September 20, 2025

Themis Stands on the Launch Pad (Source: ESA)
The first model of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) reusable rocket demonstrator Themis is standing at its launch pad in Kiruna, Sweden. Themis is investigating technologies to demonstrate rocket stage recovery and reuse. The first vehicle model – called T1H for Themis-1 engine-Hop – arrived at the Esrange Space Center over the summer, with its landing legs shipped separately. The legs are now installed, and T1H is standing tall. (9/19)

Ariane Themis Reusable Rocket 2025 Prototype Vs SpaceX Grasshopper 2012 (Source: Next Big Future)
Here is a comparison of Ariane’s Themis prototype in 2025 and SpaceX’s Grasshopper tests (2012–2013) and the early Falcon 9 reusability program (2013–2016). Ariane is 13 years behind SpaceX. Themis is developed by ArianeGroup under ESA contract. It is Europe’s first serious program for vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) reusability. It is a 30-meter-tall prototype and is a single-engine demonstrator powered by the new Prometheus methalox engine, focused on proving autonomous guidance, landing legs, and cryogenic propellant management for future operational stages.

Themis copies Grasshoppers pad-based hops. Grasshopper had a 325 meter max altitude but Themis is planning ~100 meters. Neither carries payload, emphasizing structural integrity over performance. (9/19)

A New Generation Of Spacecraft Head To The ISS (Source: Hackaday)
While Russia’s Progress and Soyuz vehicles would still be available in an emergency situation, it’s in everyone’s best interest that there be multiple backup vehicles that can bring critical supplies to the Station. Which is precisely why several new or upgraded spacecraft, designed specifically for performing resupply missions to the ISS and any potential commercial successor, are coming online over the next few years.

The Cygnus was the second commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the ISS back in 2013, and like the Dragon, has gone through several upgrades and revisions over the years. he HTV-X is an upgraded version of a spacecraft which has already visited the ISS, namely the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Designed and built by the Japan's JAXA, the first flight of this upgraded cargo vehicle is tentatively scheduled for late October. Far and away the most ambitious of these new spacecraft is the Dream Chaser, developed by Sierra Space. Reminiscent of a miniature version of the Space Shuttle, this winged vehicle is designed to land like an airplane at the end of its mission. (9/18)

Rocket Lab, Blue Origin Eye Mars Telecommunications Orbiters as NASA Revives Mission Concept (Source: NSF)
Rocket Lab—the operator of the world’s second-busiest orbital rocket—has been touting its vision for a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter. Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, laid out a compelling case during an exclusive interview with NSF on Wednesday.

The interest lies in a revived $700 million congressional push to bridge Earth and the Red Planet with high-speed interplanetary internet, and Rocket Lab wants in on the action. The company isn’t alone in its enthusiasm. Blue Origin has already floated a proposal, but Beck, a vocal advocate for planetary exploration, emphasized that robust communications are the unsung hero of any Mars endeavor. (9/18)

Same-Day Delivery Comes to Space, as Impulse Promises Satellite Transport in Hours, Not Months (Source: Tech Crunch)
Amazon made same-day delivery the benchmark on Earth. Impulse Space is pitching a similar concept for satellites bound for geostationary orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth, compressing what is typically a months-long transit into a matter of hours. In the span of a week, the in-space propulsion startup announced a trio of deals aiming to unlock geostationary orbit (GEO) for commercial and defense users. That includes a demonstration mission with defense contractor Anduril planned for 2026; a transportation deal with GEO communications startup Astranis in 2027; and a multi-launch agreement to carry Infinite Orbits’ servicing satellites to GEO starting the same year. (9/16)

Apple Partner Globalstar Bulks Up Satellite Plans After SpaceX Snags Spectrum (Source: PC Mag)
As SpaceX pursues cellular satellite connectivity on par with 4G LTE, Apple partner Globalstar is preparing to upgrade its own capabilities. On Monday, Globalstar announced that it's tapping a satellite application it filed years ago to bolster the company’s mobile satellite services, which are used by Apple, among others. The application involves a constellation called HIBLEO-XL-1, which would join Globalstar’s existing plan to create another next-generation satellite network called C-3 using over $1 billion in funding from Apple. (9/15)

