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Pillbug robot to shed thousands of tiny wind-powered drones for Martian lava-tube mapping
1 day ago•Source: Space
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Hong Kong’s First Astronaut Joins China’s Shenzhou 23 Crew for a Year in Orbit
China on May 24 will launch the three-person Shenzhou 23 crew—Zhu Yangzhu (commander), Zhang Zhiyuan (pilot) and Lai Ka-ying (payload specialist) from Hong Kong, who becomes Hong Kong’s first astronaut. One crewmember will spend a full year in orbit, a first for China, as the mission docks with the Tiangong space station. The flight, from Jiuquan, sets the stage for Shenzhou 24, which will include a Pakistani astronaut, while Shenzhou 21’s crew remains aboard Tiangong on an extended mission.
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SpaceX’s Starship V3 preps for historic first flight on May 21
SpaceX will debut Starship V3 from Starbase in a 90-minute launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. EDT on May 21 for Flight 12, which will deploy 20 dummy Starlink satellites and two modified real Starlink satellites to test hardware and heat-shield readiness as SpaceX pushes toward lunar/Mars missions and Artemis milestones; live coverage will be available on Space.com and SpaceX’s site.
SpaceX’s Starship V3 Debuts in High-Stakes Test Ahead of Moon Missions
SpaceX will launch its first Starship V3 megarocket from Starbase, Texas, on May 21 in a 90-minute window for a suborbital test—the 12th Starship flight overall. The new V3 features a bigger Super Heavy with 33 Raptors and a Ship with six Raptors, a three-grid-fin booster, a redesigned hot-stage attachment for reuse, and a redesigned propellant system. Ship also gains propulsion and reaction-control upgrades and a faster payload deployment system that will eject 20 dummy Starlinks and two live satellites with cameras to inspect the heat shield. The flight aims to demonstrate long-duration capability, in-space propellant transfer and rapid reuse, with Artemis moon missions (Artemis 4, targeted for 2028) on the horizon; a poor debut could affect SpaceX’s IPO timing or valuation, though Elon Musk says the production pipeline is full and the main risk would be loss of the launch stand.
Starship V3 Debut Set for Flight 12, with a 6:30 PM Liftoff Window
SpaceX is targeting May 21, 6:30 p.m. EDT for Flight 12 of Starship—the first mission for the Version 3 upgrade—from Starbase, Texas. The 1.5-hour launch window will feature a suborbital test with Ship 39 on Booster 19, splashdowns at sea, and the deployment of 20 dummy Starlink satellites to validate upgraded systems as NASA's Artemis program looms; the flight follows a wet dress rehearsal and recent schedule changes plus Starbase road closures.
Starship V3 Debuts as Flight 12 Stacks Up for May 21 Test Flight
SpaceX is preparing Flight 12 of its Starship by stacking the Version 3 upper stage (Ship 39) atop Booster 19 at Starbase, Texas, with a wet dress rehearsal planned ahead of a May 21 liftoff in a 90-minute window that starts at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Flight 12 will be the first Starship flight of 2026 and the debut of the Starship Version 3, featuring upgrades aimed at NASA's Artemis program and future Starlink/data-center missions. The mission will loft the upper stage on a suborbital path, deploy 20 dummy Starlink satellites and two modified probes, and see the Super Heavy booster splash down in the Gulf of Mexico while Starship splash-lands in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia; SpaceX plans eventual recovery of both stages at Starbase with its Mechazilla arms.
NASA tests orbital fuel depots with LOXSAT for Moon and Mars missions
NASA will launch the Liquid Oxygen Flight Demonstration (LOXSAT) to test storing and transferring super-cooled cryogenic propellants in microgravity, a key step toward on-orbit fueling depots that could support Artemis lunar missions and future crewed missions to Mars. LOXSAT, aboard Rocket Lab's Photon bus, aims to operate in low Earth orbit for about nine months, testing 11 fluid-management components and gathering data to mature the technology with Eta Space and NASA centers (Marshall Space Flight Center, Glenn Research Center, and Kennedy Space Center) under the Cryogenic Fluid Management program.
New math cuts fuel and time for multi-asteroid missions
Researchers reframed visiting multiple moving asteroids as the Asteroid Routing Problem and used Decision Diagrams to optimize inter-asteroid paths, solving Lambert’s problem more efficiently and delivering about 20% improvements in travel time and fuel; the method could aid missions like Lucy and Dawn and even terrestrial routing.
Starship V3 Debuts on Flight 12 with May 21 Target
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12 will debut the Starship V3 and is now set for May 21 from Starbase, Texas, with a 6:30 p.m. EDT window; the upper stage will fly a suborbital trajectory and splash down in the Indian Ocean near Western Australia about 65 minutes after liftoff, while the Super Heavy booster splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes later, as upgrades drive delays ahead of NASA Artemis 4 goals and Mechazilla plans.
Vega C Delivers EU–China SMILE Space Weather Satellite Into Orbit
A European-Chinese space weather mission SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) launched on May 18 atop a Vega C rocket from Kourou, deploying into a 707 km circular orbit about 56 minutes after liftoff. Over the next ~25 days SMILE will perform 11 engine burns to place the spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit up to roughly 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. SMILE’s four instruments (UVI, LIA, MAG on the platform and SXI on the payload) will study how the solar wind affects Earth’s magnetosphere to improve understanding of solar storms and space weather. The Chinese Academy of Sciences leads the satellite platform and three instruments, while ESA provides the payload module and will assist with orbit operations. The mission is planned for three years. Vega C, ESA’s 115-foot-tall rocket debuting in 2022, now has seven flights; Avio operates this first Vega C mission.
SpaceX Preps Starship V3 for May 21 Flight 12 Megarocket Test
SpaceX plans to launch the Starship Flight 12 test of the V3 design from Starbase on May 21 within a 90‑minute window opening at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Flight 12 will be the first Starship V3 test from Pad 2 and features a redesigned booster that will water‑land off the Gulf of Mexico, while the Ship upper stage conducts a long suborbital flight and deploys 22 dummy Starlink satellites before reentry. The mission is expected to last a little over an hour, with a backup launch date possible on May 22 if weather or technical issues delay the start.
Starry Window View Marks Artemis 2’s Lunar Road Trip
Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen captured a stunning view of swirling stars from the Orion capsule during NASA’s 10-day lunar flyaround aboard the spacecraft Integrity, a shot that highlights the program's goal of returning humans to the Moon and establishing a longer-term lunar presence (the crew splashed down on April 10).