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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

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daily dive into the cosmos, where we bring

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you the latest and greatest from the world of

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space and astronomy. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. We've got a packed show for

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you today, covering everything from the UK's

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first orbital launch license to a fascinating

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crowdsourcing challenge from NASA and a look

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at a very busy week in launches.

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Anna: Plus, we'll discuss the unfortunate end of a

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promising lunar mission. So buckle up,

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because we're heading out among the stars.

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Avery: First up, some big news from the UK space

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scene. British company Skyrora has

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officially secured the first ever launch

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license from the UK's Civil Aviation

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Authority. This is a huge milestone for

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them.

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Anna: It really is, Avery. They've been granted a

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license for up to 16 launches of their

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Skylark L suborbital rocket from

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Saxavoord spaceport in Scotland.

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Skylark L is an 11 meter rocket

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capable of carrying a 50 kilogram payload.

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Avery: But there's a bit of a hitch, isn't there?

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Despite having the license and a rocket

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ready, they're facing delays due to a lack of

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available launch pads at Saxavoord,

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potentially pushing their first uk flight

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into 2026.

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Anna: That's right. Alan Thompson, Skyrora's

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head of government affairs, mentioned that

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they were told there's no longer availability

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at either of the pads and it's quite a

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setback after the long licensing process.

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Avery: And speaking of that process, Thompson noted

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it took longer than anticipated, but he

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understands it's an industry first and

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prioritizing getting it right over, doing it

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quickly, which makes sense, especially in

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space.

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Anna: Absolutely. This Skylark L

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rocket, while Suborbital, is designed to

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de risk technologies for their much larger

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Skyrora XL, which aims to put

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315kg into low earth

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orbit. They're already making good progress

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on, um, the XL stages, with integration

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tests planned for next year.

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Avery: It's interesting to see how these smaller

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suborbital flights serve as crucial testbeds

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for research. And Skyrora is also seeing

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rising demand for Skylarkail's ability to

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provide up to six minutes of microgravity for

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experiments at a fraction of the cost of an

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orbital mission. That's a nice secondary

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market, they found.

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Anna: It highlights the growing ecosystem around

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space launches beyond just putting satellites

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into orbit. But this pad availability issue

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at Saxavoord seems to be a recurring theme.

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Germany's rocket factory Augsburg, or

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rfa, also postponed their maiden flight due

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to a launch pad explosion. Scotland based

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Orbix is also aiming for a launch from

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Saxavoord this year, though, they're still

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awaiting a license.

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Avery: It sounds like Saxavoort is going to be quite

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the busy hub once those pads are available

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and the infrastructure is settled. Hopefully

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Skyrora can secure a spot soon and continue

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paving the way for the UK's domestic launch

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capabilities.

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Anna: Moving from future launches to the very

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recent past. What a week it's been for

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rocket launches. Avery, give us the rundown.

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Avery: It certainly has, Anna. Uh, we had a packed

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schedule, especially from the us, but let's

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start in. New Zealand Rocket Lab continued

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their impressive cadence with the launch of

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an Electron rocket.

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Anna: The Harvest Goddess Thrives mission.

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Avery: Right, that's the one. It successfully

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launched a, uh, 100 kilogram Earth

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observation satellite for a Japanese company

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called IQPS. This was

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Electron's 11th mission of 2025

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and its 69th overall. A truly

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rapid launch cadence.

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Anna: That's an incredible pace for a small launch

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provider. Electron is known for its

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unique electric pump fed Rutherford,

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which are largely 3D printed.

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Very innovative design using carbon composite

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construction for its stages.

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Avery: Absolutely. And then, as expected, SpaceX

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had a busy week with four scheduled launches,

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three of which were successfully completed.

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They had two Starlink missions and one

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mission for Amazon's Project Kuiper.

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Anna: The Kuiper mission was significant.

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KF0UH2 carrying another

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24 Kuiper Internet satellites into low

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Earth orbit. The this was the second time a

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Falcon 9 has launched per Project Kuiper,

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following an earlier Atlas V launch.

