[MUSIC] Today is November 14th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] Intuitive Machines has signed a lease agreement with Texas A&M University at their new Space Institute. Sierra Space's Dream Chaser Spaceplane has successfully completed a series of critical pre-flight tests. Space Kinetic has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract from DARPA to accelerate the development of its architecture for asymmetric space-based missile defense. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V launched the Viasat 3 F2 satellite from Florida. Blue Origin's new Glenn successfully launches NASA's Escapade and lands its booster on its second flight. Happy Friday everybody. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you are joining us for the very first time, then welcome. Every Friday our partners at nasaspaceflight.com bring us the space traffic report, wrapping up the launch stories from the last seven days, and then taking a look at what's on the schedule in the coming week. Stick around for more on that after today's intelligence briefing. First up, it has been a busy 24 hours at Cape Canaveral. Let's dive into what happened, shall we? The third time is a charm for the second launch of Blue Origin's new Glenn. After weather and even space weather caused delays to launch attempts earlier this week, last night the heavy lift launch vehicle took off for its second ever flight. New Glenn's seven BE-4 engines ignited at 3.5501 pm local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. And it marked the start of what was a very successful mission for Blue. The mission was the vehicle's second National Security Space Launch Certification Flight. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the US Space Force for the NSSL program to meet emerging national security objectives. The orbital launch vehicle was also carrying payloads, which is not bad for a certification flight. It successfully deployed NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or the Escapade Twin spacecraft, which were built by Rocket Lab, by the way, into the designated Loider orbit. And this was the really impressive part. It landed the fully reusable first stage on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. And of course, I wouldn't blame you, but you might be thinking, well, SpaceX does that all the time. But this booster is much bigger than any that have landed before, and it did it only on its second ever flight. For a mission dubbed "Never Tell Me The Odds," they look very good from here. Bravo, Blue Origin! The Escapade spacecraft will begin their journey to Mars once the planets have returned to the ideal alignment in fall 2026. NASA plans to use Escapades' two identical spacecraft to investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars' magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet's atmospheric escape. In addition to deploying the NASA spacecraft, the Viasat HaloNet demonstration onboard New Glenn's second stage also successfully executed the first flight test of Viasat's telemetry data relay service for NASA's Communications Services project. But if you can believe it, that wasn't the only Viasat satellite that launched yesterday. Viasat's highest capacity satellite is now on its way to orbit after a United Launch Alliance Atlas V also lifted off on Thursday night. Just over three and a half liters after liftoff, Viasat 3F2 successfully separated from the launch vehicle, and the first signals were acquired shortly thereafter, confirming the satellite's readiness for the next phase of operations. Viasat 3F2 is designed to add one terabit per second of capacity to Viasat's network, which is, by the way, more capacity than the operator's entire existing network. The Viasat 3F2 satellite is planned for service entry in early 2026. Next up, SpaceKinetic has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known to most of us as DARPA, to accelerate the development of its architecture for asymmetric space-based missile defense. Under this contract, SpaceKinetic will further refine its one-to-many missile defense constellation architecture while upgrading core hardware required for both missile defense and space superiority operations. SpaceKinetic says it is committed to delivering disruptive capabilities on timelines that meet an increasingly urgent threat landscape. Sierra Space's DreamChaser spaceplane has successfully completed a series of critical pre-flight tests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The tests show continued progress towards DreamChaser's first free-flyer mission. As part of its testing campaign, the DreamChaser underwent electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility testing at NASA's Space Systems Processing Facility. These tests verified the spacecraft's ability to operate within expected electromagnetic environments throughout various missions. The spacecraft also completed tow testing at KSC and SpaceFlorida's launch and landing facility. Additionally, DreamChaser successfully demonstrated the ability to receive telemetry and distribute commands between the spacecraft and mission control in Colorado over NASA's tracking and data relay satellite system network, aka TDRS. It is great to hear of the progress on DreamChaser, and Sierra Space says the DreamChaser is on track for its first launch to low Earth orbit, targeted in Q4 of 2026. Intuitive Machines has signed a lease agreement with Texas A&M University at their new Space Institute. The facility is being funded by $200 million in state support, championed by Texas State Representative Greg Bonin, and is slated to open in the second half of 2026. The site covers 400,000 square feet and will feature the world's only indoor lunar and Mars escape, each covering two and a half acres. Intuitive Machines and Texas A&M have signed an agreement that will give Intuitive Machines a dedicated bay