Key Facts
- SpaceX’s Starlink surge: A Falcon 9 rocket launched 28 Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Sept. 18, marking SpaceX’s 117th Falcon 9 flight of 2025 – over 70% of which have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation space.com. The reusable booster completed its 7th flight and landing, touching down on the Just Read the Instructions droneship shortly after liftoff space.com.
- Blue Origin back in action: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin returned to flight after a year-long hiatus, launching its 35th New Shepard suborbital mission (NS-35) on the morning of Sept. 18 space.com. The uncrewed capsule carried over 40 scientific and education payloads, including 24 student experiments from NASA’s TechRise challenge, above the Kármán line and safely back to Earth after a 10-minute flight space.com.
- ISS cargo craft debut: Northrop Grumman’s jumbo “Cygnus XL” cargo freighter arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 18, delivering ~11,000 pounds of supplies on its debut mission (NG-23) space.com. The rendezvous came a day late due to a thruster glitch that cut short some orbital maneuvers, but mission teams resolved the issue and ensured a safe capture via the station’s robotic arm space.com space.com.
- Record solar encounter: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 25th close approach to the Sun on Sept. 15 and checked in with mission control on Sept. 18, matching its own record distance of just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface science.nasa.gov. The daring probe also hit a blistering 430,000 mph during this flyby science.nasa.gov, gathering invaluable data on the solar corona as the Sun nears its peak activity.
- Mars internet in the works: A $700 million U.S. plan to establish a high-speed Mars–Earth communications network is gaining traction, and Rocket Lab is angling to build the relay satellite nasaspaceflight.com nasaspaceflight.com. CEO Peter Beck emphasized the need for robust links before humans set foot on Mars: “Nothing happens without… great communications… you’re not going to put a footprint on Mars until you have high bandwidth, reliable communications,” he said nasaspaceflight.com.
- Global space security moves:Taiwan’s space agency chief warned that “the clock is ticking” for the island to launch its own satellite constellation to protect internet and phone service in case of conflict arabnews.com. Taiwan says it needs 150 low-Earth-orbit satellites for basic connectivity backup (it currently has none) and has inked multi-million-dollar deals with foreign operators like Eutelsat/OneWeb to buy time arabnews.com. Meanwhile, in a stark example of space assets in warfare, a Ukrainian drone strike destroyed a 70-meter radio telescope in Crimea that Russia was using to boost its GLONASS GPS network’s accuracy – knocking out a strategic military comms node space.com.
SpaceX Starlink Launch Extends Record Year
SpaceX notched yet another Starlink mission on Sept. 18, flying 28 more Starlink satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 5:30 a.m. EDT space.com. The veteran first-stage booster – on its seventh flight – successfully landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic, marking SpaceX’s 117th Falcon 9 launch of 2025 space.com. This cadence sets a blistering pace; over 70% of SpaceX’s flights this year have been dedicated to their Starlink internet constellation space.com. The mission highlights SpaceX’s routine of rapid reusability and high launch frequency, as the company continues to grow its broadband network in orbit. (Notably, the same booster previously carried the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane, underlining the Falcon 9’s diverse manifest.) space.com space.com
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Makes a Comeback
After a prolonged pause in suborbital launches, Blue Origin resumed New Shepard flights on Sept. 18 with a flawless morning liftoff from Launch Site One in West Texas space.com. Dubbed NS-35, this mission was uncrewed – instead of space tourists, the capsule was packed with over 40 research payloads ranging from student science experiments to technology demos space.com. Launching at 9:01 a.m. EDT (8:01 a.m. local), the booster propelled the capsule past the Kármán line (~100 km up), giving the experiments a few minutes of microgravity exposure space.com space.com. About 7½ minutes after liftoff, the reusable booster nailed a powered landing near the pad, and the capsule parachuted gently to the desert floor at T+10 minutes space.com. This flight – the 35th New Shepard mission and 15th dedicated to payloads – had been delayed nearly four weeks from an initial August target space.com, so its success marks an important return to operation for Blue Origin. The company had paused flights following a 2022 capsule anomaly, and while crewed tourism missions are not yet back, NS-35 signals progress in Blue Origin’s suborbital program. (The mission also supports STEM education, carrying numerous NASA TechRise student experiments, which Blue Origin says helps inspire the next generation of engineers and explorers space.com.)
