Alicia Siegel (7:11)

Thanks Maria. We have three additional stories for you today. NASA has shared that Artemis II rocket booster stacking has been completed and ABL has renamed itself as Long War as as the company shifts from space and Defense. The third is an update on Blue Origin's latest New Shepard mission, which is now targeting next Tuesday for launch.

Maria Varmazas (7:30)

And Alice, if you could please remind our listeners where those stories could be found.

Alicia Siegel (7:33)

Links to all the stories we feature throughout the show are always included in our show notes. The three additional stories are at the bottom of our selected reading section and all the links can also be found on our website space.in2k.com and click on this episode title.

Maria Varmazas (7:49)

Thank you very much. Hey T minus crew. Tune in tomorrow for T minus Deep Space. It's our show for extended interviews, special editions and deep dives with some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. And tomorrow I will be chatting with Sebastian Clouse who is CEO and co founder of Atmos Space Cargo, and Dr. Ingo Baumann who is partner at BHO Legal. And we're going to be talking about licensing Europe's first RE entry vehicle. It's a fascinating conversation, so definitely check it out while you're resting and recharging this weekend, like I will be after a busy week of travel. You don't want to miss it.

Alice Carruth (8:44)

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Maria Varmazas (10:04)

And as it is Friday Happy Friday everybody. Our partners at NSF have the weekly Space Traffic Report for you Foreign I'm.

Dave (10:15)

Alicia Siegel for NSF and this is your weekly Space Traffic Report for T minus space Starting off the week, we had a starLink launch. On February 15, Falcon 9 lit its nine Merlin engines at 06:14 UTC and lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Of the 21 Starlink V2 mini satellites deployed, 13 had direct to cell capability. The booster for this mission was B1067, which flew for the 26th time and also became the first to fly that many times. During its 26 missions, this booster carried crew twice on Crews 3 and 4. It also flew two cargo resupply missions and 15 Starlink flights, including the one from this week. The booster successfully wrapped up this, its latest mission, by landing on droneship, a shortfall of gravitas. For our next space traffic event, we're heading to Venus. Europe's Solar Orbiter passed by the planet this week and its orbit will never be the same again. On February 18th at 21:48 Universal Time, solar Orbiter screamed past Venus at an altitude of 379km kilometers. That's even closer to Venus than the astronauts on the ISS are to Earth. As the spacecraft swung past Venus, it used the planet's gravity to change its orbit around the Sun. And because of that, these flybys are also known as gravity assists. As Solar Orbiter flew by Venus, it kept its instruments pointed at the Sun. However, teams did turn on some of the spacecraft's sensors to study the plasma and magnetic environment around the planet. With this week's gravity assist, Solar Orbiter changed the inclination, or tilt, of its orbit. This was the spacecraft's fourth Venus flyby, and it's set to perform four more, with the next one scheduled for December 24, 2026. That flyby will further change the inclination so the spacecraft is able to get a good view of the Sun's polar regions. We also had an electron launch this week, and in fact, it was the rocket's 60th flight. On February 18th at 23:17 UTC, Electron took off from Rocket Lab's own launch complex in New Zealand. The payload on this mission was an Earth observation satellite for Blacksky. This was the first flight for the company's third generation of satellites, which can image our planet at a 50 centimeter resolution. Only four minutes later, another mission took flight from the other side of the world. This was, you guessed it, another Starlink mission, but with a twist. Falcon 9 lifted off from Florida carrying 23 V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. What was different this time was the booster's landing location, as it was right in the middle of the Bahamas. And this was the first time Falcon 9 that trajectory. But why did it go there? Well, it all has to do with the target orbit of this batch of Starlink satellites, which has a 53 degree inclination to get to this orbit. Falcon 9 usually flies northeast, but rough seas can make recovery challenging in the winter months, so SpaceX prefers to go southeast instead. However, that also requires flying a large dogleg trajectory around the Bahamas, which wastes a lot of performance. Well, last year SpaceX signed an agreement with the Bahamian government allowing the company to position its recovery assets in the country's terr territorial waters. With this agreement, SpaceX can land Falcon 9 in much calmer seas without the need for costly dogleg maneuvers. With this flight, B1080 became the first booster to explore this new route. On its 16th flight, it landed successfully on the deck of droneship. Just read the instructions and we were also able to get some beautiful views of the landing from one of the Bahamian Islands. Closing out the week we had another StarLink mission on February 21. This mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida and carried another batch of Starlink direct to cell satellites and V2 minis into low earth orbit. Then the booster ended its mission by successfully touching down on the deck of a shortfall of gravitas. With this week's three Starlink missions, SpaceX now has launched a total of 7,996 Starlink satellites into orbit, of which 915 have reentered and 6,268 have moved into their operational orbit. Going into next week, we'll have a Changzheng 3B launch from China on February 22. Liftoff is scheduled around 12:10 UTC from the Xichang satellite launch center in China. Then a Starlink mission is set to lift off from California later that day. Falcon 9 will take flight during a four hour window starting at 22:24 UTC. This will be the first mission of Starlink Group 15, which differs from previous groups with its 70 degree inclination. Another Starlink mission is scheduled for February 24th. This mission will be conducted from Florida with T0 set during a four hour window starting at 04:42 UTC according to airspace restrictions. We may also have Starship's eighth flight next week. The flight profile for this mission will likely be a redo of Flight 7, but the ship will hopefully get a little further along this time around. If all goes well, Starship might lift off on February 26th during a roughly 1 hour and 40 minute window opening at 23:30 UTC. Backup windows will also be available in the following days. The next mission will go to the moon on February 27th. Falcon 9 is set to lift off at 17 minutes past midnight UTC carrying the IM2 mission. For intuitive machines, this mission will be conducted from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. In addition to IM2, the flight will carry four more payloads, two of which are destined for geostationary orbit and the other two will join im2 on its way to the moon. Later that day, a Soyuz will take off from Kazakhstan carrying the Progress MS.30 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 2124 Universal Time on February 27th. And wrapping up the week and the month of February, we'll have another Starlink mission from Cape canaveral. This time Falcon 9 will carry another batch of direct to cell and V2 mini satellites into low earth orbit. The four hour launch window for this flight flight opens at 2:52 Universal on February 28th. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF and that's your weekly Space Traffic Report. Now back to T minus Space.

