WaperVulcan sets a return-to-flight target as Rubin expands its discovery haul
Vulcan gained a mid-November return-to-flight target, while Starship finished engine testing and Artemis III passed a hardware milestone. In astronomy, Rubin observations uncovered thousands of asteroids, hidden Milky Way companions and a possible dwarf planet beyond Pluto.
Key developments
Vulcan targets its return
United Launch Alliance announced a planned mid-November Vulcan launch carrying 40 Amazon Leo satellites. It would be the rocket’s first flight since a solid rocket booster suffered a mid-flight nozzle failure.
A successful flight would restore a launch route for Amazon’s constellation deployment.
Oct 29 · Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now
Rubin widens the census
Rubin Observatory data revealed thousands of new asteroids, including unusually fast rotators, and two previously hidden Milky Way companions. Astronomers also identified more than 1,000 outer solar system objects, including a possible dwarf planet beyond Pluto.
The discoveries provide new targets for testing asteroid structure and filling gaps in inventories of nearby galaxies and distant solar system bodies.
Oct 28–30 · Astronomy News & Astronomical Events · Astronomy News · Astronomy News & Astronomical Events
ISS power upgrade nears completion
Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed and unfurled the seventh of eight new ISS solar arrays during a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk. The final installation is scheduled for November 5, completing a years-long upgrade intended to power the station through its planned decommissioning in 2030.
The completed upgrade will provide up to 30% more available power for station operations and its eventual controlled deorbit.
Oct 29–30 · Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now · Astronomy News -- ScienceDaily
Starship completes engine testing
SpaceX completed three static fires in three days, finishing all engine testing for Starship Flight 15 within eight days. The flight is planned for November.
Completion of engine testing clears a preparation milestone for the next Starship flight.
Oct 26–31 · NASASpaceflight · NASASpaceflight
Artemis III hardware and planning advance
NASA integrated the 212-foot Artemis III SLS core stage alongside its twin solid rocket boosters at Kennedy Space Center. Administrator Jared Isaacman also outlined the mission’s planned multi-launch checkout sequence, contingencies and priority for Blue Origin.
The rocket’s assembly and checkout planning advance the hardware and operational preparations for Artemis III.
Oct 28–Nov 1 · NASA News · NASASpaceflight
Virgin Galactic pushes flights back
Virgin Galactic introduced its newest spaceship, Apeiron, and delayed commercial flights to the second quarter of 2027.
Customers face a longer wait for the company’s planned commercial flights.
Oct 29 · Payload
Mars dust reaches hazardous sizes
NASA’s Perseverance measured fine and ultrafine dust clinging to spacesuit material samples over 1,645 Martian days. Some particles are small enough to penetrate lungs and enter the bloodstream.
Future Mars crews face a dust exposure hazard that spacesuits and dust-protection systems will have to address.
Oct 27 · NASA News
Sun’s magnetic field mapped in 3D
Researchers produced the first global, three-dimensional estimates of the Sun’s magnetic field, including regions beyond its visible edge.
Better magnetic-field models could improve predictions of solar eruptions that threaten infrastructure on Earth.
Oct 29 · Astronomy News
Interstellar comet yields chemical clues
Webb observations of 3I/ATLAS point to aggregates of water ice and dust about a micron or smaller. Methane unusually rich in heavy hydrogen also suggests that the comet’s frozen ingredients formed in an intensely cold environment around another star or in its precursor cloud.
The ice and methane signatures allow comparisons between the conditions that formed material in our solar system and another one.
Oct 27–Nov 1 · Astronomy News · Astronomy News
Early black hole weighs a billion Suns
A study using JWST and ALMA identified dust-reddened quasar J1440+0019 from when the universe was less than a billion years old. The preprint estimates its rapidly accreting black hole at about 1.1 billion solar masses.
The object adds evidence for testing how supermassive black holes grew so quickly early in cosmic history.
Oct 26 · Astronomy News
Also this week
Space business
Astranis booked a dedicated Falcon 9 mission for 2028 to carry its entire Block 4 satellite production run. SpaceNews
MP Space raised AUD $23 million to expand battery manufacturing, with orders supporting more than 500 spacecraft and its first batteries launched aboard Bandwagon-5. Payload
Rendezvous Robotics raised $20 million to develop technology for satellites to launch in pieces and assemble themselves in space. Payload
Argotec raised €50 million in a round led by NUO Space S.p.A. to expand small-satellite manufacturing. Payload
Cowboy Space unveiled Big Iron, a rocket whose upper stage is designed to remain in orbit as a megawatt-class data center. Payload
Missions and technology
NASA issued a Request for Information to assess industry capabilities for in-space servicing of Hubble, an inquiry rather than a commitment to a mission. NASA News
Turkey aims to launch its first lunar orbiter in 2027 as the first of two planned Moon missions, followed by a lander. Spaceflight Now
Flexell Space and Satoro agreed to demonstrate next-generation solar cells on two Falcon 9 missions planned for 2027 and 2028. SpaceNews
A Ukrainian startup and GomSpace are testing an experimental spacecraft launched October 1 that they say could lead to a Ukrainian-controlled satellite communications network. SpaceNews
SpaceX scheduled the Starlink 15-18 mission to carry 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites from Vandenberg at 9:02 p.m. PDT on October 30. Spaceflight Now
Heriot-Watt University researchers developed a tiny glass photonic chip that linked two telescopes to act as a single instrument. Astronomy News
Galaxies and stars
FAST and Arecibo observations identified possible dark galaxy AGC 322753, with roughly 2 billion solar masses of neutral hydrogen, no detectable starlight and a signal suggesting a rotating gas disk. Astronomy News
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope found planetary debris in two disks separated by a clear gap around a dead star. Astronomy News
Radio observations suggest Betelgeuse’s companion Siwarha causes subtle disturbances in the larger star’s atmosphere. Astronomy News
Astronomers found a cool molecular gas trail suggesting that microquasar jets explain unusually strong gamma-ray emission from a binary system outside the Milky Way. Astronomy News
NASA released a Webb mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula, whose shape was likely sculpted by ultraviolet radiation and winds from massive stars in the Carina Nebula. NASA News
Planetary science
Webb observations suggest lava planet TOI-561 b, 280 light-years away, retains a thick atmosphere and reflects about 75% of incoming starlight, possibly because of mineral clouds. Astronomy News -- ScienceDaily
Juno found powerful plasma waves and multiple shock regions in Jupiter’s interaction with the solar wind, revealing major differences from Earth. Astronomy News -- ScienceDaily
Solar studies
Laser-plasma experiments showed how instabilities could help heat the Sun’s corona, where electrons reach millions of degrees compared with the visible surface’s roughly 5,800 kelvin. Astronomy News
Researchers corrected an eight-kilometer error in an ancient Chinese capital’s location to reconstruct a total solar eclipse in 709 BCE and sharpen estimates of Earth’s rotation at that time. Astronomy News -- ScienceDaily
What to watch
November 5: Watch for installation of the eighth and final upgraded ISS solar array.
Mid-November: Watch whether Vulcan returns to flight carrying 40 Amazon Leo satellites.
November: Watch for Starship Flight 15 following completion of its engine testing.
Second quarter of 2027: Watch whether Virgin Galactic begins commercial flights on its revised schedule.
How this was made: Waper follows this topic across 15 sources every day. This week had 37 stories; the most important are picked out, each with links to the original reporting. How we pick sources and stories