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• Andrew Jones
China has rolled back the Long March 5 rocket for Chang’e-7, potentially delaying the lunar mission by a year, even as Long March 6C returned to flight with seven Earth-imaging satellites. Japan’s Sarmony selected Space One’s Kairos, while CAS Space targets early 2027 for its Kinastra upper stage.
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China has rolled back the Long March 5 rocket for Chang’e-7, potentially delaying the lunar mission by a year, even as Long March 6C returned to flight with seven Earth-imaging satellites. Japan’s Sarmony selected Space One’s Kairos, while CAS Space targets early 2027 for its Kinastra upper stage.
NASA will omit cubesat secondary payloads from Artemis 3 after carrying small satellites on the first two Space Launch System missions. The change reduces the mission’s rideshare activity and underscores the evolving payload priorities for the next Artemis flight to the Moon.
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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has arrived at SpaceX’s hangar at Launch Complex 39A ahead of its scheduled Aug. 30 launch. The observatory is designed to discover thousands of exoplanets and produce a statistical census of planetary systems, complementing capabilities unavailable from Hubble and JWST.
NASA and Advanced Space are developing a pair of small satellites as a follow-on to the CAPSTONE CubeSat mission. The spacecraft will test rendezvous and proximity operations around the moon, advancing capabilities needed for future lunar missions and more complex cislunar activity.
A team of NASA satellites successfully demonstrated navigation without GPS in what NASA describes as the world’s first “lost-in-space” experiment. The result is enabling the satellites to extend their mission in orbit and validates alternative navigation methods for spacecraft operating beyond conventional GPS coverage.
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The European Space Agency’s Draco reentry mission has completed its Critical Design Review, a major program milestone that authorizes the transition to manufacturing and testing. The mission remains scheduled for launch in 2027, advancing ESA’s work on controlled atmospheric reentry and spacecraft recovery technologies.
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ESA is planning modifications to Ariane 6 to support future Argonaut lunar missions carrying radioisotope power systems. The adaptations would enable the launcher to accommodate missions with nuclear power sources, linking Europe’s heavy-lift launch capability to longer-duration lunar exploration objectives.
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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is entering the final phase of launch preparations at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, following its June arrival. Teams have completed several integration and rehearsal milestones ahead of the scheduled Aug. 30 liftoff, bringing the observatory closer to operations designed to expand space-based astronomical research.
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