NOT ONLY SpaceX News №51

A cosmic greeting to everyone!

June has arrived, and along with it, the monthly digest of all private space ventures, not just SpaceX! This is only the second such issue, and we truly look forward to your feedback in the comments. Let's get straight to the point. The topics of our issue are:

• Details of the new Mars presentation from SpaceX
• The first sea test of China’s reusable rocket
• NASA’s bet on a nuclear space engine
• A British startup that will help us reach Mars in just 3 months
• Rocket Lab's plans to deliver cargo for the US military via "earth-to-earth" scheme
• The first private space station in history
• SpaceX’s 500th mission and the 450th Falcon 9 landing
• The moon landing of the Japanese lunar module Resilience, which will happen this week
• And, well... the first Australian rocket literally stripped itself before launch... Wait, what?

Before we start, we’d like to mention that we are so close to reaching 600 subscribers on our Telegram channel (as of writing, we need just 33 more)! We’re waiting for each one of you! We post space news and much more. Thank you in advance! Let’s go!

SpaceX’s New Mars Presentation

SpaceX updated its “roadmap” for Mars colonization in a 42-minute video filmed at Starbase on the evening of May 29, right after the ninth — yet again failed — Starship flight.

We’ll definitely talk about its essence, but first, a few words about Starship. It was during this ninth flight that SpaceX showed its first-ever hot separation from inside Starship's engine bay. Here’s a treat for you.

So, about the presentation? Initially, it was planned to be shown before the flight. Then, it was postponed by 15-20 minutes, and in the end, they decided to delay it until after the flight. Elon Musk understood that dreams of Mars would not mesh well with exploding stages, and their loss seemed quite likely, given the reuse of many components on Super Heavy and the curse of Starship's second version, which is literally repeating the fate of the first one. Seriously. This meme clearly shows it. We’re not hinting at anything, but you know where to find the best analysis of the 9th flight…
Now, back to the Mars presentation.

Musk admitted that the November-December 2026 window is now a “50/50” chance — everything will depend on whether the company manages to establish orbital refueling. If not, we’ll have to wait until 2028. The “narrow neck” of the program remains the same: the chain of “launch, docking, and refueling hundreds of tons of methane and oxygen” on low Earth orbit.
In the presentation, Musk showed a detailed program for Mars colonization. Take a deep breath; we promise the numbers will impress you.

• 2026 — Up to five uncrewed Ship v3 with Optimus robots, each carrying a maximum of 10 tons of cargo. The goal is to prove that ships are capable of landing on Mars.
• 2028-2029 — About 20 ships, each carrying 50-75 tons of equipment: the first infrastructure, including resource extraction and launch site preparation.
• 2030-2031 — Up to 100 ships with life support modules and industrial "mini-cities" for resource production and residential modules.
• 2033 — A full fleet of ~500 ships, yes, you heard it right, 500, each carrying up to 300 tons of cargo: roads, even more resource extraction, energy, and communication.

For orbital infrastructure, Musk confirmed the idea of Marslink — a modified Starlink network, discussed with NASA as part of the new lunar-Mars communication architecture.

The best candidate for landing remains the Arcadia plain in the north, due to the combination of flat surface and ice deposits.

In any case, plans will need to be approved by NASA’s new team. Unfortunately, just recently, Jared Isaacman dropped out of the race for the administrator’s position, and the question of potential candidates remains open.

By the way, during the presentation, they showed what Starship will look like in the future, and... In our team's opinion, it looks absurd, but this is supposedly what "peak performance" looks like. What do you think?

China’s First Sea Test of a Reusable Rocket

By the morning of May 29, a familiar scene appeared in the Yellow Sea: a "steel tower" launches a few kilometers into the sky, quiets down, and then, with the roar of a re-engaged engine, descends and lands. Apparently, this concept also caught on with the Chinese. It looks literally like a clone of SpaceX's Super Heavy.

This was the first flight of the Yuanxingzhe-1 (“Traveler-1”) prototype, a reusable rocket by the private company Space Epoch. It was China’s first-ever sea test of a fully reusable rocket. Yes, all stages are recoverable. Currently, there is only a single-stage prototype, which looks like a Super Heavy clone. We’re waiting for the full version!
The structure, about 27 meters tall, 4.2 meters in diameter, and weighing 57 tons, was built from thin-walled stainless steel. The thrust was provided by an 80-ton engine, designed for multiple launches.

