European Spaceflight
• Andrew Parsonson
Germany’s DLR is preparing to launch the MAPHEUS-17 suborbital research mission from Esrange Space Center in Sweden as early as Oct. 1. The flight will support DLR’s ongoing use of suborbital missions for scientific and technology research, although no further payload or schedule details were provided.
Space Exploration & Science Missions
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Germany’s DLR is preparing to launch the MAPHEUS-17 suborbital research mission from Esrange Space Center in Sweden as early as Oct. 1. The flight will support DLR’s ongoing use of suborbital missions for scientific and technology research, although no further payload or schedule details were provided.
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China is integrating crewed and robotic missions into its broader lunar exploration program while advancing plans to return the first samples from Mars. Separately, a student-led spacecraft is being developed for a 2029 flyby of near-Earth asteroid Apophis, extending the country’s deep-space ambitions.
NASA says the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could operate for as long as 22 years—more than twice its previously announced lifespan—even before reaching its planned orbit. The extended mission would give the flagship observatory substantially more time to conduct wide-field space science and sustain long-term research programs.
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter detected a previously unrecognized crater roughly 222 meters wide, formed when an asteroid or comet struck the Moon in May 2024. The event, named McGetchin, is estimated to occur about once a century and offers a fresh record of lunar surface evolution.
NASA has started activating instruments aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope for the first time as the observatory travels nearly 1 million miles to its final orbit. The commissioning milestone precedes Roman’s scientific mission to study the universe with a wide field of view.
Space Cargo Unlimited has contracted to fly microgravity research payloads on SpaceX’s Starfall reentry vehicle, adding an in-space research option as the company develops broader access to microgravity missions. The agreement positions Starfall as a potential platform for recurring commercial payload opportunities.
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Roscosmos’ uncrewed Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft launched aboard a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sept. 16 and entered orbit successfully. The vehicle is scheduled to dock with the ISS’s Poisk module on Sept. 19, carrying supplies and equipment for the Teledroid program.
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Russia’s Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft is expected to launch from Kazakhstan on Sept. 16, shortly after Progress MS-33 departs the International Space Station. The mission will sustain the station’s logistics pipeline, delivering cargo and supplies to the orbiting complex.
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