolution camera takes its 100,000 picture
Astronomers propose a new explanation for “Bright Blue Outbursts”
France and U.S. militaries complete rendezvous maneuvers in orbit
Update on SpaceX launchpad upgrades at Boca Chica
Two launches early today
Updates on the status of two Mars missions, Maven and Escapade
Melinda Kathleen Reese – O Come O Come Emmanuel
December 15, 2025 Quick space links
A ray of hope during a weekend of horror
An Impulse tug using Starfish equipment has successfully completed autonomous rendezvous maneuvers
SpaceX launches another 29 Starlink satellites
House joins Senate in proposing a new space bureaucracy here on Earth
Software issue forces Russia to delay Proton launch until next year
Components for the first Ariane-6 Amazon’s Leo launch shipped to French Guiana
Vast opens Japanese office
SpaceX official confirms it is considering an IPO
The two American launches today set a new global annual launch record exceeding 300+
South Africa lifts its racial quota rules for Starlink
More details revealed about what caused the damage on that Russian launchpad
China launches classified payload; satellite launched two days ago just misses Starlink satellite
December 12, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Sidetrack Adventures – World’s only moving geyser and its path of destruction
December 12, 2025 Quick space links
Leftist lawsuit against beach closures at Boca Chica appealed to higher Texas court
The beginnings of a planetary nebula
Space Force creates new naming system for its satellites
Iraq and SpaceX close to signing Starlink deal
Avio to build $500 million rocket facility in Virginia
Turkey begins construction of spaceport in Somalia
China launches nine more Guowang internet-of-things satellites
Stray Cats – Rock this town
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
Astronomers: 70% of smaller galaxies don’t have supermassive black holes at their center
Chinese astronauts complete spacewalk inspecting damaged Shenzhou capsule
Unconfirmed anonymous sources at Reuters and Bloomberg claim SpaceX is planning a public stock offering
Scientists posit that Neptune and Uranus might be rockier than previously theorized
French startup The Exploration Company now building an in-orbit servicing spacecraft
Scientists map the outside edge of the Sun’s atmosphere
Pentagon decides New Glenn must fly four times before its certifies it for military launches
December 10, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
December 10, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Svetlana Zakharova – Nikiya’s Death in La Bayadère
Starlab assembles a full scale mock up of its proposed space station
December 10, 2025 Quick space links
December 10, 2025 Quick space links
Three launches today
Abstract art produced by nature within Mars’ north pole ice cap
Unconfirmed anonymous sources at Reuters and Bloomberg claim SpaceX is planning a public stock offering
Chinese astronauts complete spacewalk inspecting damaged Shenzhou capsule
Three launches since yesterday
Engineers lose contact with Mars orbiter MAVEN
Engineers lose contact with Mars orbiter Maven
Eric Clapton – Signe
December 9, 2025 Quick space links
SpaceX completes its 11th launch this year for the National Reconnaissance Office
Academia makes its first comprehensive attempt to plan science missions to Mars using Starship
New data detects potassium and chlorine in Cassiopeia supernova remnant
Nova explosions appear to have multiple slow and fast explosive outflows
A new study blasts the European Union’s proposed space act
Three astronauts return from ISS in Soyuz capsule
China completed two launches today
Senate committee approves Isaacman’s nomination as NASA administrator
Soggy Bottom Boys – I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites, sets new record for Falcon 9 reuse, dominates the world in rocketry
Astronomers detect a seven-hour-long gamma ray burst, the longest many times over
December 8, 2025 Quick space links
The war-mongers are always those in power
A small galaxy with lots of massive stars
More than 300 companies in discussions in connection Space Force’s “Golden Dome” project
Korean Air and Hyundai Rotem sign deal to develop methane-fueled rocket engine
Japanese startup Ispace expands deal with Japan Airlines
Russia and India agree to orbit their space stations in the same inclination, the same as ISS
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites
SpaceX to launch another secondary private stock sale, hints at going public
China launches another set of Guowang satellites
December 5, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
David Hartley – Why Wichita Lineman is the greatest unfinished song of all time
December 5, 2025 Quick space links
Perseverance moves west, into the barren hinterlands beyond Jezero Crater
New data strengthens the conflict in the observed value for the universe’s expansion rate
