DUBAI - Dubai Airshow 2025 will spotlight space with its largest Space Pavilion, organized with the UAE Space Agency. A five day program will bring together agencies, companies, startups, investors, and academia to advance collaboration and commercialization. The two day Space Conference runs Nov. 17 through 18 on the Aerospace 2050 Stage, featuring more than 50 experts on responsible space use, new technologies, exploration, downstream applications, and investment trends. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp will join a Nov. 17 fireside chat.

Speakers include officials from NOAA, the U.S. Office of Space Commerce, the UK, Italian, Bahrain, and Singapore space agencies, and the European Space Agency. Interactive features include Astronaut Encounters with Sian Proctor and Claude Nicollier, the Vista startup platform, and OrbitX, a micro satellite challenge with FADA and EDGE Group.

The show aligns with the UAE's Space Economic Zone and youth programs. The region's space tech market is forecast to grow 9.1% annually through 2030, led by UAE missions including an asteroid belt project and a SAR satellite constellation.

Source: Aviation Week
Associated URL: https://aviationweek.com/space/dubai-airshow-2025-showcase-largest-ever-space-pavilion

KENNEDY SOACE CENTER, Fla. - In a move signifying mission readiness, NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team recently joined and connected the Lockheed Martin-developed Orion spacecraft with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the upcoming Artemis II mission.

The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by its astronaut crew, was transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center where it was lifted atop the SLS rocket in High Bay 3 on Oct. 19. This marks a major milestone for the Artemis II mission as NASA and industry work toward a historic launch to the Moon with four astronauts early next year.

Following the mating, teams will make electrical and data connections between Orion and SLS, along with umbilical connections from the mobile launch platform to the spacecraft. EGS will conduct integrated tests of Orion and SLS before they are rolled out to Launch Pad 39B for a wet dress rehearsal next year.

The first crewed flight of the Artemis program is set to launch no earlier than February 2026, with potential launch windows extending through April 2026. The mission will be 10 days and is a key event to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for exploration and science.

Orion is the most advanced, human-rated, deep space spacecraft ever developed. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for Orion and built the crew module, crew module adaptor and launch abort system.

Source: Lockheed Martin
Associated URL: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2025-10-24-Orion-Spacecraft-Completes-Major-Stacking-Milestone-Ahead-of-Artemis-II-Mission#assets_all

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Rocket Lab Corporation announced the clearance of their Systems Integration Review (SIR) and completion of their Photon spacecraft for Eta Space and NASA’s LOXSAT mission. LOXSAT is an on-orbit technology demonstration of a cryogenic fluid management system, that will inform the design of Cryo-Dock, a full-scale cryogenic propellant depot in low Earth orbit to be operational in 2030.

The SIR, completed in September, marked a key milestone for the program, allowing the team to proceed with payload integration. Rocket Lab will now move the mission into environmental testing - the next phase before its launch on Electron in early 2026.

Rocket Lab was selected in 2020 by Eta Space to provide both the spacecraft and its Electron launch vehicle for the LOXSAT mission, joining a growing list of spacecraft-plus-launch mission solutions supported by the Company, including the CAPSTONE lunar mission for NASA and the upcoming VICTUS HAZE mission for the U.S. Space Force. Rocket Lab’s end-to-end capabilities simplify mission execution and minimize cost and schedule risks, providing customers with a single, responsive space solutions partner for a wide range of mission objectives.

Despite being one of the most efficient and energetic propellants for spacecraft, cryogenic propellants can vaporize as temperature rises, causing critical loss on orbit. LOXSAT will test the ability to store liquid oxygen (LOX) in a zero-loss configuration, with the goal of creating a larger scale model in the future that could serve as a commercial cryogenic propellant depot in space. This would enable reuse and refueling of spacecraft on orbit.

The basis of the spacecraft is the Company’s Photon platform, which gained flight heritage in 2022 with NASA’s CAPSTONE mission to the Moon. LOXSAT was designed and built using Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated components and systems, including star trackers, propulsion systems, reaction wheels, solar panels, flight software, radios, composite structures, tanks, separation systems, and more. The spacecraft was produced and will undergo environmental testing at the Company’s Spacecraft Production Complex and headquarters in Long Beach, California, and will ultimately be launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

The LOXSAT mission is sponsored by NASA’s Tipping Point program that aims to advance technologies that could support human space exploration in the future.

Source: Rocket Lab
Associated URL: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-completes-spacecraft-for-cryogenic-fueling-mission-with-eta-space-and-nasa/