Glad to see that the possibility of Starship’s success for LEO is being taken seriously at ESA. Elon Musk’s 3D renderings are one thing; the work of 15,000 people in the world’s largest aerospace company and leading power is quite another.

This agreement between Avio and ESA is encouraging. Starship could succeed as a replacement for the STS: a fully reusable heavy launcher for LEO. It would be foolish for Europe to miss the 2nd gen of reusable rockets because its decision-makers spent their time mocking the competitors 3D renderings.

Mood. 🔥 "Now the rest is up to us, and there's a future to be won We must turn our faces outward, we will do what must be done For no cradle lasts forever, every bird must learn to fly And we're going to the stars, see our fire in the sky" www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJA6...

I’ll cover this in the next Space International: much of the criticism of Starship in Europe stems from Musk’s colonization plans. Yet even if it lifts "only" 60t to LEO, its reusability would be revolutionary. It’s easy to mock renderings, what really matters is anticipating realistic capabilities.

Happy National Space Day to all my Indian friends! 🚀✨ India is today one of the most dynamic nations in space exploration, a country that can be truly proud of its achievements so far. And the best is yet to come. Stay turned skyward! #NationalSpaceDay2025

See you soon in the next Espace & Exploration with a short article about Axiom 4 and #ISROfixYourPR ! 🇮🇳🚀

[🇫🇷] Le vol habité : futile ou indispensable ? 🔎Que disent les scientifiques ? 🤖Les robots font-ils mieux que les êtres humains ? 🌐Peut-on changer la compétition sans y participer ? 🌟Et l’inspiration dans tout ça ? Retrouvez ma tribune dans le n°10 de Space International ! 👇

Seen on X. #ISROFixYourPR is quite literally a digital protest calling for better communication from a space agency. It’s absolutely remarkable.

With Gaganyaan, India will join the countries capable of human spaceflight. Technological achievement reflects the spirit of a society. They offer a model of excellence and serves as a source of inspiration, provided there is effective and dedicated com. #ISROFixYourPR Pic: @ISROSpaceflight

If India wants to benefit from its space program, it will need to build a genuine connection between the program and the public. That’s the meaning behind #ISROFixYourPR. I’ll be discussing this in relation to the Axiom-4 mission in an article for @spaceexplore.bsky.social. Stay turned skyward!

‪ "#ISROFixYourPR" Something unprecedented within a space community seems to happening. In India, ISRO fans have organized themselves to demand better outreach for the national space program! I don’t believe there are any other examples of a digital popular movement in support of a space program.

Timing. ^^ www.space.com/astronomy/mo...

Happy Moon Landing Day ! Let's remember that the future belongs to exploring nations, not to those who burn their ships. (🇫🇷 : L'occasion parfaite de vous annoncer que je signe un article dans le Space International n°10 : "Le vol habité ne sert à rien, n'est ce pas ?" 😉) Stay turned skyward ! 📡

I have a secondary quest: understand the configuration of the Icarus Firefly's fusion engine. Well, that's it. Now I need to understand what each component does. Is the Z-pinch a physical tube, or a plasma beam? 🤔 Any thoughts? 😅

Welcome on board, Ax-4 ! 🤝

Vera C. Rubin live ! 🤩

Yes, please! But the question is, funded by whom? It will be impossible to compensate for Trump's chainsaw anyway....

The scale of the damage from last nights explosion is still wild. Methane+LOX is an extremely potent explosive when something goes wrong, and this was with <20% of the methane loaded onto the ship. A low to ground failure of a fully loaded methane rocket is going to be a massive event. 📸IGW

Seems everyone is OK, good. source: SpaceX on the other site.

Uh-oh 😵

Congratulations to the Honda teams! 🇯🇵🚀 It's unexpected, but it's great to see these kind of demonstrations outside of the US and China ! 👏 Meanwhile, in Europe, we're still waiting for Callisto... 😅 But hey, with the chinese escape test and the #SIAE2025, it's a great week! youtu.be/0v1K4Ss1auE?...

China just conducted a successful pad abort test for its new Mengzhou crew spacecraft mp.weixin.qq.com/s/J7OKUhGYHL...

Very interesting video illustrating the problem of the Starship's habitable volume. SpaceX had to make compromises to accommodate the nose tank. A capacity of 20 passengers, that's said. Less than a quarter of what Musk wanted, but enough for an impressive scientific team. youtu.be/XC3dwEVxYEM?...

Ax-4, a leak odyssey... 😑 Joking aside, I'm disappointed about Ax-4 postpone, and pessimistic about the ISS. No one seems to have seriously thought the station's end of career, neither politically or technically. People talk about 2030, but will it really be able to safely host crews until then?

SpaceX just announced they are standing down from tomorrow’s Axiom-4 launch attempt due to ongoing repairs related to a LOX leak. This also explains why we spotted the structure used to lower the transport erector return to the pad…

And it's for the better ! 🙏 I hope the leak will be repaired soon.

