Monthly Dose of Space - November 2024
Welcome to our fourteenth Monthly Dose of Space! In this monthly newsletter, we bring you major news from the past month we haven't covered in our weekly newsletters. November has been an incredible month for space worldwide, so let's jump into it!
News of the Month
November saw various NASA missions assigned payloads, destined for the Moon and beyond, the second SLS vehicle beginning stacking, Firefly's first lunar mission nearing launch, and infrastructure for one of China's reusable rockets beginning construction.
NASA selects SpaceX & Blue Origin for future lunar hardware delivery
NASA announced on November 19th that it is intending to award contracts to SpaceX and Blue Origin for the delivery of lunar hardware that will be used as part of Artemis missions in the 2030s. The vehicles that will be used to deliver cargo to the surface will be cargo versions of SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System and Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK2.
Lisa Watson-Morgan, Program Manager for NASA’s Human Landing System, revealed that SpaceX would deliver Japan's pressurized rover to the surface in 2032 to support the Artemis 6 mission. Blue Origin's delivery would take place no earlier than a year after, in 2033, carrying a surface habitat, likely for the Artemis 7 mission. Speaking on why the two landers were chosen, Stephen D. Creech, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator (Technical) for the Moon to Mars Program, said the following:
“NASA is planning for both crewed missions and future services missions to the Moon beyond Artemis V,” – “The Artemis campaign is a collaborative effort with international and industry partners. Having two lunar lander providers with different approaches for crew and cargo landing capability provides mission flexibility while ensuring a regular cadence of Moon landings for continued discovery and scientific opportunity.”
NASA expects that assigning cargo missions to SpaceX and Blue Origin will mature the designs of both company's human and cargo-carrying lunar landers, increasing safety and reliability for Artemis missions. Blue Origin is currently expecting to conduct a lunar landing demonstration mission in 2027 while SpaceX is planning for its demonstration to take place in 2025.
Firefly prepares for first lunar mission
Firefly Aerospace announced on November 25th that its Blue Ghost lunar lander had successfully completed environmental testing ahead of its first mission. That mission is currently expected to launch in mid-January of 2025 atop of a Falcon 9.
Environmental testing of Blue Ghost took place a few weeks ago in mid-October at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, subjecting the vehicle to a vacuum environment and extreme heat. Firefly's Chief Executive Officer, Jason Kim, commented on the testing and mission ahead saying:
“Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected, which is a testament to the incredible Firefly team,” – “This team has gone above and beyond with innovative testing approaches to ensure Blue Ghost is flight ready. While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”
Blue Ghost's first mission has been named 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' by Firefly with it carrying ten payloads for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The mission is planned to last sixty days, spending forty-five days heading to the Moon and fourteen days operating on the surface in Mare Crisium. This mission will end a few hours after the lunar night begins due to the incredibly cold temperatures.
iSpace breaks ground on Hainan factory, begins drone ship construction
iSpace announced on November 16th that it had broken ground on its Hainan factory and offices, with representatives from the company’s Beijing headquarters and Hainan subsidiary along with officials for Wenchang and Hainan attending the groundbreaking ceremony.
The Hainan facility represents an investment of 540 million Yuan, or approximately 74.5 million United States Dollars (at the time of writing on November 30th), to support at least thirty-six launches of the Hyperbola-3 rocket series per year. iSpace’s Hainan facility is planned to consist of a suborbital and upper-stage special factory, a machine processing factory, a production workshop, three first-stage production and refurbishment factories, and a support building. Once complete the facility will occupy an area of approximately ninety acres.
A few days after breaking ground on the Hainan facility, iSpace also announced work had begun on the company’s first drone ship. This drone ship will be used as a floating landing platform for the first-stage booster recovery, necessary for non-return to launch site missions of Hyperbola-3 from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.
The drone ship will have a displacement of 10,000 tons once sea-faring and make iSpace the owner of the fifth ship meant for booster recovery, Blue Origin owns one and SpaceX owns three, having decommissioned one as well. Production of the ship is planned to be in partnership with Shanghai Chunhe Marine Technology Group (上海春和海洋科技集团有限公司) and Jiangsu Runyang Shipbuilding (江苏润扬船业有限公司).