SpaceX is Partnering with Chipmakers to Enable Starlink Satellite-to-Cell Service (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX is working with microchip manufacturers to integrate satellite-connectivity hardware into smartphones, advancing its plan for direct-to-device services through Starlink. “We’re working with chip manufacturers to get the proper chips in phones,” the SpaceX President stated. “We will now be initiating discussions with telcos in a different way now. Now it’s our spectrum, but we want to work with them, almost providing capacity and wholesaling capacity to their customers.” (9/17)

Amazon Wants FCC to Drop Five-Year Rule on Deorbiting Satellites (Source: Light Reading)
Back in 2022, the FCC set regulations requiring satellites operating in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to deorbit within five years of completing their mission, in order to reduce collisions and space debris. Now, Amazon, which is working toward the commercial launch of its Project Kuiper LEO service, wants to see that rule scrapped.

In a letter dated September 12, Amazon rehashed a recent meeting with FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz, in which the company said it "discussed proposed reforms to the Commission's five-year post-mission deorbit rule for space stations, and encouraged the Commission to adopt a regulatory approach that better accommodates the realities of space operations while maintaining robust safety standards." (9/18)

These 2 European Telescopes Use Lasers to Track Potentially Dangerous Space Junk (Source: Space.com)
At a double observatory atop Mount Teide on the Spanish island of Tenerife, a powerful laser is being deployed to track fragments of space debris in orbit and warn when these fragments threaten satellites. Soon, it could even be used to push space debris away from a collision course with a satellite. The Izaña-1 and Izaña-2 laser-ranging stations are operated by ESA.

Izaña-1 has been active since 2021 and has already been employed in satellite laser-ranging, but with Izaña-2 now complete, the pair of telescopes have a much more ambitious task as part of ESA's Space Safety Program. The two telescopes operate synchronously: Izaña-2 fires laser pulses at a piece of space debris high overhead, and Izaña-1 detects the reflected light. In doing so, the system is able to track the path of the debris, charting its orbit and determining whether it could potentially collide with a satellite. (9/15)

Inside the Space Force as it Prepares for a New Kind of War (Source: Washington Post)
This is how the next war could start: invisible shots fired in space on the electromagnetic spectrum that could render U.S. fighter jets and aircraft carriers deaf and blind, unable to communicate. In this case, the “aggressors” targeting the U.S. satellite were not from China or Russia, but rather an elite squadron of U.S. Space Force Guardians mimicking how potential adversaries would act in a conflict that begins in orbit.

The July combat training exercise marked the largest one led by the Space Force, the highly secretive branch of the military with an exclusive focus on combating threats in the vast expanse beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Involving more than 700 service members and spanning 50 million square miles and six time zones, the training exercise, called Resolute Space, offered a rare look into how the Pentagon is preparing to fight the next war in space — an arena that for decades was regarded as a peaceful sanctuary.

Resolute Space was its biggest training exercise to date. At its heart were the units trained to play the role of the adversary, called “Red Teams”— an apparently veiled stand-in for a hypothetical Chinese space force — that would attempt to disrupt the “Blue Teams’” satellites, meaning those run by the Space Force. Space Force officials would not say which country or countries the Red Teams represented. They said only that the exercise was focused on a conflict playing out in the Pacific, where China has projected power in preparation for what many fear could be an invasion of Taiwan.  (9/19)

Meet the Team Tasked with Saving Earth From World-Ending Asteroids (Source: BBC)
You're woken in the middle of the night by an urgent phone call. An asteroid is headed straight for Earth and it's your job to find out if it'll strike the planet and rain destruction down upon us all. It sounds like an overly-dramatic movie trailer, but that’s the real-life task of the people in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre, or NEOCC – a multidisciplinary center staffed by astronomers, mathematicians and engineers who work on predicting asteroid impacts. (9/13)

New military Satcom Services Program to Focus on ‘Maneuverable’ Small GEO Satellites (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is moving ahead with plans to tap commercial geostationary small-satellite constellations to bolster military communications, issuing a revised request for information on Sept. 15 for its Maneuverable Geosynchronous Orbit (MGEO) Commercial Satellite-Based Services program. (9/18)

