Space digest — Nov 2, 2026
Top line: Electron's 99th launch has flown and succeeded, deploying Japan's QPS-SAR-20 radar satellite — one flight short of the 100-launch milestone. A first-of-its-kind HLS Starship crew-cabin mockup is under construction in the Starfactory, while Starship Flight 15 stands at NET November 12. Blue Origin is reported to have grounded New Shepard tourist flights for at least two years.
- Starbase turns to an HLS cabin mockup as Flight 15 lands its November date
- Electron's 99th launch flies as the 100-launch milestone moves one step closer
Starbase turns to an HLS cabin mockup as Flight 15 lands its November date
What happened: The week's Starbase round-up carries two forward-looking items. A Starship cabin mockup for the Human Landing System is being built inside the Starfactory, for testing that includes human-in-the-loop work — described as a step toward crewed lunar landings on Artemis 4. On the launch side, a CADENA air-traffic advisory puts Flight 15 at NET November 12 from Pad 2, contingent on a modified launch license that would allow a ship catch there. The rest of the week is hardware flow: Booster 24 completed stacking, Ship 45 finished its methane tank and began its oxygen tank, Ship 42 ran single-engine and six-engine static fires at Massey's, Ship 43 passed cryo tests and moved to the launch site for catch testing, and Booster 22 (the Flight 15 booster) completed its static-fire campaign and moved into pre-flight checks.
What's genuinely new: The cabin mockup is the first report of HLS crew-habitat hardware being built at Starbase, with human-in-the-loop testing named as its purpose. The November 12 net date corroborates the earlier slip from the circulated November 8 dual-catch target.
Watch: Whether the launch-license modification allowing a ship catch at Pad 2 lands ahead of November 12; details on the cabin mockup and its human-in-the-loop test plans.
Links: NASASpaceflight, relaying StarshipTracking (X post) · Nov 1, 2:20 PM ET
Electron's 99th launch flies as the 100-launch milestone moves one step closer
What happened: Rocket Lab launched its 99th Electron mission, "The Sea God Surveys," from LC-1A on the Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand, carrying QPS-SAR-20 (WADATSUMI-II) — Japan's 10th iQPS Earth-observation radar satellite for QPS Inc. The flight is a confirmed full success: payload deployment from Electron's Kick Stage is confirmed, Rocket Lab's tenth launch for the QPS constellation at 100% mission success, and the satellite has established contact. Rocket Lab shares closed down 5.8% at $51.50 on the trading day.
What's genuinely new: The flight outcome is settled — deployment confirmed and the satellite contacted — turning the scheduled November 2 date into a completed, successful mission.
Watch: The customer and date for Electron's 100th launch; Rocket Lab's third-quarter results, due November 9.
Links: NASASpaceflight · Space.com · Jeff Foust, retweeting Rocket Lab (X post) · Traders Union · Nov 2, 12:35 PM ET
Brief
- A 24/7 Wall St. analysis argues Rocket Lab's near-two-thirds share-price decline since May sits against a growing picture: backlog outpacing revenue and a spacecraft-manufacturing division already generating four times the revenue of launch services. 24/7 Wall St. · via Yahoo Finance
- A Seeking Alpha analysis pegs SpaceX's quarter at Starlink reaching 13.6 million users and AI revenue above $7.6 billion, arguing investors are now buying a compute business more than a launch company. Seeking Alpha
- NASA is cited as naming Rocket Lab a launch option for future commercial space station missions as the ISS era transitions. Simply Wall St.
- NASA is accepting public submissions to send names to Saturn's moon Titan aboard the Dragonfly rotorcraft, which is set to launch in 2028. Starlust
- Blue Origin's New Shepard tourist flights are reported paused for at least two years while the company focuses on lunar ambitions, leaving prospective passengers without a confirmed return date as ticket prices of $200,000-plus resurface. IBTimes Australia
- Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire projects SpaceX revenue reaching $731.1 billion in 2028, a model that includes $569 billion from ground-based AI computing — an analyst view, with no company plan behind it. Stocktwits
- Apple Maps has reportedly started blurring satellite images of NASA launch facilities, Area 51 and several US military bases, while Google Maps still shows them. Moneycontrol
- Utah's spaceport ambitions have split experts over purpose: after a state committee picked two locations, aerospace leaders argue Utah's geography makes it better suited for landing and catching rockets than launching them. Deseret News
- Telesat's mounting debt threatens Canada's push for an independent satellite network positioned as an alternative to Starlink. Traders Union
- Rocket Lab is behind the refurbishment and build of two new launch pads in Alaska. Advanced Television
- SpaceX's only launch on the Vandenberg schedule this week is a classified mission, set to be California's first November liftoff as the state's record-setting 2026 launch year continues. Ventura County Star · Ventura County Star
- Computer and gyro problems likely caused the loss of NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter, SpaceNews reports. SpaceNews
- SpaceNews previews how the November midterm election will test bipartisan support for NASA. SpaceNews
- A CSIS analysis of who controls Ukraine's Starlink access adds a sharp technical detail to the throttling dispute: the speed cap on Starshield terminals hindered Ukraine's efforts to intercept Russia's jet-powered drones, and the risk of losing access mid-attack gives allied countries another reason to build their own satellite networks. CSIS
- Angola's ANGOSAT-2 high-throughput satellite is set to serve Tanzania under a memorandum of understanding signed October 29, widening the African-owned satellite's network across the continent. Tech Times
- The Aerospace Corporation is tracking the coming reentry of NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, predicting it burns up November 4, 2026 at 09:11 UTC, give or take 12 hours. Jeff Foust, relaying The Aerospace Corporation (X post)