Today is November 21st, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. The UK Space Agency is investing 6.9 million pounds in satellite technology. The European Space Agency plans to establish a central hub for all of its exploration activities in Cologne, Germany. A Falcon 9 mission to launch new Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit marked the 100th launch from Florida's Space Coast this year. SpaceX's Starship Booster 18 suffered a mishap, which caused significant damage during static testing. Blue Origin has announced a series of upgrades to New Glenn designed to increase payload performance and launch cadence. And it is Friday, so our partners at nasaspaceflight.com will be bringing us the latest space traffic report, wrapping up the launch news from the last seven days and taking a look at what's on schedule for the coming week. Stick around for more on that after today's Intelligence Briefing. Happy Friday, everybody! Thank you for joining me. Let's dive in. First up, Blue Origin has announced a series of upgrades to New Glenn and they're designed to increase payload performance and launch cadence. After only two test flights, the second one achieving all of its primary goals, Blue Origin has decided that New Glenn could do more. And they say that the enhancements span propulsion, structures, avionics, reusability, and recovery operations and will be phased into the upcoming New Glenn missions, beginning with NG3. The aim is to upgrade New Glenn to an additional super-heavy class to rival SpaceX's Starship. Things are getting interesting. A new New Glenn 9x4 will be designed for a subset of missions requiring additional capacity and performance. Blue Origin says the New 9x4 and the current variant, the 7x2, which refer to the number of engines on each stage, will serve the market concurrently, giving customers more launch options for their missions, including mega-constellations, lunar and deep space exploration, and national security imperatives such as, you knew it, Golden Dome. But with all this news about New Glenn and its comparison to SpaceX's Starship, well, that couldn't come for a worse time for SpaceX. They suffered a mishap overnight, which caused significant damage to a booster during static testing. The company had only just rolled out the massive rocket out of the factory a day earlier to start the new test campaign. SpaceX then shared on social media that the first operations will test the booster's redesigned propellant systems and its structural strength. Well, then, a video shared a little after 4 a.m. local time at the test site near Starbase appeared to show the rocket's lower half experiencing an explosive or possibly implosive event. I'm just going to say it, the images look pretty bad. This was the first Starship version 3, which was intended to have many design fixes and upgrades from the previous iterations of Starship vehicles to improve the reliability and performance of the massive rocket. We will, of course, let you know if SpaceX releases any further details about this incident. You know, we did say that 2025 was going to be a record-breaking year for launch here in the United States, but did any of us really predict, or should we say, believe that we would be in the triple digits for launch so soon? Well, last night, a Falcon 9 mission to launch new Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit marked the 100th launch from Florida's Space Coast this year alone. Now, they already smashed previous records of 93 launches in a 12-month period. I covered it on a previous show, and that number is still expected to rise over the next six weeks. The Eastern Range, which is operated by the Space Force's Space Launch Delta-45 Wing, is the busiest spaceport in the world, accounting for more than a third of all orbital launches in 2025. It has quadrupled the number of orbital launches in five years. Bravo, seriously. Until 2020, the annual launch rate from the pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center only twice exceeded 25 orbital launches in a year. So again, bravo to all involved. And what a sign for things to come in this growing space industry of ours. As our European listeners will doubtless know, there is a lot going on on the other side of the pond from me at the moment, with many gathering in Germany for the Space Tech Expo in Bremen this week. The conference was the backdrop of the European Space Agency's announcement of its plans to establish a central hub for all of its exploration activities in Cologne, Germany. The European Space Agency signed a letter of intent with the state of North Rhine Westphalia and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, defining the next steps for the construction of a new building in Cologne. The project includes the construction of a new 20 million euro building from the grounds of the European Astronaut Center to accommodate staff of the Human and Robotic Exploration Directorate, which is currently based in the Netherlands. The new facility is expected to be delivered by the end of 2028, with the costs of construction being equally shared between ESA and the state of North Rhine Westphalia. The UK Space Agency is investing 6.9 million pounds in satellite technology that they say will transform connectivity and secure Britain's place as a European Space Leader. The funding will support five projects through the European Space Agency's Advanced Research and Telecommunications Systems, or ARTES, program. OrbitFab will deliver the advancing SATCOM technology with refueling and logistics, or the ASTRAL project, with a total UK funding of up to 2.9 million pounds. The contract for the first stage of the mission, worth 1.3 million pounds, has now been awarded by ESA. Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall will lead the antenna ground interface and Lunanet equipment project, better known as Agile, supported by 1.6 million pounds in funding. Visinity Technologies will receive 1.19 million pounds for its 5G NTN-based satellite access networks projects. Arcangel Lightworks, with the support of UTELSAT, will advance optical communications through the Space Optical Link Integration Study, or SOLIS project, and that will be funded with 356,000 pounds. And, Inmarsat Navigation Ventures Limited, which is via SAT UK, will receive 881,000 pounds for the International Virtual Satellite Operators Network Phase 2 project. Now, UKSA says all of these projects showcase British expertise in next-generation satellite technologies and strengthen the UK's role in advanced communications. And you, my friends, can read more about all of those selected projects, along with further information on all of the other stories that I've mentioned throughout today's Intel Briefing, by following the links in the selected reading section of our show notes. And speaking of those notes, we have producer Liz Stokes joining us now with a look at the other stories that are included in there today for you. Liz, what do you have for us? Hey, Maria. Janice Henderson, on behalf of Accounts Managed by its adversary affiliates, will make a strategic investment in Star Lab Space. The amount of that investment, however, has not been disclosed. And both Spaceport America and Maritime Launch in Canada have hosted suborbital launches this week from their facilities. Links to those stories, in addition to the show notes, can be found on our website, space.n2k.com. Thank you, Liz. And you know, we here at T-Minus ask a lot of questions, and we bet that you do too. Is there something that you've been wondering about lately that you just need some answers to? Space-related, I mean. Maybe a particularly confounding new technology concept or hard-to-decipher bit of governmental regulation that could use some context, especially now that the US government is back open, hooray. Or just like, what's the deal with dot, dot, dot? And that's the part you fill in, dear listener. I'm sure there is something on your mind. And honestly, we want to know, what are you mulling over? What's the workplace debate of the day where you're at? That could be a great topic for us to cover on T-Minus, so please tell us about it. Email us at space@n2k.com and tell us more. And thank you. [music] It being Friday, that means it is time for our weekly launch check-in with our partners at nasaespaceflight.com and their Space Traffic Report. [music] I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and this is your weekly Space Traffic Report for T-Minus Space. It was another busy week-in-space flight with four Falcon 9 flights from Florida, each carrying Starlink satellites into the Group 6 shell of the mega-constellation. We start off with the launch of two Starlink missions less than four hours apart on November 15th. The first Falcon 9 lifted off from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 308 UTC, carrying 29 Starlink V2 mini-satellites into low-Earth orbit. This was SpaceX's 150th mission of the year so far. Booster B-1092 flew for the 8th time and landed successfully on the drone ship a shortfall of Gravitas. From nearby Slick 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, another Falcon 9 launched just hours later at 644 UTC, carrying another 29 Starlink satellites. This was the 24th flight for Booster B-1078, which successfully touched down on the deck of SpaceX's drone ship Just Read the Instructions. Moving over to the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, another Falcon lifted off on November 17th at 521 UTC. On board was the joint US-European Sentinel-6B satellite. This will map ocean topography, monitor sea levels, and support climate forecasting in cooperation with NASA and other agencies worldwide. Being a NASA-licensed mission, this flight wasn't subject to the temporary FAA launch restrictions, which have since been lifted. The mission also marked the 500th reflight of a Falcon Booster. B-1097 was on its third flight and successfully performed a return to launch site maneuver, landing back on the concrete pad at Landing Zone 4. Next, we moved to the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and the first of two electron launches this week. Launching from LC2 at 1300 UTC on November 18th, the VAND mission was another suborbital hypersonic research flight using Electron's Haste variant, which broke Rocket Lab's previous record of 16 electron flights set last year. Moving back to Florida, another Falcon 9 launched 29 more Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit on November 19th at 12 minutes past midnight UTC. Booster B-1085 flew for the twelfth time, landing successfully on the deck of drone ship a shortfall of Gravitas, wading downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The first of two Chinese satellites this week took flight from the Jochuan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on November 19th. Lifting off at 401 UTC, a Changjiang-2C carried three Xi Jinping 30 satellites into low Earth orbit, which are said to support space environment measurements. A second Rocket Lab electron took flight this week on November 20th at 12.43 UTC. This one was a secretive orbital mission called Follow My Speed. It was the 76th electron to fly and lifted off from Launch Complex 1A at the company's launch site in the Mejia Peninsula of New Zealand. While details of the customer and payload were withheld, this flight was suspected to carry the third of five batches of Black Sky third-generation Earth imaging satellites set to produce images at a half a meter resolution. The fourth and final Starlink launch of the week took place on November 21st from LC-39A at the Cape, lifting off at 339 UTC. The second mission was to launch the 8th mission of the group's six-shell, which is by far the most-served layer in the Starlink architecture, with even more missions planned for this group in the near future. Booster B-1080 flew for the 23rd time, touching back down on the space extra-onship just read the instructions, waiting downrange. This mission brings the total number of Starlink satellites launched up to 10,444. Of these, 1,394 have de-orbited, and 7,778 are now in their operational orbit. Chang-Jung-3B also