Story republished from China Space Updates with permission.
The Exploration Company raises 160 million
On November 18th it was announced that The Exploration Company had raised 160 million United States Dollars in its Series B funding round. This funding round was led by Balderton Capital and Plural, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital, French Tech Souveraineté, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and Bayern Kapital. Hélène Huby, Chief Executive Officer of The Exploration Company, commented on the funding round saying:
"This significant raise is a reflection of not only the talent and commitment of the team at TEC but also that building global companies with European roots can only be done through fostering trust and cooperation between European countries. 98% of our shareholders are European, demonstrating that the continent can finance bold entrepreneurs. Space will play a critical role in shaping humanity’s future, and I want to contribute to building a future which is peaceful and cooperative and our European DNA fits perfectly with this mission."
The Exploration Company is currently working on its Nyx cargo resupply capsule for the International Space Station and future space station. Nyx is planned to deliver up to 2,500 kilograms of pressurized cargo in its capsule and 1,400 kilograms of unpressurized cargo in its service module, similar to how SpaceX does with its Dragon spacecraft.
So far The Exploration Company has raised approximately 230 million United States Dollars. The company has also been awarded a contract from the European Space Agency to deliver cargo to the International Space Station by 2028.
Falcon Heavy to launch Dragonfly in 2028
SpaceX was awarded a launch contract, on November 25th, for Falcon Heavy to launch NASA's Dragonfly mission in July 2028. This launch will have Falcon Heavy send the spacecraft to Saturn's moon Titan via an Earth gravity assist.
The launch contract for Dragonfly has a value of 256.6 million United States Dollars. Part of this cost is related to certifying Falcon Heavy to carry the spacecraft's nuclear radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which will be used to generate power within Titan's thick atmosphere.
Dragonfly will be unlike all other NASA exploration missions as the spacecraft will fly around Titan, visiting various sites to perform science. NASA hopes to characterize the habitability of Titan’s environment, investigate the progression of prebiotic chemistry on Titan, and search for chemical indications of whether water-based or hydrocarbon-based life once existed on Titan.
NASA currently expects Dragonfly to arrive on Titan in 2034.
Stacking of Artemis II SLS begins!
NASA announced on November 20th that it had begun the stacking of the Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle that will be used for the Artemis II mission, scheduled to begin in September 2025. Stacking is expected to take approximately four months, from the first solid rocket booster segments to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage.
The first step of stacking the SLS vehicle is placing the aft solid rocket booster segments onto Mobile Launcher 1, which has just begun inside NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After this, eight more solid rocket booster segments will be stacked too for two five-segment solid rocket boosters. Once both boosters are stacked, the liquid-fueled core stage will be placed between them, followed by the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, and finally the Orion spacecraft.
Concerns had been held about Orion's heat shield after erosion was disclosed following the Artemis I mission. With the beginning of stacking, Stephen Clark, for Ars Technica, believes that it bodes well for the conclusion of the investigation into the heat shield erosion, which NASA has still not disclosed the root cause of.
This news story is originally from Weekly Dose of Space (17/11-23/11).
SpaceX
This month at Starbase began late on November 1st when Ship 33 was rolled from the Massey's test site to the production site. After the Ship 33 returned, Starbase was relatively quiet in early November leading up to flight six of Starship Super Heavy.
Activity ahead of launch was spotted on November 11th when the water deluge system was activated as part of a test ahead of flight six. That night Ship 31 was also rolled out from the production site to the launch site, after arriving it was parked near the Orbital Launch Mount.
A few days later on November 14th, Booster 13 was rolled out from the production site to the launch site. Shortly after arriving at the launch site, Booster 13 was lifted onto the Orbital Launch Mount, for the final time ahead of flight.
The next day, November 15th, Ship 31 was lifted on top of Booster 13, fully stacking the flight six Starship-Super Heavy vehicle. Booster 13 also performed a grid fin 'wiggle' to test their movement ahead of flight. The Orbital Launch Mounts detonation suppression system was also tested on the fifteenth.