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Avery: That's right. The Booster

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B1091 was a new one,

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making its first flight and successfully

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landed on a drone ship. It just shows

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the continued scale and efficiency of

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SpaceX's operations with their reusable

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Falcon 9s.

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Anna: And the Starlink launches just keep coming.

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We had group 174 from

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Vandenberg putting 24 satellites into

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a Sun synchronous orbit, and group

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1020 from Cape Canaveral with 28

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satellites for insertion into low Earth

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orbit.

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Avery: What's notable there is the boosters being

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used. B1093 on the

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Vandenberg flight was on its

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fifth flight. And

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B1085 on the Cape

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Canaveral mission completed its 10th

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flight. That reusability is

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truly astounding and sets a new

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standard for operational efficiency.

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Anna: It really is. It demonstrates the maturity

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of their reusability program. And

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finally, a big one from United Launch

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Alliance. Their new Vulcan rocket had its

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first launch of 2025, which was also

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its third mission in total.

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Avery: Indeed, the USSF1 uh06

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mission, which included a classified Space

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Force payload and a navigation technology

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demonstrator called NTS3.

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This was Vulcan's first US national

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security mission. An intricate

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marathon lasting over seven hours

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to deliver two satellites more than

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22,000 miles above

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Earth.

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Anna: Vulcan is ULA's answer to the heavy lift

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market. Powered by twin BE4

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main engines and in this mission's

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VC4S configuration for four

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side mounted GEM 63XL

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solid rocket boosters. It's exciting to see

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ULA ramping up operations with their

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new flagship rocket.

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Avery: A, uh, truly diverse week in space. From

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Earth observation to global

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Internet constellations and vital national

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security missions, the pace of launches

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just keeps accelerating, pushing the

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boundaries of what's possible in space.

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Now for something a bit different, but just

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as exciting. NASA is literally

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calling on the public to help design

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the wheels for their next generation

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of lunar vehicles.

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Anna: I love this. It's called the rock and roll

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challenge. And they're inviting engineers and

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innovators from around the world to develop

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a lightweight, flexible and long

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lasting wheel and tire system capable of

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navigating the moon's harsh terrain.

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Avery: The Moon's terrain is no joke. We're

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talking extreme temperatures, craters,

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boulders, steep inclines, and

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that super abrasive ultrafine dust

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called regolith. Traditional rigid

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wheels just won't cut it for the long

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duration Artemis missions NASA is planning.

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Especially at higher speeds.

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Anna: Exactly. They need something that can handle

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higher speeds and absorb impacts

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going beyond what current rover wheels can

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do. The goal is to support sustained

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surface operations and reliably transport

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payloads across the challenging lunar

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surface.

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Avery: And there's a real incentive for

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participants with up to

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$150,000 in prizes

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for the most promising designs that meet

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NASA's technical and performance criteria.

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This is a fantastic example of

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crowdsourcing, solving real world space

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technology problems.

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Anna: We've seen NASA do this successfully before

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with things like space food and radiation

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shielding. It really taps into global

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ingenuity. Submissions for detailed

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concepts for wheel tire assemblies are due

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later this year. And they need to prioritize

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durability, flexibility, low

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mass and resistance to lunar dust.

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Avery: Infiltration and minimal maintenance,

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which is crucial when you're operating on

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the moon. Finalists will even get a

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chance to test their designs in

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simulated lunar environments next year,

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mounting them to NASA's microchariat

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ground test unit and testing them up

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to 15 miles per hour.

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Anna: That's incredible. Imagine your design

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being integrated into future lunar rovers

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or even influencing designs for Mars and

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beyond. These next gen wheels will be

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essential for everything from lightweight

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transport vehicles, ferrying astronauts and

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supplies to robotic rovers, cargo

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haulers, autonomous construction vehicles,

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and specialized equipment like lunar drills.

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Avery: As NASA pushes forward with its Artemis

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missions, aiming to return humans to the moon

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and establish a sustainable presence by the

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end of the decade, reliable mobility

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systems are absolutely critical. This

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challenge is a direct response to that need.

