Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

Saturn is well placed in the evening and Jupiter rises earlier each night, both visible without a telescope.

Launch coming up tomorrow, a Long March 2D CYZ-3 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China, operated by China.

An asteroid called 2010 FX9 is passing by in about four days.

It's roughly as long as a commercial airliner, passing about nine lunar distances from Earth.

So I think it's a good time to deep dive into that.

So on August 18, 2026, the Chinese company Landspace launched lifted off its Zhukui 3Y2 rocket from the Dongfang Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

And the rocket was using nine TQ-12A Methalox engines on the first stage and a vacuum variant in the second stage.

So a vacuum variant of this rocket engine just means it has a much larger nozzle bell.

Selkchin, NASA's space weather trackers, also note a burst of solar material was seen leaving the sun.

Mali, launch coming up tomorrow, a Pallas-1 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China.

Galactic Energy is sending up first test launch of Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 rocket.

NASA awards first prize in phase two of agency's Luna Recycle Challenge.

Next up, China has recovered an orbital rocket booster on land for the first time, marking an important step in its efforts to challenge SpaceX in the commercial space industry.

LandSpace Technologies' Zhuque-3 rocket successfully landed on extendable legs in Gansu Province on Wednesday after launching a satellite into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Video footage showed the booster reducing its thrust before completing a controlled vertical landing.

The breakthrough follows China's first successful recovery of a rocket at sea last month.

And like that rocket, it is designed for partial reusability.

Liftoff took place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.

And for this test flight, the company attempted to land the booster on a pad roughly three hundred kilometers downrange, a maneuver that failed on the first flight in late twenty twenty-five when the stage crossed just meters from the target.

This time, early reports indicate that the landing was successful, marking a major technical milestone for the company and for China’s growing ecosystem of private space firms.

The European Space Agency has awarded a contract to launch its solar storm monitoring CubeSat on an Ariane 6 rocket.

Land Space has a Zhuque 3 on the pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China, set to fly tomorrow.

There is plenty of activity on the sun right now.

Multiple sunspot regions are crackling with energy, and solar flares could fire off at any time.

Northern lights chances remain moderate tonight for viewers in Canada and the northernmost states.

Launch coming up in the next couple of days, a Zhuque-3 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China, operated by Landspace.

The European Space Agency selects Ariane 6 to launch deep space CubeSat.

The European Space Agency has awarded a contract to launch its solar storm monitoring CubeSat on an Ariane 6 rocket.