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China’s third and final module docked with its permanent space station Tuesday to further a more than decade-long effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit, as its competition with the US grows increasingly fierce.

The Mengtian module arrived at the Tiangong station early Tuesday morning, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the China Manned Space agency.

Mengtian was blasted into space on Monday afternoon from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan. It was expected to take about 13 hours to complete the flight and docking mission.

A large crowd of amateur photographers, space enthusiasts, and others watched the lift-off from an adjoining beach.

Many waved Chinese flags and wore T-shirts emblazoned with the characters for China, reflecting the deep national pride invested in the space programme and the technological progress it represents.

“The space programme is a symbol of a major country and a boost to the modernisation of China’s national defense,” said Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, underscoring the programme’s close military links.

“It is also a boost to the confidence of the Chinese people, igniting patriotism, and positive energy,” Ni said.

Mengtian, or “Celestial Dream,” joins Wentian as the second laboratory module for the station, collectively known as Tiangong, or “Celestial Palace.” Both are connected to the Tianhe core module where the crew lives and works.

Like its predecessors, Mengtian was launched aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, a member of China’s most powerful family of launch vehicles.

Tiangong is currently populated by a crew of two male and one female astronauts, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang arrived in early June for a six-month stay on board, during which they will complete the station’s assembly, conduct space walks and carry out additional experiments.

Following Mengtian’s arrival, an additional uncrewed Tianzhou cargo craft is due to dock with the station next month, with another crewed mission scheduled for December, at which time crews may overlap as Tiangong has sufficient room to accommodate six astronauts.

Mengtian weighs in at about 23 tons, is 17.9 metres (58.7 feet) long and has a diameter of 4.2 metres (13.8 feet). It will provide space for science experiments in zero gravity, an airlock for exposure to the vacuum of space, and a small robotic arm to support extravehicular payloads.

The already orbiting 23-ton Wentian, or “quest for the heavens” laboratory is designed for science and biology experiments and is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space.

Next year, China plans to launch the Xuntian space telescope, which, while not a part of Tiangong, will orbit in sequence with the station and can dock occasionally with it for maintenance.

No other future additions to the space station have been publicly announced.

In all, the station will have about 110 cubic meters (3,880 cubic feet) of pressurised interior space, including the 32 cubic meters (1,130 cubic feet) added by Mengtian.

China’s crewed space programme is officially three decades old this year, with the Mengtian launch being its 25th mission. But it truly got underway in 2003, when China became only the third country after the US and Russia to put a human into space using its own resources.

The programme is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, and has proceeded methodically and almost entirely without outside support. The US excluded China from the International Space Station because of its programme’s military ties.

Despite that, China is collaborating with the European Space Agency on experiments aboard Mengtian, and is cooperating with France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Pakistan, and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on a range of projects from aerospace medicine to microgravity physics, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Prior to launching the Tianhe module, China’s Manned Space Program launched a pair of single-module stations that it crewed briefly as test platforms.

The permanent Chinese station will weigh about 66 tons — a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 465 tons.

With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day find itself the only space station still running, if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operating plan.

China has also chalked up successes with uncrewed missions, and its lunar exploration programme generated media buzz last year when its Yutu 2 rover sent back pictures of what was described by some as a “mystery hut” but was most likely only a rock. The rover is the first to be placed on the little-explored far side of the moon.

China’s Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s in December 2000 and another Chinese rover is searching for evidence of life on Mars. Officials are also considering a crewed mission to the moon.

The programme has also drawn controversy. In October 2021, China’s Foreign Ministry brushed off a report that China had tested a hypersonic missile two months earlier, saying it had merely tested whether a new spacecraft could be reused.

China is also reportedly developing a highly secret space plane.

China’s space programme has proceeded cautiously and largely gone off without a hitch.

Complaints, however, have been leveled against China for allowing rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled twice before. NASA accused Beijing last year of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

China’s increasing space capabilities also featured in the latest Pentagon defense strategy released Thursday.

“In addition to expanding its conventional forces, the PLA is rapidly advancing and integrating its space, counterspace, cyber, electronic, and informational warfare capabilities to support its holistic approach to joint warfare,” the strategy said.

The US and China are at odds on a range of issues, especially the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing threatens to annex with force. China responded to a September visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by firing missiles over the island, holding wargames and staging a simulated blockade.


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Japan Launches Final H-2A Rocket with GOSAT-GW Satellite to Monitor Climate and Oceans

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Japan Launches Final H-2A Rocket with GOSAT-GW Satellite to Monitor Climate and Oceans

Japan launched a satellite which is a dual purpose, for monitoring greenhouse gases and sea temperature. On Saturday, June 28, 2025, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) held its 50th and final launch of the H-2A rocket, launching the GOSAT-GW satellite of dual purpose to space. This mission lifted off from Ypshinobu Launch Complex (LP-1) in Japan at Tenegashima Space Centre at 10:03 p.m. IST. These satellites have been sent by Japan to observe the changes in water cycles and greenhouse gases.