launched on November 21st, lifting off from Launch Complex 2 at the Shichang Satellite Launch Center in China at 1055 UTC. At the time of recording, there were no details about the payload carried aboard this mission. Going into next week, we have at least ten launches planned, including two from Russia, one from French Guiana, and even more from China and South Korea. China is preparing to launch Chang-Jung-2F from the Jochuan Satellite Launch Center on November 25th, carrying the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft. This will be the first time a Shenzhou craft will be launched uncrewed since Shenzhou 8, 14 years ago. The capsule will replace the spacecraft that was used by the Shenzhou-20 crew to return home this week after their own ride was damaged by orbital debris. A fine crack was discovered on one of the two windows on the original Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, and it was deemed unfit to re-enter with crew. As a result, the Shenzhou-20 crew returned home last week in the spacecraft that brought up their successors. The Shenzhou-21 trio have only just begun their six-month rotation, and will use this replacement Shenzhou-22 craft to return home next April. Russia is preparing to launch an Angara 1.2 rocket from the Plesets Cosmodrome on November 25th. This will carry a classified payload into low-Earth orbit for the Russian military. Another Russian rocket is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan later in the week on November 27th. A Soyuz 2.1A will carry the MS-28 crewed mission to the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Christopher Williams will be joined by Roscosmos Kosmonauts Sergei Kudzverchkov and Sergei Mikhailov. The trio will spend around eight months on the space station. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute is planning to launch a three-stage KSLV-2 rocket, also known as NORI, on November 26th from the narrow space center in South Korea. The CAS-503 Earth Observation Satellite will be sent to a Sun-synchronous orbit to test new technologies and conduct space research. There are four more Starlink missions planned next week aboard Falcon 9 for Group 6, 11, and 15 of the mega-constellation. Another Falcon 9 will launch from the West Coast on November 26th, carrying the 15th Transporter Rideshare mission launching from Slik-4E at Vandenberg. Finally, a Vega-C is set to launch from the Guyana Space Center in French Guyana on November 28th. CompSat 7 is a Korean multipurpose satellite with high-resolution Earth imaging on board. It's the third and final flight this year for the Vega-C, but not the last for launch provider Arianespace. The company has one more mission planned for late December when it will launch a pair of Galileo satellites for the European Space Agency. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and that's your weekly Space Traffic Report. Now back to T-Minus Space. [Music] We'll be right back. [Music] Welcome back. Alright, who had Moss in space on their bingo card? A new report in the journal iScience shows what happened to Moss grown in the harsh environment of space for nine months in 2022, and then what happened to that Moss when it returned to Earth. Just to be clear, this was not Moss grown inside the shielded, pressurized, and oxygenized International Space Station in one of those very protective scientific experimentation shoeboxes. Oh no, this Moss was grown on the outside of the International Space Station. Yes, you heard me right. Tacked right onto the outside, completely exposed to the vacuum of space and cosmic radiation and all of that for nine months. So could the Moss survive? To just about everyone's surprise and delight who has heard this story, the answer is a resounding yes. The researchers found that the Moss spores not only endured, over 80% of them did in fact. They also retained their vitality, and those are the words from the researchers, and they were still capable of reproducing when they eventually returned to Earth. Yes, the space exposed Moss were able to spawn new Moss growth when they got back home and know that is not the start of some sci-fi cautionary tale. The study says based on their findings, Moss spores could also provide protection against UV, heat, and intensive light stresses. Wild, right? Truly, Moss is a role model for us all. Surviving and thriving in the ultimate extreme environment, she's in her resilience, Arab Aves. The research into this amazing Moss that has captured a lot of hearts and headlines around the world today comes to the world thanks to a number of research institutes throughout Japan, led by Hokkaido University. And as someone who has spent quite a lot of time in that country and appreciated many, a beautiful Mossy Zen garden there. Japan leading the global understanding on the amazing things that Moss can do feels absolutely correct to me. So let's give it up for the way tougher than we humans realized Moss, known as Fice-Komitrella patents and its spores. Who knew that these plants could endure extreme environments like space? Well, perhaps anyone who has tried removing it from where it doesn't belong. Because getting rid of Moss from where you don't want it can be a real chore many of us can attest to that. What a fascinating experiment into this bryophyte though, and that is the type of plant Moss is, remember that? Because we will no doubt be continuing to learn a lot about its adaptations. Undoubtedly, we'll one day see some truly wild future applications for these Moss-based insights in space exploration and maybe even extraterrestrial habitats. EVA suits internally coated with soft Moss, a rolling ISS, gathering some Moss. Those aren't my pitches for a new John Carpenter horror flick because one day, who knows, they could be real. [Music] And that's T-Minus, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We would love to know what you think of our 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 a 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 great weekend. T-minus. [Loud thunder] [Loud thunder] [BLANK_AUDIO]