in the Space Institute facility, which is currently under construction near NASA's Johnson Space Center. The partnership aims to advance lunar mission readiness and develop a skilled workforce to support the next generation of space exploration. The facility will also benefit from Intuitive Machines' lunar surface data, which informs simulation and planning efforts and is the most extensive on Earth. Intuitive Machines plans to use its leased bay to operate, test, and refine its moon racer, lunar terrain vehicle. And a quick footnote to today's Intel briefing for you after a nine-day delay on their return home, the Shenzhou-20 crew are now safely on terra firma as of this morning. The crew logged 204 days in orbit and came home via the Shenzhou-21 capsule. The Shenzhou-20 capsule, you might remember, sustained damage due to space debris, and the CMSA is saying that tiny cracks were found in one of the capsule's windows. The freshly aboard Shenzhou-21 crew now begin their crew rotation, though it is not yet known how they will return home. And that my friends wraps up today's Friday Intel briefing for you. But there is still more to come on launch news from our partners at NSF. But before we get to that, N2K senior producer Alice Carruth joins us now with a look at what else is making today's headlines. Alice, what do you have for us? Happy Friday, Maria! IonQ has announced plans to acquire Skyloom, and we've been reading financial updates from MDA, Space, and Virgin Galactic. You can read up on them as well by following the links in the selected reading section of our show notes. You'll find them on the platform that you're listening to us on, or on our website, space.n2k.com. Just click on today's episode title. And tomorrow, please be sure to check your podcast feed for T-Minus Deep Space. It's our special edition Saturday show where we share an in-depth interview and dive a bit deeper into fascinating topics with brilliant guests. And on T-Minus Deep Space tomorrow, we have Iridium's COO, Suzy McBride, joining me. And we will be chatting about Iridium's involvement in the "Rebell" rally. And what's that, you ask? Well, join us to find out more. It's on T-Minus Deep Space tomorrow. Don't miss it! And now our partners at nasaspaceflight.com have the latest Space Traffic Report. I'm Alicia Segal for NSF, and this is your weekly Space Traffic Report for T-Minus Space. We start with a sea launch as a Changjiang 11H lifted off from the Haiyang spaceport in Chinese coastal waters on November 8. This is a four-stage solid propellant rocket, and it carried three Xi'an, or test satellites, into low Earth orbit to test new optical technologies. It was the first time the vehicle has flown in almost two years. Another four-stage solid propellant rocket took off from the Zhouchuan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, also carrying a batch of test satellites on November 9. This time it was for CASPACE's Li Jian-1, or Connecticut-1, carrying a pair of remote-sensing test satellites to Sun Synchronous Orbit, which are then expected to maneuver down to perform tests at what's known as a very low Earth orbit later in their mission. Next we move to Florida, where the first of two Starlink missions for the week left the pad at LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center on November 9. This mission was only the third to carry 29 Starlink V-2 mini satellites, as SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of payloads to orbit. Booster B-1069, which made its debut almost four years ago in December 2021 on the CRS-24 cargo resupply mission, successfully landed on the deck of the drone ship a shortfall of gravitas after its 28th flight. We return to China for the next two launches, with the Changjiang-12 sending another batch of Internet communication satellites to low Earth orbit on November 10 for the state-owned Guo Wang constellation. This is a potential rival to Starlink, which also aims to grow to around 13,000 over time. They've launched 104 of these satellites so far, and have almost caught up with another Chinese mega-constellation, Qianfan, also known as G-60, which has 108 in orbit so far. This was the third flight of a Changjiang-12, all of which have launched from a dedicated pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province. Heading back to the Zhou Chuan satellite launch center on the same day, Galactic Energy launched three satellites aboard a series one, but this launch didn't go as planned. The fourth stage shut down prematurely over eight minutes into the burn, and the payloads were not placed into their desired sun-synchronous orbit. This was the vehicle's second failure in five years, and its first since its tenth flight back in 2023. It's likely to now delay the series two, which was expected to debut before the end of the year, and uses an improved version of this same fourth stage. Moving back to Florida on November 11, we have some better news, as a Falcon 9 broke previous records upon launching from Slick 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was the 94th orbital launch from Florida this year, breaking previous records, and once again carried 29 Starlink satellites on board. SpaceX has launched over 100 dedicated Starlink missions this year, this mission being #104, and they've launched 144 Falcon 9 missions so far this year and counting. That's already beaten last year's record of 132 launches, and they're likely to finish just a few missions shy of their target of 170 by the end of the year. After a number of delays, including space weather, range violations, and ground service issues, Blue Origin launched its second new Glenn on November 13. The only daytime launch since the FAA's rules came into effect, restricting launch windows to between 10 at night and 6 in the morning. This launch carried the two satellites of NASA's Escapade mission into space, where they'll be staged at