Installation of the flight termination system explosives was believed to have been completed on November 16th. These explosives are placed on Ship 31 and Booster 13 to quickly terminate the flight in case of an anomaly.
The following day, November 17th, Ship 31 and Booster 13 performed a propellant loading test on the launch pad, partially filling both vehicle liquid methane and liquid oxygen tanks. The following day, the 18th, equipment was moved out of the launch site and back to the production site, ahead of the sixth flight test.
November 19th had the sixth flight test occur at 22:00 pm Universal Coordinated Time, having both Ship 31 and Booster 13 leave the launch site for the final time. Both vehicles splashed down at sea after tower catch criteria were unfulfilled.
After the flight test on November 20th, Ship 26 was moved into one of the high bays where teams began scrapping the vehicle. Ship 26 was a unique vehicle as it had no flaps or thermal protection tiles, in the past year the vehicle was believed to have been used for experimental testing on Suborbital Pad A, Suborbital Pad B, and performing the first static fire at the Massey's test site.
Almost a week later on November 25th teams were spotted painting the launch towers 'chopsticks'. That night also had the 'chopsticks' raised near their maximum height, the following morning of the 26th the 'chopsticks' were still near the top of the tower. The evening of the 26th also had Ship 26's nosecone moved out of one of the high bays, as the vehicle is now being scrapped.
More parts of Ship 26 were spotted leaving the high bays on November 27th, most of the vehicle will likely end up in a scrapyard. The 27th also had a brand new LR11000 crane rise for the first time. This crane will be used to assist in constructing the second launch pad at Starbase.
With SpaceX's efforts to consolidate Starship manufacturing within its gigantic factory at Starbase in recent months, very little hardware work was spotted in the remainder of the month.
SpaceX has not yet announced when they will be targeting the launch of Starship-Super Heavy's seventh flight test. The seventh flight test is expected to utilize Booster 14 and Ship 33, the first 'Block 2' Starship upper-stage. Both vehicles still need to complete static fire tests while SpaceX seeks regulatory approval, this mission will likely take place in early January 2025.
Launches of the Month
This month saw thirty-two launches worldwide, if you want to know what each launch was we have them all listed below!
November 4th - H3 with DSN-3
Beginning the month of November, a H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying the DSN-3, also called Kirameki 3, satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite will be used for Japanese military communications.
November 4th - Soyuz 2.1b with Ionosfera-M 1 & 2
A Soyuz 2.1b lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites to sun-synchronous orbit. The Ionosfera-M satellites are part of a small constellation for ionospheric and magnetospheric research.
November 5th - Falcon 9 with CRS-31
SpaceX began its thirty-first cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station on November 5th. This mission is delivering 2,762 kilograms of cargo and performing a reboost test. More details about this mission are available here.
November 5th - Electron for 'Changes in Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes'
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1B, on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand, and headed to a sun-synchronous orbit. Aboard Electron was one satellite that is rumored to be owned by E-Space.
November 7th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-77
Twenty-three Starlink satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit atop of a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida. The booster supporting this mission was B1085, making its third flight and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions'.
November 9th - Long March 2C with four PIESAT-2 satellites
A Long March 2C lifted off from Launch Area 4 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carrying four PIESAT-2 satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit. The PIESAT-2 satellites are X-band synthetic aperture radar imaging spacecraft, as part of a potential constellation of sixteen.
November 9th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-10
Another Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, carrying twenty Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Supporting this mission was booster B1081 on its eleventh flight, and landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' downrange.
November 11th - Kinetica-1 with 15 payloads
CAS Space's fifth Kinetica-1 launched from the Jiquan Satellite Launch Center carrying fifteen payloads into sun-synchronus orbit using a 3.35-diameter fairing for the first time. The payloads onboard were Jilin-1 Gaofen 05B for a high-resolution imaging technology demonstration, Jilin-1 Pintai 02A03 for optical remote-sensing, Xiguang-1 04 for methane monitoring, Xiguang-1 05 for hyperspectral remote sensing, Oman's Intelligent Remote Sensing Satellite-1, six Yunyao-1 meteorological satellites, and three Shiyan-26 technology demonstration satellites.