JAXA’s Dual Purpose Satellite Launch

According to JAXA, the Greenhouse Gas and Water Cycle Observation Satellite (GOSA-GW) is a very recent and significant effort of Japan to know about the effect of greenhouse gases and the changes in the cycle of rain. GOSAT-GW has joined the orbit of Earth with GCOM-W2, which is its predecessor, and was launched in 2012, known as SHIZUKU, whereas GOSAT-1, launched in 2009, is known as IBUKI. It is equipped with two main instruments.

More About GOSAT-GW

GOSAT-GW is equipped with two main instruments, the first is called the Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMSR), and the other is known as the Greenhouse Gases Observation Sensor (TANSO). The former one will measure water cycles and sea surface temperature fluctuations, while the latter one is for monitoring components such as carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere for measuring climate change.

H-2A rocket of Japan has been capable of launching payloads into the geostationary orbit around Earth and also orbiting the Moon. JAXA also launched the Akatsuki spacecraft for studying Venus in 2010; however, the spacecraft failed to enter the orbit of Venus properly.

Japan’s Successful Launch Operations

JAXA launched H-2A for the first time in 2001. With its 25 years in operation, the rocket experienced only a single failure, giving the spacecraft a 98% success rate. After 50 missions, the launch vehicle is now being retired to make way for the H3 rocket of Japan, offering comparable performance at a very reasonable cost.

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SpaceX Launches 53 Starlink Satellites in One Day, Crossing 7,900 Active Units

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SpaceX Launches 53 Starlink Satellites in One Day, Crossing 7,900 Active Units

On June 28, 2025, two Falcon 9 rockets carrying the internet satellite broadband connection lifted off at 12:26 a.m. and 1:13 p.m. EDT. The first one was launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and another from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The new addons for megaconsellation of SpaceX (Group 10-34 and Group 15-7) reached low orbit Earth about 9 minutes after leaving the ground and were deployed after an hour.

According to As per NASA, in the intervening time, the first stage of the Falcon rockets (boosters B1092 and B1088) flew back to the droneships. The landing was on “A Shortfall of Gravitas, “ completing the fifth flight of the boosters. The stage touched down on “Of Course I Still Love You”, with its eighth flight to space and back, in the Pacific Ocean.

The launch at early morning carries 27 Starlink Satellites and the afternoon liftoff lofted 26 more of the relay satellites, vasting the network of SpaceX to more than 7,900 active units, said by satellite tracker Jonathan Mc Dowell.

Broader Deployment Context

The launch in the morning was delayed earlier that day because of the severe weather alerts at Florida, but flew in the near perfect conditions at the visibility of 10 miles. Throughout 2025, SpaceX heald 42 Falcon 9 missions with 28 Starlink launched by June. by mid-June the batch of 26 satellites launched from Vandenberg (Booster B1081’s 15th flight) which contributed to more than 7,600 active satellites by June 12.

Both the missions are a part of an aggressive Starlink deployment, mainly for boosting the low Earth orbit constellation for the global broadband coverage. Now the network expands to approximately 7900 satellites, focusing on the biggest LEO broadband constellation ever.

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Astronomers Discover a Gigantic Supernova Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

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Astronomers Discover a Gigantic Supernova Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Astronomers international team has employed various satellites and telescopes for performing multiwavelength observations of a supernova remnant known as SNR J0450.4-7050. The result that scientists got after an observational campaign, published on June 18, 2025, on the preprint server arXiv, gained new insights into the properties of this remnant, and observed that it is much larger than thought in the past. Supernova remnants (SNRs) are expanded structures resulting from the explosion of a supernova. It usually lasts for several hundred thousand years before the time it disperses into the interstellar medium.

Multiwavelength Observations Reveal New Details of SNR J0450.4-7050

As per the study by NASA, observations by the scientists indicate that SNRs contain the ejected expansion of material from the explosion and other interstellar material swept by the passage of the shockwave from the star that exploded. SNR studies beyond the Milky Way are important for comprehending the feedback in different evolutionary phases and gaining valuable insights into the local ISM. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the galaxy that has its SNR population explored in depth.

Importance of Studying Supernova Remnants Beyond the Milky Way

The recent observations reveal that SNR J0450.4-7050, a large supernova remnant in the LMC having physical dimensions of 332 by 244 light years, is estimated to have the remnants of around 45,000 years old. Scientists named it Veliki, which means large in Serbian. It also showcases the complex filamentary morphology with different inner and outer shell structures.

Discovery of Veliki: A Large, Aged Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud

An astronomer’s group led by Zachary J. Smeaton decided to take a closer observation of SNR J0450.4−7050 by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and MeerKAT radio telescope. The SNR showed a high radial surface brightness with one of the lowest average radio spectral indices, with similar remnants.

Unusual Radio Properties Suggest Veliki is a Fully Radiative SNR

These unusual features, according to the scientists, give the prediction that Veliki is mainly a radiative SNR with a high shock compression ratio. This states about the non-thermal spectrum and higher surface brightness and emissions. Further observations of the surrounding environment are needed to confirm the hypothesis with an understanding of the remnants’ nature in a better way.

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