ISS Resupply: Cygnus XL Delivers the Goods
The International Space Station received a fresh delivery of supplies on Sept. 18 with the arrival of Northrop Grumman’s new Cygnus XL cargo craft on its debut flight. Astronaut Jonny Kim, operating the ISS’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, captured the incoming Cygnus at 7:24 a.m. EDT as the station soared 260 miles over central Africa space.com. Dubbed NG-23, this mission is Northrop’s 23rd ISS resupply run for NASA – and the first using the enlarged “XL” version of the Cygnus freighter. The upgrade was evident in its haul: about 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg) of food, experiments, and hardware were delivered, roughly 30% more cargo than earlier Cygnus vehicles space.com.
The journey wasn’t without drama. Cygnus XL launched on Sept. 14 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 (in an unusual cross-company arrangement) and was slated to dock on the 17th space.com. However, a thruster malfunction prevented some orbital adjustment burns, forcing a 24-hour postponement space.com. Mission teams recalculated the approach trajectory and solved the issue in time for a safe arrival the next day. “It’s a very intricate planning exercise … to arrive at Space Station,” explained Bill Spetch, NASA’s ISS operations integration manager, “when we had a couple of issues with a couple of burns getting cut short… it takes some time to replan… to arrive at station safely.” space.com Despite the hiccup, the Cygnus – christened the S.S. Willie McCool in honor of the fallen Columbia astronaut – berthed successfully to the station’s Unity module by 10:10 a.m. EDT space.com space.com. It will remain attached until March 2026, after which it will depart and burn up on reentry. The NG-23 mission underscores the increasing international and commercial collaboration in ISS operations, even as NASA and its partners work to keep the aging outpost supplied through the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is adding some bonus content to the ISS this week. The Japanese Kibo laboratory module is set to deploy five new CubeSats on Sept. 19, with the tiny satellites being pushed out into orbit via the Kibo’s airlock and satellite launcher mechanism amsat-uk.org. Four of the five are educational or scientific nanosatellites built by Japanese universities and carry amateur-radio transmitters, and JAXA is even inviting ham radio operators worldwide to tune in and help track their signals amsat-uk.org. The deployment is scheduled for 08:25–09:00 GMT on Friday and will be broadcast live on JAXA’s YouTube channel amsat-uk.org. These CubeSats will test technologies ranging from Earth imaging with a Raspberry Pi camera to space communications experiments in different radio bands, contributing to hands-on research for students and international collaborators. It’s a reminder that not all space progress comes via headline-grabbing rockets – some comes in small packages gently tossed from the ISS, seeding the next generation of space technology.
Parker Solar Probe Smashes Sun-Diving Records
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has once again proven its status as one of the most daring missions in operation. According to a Sept. 18 update from the mission team, Parker successfully completed its 25th close flyby of the Sun, skimming within a mere 3.8 million miles (6.2 million km) of the Sun’s surface – matching the record for the closest approach ever by a human-made object science.nasa.gov. At that perihelion on Sept. 15, the hardy probe also hit an astonishing 430,000 mph (690,000 km/h) relative to the Sun science.nasa.gov, once again equaling its own fastest speed to date. For reference, at that velocity Parker could circle the Earth 17 times in one hour.
The spacecraft spent about ten days in this intense solar encounter phase (Sept. 10–20) operating autonomously, as it must weather blistering heat and sunlight far too intense for constant radio contact science.nasa.gov. Only after the critical closest approach did Parker re-establish contact, beaming a “green” beacon tone on Sept. 18 to confirm all systems were nominal science.nasa.gov. During the close approach – one of a series of progressively tightening orbits thanks to periodic Venus gravity assists – Parker’s instruments collected unprecedented data from inside the Sun’s corona, the superheated outer atmosphere of our star science.nasa.gov. This data includes direct measurements of the solar wind plasma and magnetic fields at a proximity we’ve never probed before. Scientists eagerly await downlink on Sept. 23 of the stored data, which could shed light on solar phenomena like flares and coronal mass ejections that can impact Earth’s space weather science.nasa.gov.
