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Blue Origin / Re: New Glenn Flight 4 - Early Updates and Discussion

« Last post by sstli2 on Today at 08:25 pm »

One thing I feel comfortable predicting right now is that NG-4 will happen quickly after NG-3.

That is because they are simultaneously refurbishing the GS1-2 booster and building a new GS1-3 booster. Those boosters will probably become available around the same time. So whichever booster does not fly on NG-3, will fly on NG-4.

Given the STA filed a few days ago showing a due east trajectory, I would have thought that Blue Moon MK1 would be the NG-4 payload, but Berger seems to believe that Blue Moon MK1 is in the second half of this year.

If NG-4 isn't Blue Moon MK1, the publicly known options remaining for NG-4 are Firefly Elytra and Amazon Leo. I haven't heard anything about Elytra in a while, so I'm skeptical it's still flying on New Glenn. Which means that we might see an Amazon Leo flight on New Glenn (LN-01) in Q2.

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Chinese Launchers / Re: Aerjiliya Yaogan-3A - CZ-2C - Jiuquan - January 15, 2026 (04:01 UTC)

« Last post by limen4 on Today at 08:20 pm »

I made some screenshots of footage ,
where Alsat-3 design can be seen in the background. Based on this I assume that the CAST-3000 platform by CAST was used.

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SpaceX General Section / Re: Starlink : Markets and Marketing

« Last post by Kiwi53 on Today at 08:20 pm »

Michael O'Leary's problem is that he that he thinks that the vast majority Ryanair passengers won't actually pay to access Wi-Fi on board, no matter how good it is. In that case, spending any money on putting in Wi-Fi (Starlink or other) would be wasted.
It's not aerodynamic drag he's worried about, it's drag on the EBITDA

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Chinese Launchers / Re: Tianqi-1 37-40 - Gushenxing-1S (Y7) - Yellow Sea - January 15, 2026 (20:10 UTC)

« Last post by Galactic Penguin SST on Today at 08:20 pm »

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/2011910707986497881

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General Discussion / Re: War and the Russian and Ukrainian An-124's, and alternatives

« Last post by Coastal Ron on Today at 08:19 pm »

Apparently you have not been following the aviation industry close enough... 

https://radia.com/windrunner

Max Payload Length: 105 m
Max Payload Height: 9m
Max Payload Width: 10m
Max Payload Weight: 72.6 tonnes

You could almost fit transport a New Glenn first stage (57.5m length) except mass might be an issue. I was thinking of a Stratolaunch Roc carrying the payload externally.

The biggest current limitation is range. I haven't seen anything specific to addressing that, though palletized fuel tanks could be one solution (though that reduces cargo capabilities).

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Missions To Mars (HSF) / Re: Starship variant for crewed Mars ascent

« Last post by TheRadicalModerate on Today at 08:17 pm »

I am not sure if deconditioning is really relevant honestly. People aren't going to be walking/moving much during atmospheric entry g's, so muscle strength loss wouldn't be relevant. Bone loss might potentially be, but if astronauts/cosmonauts re-entering from ISS (or Mir, etc) don't/didn't break bones, it's probably not much of an issue in practice (because they are cushioned and immobile during the g forces). Everything will be automated, so even a g force blackout probably won't matter.

5-6G on connective tissue that's atrophied is going to be pretty painful.  Is it painful enough to prevent astronauts from moving around immediately after landing?  That's really the question.  The good news is that they only have to move around in 3.7m/sē.

But there are all kinds of things that require good mobility in the first days after landing.  The most critical are things relating to a stay / no-stay decision.  The Ship needs to be thoroughly inspected, the landing footing evaluated for long-term stability, and certain stuff will need to be deployed successfully before the decision can be made.  A lot of that can be automated, but not all of it.

In the event of a no-stay decision, the crew needs to evacuate the Ship, drive (or possibly walk) to the ascent vehicle (Ship, MAV, makes no difference), prep it for ascent, and then endure yet another relatively high-G acceleration.

I'm guessing that 3G on landing will be just fine.  6G I'm not so sure about.  Hence the question.

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General Discussion / Re: War and the Russian and Ukrainian An-124's, and alternatives

« Last post by Coastal Ron on Today at 08:14 pm »

I stand corrected. An RFI with exactly one candidate raises my eyebrows, though.

