Space.com
• Josh Dinner
SpaceX has stacked the Starship vehicle for Flight 14 and is targeting Sept. 28 for the rocket’s first orbital launch attempt. The live preparations mark the latest step in the company’s development of a fully reusable launch system, subject to final readiness and regulatory conditions.
Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation
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SpaceX has stacked the Starship vehicle for Flight 14 and is targeting Sept. 28 for the rocket’s first orbital launch attempt. The live preparations mark the latest step in the company’s development of a fully reusable launch system, subject to final readiness and regulatory conditions.
European Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said government launch demand is expected to exceed Europe’s available capacity within five years. EU governments are projected to require 14 Ariane 6 missions in 2031, while production is currently limited to 10 rockets annually, highlighting an emerging launch-capacity gap.
Space Epoch has secured $343 million in new funding as the Chinese launch startup targets the end of the year for the debut of its Yuanxingzhe-1 rocket. The financing underscores continued investment in China’s commercial launch sector and its push to expand domestic space transportation capacity.
China launched 13 satellites over the weekend across two missions, including commercial radar spacecraft and a nine-satellite rideshare carrying on-orbit computing and communications testbeds. The launches underscore the country’s expanding cadence across both commercial satellite services and in-space technology demonstrations.
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SpaceX has moved Starship Ship 41 to the launch site for stacking with Booster 21. The vehicle’s heat shield includes two tiles recovered from Ship 40 after Flight 13, marking the first use of flown tiles in the Starship program.
Europe’s launch sector will convene in Brussels on Sept. 23 for the second EU Access to Space Conference, where Ariane 6’s path to higher annual flight rates is expected to take center stage. The meeting highlights the policy and industrial decisions needed to expand Europe’s launch capacity.
Falling launch costs and a rising launch cadence are turning orbital data centers from a speculative idea into a potential commercial business. The concept is also creating unsettled intellectual-property questions as companies consider how ownership and protection of data-center technologies would work in orbit.
Planet Labs plans to launch its first German-built satellite on a German rocket in early 2027, supported by expanded Berlin production. Separately, Exolaunch has contracted a dedicated SpaceX Starship mission for 2029, while China completed four orbital launches in 45 hours to advance competing LEO broadband constellations.
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