Maria Varmazas (16:20)

We will be right back.

Alice Carruth (16:27)

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Maria Varmazas (17:11)

Welcome back. It's becoming increasingly difficult to Doge dodge avoid mentions of the U.S. administration and the Department of Government Efficiency in the media. I promise we'll go easy on you with this one. This week, head of Doge Elon Musk did an interview with US President Donald Trump, which sparked an online back and forth between astronauts and the SpaceX CEO over whether or not Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had been abandoned on the iss. And I promise we will not go into details, but you are more than welcome to look up that a polite and civil debate on X. Following that dispute, Elon Musk took to his social media platform to share his thoughts on the International Space Station itself. He wrote, it's time to begin preparations for deorbiting the space station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let's go to Mars. SpaceX, of course, has the contract to deorbit the ISS in 2030 already with a modified Dragon capsule. But when asked what timeline Mr. Musk would like to follow, he replied, the decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend two years from now. Musk's comments have caused ISS international partners to also weigh in. Understandably, the European Space Agency shared the International Space Station is a project involving various international partners. As such, all matters regarding the ISS are discussed together. With all space agencies involved, we are more than sure that the ISS partners will continue to debate the future of the orbiting lab offline. But something tells us that Mr. Musk will continue to ruffle feathers in his role as the head of Doge now that some lines have been blurred. And that's it for T minus for February 21, 2025 brought to you by N2K CyberWire for additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes@spare.n2k.com we'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in this rapidly changing space industry. If you like our show, please share a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Also, please fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space2k.com we're privileged that N2K CyberWire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at n2k. N2k's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Varmazes. Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful weekend. T minus.

Alice Carruth (20:35)

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