Rocket Report: China launches with no advance warning; Europe’s drone ship

Starlink, Kuiper, and the US military all saw additions to their mega-constellations this week.

Welcome to Edition 8.15 of the Rocket Report! This year has been, at best, one of mixed results for SpaceX’s Starship program. There have been important steps forward, including the successful reuse of the rocket’s massive Super Heavy booster. Clearly, SpaceX is getting really good at launching and recovering the 33-engine booster stage. But Starship itself, part spacecraft and part upper stage, hasn’t fared as well—at least it hadn’t until the last couple of months. After four Starships were destroyed in flight and on the ground in the first half of 2025, the last two missions ended with pinpoint splashdowns in the Indian Ocean. The most recent mission this week was arguably the most successful yet for Starship, which returned to Earth with little damage, suggesting SpaceX’s improvements to the heat shield are working.

As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

SpaceX vet will fly with Blue Origin. Hans Koenigsmann is one of SpaceX’s earliest, longest-tenured, and most-revered employees. He worked at Elon Musk’s space company for nearly two decades, rising to the role of vice president for mission assurance and safety before leaving SpaceX in 2021. He led the investigations into every Falcon rocket failure, mentored young engineers, and became a public face for SpaceX through numerous presentations and press conferences. And now he has announced he is going to space on a future suborbital flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, Ars reports.

Due diligence … Koenigsmann will fly to space alongside his friend Michaela “Michi” Benthaus as early as next month. She’s notable in her own right—a mountain biking accident in 2018 left her with a spinal cord injury, but she did not let this derail her from her dream. She will become the first wheelchair user to fly in space. Koenigsmann said one of his main concerns with the flight was safety, but meeting with Blue Origin engineers gave him confidence to climb aboard New Shepard. “When we met them, I asked a lot of technical questions on the safety side, and I feel like they answered the majority of them thoughtfully and correctly.” So, what’s it like for a long-time SpaceXer to work with a former competitor, Blue Origin? Read Eric Berger’s interview with Koenigsmann to learn more.

Europe’s drone ship. The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract for the design of a reusable rocket stage recovery vessel to the Italian aerospace and defense systems company Ingegneria Dei Sistemi (IDS), European Spaceflight reports. The project is part of a broader contract awarded to the Italian rocket builder Avio for the development of a reusable rocket upper stage, which Ars reported on last month. The contract covers preliminary design work for the launch system and the ground system, and could be applied to a reusable evolution of Avio’s Vega family of rockets.

Looks familiar … On Wednesday, IDS announced that it had been awarded the contract to design the project’s recovery vessel, which falls under the systems ground segment. The company has subcontracted Italian naval systems consultancy Cetena and Norwegian shipbuilder Vard to assist with the project. An artist’s illustration of the vessel gives it a familiar look. It appears similar to the recovery ships that SpaceX used to attempt recovery of the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairings, with giant nets to catch the hardware falling from space under parachute. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

JAXA looks abroad. The Japanese space agency JAXA has selected Rocket Lab to launch a set of technology demonstration satellites on Electron rockets after continued delays with a Japanese launch vehicle, Space News reports. The agreement covers two launches from New Zealand, the first in December with JAXA’s 242-pound (110-kilogram) Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite-4 (RAISE-4) technology demonstration satellite, and the second in early 2026 with a batch of eight smaller satellites for educational, ocean monitoring, and other demonstrations.

No more waiting … These satellites were supposed to launch on Japan’s solid-fueled Epsilon S rocket, but JAXA looked to another launch provider after lengthy delays with the Epsilon program. Epsilon S is an upgraded version of Japan’s Epsilon rocket, which has flown six times. The first flight of Epsilon S was originally expected in 2023, but back-to-back ground test failures of the vehicle’s second stage solid rocket motor have effectively grounded the rocket. Japanese officials are considering ditching the upgraded second stage design and going back to the original Epsilon configuration, but a launch is still at least a year away.

An update on a German launch startup. German rocket builder HyImpulse announced Thursday that it had secured $53 million (45 million euros) in new funding to continue developing its SL-1 rocket, European Spaceflight reports. HyImpulse said it will use the new capital to “drive forward the development and commercialization of the SL1 orbital rocket and expand its production capacities.” HyImpulse is one of a handful of serious European launch startups, having raised more than $86 million (74 million euros) since its foundation in 2018.

Still years away … The SL1 rocket will consist of three stages with hybrid propulsion, capable of delivering up to more than 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) of payload to low-Earth orbit. The first flight of HyImpulse’s orbital rocket is scheduled for 2027. SL1 builds on the company’s SR75 suborbital rocket, which made its first test flight from Australia in 2024.

iRocket touts rapid build. Innovative Rocket Technologies Inc. (iRocket) reports a successful flight test of the company’s 2.75-inch (70-millimeter) diameter IRX-100 version of the Hydra 70 rocket system from a launch tube under its own power to exercise a range of motor and missile properties, Aviation Week & Space Technology Reports. The IRX-100 is iRocket’s version of the Hydra 70 short-range unguided missile primarily used on military helicopters. Asad Malik, iRocket’s CEO, wrote in a post on LinkedIn that the company designed and launched the rocket in just 30 days. “Speed, precision, and innovation are what define our team,” Malik wrote.