House hearing on Artemis yesterday signals strong doubts about the program in Congress
Airbus signs China’s Qianfan or Spacesail constellation to provide internet on its airplanes
New images of interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas
China launches two small test communications satellites
“Blemish” on Orion hatch’s “thermal barrier” delays countdown rehearsal
Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites
Boeing is still not off the hook for its malfeasance behind the two 737-Max crashes that killed 346
December 4, 2025 Quick space links
The insane terrain inside Mars’ Death Valley
Ground-based telescope actually photographs an exoplanet
Yesterday’s Senate nomination hearing for Jared Isaacman was irrelevant; America’s real space “program” is happening elsewhere
December 3, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Larry Kimpel, Billy Cobham, & George Duke – Stratus
December 3, 2025 Quick space links
Weird mottled terrain in the dry tropics of Mars
Sunspot update: Sunspot activity again crashes far below predictions
France’s space agency CNES found liable for environmental damage at French Guiana spaceport
Russian astronaut kicked out of the U.S. for stealing proprietary SpaceX designs
New data from VLT uncovers numerous debris disks around stars
China’s Zhuque-3 copycat Falcon 9 reaches orbit on first launch; 1st stage crashes
Jefferson Starship – Jane
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
December 2, 2025 Quick space links
Astronomers detect another galaxy that shouldn’t be there, so soon after the Big Bang
Blue Origin faces opposition renewing its permit to dump waste water at Florida launch facility
Three new papers find sugars, “gum,” and lots of stardust in the samples brought back from the asteroid Bennu
All eight ports on ISS occupied for the first time; Longest manned mission about to start?
China reveals its plans for the damaged Shenzhou-20 capsule docked to Tiangong-3
German rocket startup Isar gets launch contract from ESA
Senate Commerce committee to move up its vote on Isaacman’s nomination as NASA administrator
SpaceX gets Air Force approval to launch and land Starship/Superheavy at Cape Canaveral
Two launches today, by Arianespace and SpaceX
Little Cars – When Sweden Switched To Driving On The Right
December 1, 2025 Quick space links
Buffalo Bill: The greatest true boy adventure story that’s never been told
A detailed look at Europe’s $1 billion commitment to its nascent commercial rocket industry
After being linked for almost six months, China’s Shijian 21 and Shijian 25 separate
Russia still using black market Starlink terminals on its drones
SpaceX launches another 29 Starlink satellites
South Korean rocket startup Innospace announces date for inaugural launch
New Australian rocket startup completes suborbital launch
China launches classified payload into orbit
Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire – Swing Time
SpaceX launches another Transporter mission, including dozens of smallsats
ESA’s member nations approve a major budget increase
Russia’s only manned launchpad damaged badly during yesterday’s launch
Thanksgiving repost: Miracle on 34th Street
Russia launches three astronauts to ISS
What AI thinks Thanksgiving looked like
Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation
November 26, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
November 21, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Josephine Baker – Dance Josie, Dance
November 26, 2025 Quick space links
More glaciers on Mars
European Space Agency faces reality: Its partnerships with NASA are fading
South Korea successfully launches its Nuri rocket for the third time
New study claims to have detected dark matter inside the Milky Way
Thirty Meter Telescope is finally considering a move to the Canary Islands
Vast signs preliminary astronaut deal with the Maldives
Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
November 25, 2025 Quick space links
Predicting dust storms in the Starship candidate landing zone on Mars
The smooth and extremely calm methane lakes of Titan
New radar data shows no evidence of liquid water under Mars’ south pole ice cap
Russia launches classified military satellites
Two suborbital test launches in Poland during the past month
NASA releases images during Osiris-Apex’s fly-by of Earth in late September
Twin Escapade Mars orbiters take first images to test instruments
Vast signs deal with Columbia’s space agency
A Midnight Repost: Farewell to America
China launches unmanned Shenzhou-22 capsule to its Tiangong-3 station
NASA trims $768 million from Boeing’s Starliner contract
Robert Goulet & Julie Andrews – My Cup Runneth Over
Blue Origin’s Blue Ring orbital tug gets a customer
November 24, 2025 Quick space links
NASA downgrades Boeing’s Starliner contract
Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt?
