This Week in Space: Cosmic Pups, Ghostly Satellites, Rocket Booms & International Wins
It’s been a week that reminded us space can be sentimental, surprising, explosive, and triumphant—all at once.
From a beloved pup getting an epic sendoff aboard a Falcon 9 to a decades-old satellite briefly breaking its silence, this edition has it all. And yes, there were fireworks—both planned and not.
We’ll also cover an international launch win for Japan, stunning solar imagery, 3D space weather movies, and skywatching tips to wrap things up.
🐶 Franz the Space Pup: A Tail-Wagging Tribute
Franz, a family’s beloved yellow Labrador, embarked on one last adventure with the Perseverance Flight aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Vandenberg. His ashes, along with over 160 other passengers, will circle Earth twice before making a ceremonial splashdown in the Pacific.
During the roughly 90-minute flight, the capsule’s speed peaked around 17,000 mph—roughly Mach 22—showcasing orbital physics at work even in a memorial mission. Once the capsule re-enters the atmosphere, its contents will be recovered for private commemorations in Germany and beyond.
This heartfelt fusion of emotion and aerospace underscores a growing trend in memorial spaceflights. It’s a reminder that space isn’t just for satellites—it’s for memories too. New York Post
👻 Zombie Satellite Broadcast: Relay 2 Speaks
Relay 2, a NASA satellite long silent since the 1960s, surprised astronomers with a brief, lightning-fast radio flash. Detected by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, the burst lasted less than 30 nanoseconds but registered an intense 300 kilojanskys from around 12,400 miles up.
Initial theories suggest a micrometeorite impact or possible electrostatic discharge jolted the satellite back to life—even if only for a heartbeat. This unexpected signal highlights how space debris can still surprise us decades later.
While the burst won’t change space travel overnight, it underscores the mysteries that even silent satellites continue to hold. Houston Chronicle
🚀 Blue Origin’s Weather Timeout
Blue Origin called off its New Shepard NS‑33 tourist flight due to high-altitude winds at its West Texas launch site. The crew was scheduled to pass just beyond the Kármán line (~62 miles up) but had to stand down after weather checks.
While disappointing for the six future astronauts, the decision reflects prudent caution—weather remains a powerful player even when billion-dollar rockets are involved.
No reschedule has been announced yet, so stay tuned if you’re hoping to see the mission launch soon.
🌌 Starlink 10‑23: Constellation Grows Again
SpaceX launched a batch of 27 V2‑Mini satellites via Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. These next-gen Starlink nodes work with laser crosslinks, improving internet coverage and data routing in low Earth orbit.
The Falcon booster then achieved its 25th landing aboard the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas—a further testament to reusable rocket success and cost efficiency.
With this launch, SpaceX edges closer to global broadband ambitions—keeping its laser-focused pace in orbital infrastructure deployment.
🔥 Super Heavy Test Blaze: Booster Goes Boom
In a dramatic late-night test at Starbase, SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster exploded after a COPV nitrogen tank failed during a static-fire test. The force ignited a fiery blast that tested the resilience of the launch stand—but left no one injured.
The controlled mishap underscores a key part of rocket R&D: push it until it breaks, learn fast, and adapt. The COPVs are crucial for pressurizing fuel tanks, so engineers will analyze the failure closely for future revisions.
This isn’t the kind of explosion that grabs headlines (like orbital failures), but it’s just as essential for building the next generation of spacecraft. Houston Chronicle and Space.com
🇯🇵 H3 Rocket: Japan’s Launch Leap
Japan’s H3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima, carrying the Michibiki‑6 navigation satellite. Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Honda, this mission shows the country’s growing autonomy in space access.
Michibiki‑6 joins the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, designed to improve GPS-like services over Asia—while also demonstrating the H3’s capabilities for future lunar or scientific payloads.
This successful flight boosts national confidence in next-gen Japanese rockets and paves the way for future missions beyond Earth’s orbit. Space.com
🌞 Solar Orbiter’s South Pole Reveal
ESA‑NASA’s Solar Orbiter captured humanity’s first detailed look at the Sun’s southern pole using its trio of instruments: PHI, EUI, and SPICE. The spacecraft’s tilted orbit offers a fresh angle on solar magnetism.
The images show poleward magnetic loops and coronal features unlike those seen from Earth’s equatorial perspective—helping refine our models of space weather and solar cycles.
The glimpses from the Sun’s deep south promise to improve forecasts of solar storms that can affect satellites, radios, and Earth’s power grids. https://www.youtube.com/embed/TU4DcDgaMM0
🛰️ PUNCH: Solar Storms in 3D
NASA’s PUNCH mission—Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere—is weaving together 3D movies of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as they erupt from the Sun’s corona into interplanetary space.
Using four small platforms in precise formation, PUNCH tracks how CMEs travel and unfold—data that’s vital for predicting the paths of space-weather storms that could disrupt satellites, astronauts, and power infrastructure.
This cinematic rendering of solar storms helps us better understand, visualize, and eventually forecast these powerful solar events.
🏗️ Rubin Observatory Prepares for First Light
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is gearing up its 27.5-foot mirror and 3.2-billion-pixel camera for the start of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).
Its mission? To scan the entire southern sky every few nights—to hunt for asteroids, supernovae, and signatures of dark matter faster than ever before.
Once live, LSST will act like a galactic security camera—capturing changing cosmic events in real time and letting astronomers react faster than ever.
🔭 Skywatching This Week
- June 20 – Summer Solstice: Northern Hemisphere enjoys its longest and sunniest day.
- June 22 (pre-dawn): Check the eastern sky for a lovely triangle of Venus, a crescent Moon, and the Pleiades.
- All month: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,