November 11th - Falcon 9 with Koreasat 6A
SpaceX launched the Koreasat 6A satellite to geostationary transfer orbit atop of a Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida. Supporting this launch was booster B1067, on its twenty-third mission and landing back at Landing Zone 1.
November 11th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-69
A batch of twenty-four Starlink satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit atop of a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida. This launch was supported by booster B1080, flying for the twelfth time and landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas' downrange.
November 13th - Long March 4B with Haiyang-4 01
A Long March 4B blasted off from Launch Complex 9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center carrying the Haiyang-4 01 satellite into sun-synchronous orbit. The Haiyang-4 01, also called Ocean-4 01, satellite will support ecological forecasting, water-cycle monitoring, marine environmental forecasting, short-term climate prediction, and global climate change research.
November 14th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-11
Another batch of twenty Starlink satellites were launched from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, atop of Falcon 9. Booster B1082 supported this mission for its eighth flight, and landed downrange on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.
November 14th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-68
Twenty-four more Starlink satellites were launched atop of Falcon 9 to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40. Supporting this launch was booster B1076 for its eighteenth flight, with a landing on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' downrange.
November 15th - Long March 7 with Tianzhou-8
A Long March 7 lifted off from Launch Complex 201 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site carrying the Tianzhou-8 cargo resupply spacecraft into low Earth orbit, where the spacecraft began to chase down the Tiangong Space Station afterward.
November 17th - Falcon 9 with Optus-X
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida, carrying the secretive Optus-X to a geostationary transfer orbit. Supporting this launch was B1077, flying for the sixteenth time, and landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' downrange.
November 18th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-12
A batch of twenty Starlink satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit atop of a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California. Booster B1071 was supporting this launch for its twentieth flight, and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.
November 18th - Falcon 9 with GSAT-20
The Indian GSAT-20 communications satellite was delivered to geostationary transfer orbit by a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida. Supporting the launch of GSAT-20 was booster B1073, flying for the nineteenth time and landing on the drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions' downrange.
November 19th - Starship-Super Heavy for flight test six
As mentioned earlier, SpaceX performed the sixth flight test of its Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle from the company's launch site in south Texas. Ship 31 successfully landed in the Indian Ocean following reentry and Booster 13 splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico after tower catch criteria were not met. More details about this flight are available here.
November 21st - Soyuz 2.1a with MS-29
A Soyuz 2.1a lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying the Progress MS-29 cargo resupply spacecraft into low Earth orbit. After launch the spacecraft began to chase down the International Space Station in order to deliver fresh supplies.
November 21st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-66
Another Falcon 9 delivered a batch of twenty-four Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40. Supporting this launch was booster B1069, flying for the twentieth time, and landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' downrange.
November 22nd - New Shepard for NS-28
Blue Origin conducted its ninth human spaceflight mission onboard New Shepard carrying Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond above the Kármán line. The booster supporting this mission, New Shepard-4, was flying for the twelfth time while the capsule, R.S.S. First Step, was flying for the eleventh time.
November 24th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-13
A Falcon 9 launched with it lifting off from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, carrying a batch of twenty Starlink satellites. The booster supporting this launch was B1075 for its fifteenth flight and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.
November 24th - HASTE with Leidos
Rocket Lab conducted a HASTE launch from Launch Complex 2, in Virginia, believed to be on behalf of Leidos and Dynetics. HASTE, Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron, is a suborbital version of the company's Electron launch vehicle.
November 24th - Long March 2C with Siwei Gaojing-2 03 & 04
A Long March 2C lifted off from Launch Area 4 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carrying two Siwei Gaojing-2 satellites to low Earth orbit for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology. The two satellites will provide all-day, all-weather, high-resolution imagery via the use of a phased array radar instrument.