Two Middle Eastern startups sign deal to build a mini-shuttle dubbed Oryx
A magnificent barred spiral
A company that wants to shoot payloads into orbit with a cannon
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites; 1st stage flies for the 30th time
Startup B2Space launches rocket from balloon
SpaceX issues 1st statement regarding Superheavy test explosion
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
Restless Viking – The Great Lakes Flight of MSgt William Wyman
November 21, 2025 Quick space links
Bigoted academia upset that Trump won’t allow them to push the racist DEI agenda
What might be the weirdest crater on Mars
Superheavy intended for next test flight damaged during static fire test
China launches a “communications technology test satellite”
Moss placed on the outside of ISS for nine months was still capable of reproducing
Maritime Launch Services touts a second non-orbital launch from Spaceport Nova Scotia
Firefly to provide the launch rocket for Kratos’ hypersonic test vehicles
Spanish rocket startup PLD unveils the first qualification unit of its Miura-5 rocket
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
Sonny and Cher – I Got You Babe
November 20, 2025 Quick space links
Cracks on Mars
The DC swamp proposes beating China in space by creating another bureaucracy here on Earth
Blue Origin announces plans to upgrade New Glenn to match SLS
Rocket Lab sets new annual launch record for the company
ArianeGroup confirms it is targeting about six Ariane-6 launches in 2026
Webb captures spiraling shells around massive binary star system
India tests new and better restart method for upper stage of its biggest rocket
NASA releases numerous images of interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas
Katalyst picks Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rocket to launch its Swift rescue mission
November 19, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Marilyn Monroe – Lazy
November 19, 2025 Quick space links
Looking for avalanches on Mars
More criticism and opposition to Europe’s proposed space law
Senate demands a second hearing before voting on Isaacman as NASA administrator
Canada commits a half billion to European Space Agency projects
SpaceX and China complete launches
Stevie Ray Vaughan – Couldn’t Stand The Weather
November 18, 2025 Quick space links
Mexican anti-Musk activists whine about SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch operations
Cracking scallops in the Mars
German rocket startup Isar wins another launch contract
Blue Origin targeting from 12 to 24 New Glenn launches in 2026
Will China launch a rescue Shenzhou capsule to Tiangong-3 in one week?
Echostar subsidiary Hughesnet now sending its customers to Starlink
Leonid & Friends – Stay the Night
November 17, 2025 Quick space links
The crippling effect of “woke” on historians
Perseverance moves on
Thailand rejects Starlink
Europe finalizes transfer of Vega-C rocket back to its builder, Italian company Avio
China begins hurried preparations to launch rescue Shenzhou capsule to Tiangong-3
FAA lifts airline and rocket launch restrictions
SpaceX launches NASA ocean radar satellite
Europe’s Trace Gas Orbiter circling Mars gets images of interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas
Two more SpaceX launches
November 14, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
November 11, 2025 Zimmerman/Space Show appearance
The orbital propulsion module for India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander drifts back into lunar orbit
Bezos releases new video of the New Glenn first stage landing yesterday
Comet 3I/Atlas breaks up as it passes closest to the Sun
China’s Shenzhou-20 crew on Tiangong-3 returns on Shenzhou-21 capsule
Amazon renames its proposed internet from constellation Kuiper to Amazon LEO
ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket launches Viasat communications satellite
Home Free – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Historical proof that today’s public schools are nothing but indoctrination mills poisoning minds
Sierra Space finally completes preflight tests of its Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle
November 13, 2025 Quick space links
New Glenn successfully launches Escapade orbiters AND lands 1st stage
France’s president puts forth a new national space policy
Is China preparing to return its stranded astronauts in its damaged Shenzhou capsule?
The earliest observations ever of a supernova exploding suggest the blast was bi-polar
German rocket startup Isar Aerospace is getting ready for 2nd launch attempt in Norway
Space energy startup Star Catcher successfully tests power beaming using lasers
Uzbekistan signs deal to possibly fly astronauts on Vast’s Haven-1 space station
Firefly identifies cause of first stage explosion during static fire test in September
November 12, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Lena Horne – Stormy Weather
Saturn’s rings, warped by one of Saturn’s moons
November 12, 2025 Quick space links
The leftist protest at Berkeley this week: Feel the hate!
