#HELSINKI — Japan’s SLIM robotic #spacecraft entered lunar orbit Dec. 25, setting up a moon landing attempt scheduled for Jan. 19.

#SLIM completed a roughly three-minute-long lunar orbit insertion burn at 2:51 a.m. Eastern (0751 UTC), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Christmas Day.

#SLIM is now in a 600 x 4,000-kilometer polar lunar orbit, as planned. The #spacecraft is currently in a normal condition, #JAXA stated. It will soon begin gradually lowering its orbit in preparation for landing.

#SANTA FE, N.M. — A problem with the upper stage of a Firefly #Aerospace Alpha #rocket placed a #Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite into the wrong orbit on a Dec. 22 launch.

The Alpha #rocket lifted off from #Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:32 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “Fly the Lightning” by Firefly. The launch was originally scheduled for Dec. 20 but postponed two days because of weather.

The #rocket’s ascent appeared to go as planned, and launch controllers reported that the upper stage had achieved a nominal transfer orbit. Firefly then said a second burn of the upper stage was planned to take place about 40 minutes later to circularize the orbit, followed by payload separation.

#WASHINGTON — The White House used a Dec. 20 meeting of the National Space Council to discuss the importance of international cooperation but offered few new initiatives along those lines.

The purpose of the meeting, the third by the council during the Biden administration and the first since September 2022, was to highlight what the White House described in a fact sheet as “extraordinary progress in broadening and deepening international #space partnerships across a range of areas.”

Those partnerships, Vice President #KamalaHarris said in opening remarks, were vital to U.S. leadership in space. “In the coming years, one of the primary ways we will continue to extend that leadership is by strengthening our international partnerships.”

#HELSINKI — Leading Chinese launch startup Galactic Energy has secured $154 million in funding for the development of its reusable Pallas-1 #rocket.

Galactic Energy announced the 1.1 billion yuan C and C+ funding rounds Dec. 18. The funding will go towards research and development of reusable launch vehicle technology for the Pallas-1 medium-lift rocket and related infrastructure.

The rounds were led by Ziyang Heavy Industry Fund and joined by Bengbu Investment Group, Langfang Linkong, Founder Hesheng Investment, Jintuo Capital, and further undisclosed Investors, according to a company statement.

#WASHINGTON — Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard suborbital vehicle Dec. 19 on its first mission since a mishap more than 15 months ago.

New #Shepard lifted off at 11:42 a.m. Eastern from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas. The capsule landed under parachutes 10 minutes and 13 seconds later, after reaching a peak altitude of 107 kilometers, while the propulsion module landed vertically using its engine nearly three minutes earlier. #spacenews

#WASHINGTON — A new study released Dec. 18 sheds light on potential challenges in the Pentagon’s ambitious effort to deploy a network of space sensors for detecting and tracking hypersonic missiles.

Based on internal modeling and simulation efforts, the study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies identifies areas for improvement in the planned network and raises questions intended to inform the conversation on what it takes to defeat these highly maneuverable missile threats.

“There is no such thing as a perfect sensor architecture design,” said the report titled “Getting on Track: Space and Airborne Sensors for #Hypersonic #Missile Defense.”

#Hypersonic weapons fly at more than five times the speed of sound. Their speed and unpredictable flight paths make them difficult to detect and track.