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Anna: It's inspiring to think that everyday

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innovators could contribute to humanity's

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return to the moon. Over

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150 innovators have already signed

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up to participate in the challenge, which

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really shows the enthusiasm for these kinds

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of open innovation initiatives. If

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you'd like to get involved and find out more,

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I'll leave a link in the show notes for you.

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But wouldn't it be cool if an

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Astronomy Daily listener won the competition?

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Now for a more somber note. NASA's

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Lunar Trailblazer mission unfortunately

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has officially ended without achieving its

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primary science goals.

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Avery: Yes, it's really disappointing news.

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The small satellite was designed to produce

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high resolution maps of water on the Moon's

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surface, where it is, what form it's in,

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and how it changes over time. This

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data would have been invaluable for future

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robotic and human exploration of the moon.

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Anna: The mission launched on February 26,

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sharing a ride on the second intuitive

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machine's robotic lunar lander mission

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IM2 aboard a SpaceX Falcon

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9 rocket. They established communications

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shortly after separation, about 48

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minutes after launch, but then lost

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contact the very next day on February

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27th.

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Avery: And despite extensive efforts, including

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help from collaborating organizations around

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the world who volunteered their assistance to

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listen for its radio signal and track its

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position, they were unable to re

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establish two way communications.

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Anna: The limited data they did receive indicated

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the spacecraft's solar arrays weren't

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properly oriented towards the sun, causing

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its batteries to become depleted. Ground

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radar and optical observations

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indicated Lunar Trailblazer was in a slow

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spin as it headed farther into deep space.

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Avery: Nikki Fox, Associate administrator for the

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Science Mission Directorate at uh, NASA

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Headquarters, noted that NASA undertakes

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high risk, high reward missions like Lunar

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Trailblazer to find revolutionary waves of

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doing new science.

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Anna: It underscores the inherent risks in

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space exploration, especially with these

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lower cost small satellite missions

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like Lunar Trailblazer, which was part of

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NASA's Simple X competition. They

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accept a higher risk posture to test

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pioneering approaches which

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sometimes sadly don't pay off.

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Avery: It's a, uh, tough lesson, but as NASA

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emphasizes, the knowledge gained from a

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mission like this, even in failure, helps

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reduce risk for future endeavors. The team

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put in months of effort trying to regain

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contact, but eventually it drifted too far

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for its telecommunications signals to be

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strong enough to receive telemetry or

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command.

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Anna: While the mission didn't reach the moon. The

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two science instruments developed for it,

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like JPL's High Resolution

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Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper,

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or HVM3, and the University

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of Oxford's Lunar Thermal Mapper,

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uh, are world class. And that technology

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isn't lost.

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Avery: That's the silver lining, isn't it? Bethany

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Elman, the mission's principal investigator

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at Caltech, highlighted that the collective

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knowledge and developed technology will cross

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pollinate to other projects. In fact, an

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instrument with an identical spectrometer

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design to HVM3 called

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UCIS Moon has already been selected

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for a future lunar orbital flight

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opportunity.

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Anna: So while Lunar Trailblazer itself

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couldn't blaze its trail, its legacy

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will certainly contribute to our

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understanding of lunar water in the future.

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It's a testament to the perseverance of the

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scientific community in the face of setbacks.

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Avery: And that brings us to the end of another

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fascinating episode of Astronomy Daily.

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It's clear that whether it's challenges and

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launch infrastructure, the the sheer volume

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of rockets heading to space, or the

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ingenuity required for lunar exploration,

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the universe never ceases to amaze.

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Anna: It truly doesn't. From the UK's

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first launch license to crowdsourcing

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moonwheel designs, and the critical lessons

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learned from every mission, successful or

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otherwise, the journey of space

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exploration is always moving forward.

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Avery: Thanks for joining us for Astronomy Daily. We

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hope you enjoyed our look at the latest space

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news.

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Anna: Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more updates

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from beyond our world. Until then, keep

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looking up