The startup was founded in Beijing in 2019. Last year, the company announced a pilot project with the Taobao marketplace — aimed at delivering up to 10 tons of cargo anywhere on the planet in under an hour using reusable carriers. By the way, Space Epoch will also be launching a Chinese Starlink-like system. (China-link. Just kidding. Let us know in the comments what you would call the Chinese knockoff of Starlink.)
Before this “jump,” the biggest Chinese success in reusable rocket prototypes were the 300-meter jumps of a kerosene prototype by LinkSpace in 2019. This January, the Shanghai Academy of Space Technology launched a CZ-12A first-stage demonstrator to about 75 km, but they have not officially reported on the results.

Competition in China is intensifying: LandSpace, which launched the methane Zhuque-2 in 2023, is preparing its own reusable Zhuque-3; Space Pioneer, after the orbital Tianlong-2, is working on the partially reusable Tianlong-3 and promises a debut in 2025.

In the meantime, Space Epoch plans a series of higher-altitude test flights and the first orbital launch of the reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 later this year, with an expected payload of up to 10 tons to low Earth orbit. This “mini-Starship” could become China’s first fully reusable methane rocket of the medium class, significantly reducing commercial cargo costs and bringing China closer to regular reusability, as demonstrated by Falcon 9.

NASA’s Nuclear Space Engine

Well, NASA has officially placed its bet on nuclear-electric propulsion: in a recent competition, the agency supported the SPAR consortium (Space Power and Propulsion for Agility, Responsiveness, and Resilience), led by the University of Michigan, with industrial partner SpaceNukes — the same company that successfully tested the KRUSTY kilowatt reactor with NASA in 2018, becoming the first firm in the US in half a century to design and test a new space nuclear reactor.

The new program aims for second-generation modular reactors: higher active zone and radiator temperatures should lighten the power system by about a third, which is crucial for nuclear-electric engines (NEP). According to SPAR's press release, such systems are 5–25 times more efficient than chemical rockets, meaning they allow maneuvering without saving every gram of fuel.

In practical terms, this radically reduces the journey time to Mars: instead of the usual seven months, the flight would take about 45 days, which NASA directly calls the main advantage of the new architecture. According to tests, the engine can reach speeds of up to an astounding 55 km/s.

SpaceNukes has already partnered with Ad Astra Rocket Company, founded by astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz: their VASIMR plasma engine is set to be powered by this reactor.

If SpaceNukes and Ad Astra bring the project to flight testing, our conventional understanding of months-long inter-Martian flights may change. Perhaps even before Starship's mass missions to Mars.

British Startup and Mars in 3 Months

Meanwhile, in the UK, the startup Pulsar Fusion is also offering a solution for a quick trip to Mars: the Sunbird Migratory Transfer Vehicle rocket-tug. This 30-meter module, first shown this spring, is designed to dock with a "parking station" on orbit, attach to a client spacecraft (in their trailer, they showed a Starship), and achieve a maximum plasma jet speed of 222 km/s. The journey to Mars will take about three months.

The design is intended to be a reusable “tug”: after accelerating, the Sunbird returns to the station, refuels, and waits for the next client. One platform can service up to five such spacecraft.

The plans are ambitious: ground-based stand tests by the end of 2025, orbital demonstration by 2027, and up to two tons of cargo to Mars. They even suggest it’s possible to reach Pluto in just four years. At a price of about $70 million per unit, Pulsar’s CEO Richard Deenan calculates that the reusability will allow the vehicle to pay for itself in one or two years of logistical and scientific missions.

Skeptics reasonably remind us that a stable thermonuclear plasma discharge has not yet been maintained for more than a few seconds, but the developers argue that the "vacuum barrier" in space will remove half of Earth’s technical limitations — no need for giant chambers, and heat can be dissipated by radiators. If Pulsar Fusion does manage to ignite the Sunbird flame in orbit by 2027, we may see a new competition on the way to Mars: who can get there faster?

Rocket Lab’s "Earth-to-Earth" Military System

On May 9, 2025, the U.S. Air Force announced that it had selected Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket for the first "earth-to-earth" demonstration flight as part of the Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics (REGAL) program. The mission is expected no earlier than 2026. Under this program, the Pentagon is aiming to learn how to deliver military cargo to any point on the planet in minutes, requiring commercial rockets to not only deploy a payload but also return the stage with the container to a prepared platform — this capability will be tested by Neutron.