First Soyuz-5 rocket arrives at Baikonur
SpaceX signs Starlink deal with major African telecommunication company
India tests Gaganyaan parachutes again
Canada’s Nova Scotia spaceport schedules a suborbital launch for November
Goldstone antenna damaged and out of service
PDQ Bach – Beethoven Symphony No. 5
November 11, 2025 Quick space links
The edge of Mars’ north polar ice cap
On the Space Show tonight
Kazakhstan expanding its access to multiple internet satellite constellations
China’s Zhuque-3 reusable rocket now ready for its first launch
Avio to provide solid-fueled motors to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon
New company formed to run proposed North Sea offshore launch platform
First launch of Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket delayed until 2026
SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites
Dean Martin & Caterina Valente – One Note Samba
November 10, 2025 Quick space links
Curiosity looks downhill at past travels
Two launches from China, one of which failed
Isaacman shows up as surprise speaker at Turning Point USA event in Alabama
Three launches since yesterday, with a fourth upcoming today
November 7, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Dusty Lumber Company – No talking just precision carpentry
November 7, 2025 Quick space links
Crazy layers inside a Martian crater
Profits for Luxembourg satellite company SES drop due to U.S. budget cuts and shutdown
Webb tracks volcanic eruptions on Io
U.S. budget cuts shifts Blacksky’s satellite imaging business to international customers
Echostar sells more of its licensed spectrum to SpaceX
FAA issues a launch curfew due to the shutdown
One launch today by SpaceX, while ULA scrubs for the second time in two days
The McCoys – Hang On Sloopy
November 6, 2025 Quick space links
Judge approves plea deal related to Boeing’s malfeasance that caused two 737-Max crashes killing 346
SpaceX and Arianespace make launch predictions for ’25 and ’26
China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter snaps fuzzy picture of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas
State Department blasts the European Union’s proposed Space Act
Starlab picks Leidos to assembly, integrate, and test its space station prior to launch
Two American launches today, setting several new launch records
November 5, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Sue Foley & others – Okie Dokie Stomp
November 5, 2025 Quick space links
This typical cliff on Mars just happens to match the walls of the Grand Canyon
Trump renominates Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator
Arianespace launches European radar satellite
China delays return of Shenzhou 20 crew due to possible capsule damage from “space debris”
Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Mas Que Nada
Sunspot update: Solar activity continues to decline as predicted
November 4, 2025 Quick space links
Someone is apparently considering putting a helicopter on Starship when it goes to Mars
More Washington shenanigans over who will be NASA’s next administrator
Intuitive Machines buys Lanteris, formerly Maxar
First unmanned test flight of India’s Gaganyaan capsule likely slips to next year
MDA invests $7 million to become part owner of proposed Nova Scotia spaceport
China will launch its upgraded manned Mengzhou-1 capsule in 2026
The November fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black
Eric Clapton – She’s Waiting
November 3, 2025 Quick space links
A think tank releases its detailed review of the American satellite communications industry
Is the German government holding up Rocket Lab’s purchase of German space communications company Mynaric?