Two integration towers and 2 launch pad for SLC-37! The real challenge will be fuel transfer, not launch cadence: SpaceX will have 3 to 4 launch towers and as many for rapid reuse. BTW, advanced propulsion systems will become obsolete, on the short term at least. Credits: youtu.be/xuquqHuFKY4?...

Most likely timeline (without excessive optimism): - 2029: 1st wave of 5 Starships to Mars, failures. - 2031: partial successes of the 2nd wave. - 2033: 1st successful Mars landing. - Late 2030s: 1st crewed scientific mission. Pessemistic: US implode before. Reality: No colony before a long time.

I am very worried about the situation in the United States. There may be a timeline in which, in 2028, President Trump's term is marred by a civil war (even a low-intensity one). No nation in the world is prepared for the humanitarian and geopolitical consequences of such a scenario.

The U.S. Senate's counter-proposal for NASA's budget, as well as Trump’s, shows how risky it is to claim that human spaceflight has historically come at the expense of science. Canceling SLS/LOPG would not have freed any funds for probes, or scientific programs. Space budgets are not zero-sum games.

Jeudi 5 juin, votre magazine est parti en reportage à l’#ESTEC au Pays-Bas. Ce centre technique de l’ @esa.int est le lieu de naissance des futures missions d’exploration européennes. À retrouver dans notre prochain numéro #space #espaceetexploration #ESA #spaceexploration

1/3) As always with Musk’s presentations, the key points tend to get lost in flashy renders and overly ambitious timelines. Here’s what I think really matters: - The current production capacity is one Starship per month.

In a prerecorded talk to employees, SpaceX released some plans about Starship's future. The highlights include:

The good news today is that I can finally share with you my first article in Space International, another French journal specialized in space! I'm very honored to pay tribute to India's ambitions in it. For the next issue, I’m also preparing an article on the value of human spaceflight. Stay tuned!

Great article! Interestingly, typical delay in the space industry is 4 to 5 years. Ariane 6 was 4 years late. New Glenn was 5. Artemis 1 & 2, 6 and 5. Starship, if it goes orbital this year, will also be 5. Rapid iteration doesn’t speed up development, but does allows to gather flight data earlier.

It might seem disappointing, but the flawless ascent of the reused booster and the fact that SECO was achieved are still a hell of a step forward. So I’m happy. Ultimately, the most frustrating part is the indefinite delay of Elon’s presentation. His interview with Ars Technica leaves me thoughtful.

Mood today. 🎶 youtu.be/tKjbHv_0KKY?...

Witnessing the launch of this "baguette" would certainly be an entertaining stress. 😂

Third failure for the PSLV out of 63 missions. I’m usually more concerned when it’s the GSLV (which is supposed to launch next). ISRO is taking it philosophically, as usual, but I really hope India doesn’t lose yet another strategic asset...

Here we go: the Tianwen-2 near Earth asteroid sample return & comet rendezvous mission spacecraft has been transported to the launch area at Xichang spaceport. Launch in late May (28-30).

I've recently covered India's ambitions in manned spaceflight for Space International (another Fr review, more on that later), & there's news about Gaganyaan: unsurprisingly, first 2 (unmanned) flights delayed to 2026. First crewed flight is now scheduled for 2027. www.indiatoday.in/science/gaga...

I would urge my followers to be extremely cautious about the news circulating about the last 24 hours of very tense stand-off between India and Pakistan. It has been a very long day. The time for confirmations will come. In the meantime, take care.

While we're on the subject of SpaDeX in the news, I'm delighted to announce my 1st article in France's specialist press: @spaceexplore.bsky.social. It's a journal run by a remarkable woman, Marie Ange, a real gem. More to come! I'd also like to come back to a book that made a big impression on me.

The title is a bit misleading. SPADEX is a big capability leap for India (docking, in-orbit service), and they carried out a new docking in April. The military applications are obvious, but these manoeuvres are not a military exercise in themselves. Not directly. resonantnews.com/2025/05/04/i...

Join The Hindu webinar ‘The ordeal of research: Rethinking Ph.D. success and failure’ on May 3 at 5:00 p.m. Register now for free to interact with the panellists. Those who ask the three best questions will get a free online subscription to The Hindu. www.thehindu.com/videos/webin...

I miss the old ISRO communication... weird enough to be indirect like that. But hey, at least they've got new docking, teams are actively learning to maneuver! Mood : www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYDb...

Some cast shade on celebrities getting launched into space. But the dawn of flight saw the same phenomenon. Rich, famous people flew aboard the first generation of aeroplanes. Attracting media, investors, & innovation - birthing our modern aviation industry. Welcome back to Earth Katy, Gayle & crew

In case you missed it, in last week's newsletter, I explored a fascinating set of addresses from a French National Assembly hearing on whether or not France, and Europe in general, should pursue human spaceflight. Some very interesting takes. europeanspaceflight.substack.com/p/inside-the...

The thing is that what happened in the US with Space becoming a partisan issue can also happen in India, France and all democracies. Until now, space policies have been a geopolitical issue, but their treatment has remained relatively bipartisan. Today, this is less the case, and everyone loses. 1/4