Will NASA Kill a Pair of Critical Climate Satellites? (Source: Daily Kos)
As Congress returns to session this month, the fate of two satellites that have become integral to climate science hangs in the balance. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and -3, or OCO-2 and -3, have been circling the globe for years, gathering some of the best data available on carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

They are the “gold standard” for measuring the most abundant climate-warming gas in the atmosphere from space, according to NASA. Yet the space administration has proposed ending the satellites’ missions next year, part of the Trump administration’s proposed 24 percent reduction in the agency’s budget. (9/18)

NASA Confirms: 6,000 Planets Beyond Our Solar System Discovered (Source: Science Alert)
The age of exoplanets began in 1992, when astronomers detected a pair of planets orbiting a pulsar. Then, in 1995, astronomers discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a main sequence star. As NASA's Kepler and TESS missions got going, the number of confirmed exoplanets continued to rise.

By 2015, NASA announced that Kepler had discovered its 1,000th exoplanet. 2016 was a banner year for exoplanet detections with nearly 1,500 in that year alone. The total number reached 5,000 in March of 2022. Now, NASA has announced that there are 6,000 confirmed exoplanets. (9/19)

Practicing for Mars Here on Earth (Source: Universe Today)
The Mars Desert Research Station, operated by the Mars Society and situated in Utah. Researchers spend rotations of up to a few months at the station. It’s so rigorous that when participants want to step outside, they have to put on a bulky and heavy space suit. The point of this experiment is to see how well people can work together in Mars-like conditions. And it’s also to develop…tactics, ideas, workarounds.

Another experiment, SAM, for Space Analog for the Moon and Mars, takes it one step further. Built and run by Kai Staats, it’s about as close to the real deal you can get on the Earth. It’s a fully sealed environment. To enter, you have to pass through an airlock. When you’re inside, you’re breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water. Crew rotations last for up to a few months, and they can only bring in new materials through “resupply” missions. There’s even a Mars yard where they can simulate field work both by themselves and with the help of robotic rovers. (9/18)

Vortex Spaceplane Demo Targets Thermal Protection, Controls (Source: Aviation Week)
The French Vortex spaceplane demonstrator program will aim to validate heat shield technology and different control capabilities once it takes flight in about three years. France in June disclosed a joint investment with Dassault Aviation in the Vortex spaceplane demonstrator, with an aim to get to orbit before the end of 2028. The combined budget is about €70 million ($83 million), split equally between the two sides. (9/18)

SpaceX Eyes 15,000 More Satellites for Cellular Starlink, Hints at Carrier Plans (Source: PC Mag)
SpaceX wants to launch as many as 15,000 next-generation satellites to upgrade its cellular Starlink service for phones. On Friday, the company filed a request with the FCC for the additional satellites, which will harness the radio spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from Boost Mobile's parent, EchoStar, in a $17 billion deal. "This new system of up to 15,000 satellites will provide ubiquitous connectivity to ordinary mobile handsets and a range of other devices and user terminals,” the company wrote. (9/19)

NASA Scientist Convicted of Mortgage Fraud After Fabricating Pay Stubs To Buy $850K Luxury Home and Defaulting on the Loans (Source: Realtor.com)
A former NASA scientist has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud after fabricating income records to finance the purchase of an $850,000 luxury home in Texas. Noreen Khan, 52, and her husband, Christopher Mayberry, 53, purchased the luxury home in Missouri City, TX, in 2017, when Khan was working at NASA as a space toxicologist and Mayberry was employed as a NASA contractor.

In plea agreements, Khan and Mayberry admitted to taking out numerous, significant personal loans to cover the down payment on the home based on falsified income documents, before defaulting on those loans and falsely claiming identity theft. (9/18)

Ukraine Destroys Giant Radio Telescope Used by Russian Military (Source: Space.com)
A giant radio telescope in Crimea used in the past to support missions to Mars and Venus and attempt to contact alien civilizations has been destroyed in a drone attack. Ukrainian defense forces took down the 230-foot (70 meters) antenna dish to prevent Russian forces from using it to guide attacks on its territory. (9/18)

Viasat and Space42 to Pool Spectrum for Direct-to-Device Services (Source: Space News)
Viasat and Space42 have agreed to pool their Mobile Satellite Services spectrum, aiming to provide direct-to-device services from the world’s largest coordinated block of D2D frequencies within three years. (9/16)