Update on Vast’s first planned space station, Haven-1
China launches “remote sensing” satellite, setting a new national record for annual launches
Two overnight launches
October 31, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Annie Marie Lewis – Headless Horseman
SpaceX launches 28 more Starlink satellites
Two former NASA administrators express wildly different opinions on NASA’s Artemis lunar program
ISS study suggests that weightlessness impacts the eyes of men more than women
Webb captures spectacular false-color image of planetary nebula
China launches three astronauts to its Tiangong-3 space station
Latvia signs Artemis Accords
October 31, 2025 Quick space links
Geoff Castellucci – Monster Mash
New orbital radar data confirms large ice deposits in Phelgra Mountains near Starship landing zone
October 30, 2025 Quick space links
SpaceX: Starship will be going to the Moon, with or without NASA
Colorado sues the Trump administration over its decision to move Space Force headquarters to Alabama
Roscosmos forced to replace next manned Soyuz capsule due to damage during test
A slew of propaganda today from China’s state-run press attempts to hide the delays in its manned lunar program
AST SpaceMobile signs 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia
Lawsuit against Amazon for favoring Blue Origin over SpaceX to launch Kuiper satellites gets new hearing
October 29, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
“Weird Al” Yankovic – Smells Like Nirvana
October 29, 2025 Quick space links
The alien landscape of Mars’ north polar ice cap
SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites
Blue Origin officials provide update on their lunar lander program
Startup semi-conductor manufacturer Besxar signs deal to use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage as production platform during its short flight
Lockheed Martin completes first flight of X-59 supersonic test plane
The Hollies- On A Carousel
October 28, 2025 Quick space links
The base of the Democratic Party has truly become nightmare to behold
European think tank pushes passage of proposed and very Byzantine space law
SpaceX settles Cards Against Humanity lawsuit against it
Voyager Space buys satellite electric propulsion company Exoterra
The Philippines and Malaysia sign Artemis Accords
SpaceX launches another 28 Starlink satellites
Ozzy Osbourne And Lita Ford – Close My Eyes Forever
October 27, 2025 Quick space links
Russia claims to have successfully tested a low-flying nuclear-powered cruise missile
New data supports theory of dark matter, but suggests inexplicably that it acts differently depending on the galaxy’s mass
Luxembourg capsule startup Space Cargo signs partnership deal with French startup
Ispace signs deals with companies in India and Japan
Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander delayed again
Two more launches, by China and SpaceX respectively
Japan launches a new upgraded version of its HTV cargo freighter
Nova Scotia spaceport wins $10 million credit line from Canadian government
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites, sets new annual launch record
October 24, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Deconstructed – How the bathyscaphe Trieste was the first to reach the ocean’s deepest point
October 24, 2025 Quick space links
Two lawsuits filed against NASA at its Marshall Space Flight Center
SpaceX launches communications satellite for the Spanish government
Eivør & Danish National Symphony Orchestra – Trøllabundin
October 23, 2025 Quick space links
China launches a “communication technology test” satellite
Weird “What the heck?!” pedestal crater on Mars
European companies Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales merge their satellite divisions
Betelgeuse’s long predicted companion star confirmed
The second known asteroid discovered orbiting closer to the Sun than Venus
Lockheed Martin invests in rotating detonation rocket engine startup Venus Aerospace
Hungary becomes the 57th nation to sign the Artemis Accords
October 22, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
The Guys Downstairs – How Long Has This Been Going On
What bad news is NASA hiding about the heat shield it will use on the next Orion/SLS manned mission around the Moon?
October 22, 2025 Quick space links
A somewhat typical volcanic vent on Mars
Duffy’s shiny object worked
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites
Debby Boone – You Light Up My Life
October 21, 2025 Quick space links
Small fresh impact on Mars’ youngest major lava flow
October 17, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Fake blather from NASA administrator Sean Duffy to hide more Artemis delays
The 5.6.7.8s – I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield
October 20, 2025 Quick space links
The “No Kings” demonstrations this past weekend showed the future belongs to the right
Was it a piece of space junk that broke a United plane windshield in flight last week?
Debris from suspected Chinese rocket discovered in western Australia
South Korea issues launch license to Korean rocket startup Innospace
The three launches completed today including two major new achievements
Oman streamlines in launch license regulations
Foundations – Build Me Up Buttercup
October 17, 2025 Quick space links
Meandering channel in Mars’ southern cratered highlands
If there is any microbiology on Mars, new research says it will be found in the red planet’s ample ice
China launches 18 satellites
JD ‘FollowCam’ – Just “wing” it!
October 16, 2025 Quick space links
Layers of Martian ash
ESA awards contract to Italian company to provide an ocean landing platform
South African red tape will likely delay Starlink there for years to come
Scientists find that three normally incompatible substances can interact in the alien conditions on Titan
Thailand studying feasibility of establishing its own commercial spaceport
Three launches since yesterday
Indian rocket startup Skyroot hires Exolaunch to handle satellite integration and deployment
October 15, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Alexis Dahl – How to ship 800 billion pounds of rock fast
October 15, 2025 Quick space links
Peeling brain terrain in Martian crater
New Morgan Stanley report reflects Wall Street’s generally optimistic view of Rocket Lab
Orbital tug startup Impulse Space to develop its own unmanned lunar lander
Space Force approves Vandenberg environmental assessment, allowing SpaceX’s to launch as much as 100 times annually
Lena Haarberg – Fall Into You
October 14, 2025 Quick space links
The hurricane season in 2024 confounded the predictions again
Three launches in the past day
PLD issues detailed update on its preparations for first launch in 2026
Swarm satellite constellation detects changes in the Earth’s magnetic field during the past decade
Eleventh Starship/Superheavy a complete success
I love love love my toy chicken!!!