This milestone flyby is part of Parker Solar Probe’s extended mission to help unravel the mysteries of how the Sun ejects energy and particles. As the Sun ramps up toward its 11-year activity peak (Solar Maximum around 2025–2026), Parker’s observations are especially valuable for understanding and predicting solar storms that can threaten satellites, power grids, and astronaut safety science.nasa.gov. The probe, launched in 2018, has consistently broken its own records as it spirals closer to the Sun. NASA officials noted that Parker will remain in its current orbit for a while; even closer approaches (and likely new record speeds) are on the horizon after the next Venus flyby in 2026, pending mission approvals science.nasa.gov science.nasa.gov. In the meantime, Parker Solar Probe’s latest achievement showcases human ingenuity at its finest – a tiny spacecraft “touching” the Sun and living to tell the tale.
Rocket Lab and NASA Revive a Mars Link
Looking beyond Earth orbit, plans are taking shape to radically improve communications for future Mars missions. In Washington, D.C., lawmakers have floated a $700 million initiative to build a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) – essentially an “interplanetary internet” satellite to relay data between Mars and Earth nasaspaceflight.com nasaspaceflight.com. The concept, originally conceived by NASA in the early 2000s but shelved in 2005, is now back on the table as Mars exploration ambitions grow nasaspaceflight.com. The goal would be to launch a dedicated high-bandwidth relay by 2028, ahead of potential human missions in the 2030s.
This week, Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck made waves by throwing his company’s hat in the ring to develop the MTO. In an interview with NASASpaceFlight, Beck outlined Rocket Lab’s proposal for a robust yet straightforward solution: a single large satellite parked in areosynchronous orbit (a Mars stationary orbit), equipped with advanced laser optical communications links nasaspaceflight.com nasaspaceflight.com. Using lasers instead of traditional radio would dramatically boost bandwidth while relieving strain on NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas nasaspaceflight.com nasaspaceflight.com, which are increasingly overbooked. Beck argued that reliable, high-speed comms are a prerequisite for any crewed Mars endeavor. “Obviously, this administration has a strong desire to put a footprint on Mars,” he said, “and you’re not going to put a footprint on Mars until you have high bandwidth, reliable communications.” nasaspaceflight.com In short, “nothing happens without communications, great communications,” Beck emphasized, underscoring that even the most heroic exploration plans can be foiled by a weak signal back home nasaspaceflight.com.
Rocket Lab isn’t alone – Blue Origin and other players have reportedly shown interest in a Mars relay contract nasaspaceflight.com – but Rocket Lab can tout some relevant credentials. The company is already building two small Mars orbiters (EscaPADE) for NASA, set to launch later this year to study the Martian magnetosphere nasaspaceflight.com. Beck also noted Rocket Lab’s recent acquisitions have hardware operating on Mars today (for example, through its subsystems on NASA’s Perseverance rover), signaling that the firm has deep-space experience nasaspaceflight.com. The proposed MTO project’s timeline is tight – Congress would need to approve funding by 2026 to hit a 2028 launch nasaspaceflight.com – but the renewed push reflects a broad recognition that Mars needs a modern comms infrastructure. As NASA eyes human landings on the Red Planet in the coming decades, an always-on broadband link could be the unsung hero enabling astronauts’ safety and a torrent of scientific data from our planetary neighbor.