November 25th - Electron for 'Ice AIS Baby'
Rocket Lab conducted another Electron launch from Launch Complex 1B, in New Zealand on the Māhia Peninsula, carrying five satellites to low Earth orbit for Kinéis. The satellites are for Kinéis' planned twenty-five spacecraft Internet of Things constellation. Further details on this launch are available here.
November 25th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-1
Another Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida, carrying twenty-three Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Supporting this mission was booster B1080 for its thirteenth flight and landing on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' downrange.
November 27th - Zhuque-2E with Guangchuan 01 & 02
LandSpace debuted its upgraded Zhuque-2E launch vehicle with a mission from Launch Area 96A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Two Guangchuan satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit to test inter-satellite communications. More details about this rocket are available here.
November 27th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-76
A batch of twenty-four Starlink satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 flying from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida. This mission was supported by booster B1078, making its fifteenth flight, with a landing downrange on the drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas'.
November 29th - Soyuz 2.1a with Kondor-FKA No. 2
A Soyuz 2.1a lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome carrying the Kondor-FKA N0. 2 satellite into sun-synchronous orbit. Kondor-FKA N0. 2 is a civilian Earth observation satellite with a resolution between 1 to 30 meters, depending on the imaging mode.
November 30th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-65
Another Falcon 9 carried a batch of twenty-four Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40. Supporting this mission was booster B1083, making its sixth flight, and landing on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' downrange.
November 30th - Falcon 9 for NROL-126
Falcon 9 also launched the NROL-126 mission from Space Launch Complex 4E carrying what was likely a batch of Starshield satellites, the military version of Starlink. The booster for this mission was brand new and is believed to be B1088.
November 30th - Long March 12 for its debut mission
The Long March 12, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, made its debut flight at the end of November, flying from Commercial Launch Pad 2 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site into low Earth orbit. Two satellites were also onboard for the debut flight, with them being Satellite Internet Technology Test Satellite and Technology Test Satellite 03. More details about this rocket are available here.
Launches to look out for in December!
December will round out the launches for 2024, and with it looking to be another busy month. Listed below are all of the launches expected or very likely to happen next month, launches on the 1st of December may have already occurred due to when this newsletter is published.
December 2nd - Long March 6A with a to-be-announced payload
A Long March 6A is expected to liftoff from Launch Complex 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The payload is currently unknown but it is rumored to be the third batch of eighteen satellites for the Qianfan mega-constellation.
December 3rd - Long March 3B/E with a to-be-announced payload
A Long March 3B/E is expected to liftoff from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, carrying an unknown payload. This will be the 100th flight of the Long March 3B rocket too.
December 4th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-14
SpaceX is expecting to launch a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E carrying a batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.
December 4th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-70
Another batch of Starlink satellites will be delivered to low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40.
December 4th - PSLV with Proba-3
The Indian Space Research Organisation's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL rocket is planned to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Center carrying the Proba-3 mission into an elliptical orbit. Proba-3 consists of two spacecraft flying 150 meters from one another to create artificial solar eclipses between the satellites.
December 5th - Falcon 9 with Sirius SXM-9
A Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Launch Complex 39A carrying the SXM-9 satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit for SiriusXM. The spacecraft will be used to allow SiriusXM's programming to reach its customers.
December 7th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 11-2
Falcon 9 will carry another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E.
December 14th - KAIROS for its second flight
Japanese launch company Space One is planning to launch its KAIROS launch vehicle into sun-synchronous orbit from Spaceport Kii. The first flight failed after five seconds back in March.
December 20th - PSLV with SPADEX
A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is expected to launch the SPADEX, Space Docking Experiment, to low Earth orbit. The mission will demonstrate autonomous docking between two satellites, a capability India is yet to perform ahead of its future lunar and human spaceflight missions.
December 29th - Falcon 9 for Bandwagon 2
SpaceX may conduct its second mid-inclination low Earth orbit rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E.
December 31st - GSLV Mk II with IRNSS-1K
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II may launch the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1K satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. This spacecraft will replace an older satellite for India's alternative to the U.S.-controlled GPS.
