SpaceX wins new NASA launch contract. A small research satellite designed to study the violent processes behind the creation and destruction of chemical elements will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2027, Ars reports. The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) mission features a gamma-ray telescope that will scan the sky to study gamma rays emitted by the explosions of massive stars and the end of their lives. These supernova explosions generate reactions that fuse new atomic nuclei, a process called nucleosynthesis, of heavier elements. NASA awarded SpaceX a firm-fixed-price contract valued at $69 million to launch the COSI mission, but the agency didn't have much of a decision to make in the COSI launch contract. The Falcon 9 is the only rocket certified by NASA that can launch a satellite with the mass of COSI into its desired orbit.
An unusual orbit ... COSI is a relatively small spacecraft, built by Northrop Grumman and weighing less than a ton, but it will ride alone into orbit on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. That's because COSI will operate in an unusual orbit about 340 miles (550 kilometers) over the equator, an orbit chosen to avoid interference from radiation over the South Atlantic Anomaly, the region where the inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to Earth’s surface. The Falcon 9 will deliver COSI directly into its operational orbit after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and then will fire its upper stage in a sideways maneuver to make a turn at the equator. This type of maneuver—called a plane change—takes a lot of energy, or delta-V, on par with the delta-V required to put a heavier satellite into a much higher orbit. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Polaris Dawn launching later this month. The Polaris Dawn mission, an all-private spaceflight that will include the first commercial spacewalk, is scheduled for launch no earlier than July 31 from Florida's Space Coast, the group behind the mission announced on X. This is a few weeks later than the mission's previous target launch date of July 12, but officials didn't explain the delay. Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and pilot who has flown in space before, will command the Polaris Dawn mission. Former US Air Force fighter pilot Scott Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, will also fly on Polaris Dawn.
Going higher ... The foursome of commercial astronauts will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, reaching an altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers), higher than anyone has flown since the last Apollo mission in 1972. They will depressurize the Dragon spacecraft and Isaacman and Gillis will exit the capsule for a brief spacewalk, the first ever without involvement of a government space agency. The mission will last approximately five days.
SpaceX soon plans to catch a Super Heavy booster. In a short video released Thursday, possibly to celebrate the US Fourth of July holiday with the biggest rocket's red glare of them all, SpaceX provided new footage of the most recent test of its Starship launch vehicle. This flight of Starship on June 6 marked significant progress for SpaceX's mega-rocket, including an on-target splashdown of the rocket's Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico. At the end of the new highlights video, there is a simulated view showing Starship's first stage descending back toward the launch tower with the title "Flight 5." And then it fades out. This supports the idea that SpaceX is working toward attempting a Starship booster catch on its next flight test, which likely will occur later this summer, Ars reports. Doubtless, the company still has both technical and regulatory work to do before this can happen.
Beryl bearing down … Meanwhile, activities at the South Texas launch site may well be curtailed for a couple of days as Hurricane Beryl enters the Gulf of Mexico later on Friday and then tracks toward the Texas coast early next week. The center of Beryl is expected to pass near or north of the launch site late on Sunday night or Monday, bringing winds and surges. However, because Beryl is not expected to be a major hurricane in terms of wind speed, these impacts should not prove catastrophic to SpaceX facilities.
Not enough room for Starship? United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin are worried about SpaceX's plans to launch its enormous Starship rocket from Florida, Ars reports. In documents submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration last month, ULA and Blue Origin raised concerns about the impact of Starship launch operations on their own activities on Florida's Space Coast. Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, urged the federal government to consider capping the number of Starship launches and landings, test-firings, and other operations, and limiting SpaceX's activities to particular times. ULA suggested the FAA consider outright denying SpaceX's proposal to launch Starship from Kennedy Space Center, supposedly out of concern it would have to evacuate its nearby launch pad for every Starship launch and landing.
A pattern of protest … It's understandable that ULA and Blue Origin wouldn't want to halt work at their launch pads for several Starship launches every week. But this isn't the first time SpaceX's top two rivals in the US launch industry have tried to block Elon Musk's space company from establishing a new launch site. In 2013, Blue Origin and SpaceX fought for rights to lease Launch Complex 39A from NASA after the retirement of the space shuttle. SpaceX won, signed a lease with NASA the next year, and began launching Falcon 9 rockets from the launch pad in 2017. Musk offered to let Blue Origin also use the launch pad if it could launch a human-rated spacecraft to the International Space Station within five years. This led to one of the most famous Elon Musk quotes in the long-running rivalry: "Frankly, I think we are more likely to discover unicorns dancing in the flame duct."
Next three launches
July 8: Falcon 9 | Türksat 6A | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 21:20 UTC
July 9: Falcon 9 | Starlink 9-3 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 02:46 UTC
July 9: Ariane 62 | Demo Flight | Guiana Space Center, French Guiana | 18:00 UTC
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