Neutron is positioned as a medium reusable launch vehicle: 43 meters tall, 7 meters in diameter, capable of carrying up to 13 tons to low Earth orbit. The first stage’s powerplant consists of nine methane-oxygen Archimedes engines, and its main components are designed to withstand multiple flights. A key feature is the clamshell nose cone that fully hides the second stage; at altitude, the doors open, the stage with payload is released, then the doors close to allow the first stage to return to the Return on Investment platform in the Atlantic.

According to the contract, the rocket must not only leave the atmosphere but also re-enter safely, delivering mock payloads — this is a critical requirement for future REGAL missions. Rocket Lab plans the first test flight of Neutron later this year, followed by a series of certification launches leading up to military demonstrations. This could make Neutron the first confirmed national “rocket truck” of medium size, complementing heavy solutions like Starship, solidifying Rocket Lab's status as a provider of services for the U.S. military.

The First Private Space Station

On May 7, CEO Max Haot confirmed that the main section of Haven-1 will be welded by July, with a planned Falcon 9 launch in May 2026. If the schedule holds, the 14-ton module will become the first fully private space station.

Inside the 45 m³ cylinder, four cabins, lab cabinets, and a common area will be installed; a dome window just over a meter in diameter will give the crew a panoramic view of the planet, and light wood paneling — the idea of a former Apple designer — should soften the “metallic insulation” of life in orbit.

The first international four-person crew on Crew Dragon is planned for late June 2026; over two weeks, the astronauts will test the laboratory and services for commercial clients, and their names will be announced soon.

SpaceX’s 500th Mission and the 450th Falcon 9 Landing

The routine return of the first stage of Falcon 9 with serial number B1075 to "Of Course I Still Love You" made history as the 450th successful landing of the Falcon family. After 18 launches, this stage has already deployed SARah-2 satellites, a bunch of payloads on Transporter-11, and 15 batches of Starlink, but this particular flight became the milestone for the entire partially reusable rocket family.

“Congrats to the Falcon team on the 450th landing!” Elon Musk succinctly congratulated the team on X

Now, reusability records aren’t just set by stages: Engine Raptor #314 — the first in its family to fly three times — was used for the fifth flight, seventh, and lastly, the recent ninth.

SpaceX is also breaking records with its 500th mission, launched from Vandenberg on May 31.

The Australian Fiasco

At dawn on May 15, when everything was ready for the debut launch at Bowen Orbital Space Port in Queensland, the 25-meter “Eris” rocket was about to launch when, just a few hours before fueling, its nose cone unexpectedly opened and collapsed onto the launch platform’s support beams.

“Last night during final checks, an unexpected activation of the nose cone occurred; there was no fuel on board, and no one was injured,” Gilmour Space Technologies admitted, immediately postponing their first attempt to launch the Australian vehicle into orbit.

Diagnostics revealed that the issue was caused by a failure in the ground system’s electrical power; the rocket and infrastructure survived, but the new nose cone will need to be delivered from the factory on the Gold Coast. According to CEO Adam Gilmour, the delay will last “at least a few weeks” — the team has returned the rocket to the assembly bay and will only resume the campaign after a full inspection.

The situation got an unexpectedly "Australian" touch: a photo of a cockatoo munching on a cable near the launch tower appeared on the company’s social media. No official blame was assigned to the bird, but the "cockatoo-sabotage" meme quickly became part of the “stripped” rocket story.

Technically, “Eris” is a three-stage rocket: four Sirius engines on the first stage, a fifth on the second, and a Phoenix 3D-printed engine on the third. This configuration is expected to lift up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit.

The historical intrigue is simple: in 1967, Australia launched its first satellite, WRESAT, on an American Redstone-Sparta rocket; and until today, nothing has changed. All needs were met by the so-called Falcon. If Eris makes it to orbit, it will become Australia's first truly national space vehicle.

Once the new nose cone arrives, and the cables are protected from the birds, Gilmour Space promises to return to launch as soon as possible.

The pace of innovation in private space exploration is accelerating. From SpaceX’s Mars ambitions to China’s reusable rockets, NASA’s nuclear propulsion, and the daring projects of startups, the future of space is being shaped by bold moves. We’re witnessing the dawn of a new era, and the next few years will be crucial in determining how quickly we can turn these visions into reality. Stay tuned for more!