Happens all the time. Many times for good reasons. Kind of like partially funding a company for their R&D when they are doing something that could provide the U.S. Government with abilities that would be useful.

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General Discussion / Re: War and the Russian and Ukrainian An-124's, and alternatives

« Last post by Hobbes-22 on Today at 08:10 pm »

I stand corrected. An RFI with exactly one candidate raises my eyebrows, though.

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Blue Origin / Re: New Glenn : Blue Moon MK1 Pathfinder : NET 2026

« Last post by zubenelgenubi on Today at 07:57 pm »

Cross-post:

Eric Berger confirms on Reddit that AST SpaceMobile is flying on NG-3.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueOrigin/s/3INJzIcBYa

Per Eric Berger, the discussions above is now totally moot because this is NOT launching on Falcon 9!

AST SpaceMobile is now flying on NG-3. I agree with the commenter below that the launch date for MK-1 is slipping, probably now at least the second half of 2026 if we're being real.

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Chinese Launchers / Re: Tianqi-1 37-40 - Gushenxing-1S (Y7) - Yellow Sea - January 15, 2026 (20:10 UTC)

« Last post by mikezang on Today at 07:57 pm »

“希望”升空，喜迎商业航天开门红！谷神星一号海上发射圆满成功！

"Hope" soars into the sky, marking a successful start to commercial spaceflight! Ceres-1's sea launch was a complete success!

At 04:10 Beijing time on January 16, 2026, under the command of the sea launch team at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Galactic Energy Corporation successfully launched the Ceres-1 sea-launched satellite (Y7) – Project Hope (mission name: Wang Haichao) – from the sea area near Shandong Province, successfully sending four satellites (satellites 37 to 40) of the Tianqi Constellation 06 group into a low Earth orbit at an altitude of 850 km and an inclination of 45°. This mission marks Galactic Energy's 21st successful launch and the 7th launch of networking satellites for the Tianqi Constellation using the Ceres series rockets.

This is an enhanced satellite launch following the successful global networking of the first phase of the Tianqi Constellation launched by the Ceres-1 sea-launched satellite (Y5) on May 19, 2025, and the sixth dedicated rocket launch since the Tianqi Constellation began large-scale networking. With this satellite launch and network deployment, the "Tianqi Constellation" will enter a new stage of large-scale application and ecosystem collaboration in China's new satellite communication services, shouldering the important mission of jointly developing and strengthening my country's satellite IoT industry with industry clients.

The "Tianqi Constellation" is my country's first low-Earth orbit (LEO) IoT communication constellation, and its first phase of global networking has been completed. The "Tianqi Constellation" features global coverage, miniaturization, low power consumption, and low cost, providing global users with "air-space-ground-sea" consumer-grade satellite IoT data services. It has been widely applied in digital scenarios across multiple industries, including forestry, agriculture, emergency response, tourism, water conservancy, power, petroleum, marine, ecology, and smart cities, and is now moving towards the direct satellite connection market for ToC consumer electronics products such as automobiles, handheld devices, and wearable devices.

Since its maiden flight on September 5, 2023, the Ceres-1 sea-launched satellite has completed six sea-launch missions with a 100% success rate. To date, Galactic Energy has successfully conducted 21 commercial launches, accurately sending a total of 89 commercial satellites with different functions into their designated orbits.

This time, Galactic Energy Aerospace, in partnership with the China Youth Development Foundation and the Beijing Youth Development Foundation, named the mission rocket "Ceres-1 Sea-Launched Rocket (Y7) - Project Hope," aiming to write a new chapter in public welfare with the pen of aerospace, and let the rocket's trajectory illuminate the dreams and hopes of more children.

Since its launch in 1989, Project Hope has been committed to promoting the development of education in underdeveloped areas, serving the healthy growth of young people, and promoting new social norms of civilization. It has become one of the most widely participated and influential public welfare undertakings in my country. As of the end of 2024, Project Hope nationwide had received a total of 23.559 billion yuan in donations, sponsored 7.5965 million students in need, and built 21,144 Hope Primary Schools.

In the future, Galactic Energy Aerospace will continue to work with the China Youth Development Foundation to create the "Rocket Carrying Hope" public welfare theme activity, opening up dreams and creative ideas to young people and the whole society, making each launch a public welfare event that gathers social love and ignites scientific enthusiasm, and together using the romance and responsibility of aerospace workers to illuminate the growth path of more children.