Ars Technica
• Stephen Clark
Chinese commercial launch company LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket after placing the Honghu-03 satellite into orbit. The milestone advances China’s reusable launch effort toward a Falcon 9-style model, with implications for commercial space access and U.S. national-security launch advantages.
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Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation
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Rocket Lab is preparing to launch a Japanese QPS-SAR Earth-imaging satellite for iQPS on its Electron rocket, with the launch window opening Thursday. The mission is the ninth Electron flight for the private Japanese company, which is expanding its satellite constellation for Earth observation.
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Stoke Space has completed first-stage engines and conducted second-stage fit checks for Nova, its fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The milestones, including vehicle mating, mark further progress toward the startup’s potential 2026 maiden launch as attention remains focused on SpaceX’s Starship program.
ATMOS Space Cargo has completed an initial study for its Phoenix 3 spacecraft, while the inaugural flight of Phoenix 2 has been delayed until 2027. The parallel program activity signals continued development of the company’s spacecraft portfolio despite a later-than-planned first mission.
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Chinese commercial launch company LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket after placing the Honghu-03 satellite into orbit. The milestone advances China’s reusable launch effort toward a Falcon 9-style model, with implications for commercial space access and U.S. national-security launch advantages.
America’s space economy is growing faster than the industrial base needed to support it, making supply chain resilience the industry’s next major challenge. The mismatch places manufacturing capacity, supplier depth and production scalability at the center of continued expansion across the sector.
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Chinese startup LandSpace successfully soft-landed the first stage of its methalox-fueled Zhuque-3 rocket after its second orbital launch from Jiuquan on August 18. The achievement places LandSpace among the few private companies to recover an orbital-class booster and advances China’s reusable-launch ambitions.
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured the clearest views so far of a new lunar crater created when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon at roughly 8,700 km/h after drifting in space for 19 months. The images document the unexpected impact and its comparatively small crater.
VinSpace, the recently formed space unit of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, has signed a launch contract with SpaceX for in-orbit demonstration satellites. The spacecraft are planned to fly on a 2027 Transporter rideshare mission, marking an early step in Vietnam’s emerging commercial space sector.
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