Pathfinder … The IRX-100 rocket launched from a desert location in California and reached an altitude of more than 12,000 feet, according to iRocket. We’ve reported on iRocket in several recent editions of the Rocket Report. In July, the company announced it was going public in a deal with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company founded by former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. But the SPAC and iRocket itself appear to have little money. Company officials hope the IRX-100 might offer a short-term source of revenue through military sales. iRocket’s longer-term goals include the development of a reusable orbital-class rocket, named Shockwave.

SpaceX launches for Kuiper. After more than a week of launch delays, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, with two dozen of Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband Internet satellites onboard Monday night, Spaceflight Now reports. The mission, dubbed Kuiper Falcon 03 or KF-03, faced several days of launch delays due to poor weather both at the Cape as well as offshore. This was the third and final Kuiper launch currently booked on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, and the sixth launch of operational Kuiper satellites overall. Amazon now has 153 of its planned 3,232 Kuiper satellites in orbit.

SDA, too … Two days later, SpaceX launched a different Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, to add 21 satellites to the Space Development Agency’s burgeoning low-Earth orbit constellation, Spaceflight Now reports. These satellites were built by Lockheed Martin, and they will join a batch of 21 similar spacecraft manufactured by York Space Systems launched last month. The satellites form the foundation for the Pentagon’s proliferated missile tracking and data relay network.

China launches another mysterious satellite. China conducted an orbital launch Monday with no apparent advance indication, successfully sending the Shiyan-31 remote sensing test satellite into orbit, Space News reports. The mission lifted off aboard a Long March 2D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The Long March 2D can deliver up to 3.5 metric tons (7,700 pounds) of payload to low-Earth orbit. Shiyan-31 is believed to have an optical surveillance mission, and US tracking data indicated it was flying in an orbit about 300 miles (500 kilometers) above the Earth.

Surprise! … What was unusual about this launch was the fact that China did not publicize it in advance. Like most spacefaring nations, China typically issues airspace and maritime warning notices for airplanes and ships to steer clear of downrange zones where rocket debris may fall. No such warnings were released for this launch.

Starship flirts with perfection. SpaceX closed a troubled but instructive chapter in its Starship rocket program Monday with a near-perfect test flight that carried the stainless steel spacecraft halfway around the world from South Texas to the Indian Ocean, Ars reports. This was the 11th full-scale test flight of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage, and it was arguably the most successful Starship test flight to date. It comes after a rough start to the year with a series of Starship failures and explosions that set the program back by at least six months.

Close to pristine … This time, Starship came back through the atmosphere with little sign of visible damage. The previous test flight in August also nailed its splashdown in the Indian Ocean, but it came down with a banged-up heat shield. This was the final flight of the second generation of Starship, called Starship V2. SpaceX plans to debut the larger, more powerful Starship V3 configuration in early 2026. If all goes well, SpaceX could be in position to attempt to recover Starship on land next year.

Orion’s other options. The Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket have been attached at the hip for the better part of two decades. The big rocket lifts, the smaller spacecraft flies, and Congress keeps the money rolling in. But now there are signs that the twain may, in the not-too-distant future, split, Ars reports. This is because Lockheed Martin has begun to pivot toward a future in which the Orion spacecraft—thanks to increasing reusability, a focus on cost, and openness to flying on different rockets—fits into commercial space applications. In interviews, company officials said that if NASA wanted to buy Orion missions as a “service,” rather than owning and operating the spacecraft, they were ready to work with the space agency.

Staying power … This represents a significant change. Since the US Congress called for the creation of the Space Launch System rocket a decade and a half ago, Orion and this rocket have been discussed in tandem, forming the backbone of an expendable architecture that would launch humans to the Moon and return them to Earth inside Orion. But time is running out for the uber-expensive SLS rocket, with differing proposals from the Trump administration and Congress to terminate the program after either two or perhaps four more flights. This appears to be one reason Lockheed is exploring alternative launch vehicles for Orion. If the spacecraft is going to be competitive on price, it needs a rocket that does not cost more than $2 billion per launch. Any near-term plan to send astronauts to the Moon will still require Orion.

Doubling up at Vandenberg. The Department of the Air Force has approved SpaceX’s plans to launch up to 100 missions per year from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, Ars reports. This would continue the tectonic turnaround at the spaceport on California’s Central Coast. Five years ago, Vandenberg hosted just a single orbital launch. This year’s number stands at 51 orbital flights, or 53 launches if you count a pair of Minuteman missile tests, the most in a single calendar year at Vandenberg since the early 1970s. Military officials have now authorized SpaceX to double its annual launch rate at Vandenberg from 50 to 100, with up to 95 missions using the Falcon 9 rocket and up to five launches of the larger Falcon Heavy.

No big rush … There’s more to the changes at Vandenberg than launching additional rockets. The authorization gives SpaceX the green light to redevelop Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions. SpaceX plans to demolish unneeded structures at SLC-6 (pronounced “Slick 6”) and construct two new landing pads for Falcon boosters on a bluff overlooking the Pacific just south of the pad. SLC-6 would become the West Coast home for Falcon Heavy, but SpaceX currently has no confirmed contracts to fly the heavy-lifter from Vandenberg.

Next three launches

Oct. 18: Falcon 9 | Starlink 11-19 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 23:46 UTC

Oct. 19: Kinetica 1 | Unknown Payload | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China | 03:30 UTC

Oct. 19: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-17 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 14:52 UTC