Artemis Three test plan & Four launches in one day - Space News (Oct 24, 2026)

Support The Automated Daily directly: 15 free episodes a day, 5 editions, 3 languages, about $4 a day to produce. A coffee keeps it going: theautomateddaily.com/support Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Effortless AI design for presentations, websites, and more with Gamma - https://try.gamma.app/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad - Lindy is your ultimate AI assistant that proactively manages your inbox - https://try.lindy.ai/tad Today's topics: Artemis Three test plan - NASA detailed a complex Artemis Three mission in which astronauts would test lunar-lander designs from Blue Origin and SpaceX while remaining in Earth orbit. The demonstrations are intended to reduce risk before a planned crewed lunar landing in 2028. [34][41] Four launches in one day - Four orbital launches took place on October 23, including two Chinese remote-sensing missions, a Rocket Lab flight carrying radio-monitoring satellites, and a SpaceX Starlink launch. The busy day illustrates the increasingly routine pace of global launch activity. [210][212] Giant black holes and dark matter - Researchers found that hypothetical black holes heavier than entire galaxies cannot account for a significant share of dark matter. Their distribution would have left a grainy signature in the cosmic microwave background, but that signature is absent. [46][52] Mars canyon remains active - Scientists traced a marsquake to a deep fault beneath Valles Marineris, showing that the solar system’s largest canyon remains tectonically active. The finding changes the picture of Mars as an entirely quiet geological world. [76][82] Asia joins the LaserSETI network - Two LaserSETI detectors in Saudi Arabia are now scanning the sky for brief optical signals, creating the network’s first observing site in Asia. The location expands coverage for searches involving technosignatures and unusual astronomical flashes. [91][92] White dwarfs reveal unexpected colors - Models of human color vision suggest that some white dwarfs would appear green, pink, purple, yellow or cyan up close. Their unusual colors reveal the elements and planetary debris present in these dense stellar remnants. [106][109] Episode Transcript Artemis Three test plan We begin with NASA’s evolving route back to the Moon. The agency has presented new details for Artemis Three, a roughly two-week mission planned for 2027. Rather than landing astronauts on the lunar surface, the crew would remain close to Earth and practice working with test versions of two competing Moon landers. The plan calls for NASA’s Orion spacecraft to meet and dock separately with vehicles developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. Astronauts would evaluate how people enter, occupy and operate these systems before either design carries a crew near the Moon. Three major rockets would be involved, making this an unusually demanding launch campaign even though the activity would happen in Earth orbit. The significance is risk reduction. NASA wants to discover integration problems close to home rather than during a lunar mission, while also keeping both lander programs moving toward a possible surface return in 2028. The schedule remains ambitious, and an exact launch date has not been fixed, but the agency now has a clearer rehearsal plan for one of the hardest parts of Artemis. [32][34][41] Four launches in one day It was also a crowded Friday for launch teams around the world, with four missions reaching orbit on October 23rd. Rocket Lab launched three HawkEye 360 satellites from New Zealand. Those spacecraft are designed to locate and study radio transmissions from orbit, with applications ranging from maritime tracking to detecting navigation-signal interference. China conducted two launches of its own. A Long March Six A carried the Yaogan 50-03 remote-sensing satellite, while a later Long March Four B flight deployed another group of Yaogan spacecraft. Public descriptions of...