Global Space Security and Policy Developments
Geopolitics and space technology are increasingly entwined, and the past two days saw notable developments on that front. In Taiwan, officials are sounding the alarm about the island’s need for independent satellite communications in the face of military threats. Wu Jong-shinn, director general of the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), told AFP that “the clock is ticking” for Taiwan to deploy its own network of low-Earth-orbit satellites arabnews.com. Taiwan lives under constant pressure from neighboring China, which claims the self-governed island and could potentially cut the undersea internet cables that connect Taiwan to the global web arabnews.com. “We need to speed up,” Wu urged, explaining that Taiwan likely needs 150 of its own LEO satellites for “basic communication resilience” should war ever sever its fiber-optic links arabnews.com. Right now, Taiwan has zero in-orbit communication satellites dedicated to this purpose – a gap they are racing to close.
As a stopgap, Taiwan is partnering with international satellite operators to bolster its connectivity. Notably, Taiwan inked a multi-million dollar contract with Europe’s Eutelsat OneWeb constellation, the world’s second-largest LEO satellite network, to provide backup internet coverage arabnews.com. This move comes after Taiwanese officials voiced unease about relying on SpaceX’s Starlink service. Starlink’s parent, Elon Musk, has significant business ties in China, and Musk has made controversial comments suggesting Taiwan should “become part of China,” angering Taipei arabnews.com arabnews.com. Instead, Taiwan has also enlisted partners like Astranis, SES, and is in talks with Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Canada’s Telesat, aiming to diversify its emergency communication options arabnews.com arabnews.com. The urgency is underscored by real incidents: Taiwan experienced weeks-long communications outages in 2023 when undersea cables to its Matsu islands were cut – a scenario they don’t want to see on a national scale arabnews.com. The timeline is tight; TASA’s plan calls for launching an initial batch of 6 indigenous LEO comsats by 2027 arabnews.com, which happens to be the same year U.S. intelligence has flagged as a possible window for a Chinese move against Taiwan. In Wu’s words, Taiwan must “build up our own technology” even as it leverages commercial allies, because the resilience of its digital infrastructure could be tested in the near future arabnews.com arabnews.com.
On another front, the ongoing war in Ukraine spilled into the space domain in dramatic fashion. Ukraine revealed that a late-August drone strike it carried out in Russian-occupied Crimea destroyed a giant radio telescope that the Russian military was using for satellite communications space.com space.com. The 230-foot dish, known as RT-70, was a Cold War-era deep-space antenna originally built to support Soviet Venus and Mars probes and search for alien signals space.com space.com. Since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia had upgraded the aging telescope and repurposed it for military use – reportedly tying it into their GLONASS navigation satellite network to boost targeting accuracy by about 30% space.com. In late August, a loitering munition (dubbed a “Ghost” drone by Ukrainian intelligence) slammed into the facility’s sensitive 200-kilowatt receiver, rendering the telescope inoperable space.com. Footage of the strike spread on social media, showing the massive dish crippled by the blast space.com. The loss of the RT-70 antenna is a strategic blow to Russia’s space-based capabilities in the region – one less asset to augment their military communications and GPS-alternative systems. It also dramatically illustrates how space infrastructure can become a battlefield target. As Tereza Pultarova of Space.com noted, taking out the dish prevents Russia from using it to “guide attacks on [Ukrainian] territory” space.com. In modern conflicts, satellites and ground stations are dual-use assets, and Ukraine’s bold attack shows that even installations once aimed at the stars are not beyond the reach of terrestrial warfare.
Each of these developments over September 18–19, 2025 – from rapid-fire commercial launches and cosmic science feats to strategic satellite initiatives and space-related skirmishes – highlights the ever-expanding impact of space activity on technology, exploration, and security. Space is more interconnected with Earthly affairs than ever, and the past 48 hours’ news provided a telling snapshot of humanity’s push upward: new rockets and spacecraft lifting off, probes touching the Sun, plans laid for other worlds, and nations grappling with the orbital assets that now underpin modern life. The fast pace of progress (and turmoil) in the final frontier shows no sign of abating, setting the stage for ever more headline-worthy moments in the coming weeks.
Sources: Space.com; NASA; NASASpaceFlight; Arab News/AFP; AMSAT-UK; et al. space.com arabnews.com nasaspaceflight.com
