Short Takes – 7-31-25 – Space Geek Edition –

First Eris launch fails to reach orbit. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Failures of first launches of new rockets, particularly by new entrants, are not uncommon. In March, the first flight of the Spectrum small launch vehicle by Germany’s Isar Aerospace failed when the rocket lost attitude control about half a minute after liftoff from Norway’s Andøya Spaceport. The rocket tumbled back into waters next to the pad and exploded, but the company called the flight a success nonetheless because of the flight data it collected.”

NOTE: I finally had to suck it up and subscribe, missing too much space news. Reminder SpaceNews.com articles are paywalled (Sigh).

The United States Should Act Now to Mitigate Conflict Escalation on the Moon. WarOnTheRocks.com article. Pull quote: “This fictional crisis was designed to stress-test the existing space governance framework and examine how a multi-stakeholder environment might respond. What we found was instructive: Clear rules did not emerge from the crisis. Instead, the focus was on the process of developing rules that were inclusive, fair, and adaptable. Moreover, the exercise raised important questions about the role of private actors in shaping lunar governance and suggested the importance of third parties with greater perceived neutrality in developing guidelines for preventing future conflict. More broadly, these findings suggest, as we highlight in our recent paper, that while there is flexibility and willingness to cooperate on developing a new lunar governance framework, states might not yet have well-formed views for negotiations. States are just learning about this evolving environment in which the strength of the norms around governance is unclear.”

The first company to complete a fully successful lunar landing is going public. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “Firefly is deep into the capital-intensive development of a new medium-class rocket named Eclipse in partnership with Northrop Grumman, which made a $50 million strategic investment into Firefly in May. And Firefly is developing a spacecraft line called Elytra, a platform that can host military sensors and other payloads and maneuver them into different orbits.” Interesting discussion about IPO’s.

Air leak persists on Russian ISS segment. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: ““All these scientists are working together to find the root cause of these cracks,” he [Krikalev, deputy director general of manned and automated complexes at Roscosmos] said. “It’s important for all, for the future designs of future stations, to be sure that we will not have a similar situation in the future, but for now we are managing to keep the crew safe.”

Space Force selects five firms for ‘Protected Tactical Satcom’ design contracts. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The Space Force said it plans to select a PTS-G design and award a production contract in 2026 for the first satellite that would launch in 2028, “putting the first PTS-G satellite in orbit. “A second wave of production awards for additional PTS-G satellite capability is planned for 2028, with launch planned for 2031,” the Space Systems Command said.”