Why Does Pluto Have Such a Weird Orbit? (Source: Live Science)
The dwarf planet's orbit has an eccentricity — how much it deviates from a perfect circle — of 0.25. For comparison, Earth's orbit has an eccentricity of 0.0167, meaning it's nearly circular. Saturn and Mars have eccentricities of 0.054 and 0.093, respectively. Pluto's orbit is tilted 17.4 degrees, compared with Earth's 1.5 degrees and Mercury's roughly 2 degrees. Pluto's unusual eccentricity and tilt is likely due to its interactions with neighboring Neptune and other giant planets, said Renu Malhotra. (9/20)

Smaller Carriers Contemplate Their Role in the New Satellite Universe (Source: Fierce Network)
Satellite connectivity is definitely on the minds of operators here at the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) annual convention, and they’re looking at CCA to lead the way. All the big wireless carriers – Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T – have relationships with satellite companies that give them access to satellite connectivity in cell phones, either now or in the future.

Smaller operators – and we’re talking carriers with fewer than 1 million customers – are wondering how they can offer similar services. Importantly, they’re not contemplating that satellites will make their networks in remote areas obsolete. Rather, they’re thinking about how they can use satellites to enhance their own coverage and/or economics. (9/17)

Virginia Rezoning Request Intended for Firefly Operations (Source: SPACErePORT)
According to paperwork submitted to local officials, the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority (VCSFA) seeks accelerated consideration of their zoning-change request for to large parcels acquired by VCSFA: "While acknowledging its uniqueness and rarity, VCSFA, given the urgency to move forward with its mission and potential high impact customers that are ready to commence operations in Virginia, respectfully requests that the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors conduct a joint public hearing in order to save weeks, if not months, for the approval process."

The request is intended to: "facilitate customer manufacturing and processing, and provide infrastructure for various support operations. Virginia is competing with multiple other states to add these manufacturing jobs therefore it is at an advantage already having proven its commitment to aerospace. ...

"As announced by Governor Youngkin on June 24, 2024, Firefly Aerospace has selected Virginia as the new launch site of its two-stage orbital Alpha rocket, attracted through a collaboration effort between the Virginia Spaceport Authority, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation  and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. The initial development of the subject parcels will include an approximately 10-acre site for VCSFA’s newest customer, Firefly Aerospace. Firefly Aerospace plans to begin launching Alpha in 2025." (9/20)

SPACEPORT Act Reintroduced to Boost STIM Spaceport Infrastructure Funding (Source: Sen. Hickenlooper)
U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, John Cornyn, Ben Ray Luján, and Roger Wicker and U.S. Representatives Dale Strong, George Whitesides, and Vince Fong reintroduced the bipartisan, bicameral Spaceport Project Opportunities for Resilient Transportation (SPACEPORT) Act, which would encourage the development of commercial spaceports through the modernization of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching (STIM) grant program.

With more commercial spaceports emerging across the U.S., there is a growing need to establish a dedicated funding source from the Department of Transportation to support the unique infrastructure needs of the space transportation industry. The FAA’s STIM program promotes the development of resilient U.S. space transportation capabilities by providing federal grants for spaceport infrastructure projects. However, the program has not been modernized since it was first created in 1994, and the program has effectively lapsed since fiscal year 2012.

The SPACEPORT Act would reauthorize and update the STIM program to reflect the growing demand for civil, commercial, and national security launches. Editor's Note: Working for Florida, I worked toward the STIM program's creation and initial funding way back then, and the initial grants helped fund the conversion of Launch Complex 46 from a Navy missile test site into a multi-user commercial launch pad, which will have Astra as its next user in 2026. (9/19)

Virginia Spaceport Authority Requests Rezoning of Farmland Near Wallops (Source: WBOC)
The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority wants Accomack County to rezone more than 400 acres of land near Wallops Island from agricultural to industrial use. Accomack County officials received the rezoning application for two properties, 54 acres near the village of Mappsville and nearly 370 acres near the village of Assawoman. Virginia Space purchased the 370 acres of undeveloped farmland across the road from Rocket Lab's Neutron assembly buildings.