Lagrange Point 2 ahead of their journey to Mars. This was the first dual-satellite mission to Mars, and the first dual-spacecraft mission to another planet on a commercial launch vehicle. The cherry on top for this mission was the booster's attempt to land on the deck of the company's landing barge, Jaclyn, stationed in the Atlantic. On New Glenn's first flight earlier this year, the booster failed to relight its engines for the reentry burn, so it never got that far. But this time, the first stage named "Never Tell Me The Odds" successfully re-entered. Shortly after, it laid its engines for the landing burn, and while at first it seemed that it had missed its target, it hovered over and touched down successfully, making Blue Origin the second company to propulsively land in orbital-class booster. Closing out the week on November 14, United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V in its most powerful configuration from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape. It inserted the Viasat-3 F2 communication satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Once operational early next year, this satellite is set to double the capacity of Viasat's entire fleet and provide satellite communications over the Americas. Going into next week, the manifest looks busy despite some uncertainties with the FAA's restrictions that followed the U.S. government shutdown. With that whole saga now over, the restrictions will hopefully lift, but for now, there's still in place. Nevertheless, SpaceX has up to four planned Starlink launches, three of which are for the Group 6 shell of the mega-conciliation. If schedules hold, we could see two late-night missions on November 15 from nearby pads LC-39A and Slick 40. Rocket Lab is due to launch another suborbital electron on November 16 from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, carrying an undeclared payload. This will break the company's current record of 16 launches in a year. Later in the week, the Transporter 15 rideshare mission is set to launch on November 19 from Slick 4E at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This mission will carry at least 59 payloads into Sunsynchronous orbit and has already been delayed from last week. We'll also see one final Starlink mission launch from this same pad on November 20. We may also see some additional launches from China, and if you want to keep an eye on the latest schedule, your best bet will be to check out our next spaceflight app and website. It's a great way to stay up to date, and it's completely free. I'm Alicia Segal for NSF, and that's your weekly Space Traffic Report. Now back to T-Minus Space. We'll be right back. Welcome back. I've said it a few times on this show, but when you put the word "space" in front of things, it makes that thing instantly cooler. That's just science. Medicine, space medicine. Trash, space trash. Time, space time. And space time, as in time keeping in space. Might not be something you've thought about a lot, or maybe you have, I don't know. But it's a fascinating problem. Just think, for example, about the Mars rover missions. A day on Mars, better known as a "soul," is slightly longer than an Earth Day. 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35.244 seconds, give or take. And a Martian year is 668.6 soles. So just keeping an on-Earth duty roster has been an interesting technical challenge of keeping some very odd hours Earthside to make sure someone's awake when the sun is up Mars side. So, take that one example and imagine when we start really building out just, just, CIS Lunar Infrastructure, let alone multi-planetary infrastructure. Whose time are we all going to be keeping? Going by Earth-based time is really not going to make much logical sense at that point. And indeed, in 2024, the White House said we need some new extraterrestrial time standards. And brilliant minds have answered the call. Because someone's got to think about this, right? VARDIS Space Corp. has released today their VARDIS Space Clock, which is an open-source framework designed to synchronize zero-time reference points without any dependence on Earth-based signals. The system provides deterministic synchronization between two clocks independent of hardware drift, CPU timing, or external references. I'm sure that means something to some of you, I do not know what that means. That said, proper synchronization and timekeeping is going to be a make or break necessity when we are talking about things like, oh, I don't know, autonomous systems, communications, swarms, and things that honestly we haven't even dreamed of beyond all that yet. VARDIS says the package includes core math modules, parameter-driven inputs, and documentation, yay for documentation, aimed at inviting researchers worldwide to verify, adapt, and stress test the model. Hooray for open-source. VARDIS frames today's release of their clock as the very first phase of a broader effort to build the temporal backbone of a multi-planetary future. It's not Star Trek, my friends. We really are talking about spacetime. And that's T-minus, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. 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 the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share our rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. We are proud 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 helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn, and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you, the people, the technology, and the ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how at N2K.com. N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Tre Hester, with original music by Elliott Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher. And I am your host, Maria Varmazis. Thank you for listening. Have a lovely weekend. T-minus. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
