Alright so here is another news dump.
Gravity 2 is likely to launch in December, from rumors I've seen. We knew that the date would be before 2025 ends, but I think there was some confusion as to whether that would be November or December. From what I am seeing, more likely December.
Another rumor is that the CAS-11 satellite will be delayed until later next year, so for anyone looking forward to that, unfortunately, we will have to wait. Earlier this month, it was thought that the satellite may have launched on the Gravity-1, but that was later confirmed to not be the case, despite matching orbital trajectory usually associated with that type of satellite.
We have updates on the spacesuits that were sent up in July, here is the quote:
These two new suits, delivered to orbit in July 2025 by the Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft, feature improvements in thermal comfort, human-machine interface capability and operational safety, while maintaining high standards of reliability, Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson for the CMSA, said on Thursday at a press conference focused on the upcoming Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceflight mission.
Notably, one in-orbit spacesuit, which was used more than 20 times, exceeding its original design of 15 uses within three years, will retire from future extravehicular missions.
Zhang said it is the first Chinese spacesuit to undergo in-orbit lifespan assessment and extended use -- validating the accuracy of health monitoring and evaluation models and methods for extravehicular spacesuits.
He added that further tests will be carried out on the suit's key materials and characteristic parameters. It is scheduled to be returned to Earth via a new-generation spacecraft at a later stage.
Chinese private launch providers and other private space firms are increasingly developing, and being solicited for, the manned lunar program.
As a personal remark, I prefer this style, where the government guides the solicitation, rather than our American style of basically giving the Artemis program to a few corporations, but I digress.
Anyways, here are the relevant quotes:
A competitive commercial model has already been adopted for the development of the crewed lunar rover, lunar surface remote-sensing satellites and low-cost cargo transportation system for the space station, CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo noted.
Contracts for these facilities have been signed following a competitive selection process, and development work is now underway, Zhang added.
Zhang said that both the scale and proportion of commercial participants have "significantly increased" compared to the past, and their contribution to accelerating the program's progress is becoming "ever more evident."
Looking ahead, the program plans to include competitive commercial models in the research and development of scientific payloads, such as the lunar scientific probe platform and crater-detection platform, Zhang revealed.
This article goes over some of the new experiments aboard the SZ-21 mission, quite interesting in my opinion.
Another rumor, which I heard earlier this year but has since been said again today, the Darwin-1 and Darwin-2 rockets from Rocket Pi are likely no longer being developed, the company has been stagnant and potentially shut down. Again, like all rumors, this may not be true, but doing a bit of digging, the company has not been posting much of anything.
If anything else comes up today, I will try to update.
