European Spaceflight
• Andrew Parsonson
Airbus Netherlands has shipped the first lightweight Vulcain Aft Bay for Ariane 6, part of the rocket’s final Block 2 upgrades. The aft bay is a structural component, and its reduced weight supports the upgraded launcher’s performance goals.
Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation
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Airbus Netherlands has shipped the first lightweight Vulcain Aft Bay for Ariane 6, part of the rocket’s final Block 2 upgrades. The aft bay is a structural component, and its reduced weight supports the upgraded launcher’s performance goals.
Spanish launch company PLD Space now plans to conduct the Miura 5 rocket’s first orbital launch in the first half of 2027, pushing back the debut from its earlier schedule. The change shifts the timeline for the company’s entry into the orbital launch market.
Spaceport Cornwall and Dawn Aerospace are exploring DASH UK, a proposed program that would establish a UK base for Aurora spaceplane flights. The concept centers on repeatable suborbital research testing, though the available details do not specify a schedule, investment or commitment to proceed.
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A Ceres-1 sea launch placed the first satellite for Guangzhou-backed Wuyang remote-sensing constellation into orbit, while ICEYE launched four SAR satellites on Bandwagon-5 for Portugal’s Atlantic Constellation. Separately, SES began a NASA-linked relay test using Planet’s Pelican satellite, and Eutelsat and ClearSpace agreed to advance GEO life-extension services.
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SpaceX plans to try to recover both Starship’s upper stage and its Super Heavy booster during the rocket’s next test flight, expected in November, Elon Musk said. The attempt would mark the first effort to catch both vehicles and advance the company’s push toward a reusable launch system.
The U.S. Space Force plans to modernize its busiest launch ranges so they can eventually handle surges of five to eight major operations a day. The effort is aimed at preventing aging range infrastructure from becoming a bottleneck as space activity grows.
Elon Musk said SpaceX will try to catch both Starship’s upper stage and its Super Heavy booster in November, marking the company’s first attempt to recover the two vehicles at the launch site. The maneuver is a key step in SpaceX’s push to make the launch system reusable.
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