Chemical Facility Security News: Short Takes – 11-5-25

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Short Takes – 11-5-25 – Space Geek Edition

White House renominates Isaacman to be NASA administrator. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The statement did not explain why Trump decided to renominate him. The description of Isaacman was identical to what Trump wrote in December 2024 when he first announced his intent to nominate the billionaire businessman and private astronaut.”

Musk cheers Trump’s pick to lead NASA Jared Isaacman. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “However, the decision to reassign him to the role suggests Musk’s detente with Trump has some staying power.”

China delays Shenzhou-20 crew return after suspected space debris impact. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Earlier stated CMSEO [China Manned Space Engineering Office] redundancy and contingency options include the Shenzhou-20 crew using the recently-arrived Shenzhou-21 spacecraft to return to Earth. China keeps another Shenzhou spacecraft and Long March 2F in a state of near readiness at Jiuquan for emergency situations, and these could be readied for launch in 8.5 days.”

Astronomer reveals first look at Comet 3I/ATLAS as it reappears from behind the sun. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “Qicheng Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at the observatory, has subsequently found that the comet is also visible using small telescopes, posting an example of this to his Cometary blog on Sunday (Nov. 2). According to Zhang, standard amateur telescopes should now start picking up the comet across much of the Northern Hemisphere.”

The (possibly) great lunar lander race. TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: “How much time, at least beyond that that notional 2027 date for Artemis 3, is still unclear, as well as if there really is any faster option to return humans to the Moon, using Starship or another vehicle.”

Why the moon is not the South China Sea: reframing lunar space ahead of the next ‘race’. SpaceNews.com commentary. Pull quote: “First, the analogy [link added] to the South China Sea misunderstands the legal and normative context of lunar exploration. That marine region involves complex historical claims of sovereignty and maritime rights. The moon, by contrast, is governed by the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967, whose Article II explicitly prohibits national appropriation of celestial bodies by “claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” Unlike the South China Sea, the moon resides under an established international legal framework that forbids sovereignty claims. A Chinese taikonaut planting a flag, as a symbolic act, would not legally translate into sovereignty any more than the planting of the U.S. flag by the Apollo 11 crew did.”

China targets 2026 for first Long March 10 launch, new lunar crew spacecraft flight. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: ““Regarding the specific timeline, we remain steadfast in our goal of achieving a Chinese lunar landing by 2030. It should be noted that many new technologies still need to be verified, the product development workload is substantial, the quality requirements are high, the flight test schedule is tightly coordinated, and the progress is tight, presenting various risks and challenges,” Zhang said.”

Stilsat-1: A Russian-owned and Chinese-built satellite watching Ukraine (part 1). TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: “Clearly, the need to purchase an observation satellite abroad is considered an embarrassing fact which exposes shortcomings in Russia’s satellite production capabilities and its own satellite coverage of the war zone in Ukraine. Stilsat-1 is seen as a technology demonstrator for future Stilsat satellites, which will be built by Russia itself and inherit the Chinese optical system. Despite convincing evidence to the contrary, both the Kremlin and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have recently denied allegations of high-level cooperation between Russia and China in obtaining satellite imagery of the battlefield in Ukraine.”

China conducts ground tests on inflatable, reconfigurable space manufacturing module. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The announcement [link added] follows the on-orbit testing of a small expandable module aboard the Shijian-19 retrievable satellite mission launched in September 2024. That experiment was carried out by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) under China’s main space contractor, CASC. CAST built the modules for the Tiangong space station.”

SpaceX launches private space station pathfinder 'Haven Demo,' 17 other satellites to orbit. Space.com article. Pull quote: “"The first step in our iterative approach towards building next-generation space stations, Haven Demo will test critical systems for Haven-1, including propulsion, flight computers and navigation software," Vast wrote in a description of the satellite.”