October 6-12, 2025 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Vol 44, No 40: Lunar Broadcast Precursor: Terrestrial Edition

Dubai Space-Comm Expo 2025 Promoting Space Partnerships to Address Global Challenges

Space-Comm Expo Dubai, October 8-9 at Dubai World Trade Centre, is one of the largest space industry gatherings in the Middle East / West Asia. Hub Exhibitions is organizing the event with UAE Space Agency. This trade-only expo, accessible via space-comm.me, attracts Astronauts, CEOs and innovators for B2B deals, technology demonstrations and keynotes. The expo aligns with UAE National Space Strategy 2030, which outlines 6 objectives, 21 programs and 79 initiatives to position UAE among the top 5 space powers by 2030. Crown Prince Hamdan bin Al Maktoum, Chairman of Supreme Space Council, drives public-private partnerships to diversify the AED د.إ.20 billion (US$5.4 billion) space sector, projected to triple by 2030. November 17-21, Dubai Airshow highlights advanced aviation and strategic partnerships. Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre launched the 750-kg MBZ-SAT, a high-resolution Earth-observation satellite, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in January 2025 with 90% local manufacturing. Emirates Mission to the Main Asteroid Belt, launching in 2028, will flyby 6 asteroids and land on 269 Justitia in 2034. January 2024 NASA agreement will fly an Emirati Astronaut to the lunar orbit Gateway, featuring a UAE-built Emirates Airlock. Yahsat has AED د.إ.25.1 billion in future contracts. EOS-X Space offers suborbital flights from Abu Dhabi for AED د.إ.600,000. MBRSC Rashid 2 Rover targets a 2026 far-side-Moon landing via Firefly Blue Ghost lander. (Image Credits: Govt. of Dubai Media Office)

The Many Missions of Blue Origin

October 8, Blue Origin launches 36th New Shepard suborbital, and bridges space tourism with human expansion across the Solar System via many other projects. New partnership fostered by Blue Origin Luxembourg office with GOMSpace, ESRIC and that country’s national space agency is for Project Oasis that will integrate the Blue Origin Blue Alchemist ISRU project to manufacture on the Moon surface, processing regolith into oxygen and solar cells. US$190M NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services award is to deliver Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to Moon South Pole NET 2027, reviving the water-hunting mission previously canceled, after first Blue Origin robotic Moon lander late 2025. For VIPER, Blue Origin will modify Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander to mount VIPER ~450 kilograms and offload it onto Moon surface. Mark 1 flies via Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, ~45,000 kg, ~98 meters tall (with Starship ~120), seven BE-4 engines in the reusable 1st stage and two BE-3U engines in the 2nd stage. 2nd New Glenn launch, NET October 13 from Cape Canaveral, sends NASA twin Mars orbital probes Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) to study magnetosphere, atmosphere and solar wind at the 4th planet, advancing humanity toward a multiworld future. (Image Credits: Blue Origin, NASA)

Humans in Space

⭐ International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 73 seven-member crew are performing maintenance on life support and electronics, sequencing DNA, studying the digestive system in microgravity, conducting the yearly inspection inside the Roscosmos modules for moisture / corrosion / damage, installing / activating a new dehumidifying system and operating an Electrostatic Levitation Furnace to heat materials to ultra-high temperature and then measure them with physics sensors.

⭐ Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 20 three-member crew 4th spacewalk (SZ-20 EVA-4) ties the record for most EVAs by a Tiangong crew as they inspect its 3 modules and 2 docked spacecraft and install more panels for space debris protection; crew continues to test the Wukong Artificial Intelligence model, which has a Q&A system designed to give timely and effective support during complicated tasks such as preparing for a spacewalk, thus reducing Taikonaut stress.

🌔 Lunar NewsWeekly lunar advisories [coming soon]

☄ Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches  Tues Oct 7: Apollo Asteroid 2025 SM15 (0.020 AU); Wed Oct 8: Apollo Asteroid 2022 TU1 (0.043 AU); Thu Oct 9: Aten Asteroid 2020 QU5 (0.018 AU).

First Women Land on the Moon in…

Days

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  • Saturday

    — World Space Week Association,
    Worldwide
    Celebrating international contributions of space science for betterment of the human condition; Oct 4 is 68th observation of 1st Space...

    Sunday

    — Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Moon Village Association (MVA), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Indo-Pacific Robotics, Autonomy, AI and Cyber Conference and Exhibition (IPRAAC),
    Perth, Australia
    2nd annual ROBOPALOOZA.space festival will take place at the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct (AARP), feature Student and Business Innovation...
    — American Astronomical Society (AAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), National Space Society (NSS), The Planetary Society,
    Washington DC, USA
    To facilitate meetings between individuals and their elected officials to push back against proposed cuts to NASA science funding in...

    Monday

    — Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO),
    Byurakan, Armenia
    2nd international conference on astronomy in culture, astrochemistry, astrobiology, astrogeology, archaeoastronomy.

    Tuesday

    — Space Frontier Foundation (SFF),
    Online
    What it'll cover: Context of Space Frontier Foundation Policy Work DC Insider Situation Report Moderated Q&A From the SFF Outreach...

    Wednesday

    — Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner,
    Worldwide
    Appearing when Earth passes through the tail of Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner, the comet was a perihelion in 2025; speculation...
    — Blue Origin,
    West Texas Suborbital Launch Site / Corn Ranch, Van Horn TX, USA Launch Site One (LSO), Van Horn, TX, United States
    NS-36 is the 15th crewed flight for the New Shepard program. A landing back on the launch pad for the...
    — Space News,
    Online
    From inflationary pressures and shifting interest rates to supply chain challenges and intensifying great-power competition, today’s macroeconomic and geopolitical forces...
    — National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
    Online
    Presentation by Ann Ollila of Los Alamos National Laboratory: Advancing Spectroscopy Instrumentation for Planetary Exploration from the Subsurface to the Sky....

    Thursday

    — China National Space Administration (CNSA),
    Wenchang Space Launch Center, Hainan Island, China (19° N)
    8A is capable of taking 7,000kg to orbit, including and SSO with altitude 700km, using a liquid oxygen / liquid...

    Friday

    — Midland International Air and Spaceport Business Park and Facilities,
    Midland TX, USA
    At University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB), College of Engineering Building Speaker sessions, panels, roundtables, debate, networking Subjects: safety, technology,...
    $249

    Saturday

    — European Space Agency (ESA),
    Noordwijk, the Netherlands
    At the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the largest site of the ESA, is a weekend celebration with...

    Sunday

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