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Today is September 29, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazes and this is T -T -20 seconds to Los T Dris China's galactic energy successfully completed the latest test run of the second stage of its REUS reusable liquid launch vehicle. Arianespace and BULL have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on space debris mitigation. The International Astronautical Congress has kicked off its annual meeting in Sydney, Australia. The American Honda Motor Company and Astrobotic Technology are developing a scalable and integrated power solution that for sustained lunar surface missions. Northrop Grumman has successfully performed a rendezvous, proximity operations and docking demonstration with Star Lab Space Station. I recently caught up with Thorsten Kreening from Spacewatch Global to chat about his key takeaways from World Space Business Week in Paris. So make sure to stick around for more on that after today's intelligence briefing. Happy Monday everybody. Thank you for joining me. First up, Northrop Grumman has successfully performed a rendezvous, proximity operations and docking demonstration with Starlab Space Station. It is the latest milestone in developing fully autonomous capability for Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft and Starlab Space is a US led joint venture between Voyager Technologies, Airbus, Mitsubishi and MDA Space. They've partnered with Northrop Grumman, Palantir Hilton and the Ohio State University on programs for the commercial space station. And as part of an agreement announced in 2023, Northrop Grumman is adapting CYGNSS to dock and provide cargo delivery miss to low Earth orbit space stations. They've signed a tentative agreement for Northrop Grumman to supply the commercial space station for five years. Northrop Grumman says that evolving Cygnus to meet the needs of commercial customers begins their new chapter of commitment to advancing the commercial LEO economy. And although this demo was performed on terra firma and no, not in space, you didn't miss a launch announcement. The Starlab space Station is currently targeted to launch into space no earlier than 2028. The American Honda Motor Company and Astrobotic Technology are developing a scalable and integrated power solution for sustained lunar surface missions. The two companies are conducting a joint feasibility study to explore how the Honda Regenerative fuel cell system can be integrated with Astrobotics Vertical Solar Array technology and Luna grid service to provide continuous power even during prolonged periods of darkness on the Moon. The Honda Regenerative fuel cell system is a circulative renewable energy system which is designed to continuously produce oxygen, hydrogen and electricity using solar energy and water. And it's hoped that during the lunar day the system stores solar power as hydrogen and then converts it into electricity during the lunar night. After generating electricity, the only byproduct of the fuel cell is water, which would then be recycled into the Honda high pressure water electrolysis system to then create a closed loop energy cycle. Honda and Astrobotic plan to simulate one year solar illumination profiles at various lunar South Pole sites using the Astrobotic Vertical Solar Array technology systems. These simulated illumination profiles will determine how much sun the VSAT solar panels will receive on the lunar surface to power the water electrolysis during the day, which would enable the Honda system to convert the stored hydrogen into electricity throughout the night. And I know many of you know this because you just made the trek, but the International Astronautical Congress, better known as the iac, has kicked off its annual meeting and this year the venue is in Sydney. And the Australian space industry is very keen to develop international collaboration opportunities. The Australian government is negotiating a cooperative agreement between the European Space Agency and Australia and this would establish a formal mechanism for Australian businesses and researchers to access ESA's Space Science Program and missions. A treaty level Space Framework agreement between Australia and the United States has also been agreed. Framework aims to open the door to new opportunities for government businesses and researchers to collaborate on joint projects with NASA and other American partners. Arianespace and BOL have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on space debris mitigation. Arianespace and BULL conducted a feasibility study to implement the Horn post mission disposal device which is being developed by BULL on the Ariane 6 dual launch system. The study showed that an installation of the horn on the Ariane 6 DLS would be effective and both parties will now collaborate on the next step which is targeting a flight demonstration of the Horn on the Ariane 6. Available launch slots are currently being identified starting from 2027 and things are indeed heating up as always in the commercial space industry in China. Let's check in with them now. Chinese commercial space firm Galactic Energy successfully completed the latest test run of the second stage of its reusable liquid launch vehicle, and the test for the Palace One was conducted at Galactic Energy's test center in Anhui Province in East China. This successful test paves the way for Palace One's maiden flight, and the company says that it lays a solid foundation for the upcoming mission. And that wraps up today's top five stories for this Monday. N2K senior producer Alice Cruth joins me now with a look at the other stories making today's headlines. What are you looking at today, Alice? I'm sure it's going to be a busy week with IAC Maria, but for today we only have three additional stories included in the Selected Readings section of the show. Notes Cider Space has been awarded a manufacturing services contract to support the Toby Hanna Army Depot. The South China Morning Post is reporting that China's aerospace industry is undergoing a manufacturing revolution that could could make rockets and satellites as efficiently produced as cars. And IONQ has appointed General John J. Raymond to its Board of Directors. You know, a lot of people are listening to podcasts through YouTube nowadays and you know, if that's the way you would prefer to listen to this show, well, good news everyone. T Minus Space Daily is indeed on YouTube and we post our episodes there along with video clips from interviews and events throughout the year. So if you're dual screening at work and keep the YouTube player going all day while your head's down, listen, I get it. I'm not judging. 2K Cyber is our company's YouTube channel and on there you'll find the T Minus Space Daily playlist along with other shows that we make here at N2K. Again, that's 2K Cyber on YouTube.
