July 26, 2025

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Lifts 28 Starlink Satellites in 22nd Flight of Reused Booster

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched 28 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit at 5:01 a.m. ET on Saturday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This mission marked the 22nd flight of its first-stage booster, which previously supported Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER-B, USSF-124, Bluebird 1-5 and 18 other Starlink deployments.

Spectators across Florida and as far north as North Carolina reported seeing a bright, early-morning glow, capturing photos of the ascent over Sanford and other viewing areas. (Sources: Brevard County, ABC11, WSET)

Space Debris Surge Heightens Kessler Syndrome Alarm

Earth’s orbital environment is inching toward a Kessler Syndrome tipping point, with more than 36,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 cm and hundreds of thousands of smaller fragments hurtling at orbital velocities. In April 2025, NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office warned that the debris population is growing faster than ever, each collision spawning yet more fragments.

The International Space Station conducted 12+ avoidance maneuvers last year, including three emergency dodges in late 2024.

Mega-constellations like Starlink (over 5,000 satellites) could raise collision risk by 50%, and insurance premiums have jumped 30%.

Governments track 47,000 objects, and startups such as ClearSpace completed the first de-orbit of a spent rocket stage in early 2025—yet experts warn cleanup may take decades.

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Astronomers Spot Faint Companion Star Orbiting Betelgeuse

Astronomers may have uncovered the culprit behind Betelgeuse’s mysterious six-year brightness swings. Using the Alopeke speckle imager on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, a team led by NASA’s Steve Howell detected a faint bluish star—nicknamed Siwarha or Ori B—orbiting the red supergiant.

This 1.5-solar-mass companion lies just four times the Earth–Sun distance from Betelgeuse and shines at only 0.4% of its host’s luminosity. The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, aligns with century-old radial-velocity measurements and offers a new explanation for Betelgeuse’s long-period variability.

Rubin Observatory Captures Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Before Official Discovery

Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s commissioning images from June 21 captured interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS a full ten days before its ATLAS detection. Its car-sized, 3.2-gigapixel digital camera recorded 49 exposures—19 during planned operations—showing a classic cometary coma of gas and dust around an icy nucleus.

Key facts:

Rubin’s data predate ATLAS’s June 25–29 observations and the Deep Random Survey’s July 2 sighting.

Confirmed by the Minor Planet Center on July 2 as the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS races through the solar system at about 60 km/s and may be the oldest comet known.

Astronomers will continue mining Rubin’s images until the comet drifts out of view on August 22.

Bill Would Impose FAA Launch Fees on SpaceX

Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a bill in early June that would require the FAA to begin charging licensing fees on all commercial rocket launches and reentries starting in 2026 (Source: SlashGear). The proposal sets an initial cap of $30,000 per launch, scaling to $200,000 by 2033, based on a weight-based rate of $0.25 per pound.

Key Points:

Licensing surge: FAA’s AST processed 11 commercial launches in 2015 versus 164 in 2024, with forecasts exceeding 200 in 2025.

SpaceX impact: Falcon 9’s 37,500 lb payload equates to about $9,400 per launch fee; 89 Starlink missions in 2024 would total roughly $800,000.

FAA funding: Fees aim to support AST’s workforce expansion after it sought a $57.13 M budget for fiscal 2025, up from $42.02 M.

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Kessler Syndrome Looms as 36,000+ Debris Pieces Threaten Earth's Orbit