County Administrator Mike Mason said the Spaceport Authority acquired the land to protect Wallops, which he called an economic powerhouse, from encroachment. "Obviously, the aerospace presence on Wallops at MARS [Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport] is significant," Mason said. "There's over $210 million of Commonwealth investment on Wallops Island, and just acquiring that property outright was necessary to protect that." Editor's Note: Protecting the land from encroaching agricultural use? (9/18)

UAE Leading $18b Middle East Space Market Growth (Source: Gulf Today)
The Middle East and Africa (MEA) space market is valued at $18 billion, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) titled “Governments in Space: A universe of opportunities”. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar represent the core of the region’s civil space investments - each contributing actively to the GCC’s emergence as a hub for space innovation and ambition. (9/18)

Axiom Space Launches Global University Alliance (Source: Axiom)
Axiom Space is proud to announce the launch of the Axiom Space University Alliance, a global initiative designed to elevate scientific opportunities in microgravity research, technology development, research and development (R&D), and commercial innovation in low-Earth orbit (LEO).

With 15 current partners across the U.S., Europe, and Australia, the Alliance is expanding rapidly to become the world’s leading network of academic institutions focused on advancing space science during the transition from government-led to commercially-owned and operated space stations. (9/18)

Construction Officially Begins on Multi-User Launch Facility in French Guiana (Source: European Spaceflight)
The French space agency CNES has officially begun construction of a new multi-user commercial launch facility on the grounds of the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. In early 2021, CNES announced plans to convert the old Diamant launch site at the Guiana Space Centre into a new multi-user facility for commercial launch providers operating rockets capable of carrying payloads of up to 1,500 kilograms. The site is designed to host up to five launch providers with a combined annual capacity of 40 launches. (9/18)

No, SpaceX Won't Become the 4th US Mobile Operator (Source: Fierce Network)
No, despite multiple breathless posts on LinkedIn, SpaceX won’t become the fourth mobile network operator in the United States, even with its $17 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, according to analysts. After AT&T’s surprise purchase of EchoStar's mid-band 3.45 GHz and low-band 600 MHz spectrum for $23 billion in late August, SpaceX followed that up by scooping up EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum for $17 billion last week.

This has led many commentators to speculate that SpaceX will become the interstellar version of a fourth national mobile network operator (MNO) for the U.S., now that EchoStar/Dish can no longer fulfill that role. This, however, will not be the case. “There are multiple issues, including penetration of buildings for indoor services, limited capacity and the high cost of space-based bandwidth," says Joe Madden. (9/17)

Why Vermont's Broadband Chief Favors Giving Federal Funds to Fiber Over Starlink (Source: PC Mag)
Should federal funds go to fiber installations or satellite internet services such as Starlink? That question is playing out across the US as states submit plans on how to spend $42.5 billion from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, which is designed to expand high-speed internet access in rural and remote areas.

In June, the Trump administration overhauled the program to encourage "technology neutrality," meaning satellite and wireless providers could also receive BEAD subsidies. SpaceX has even told several US states to revise their BEAD proposals, calling fiber investments “wasteful” and "unnecessary,” citing the lower costs to deploy Starlink.

Still, some states have prioritized fiber over satellite in their funding proposals. In Vermont’s case, the state’s $120 million plan includes subsidizing fiber in over 85% of underserved locations, while Starlink will only be used for 11% with a $2.5 million subsidy grant. SpaceX has called on the Commerce Department to intervene. Christine Hallquist, the executive director for Vermont’s broadband office, pushed back on the notion that fiber is more expensive than satellite internet. “This focus on low-Earth orbit satellites, that’s not infrastructure, that’s renting space,” she said. (9/18)

China Could Overtake the US as Top Nation in Space 'in 5-10 Years' (Source: Live Science)
A new report warns that China's rapid and unrelenting growth within the space sector will see the country overtake the U.S. in the "new space race" to become the world's leading space-faring nation in as little as "five or 10 years," experts say. The stark warning comes less than two weeks after a Senate Commerce Committee hearing discussed the increasing likelihood of China beating the U.S. in a race to return humans to the moon unless the recent record-breaking cuts to NASA's budget are reversed.