Another round of layoffs at JPL
Michael Knowles – Celebrating Columbus
Welsh university delivers spectometer for Europe’s Franklin Mars rover
Faced with loss of the federal gravy train, Lowell Observatory makes major changes
Germany’s space agency DLR delivers one prototype leg for Europe’s Callisto grasshopper
Watch the eleventh orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy rocket
Rocket Lab gets two-launch contract from Japan’s space agency JAXA
China launches three satellites from ocean platform
October 10, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Business Insider – The Rise And Fall Of The American Diner
October 10, 2025 Quick space links
New research confirms the steady decline of Martian ice with each glacial cycle
Orbital tug company Momentus gets two NASA contracts
Astronomers take first radio image of the supermassive binary system OJ287
Canadian rocket startup Nordspace signs deal for its mission control center
Is Trump considering re-nominating Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator?
October 8, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Asleep At The Wheel – Roly Poly
October 9, 2025 Quick space links
Dominion Voting Systems purchased by American company run by Republican election reform activist
Saturn as seen by Cassini in 2004, four months before orbital insertion
Congressional budget action appears to just save two of seventeen on-going NASA missions
New study claims the giant impact that created the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin was oblique, from the south
AST SpaceMobile signs up Verizon to use its constellation for phone-to-satellite service
Prince – Play that funky music
October 8, 2025 Quick space links
Martian winds are faster than expected
Fresh slope streak on Mars
Canadian rocket startup Nordspace obtains expanded ground station contract
Stoke Space said to be raising as much as $500 million in private investment capital
First image from Mars of interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites, reuses 1st stage for 29th time
Japanese satellite company extends its launch contract with Rocket Lab
Melanie – The Nickel Song
October 7, 2025 Quick space links
Is the fate of the independent live streams in Boca Chica uncertain?
Martian boxwork on the flanks of Mount Sharp
The Juno mission at Jupiter is almost certainly over
SpaceX launches 28 more Starlink satellites
Chuck Mangione Quartet – Land of Make Believe
The left only has a short window remaining to stop its violence before the hammer strikes it hard
October 6, 2025 Quick space links
A galaxy with a starburst ring within its nucleus
ESA looks to global private sector for its next ISS cargo mission
Firefly Aerospace buys defense contractor SciTec
Asleep At The Wheel – Roly Poly
Space Force awards SpaceX and ULA seven launches worth more than a billion dollars
Gilmour to attempt first launch again next year
October 3, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
David Bull – Taking a close look at an 1896 wood block print
October 3, 2025 Quick space links
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites
Renée Zellweger – Roxie
October 2, 2025 Quick space links
Distractions
Sunspot update: For one month the Sun does what the scientists predicted!
Satellite propulsion startup Portal successfully tests new and radical thruster design
Update on the plans to observe interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas using interplanetary spacecraft
October 1, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Shocking Blue – Venus
October 1, 2025 Quick space links
Climategate global-warming activist Michael Mann resigns from PennU after celebrating murder of Charlie Kirk
The growing mystery of the little red dots in the early universe
Analysis of archived Cassini data finds a new slate of carbon-based molecules in the plumes of Enceladus
Astronomers snap picture of a baby exoplanet
International Astronautical Congress meeting in Australia produces several international agreements
Varda signs deal for more capsule landings in Australia
Belgium company joins Starlab space station consortium
Axiom successfully tests two of its lunar spacesuits underwater
Natalia Osipova and Carlos Acosta – Giselle: Act II
September 30, 2025 Quick space links
Inspector General: The state of NASA’s spacesuits on ISS is becoming critical
Next Starship/Superheavy test set for October 13, 2025
Firefly loses first stage for next launch when it explodes during static fire test
China launches two “test satellites”
The Cars – Just What I Needed
September 29, 2025 Quick space links
Study suggests low dose radiation reduces severe knee pain