{"id":23866,"date":"2025-02-24T22:26:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-roundup-starship-ariane-6-and-telescope-missions-delayed-lunar-lander-flies\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T22:26:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:26:25","slug":"launch-roundup-starship-ariane-6-and-telescope-missions-delayed-lunar-lander-flies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-roundup-starship-ariane-6-and-telescope-missions-delayed-lunar-lander-flies\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch Roundup: Starship, Ariane 6 and telescope missions delayed, lunar lander flies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several significant missions were scheduled for this week, including the third lunar lander to launch in just over a month. The Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission will explore and analyze the Moon\u2019s subsurface, testing new technologies and paving the way for future lunar missions. NASA is also set to launch its SPHEREx observatory, which will map hundreds of millions of galaxies to study the origins of the universe, uncover \u201ccosmic inflation,\u201d and search for the building blocks of life.<\/p>\n

In addition to these two Falcon 9 missions, SpaceX also launched two Starlink missions, while Starship\u2019s eighth flight test will now launch no earlier than Wednesday, March 5, following a scrub on Monday\u2019s attempt. Blue Origin\u2019s crewed missions resumed on Tuesday when New Shepard launched a crew of six past the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line.<\/p>\n

Internationally, Roscosmos has launched the MS-30 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and also launched a navigation satellite. The second launch attempt of Europe\u2019s Ariane 6 has also been postponed to Wednesday, with further work being required on ground support equipment. China also attempted to launch two missions this week.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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New Shepard NS-30 mission patch. (Credit: Blue Origin)<\/p>\n

New Shepard | NS-30<\/p>\n

Hot on the heels of Blue Origin\u2019s NS-29 lunar gravity-simulating mission earlier this month, New Shepard\u2019s tenth crewed mission launched on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 9:49 AM CST (15:49 UTC). Lifting off from Launch Site One at the company\u2019s West Texas launch facility, the New Shepard capsule experienced approximately three to four minutes of microgravity as it reached a peak altitude of around 107 km to 110 km during its approximately 10-minute mission.<\/p>\n

The six crew aboard RSS First Step<\/em> for this flight included a returning astronaut, cybersecurity founder, and philanthropist Lane Bess, who previously flew on New Shepard for the NS-19 mission in 2021. Joining Bess was Jes\u00fas Calleja, a Spanish TV host and adventurer who has visited the North and South Poles and climbed the world\u2019s Seven Summits.<\/p>\n

Also onboard were entrepreneur, pilot, and physicist Elaine Chia Hyde; research scientist, pilot, and philanthropist Dr. Richard Scott; and Tushar Shar, head of research at a New York quantitative hedge fund. The final crew member\u2019s name was not disclosed. The booster, also known as Tail 4, landed successfully back at the launch site just over seven minutes into the flight. New Shepard has now carried 52 people into space.<\/p>\n

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IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena is encapsulated by Falcon 9\u2019s payload fairings ahead of launch. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n

Falcon 9 | IM-2<\/p>\n

A Falcon 9 launched several payloads to the Moon, including the IM-2 mission for Intuitive Machines, from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff took place on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7:17 PM (00:17 UTC on Feb 27). Four payloads will be carried into a trans-lunar injection orbit, including Intuitive Machines\u2019 second Nova C lunar lander, Athena<\/em>. The IM-2 mission will pave the way for future Artemis lunar missions, focusing on exploring and analyzing the Moon\u2019s subsurface. Athena<\/em> will be the third lunar lander to have launched this year, all of which have flown on a Falcon 9 from LC-39A.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the two lunar landers launched a month ago, Athena<\/em> carries cryogenic propellants and will take a more direct route to the Moon. It is expected to arrive in lunar orbit four days later, on March 2. Firefly\u2019s Blue Ghost lander, currently in lunar orbit, is on course to land on the lunar surface on March 6. The Hakuto-R Resilience<\/em> lander, however, is taking a more complex but fuel-efficient route and will enter lunar orbit in May.<\/p>\n

The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT) instrument onboard Athena<\/em> will demonstrate the extraction of lunar regolith from up to three feet below the surface. The MSolo mass spectrometer will search for the presence of volatiles such as water ice and measure how much is lost to sublimation as it turns from a solid into vapor in the vacuum.<\/p>\n

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Grace, the Micro-Nova lander craft, traveled to the lunar surface with Athena. (Credit: Intuitive Machines)<\/p>\n

Grace<\/em>, A Micro Nova (\u03bcNova) deployable lander, will also demonstrate robotic access beyond that of small rovers and into more extreme lunar environments. The propulsive robot will \u201chop\u201d into and out of permanently shadowed craters and can travel up to 25 km from Athena<\/em> and hop to 100 m in altitude. The Micro Nova can transport up to 10 kg of payload, depending on the range, and transmits its data via UHF and Nokia\u2019s 4G on the lunar surface, where it is then relayed via Athena<\/em> back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Falcon 9 also carried the 200 kg Lunar Trailblazer (SIMPLEx 5) orbiter, which will endeavor to determine the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the lunar surface and its relation to geology. It will travel from the L1 Lagrange point and spiral down to a roughly 100 km circular polar orbit over six months, where it will then orbit for around one year.<\/p>\n

This flight also transported AstroForge\u2019s microwave-sized Odin spacecraft on a trajectory out of the Earth-Moon system, where it will then perform a one-kilometer fly-by of asteroid 2022 OB5 in around 11 months. The company plans to mine asteroids for resources on later missions. Also performing a flyby will be a Sherpa Escape orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), which will utilize the trans-lunar injection to perform a flyby of the Moon.  Following the flyby, the OTV will insert itself into a geosynchronous equatorial orbit, where it will deploy customer payloads as part of the cislunar rideshare mission GEO Pathfinder.<\/p>\n

The first stage supporting this mission was B1083 on its ninth mission. This booster had previously flown crew on the Polaris Dawn and Crew-8 missions and the CRS-31 cargo supply mission to the International Space Station, amongst others. Following launch and stage separation, the booster performed the 100th landing on SpaceX\u2019s A Shortfall of Gravitas<\/em> droneship, which was stationed downrange in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n