The new report, titled "Redshift," was published on Tuesday (Sep. 16) by the Commercial Space Federation — an advocacy group that supports investment in the U.S. commercial space industry. It details how China's space infrastructure and capability of exploring the solar system has rapidly grown over the last decade, and its improvements show no signs of slowing down. (9/18)

Canadian Company Hopes to Help NASA Combat Space Waste (Source: Global News)
Waste Parrot, a University of Alberta spinoff company, recently beat out 1,200 international projects to be one of 17 finalists in a NASA competition to address waste in space. The 30-member team includes professors, masters and PhD students in various fields including robotics, computer vision, AI, plastic recycling and engineering. They work out of the university’s Smart Lab and are the only Canadian group to make the short list. (9/18)

Trump’s Golden Dome Will Cost 10 to 100 Times More Than the Manhattan Project (Source: Ars Technica)
One thing that's evident about President Donald Trump's proposal for the Golden Dome missile defense shield is that designing, deploying, and sustaining it will cost a lot of money, at least several hundred billion dollars, over the course of several decades. Beyond that, it's really anyone's guess. That doesn't sit well with some lawmakers, but the Republican-controlled Congress committed $25 billion in July as a down payment for new missile-defense technologies.

The White House stated in May that Golden Dome will cost $175 billion over three years, but a new study from a center-right think tank concludes that it is simply not enough to develop the kind of multi-layer shield Trump described in a January executive order. It's also clear that it will take longer than three years to implement the full spectrum of defense capability envisioned for Golden Dome.

"Its cost hinges on the level of geographic coverage, the types and numbers of threats it must address, and the degree of resilience it is expected to achieve," Harrison writes. "As this analysis shows, even slight changes in these parameters can alter costs by hundreds of billions of dollars. "As long as these requirements remain undefined, it is fair to say that Golden Dome can cost as much or as little as policymakers are willing to spend." Cost projections for all but the narrowest Golden Dome architecture also surpass the total cost of the Apollo Moon program. (9/18)

No Workforce Shortage for NRO (Source: FNN)
The National Reconnaissance Office is one of the most secretive of the intelligence agencies. But NRO Director Chris Scolese gave a peek behind the curtain during a conversation at the Intelligence and National Security Summit on Thursday. And Scolese said that despite hiring freezes and other changes, the NRO is doing well on the workforce front. “We really don't have a problem in recruiting,” he said.

“We have a very exciting mission. We can't talk about it a lot, but we can give people an idea about what we do.” The spy satellite agency has approval from the Defense Department to hire for some mission-critical positions. And Scolese confirmed NRO will soon be posting new positions, including for its vaunted summer internship program. (9/19)

At Least 35 Russian Companies to Move to Newly Created National Space Center (Source: TASS)
Over 30 enterprises of Russia’s rocket and space industry, based in Moscow, will move their production sites to the newly created National Space Center, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov said. "We now have a single platform, where 35 enterprises will be concentrated in one area," Bakanov said in the National Space Center, visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

The National Space Center opened in Moscow on Saturday. A complex of building with the total area of 276,000 square meters, is located in the West of Moscow. It’s a joint project of the Moscow Government and Roscosmos. he new center will house, among other things, control centers for Russia’s entire orbital constellation, including communication, navigation and remote sensing satellites. It will also house laboratories and design bureaus. (9/13)

Russia's Bion-M Biological Research Module Returns to Earth (Source: TASS)
The descent module of the Bion-M No. 2 biological satellite, transporting living organisms, has landed in Russia’s Orenburg Region. "The spacecraft was launched from Baikonur on August 20, and 30 days later it returned safely to Earth with living organisms on board. After landing, they will be sent to Moscow for detailed study," a statement said.

Project Bion-M No. 2 is designed to study how living organisms tolerate flight in high-latitude orbit, where radiation levels are about one-third higher than in the International Space Station’s orbit. The 6.4-ton spacecraft carried 75 male mice, approximately 1,500 common fruit flies, cell cultures, plants, and samples of cereals, legumes, and industrial crops. In addition, fungi, lichens, cell materials, and seeds of plants grown from seeds previously flown on Bion-M No. 1 (2013) and Foton-M No. 4 (2014) were also launched into space. (9/19)