Max Q is a weekly newsletter dedicated to space. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekly on Sundays. It hasn't been the busiest week when it comes to space tech news - just like much of the industry, it looks like we're entering a summer lull where things slow down considerably. This is probably especially true right now, with many companies getting some herculean efforts and great successes.
This downtime will lead to major developments to come, including the first official mission of the International Space Station crew for SpaceX The Dragon Capsule, scheduled for late September. We may also see Blue Origin's first suborbital launch of the year in the same month.
SpaceX has successfully launched a batch of 57 other Stalrink satellites for its constellation of broadband internet satellites, which are coming together perfectly ahead of the planned beta launch this summer. SpaceX has prepared for it, and the details we've found reveal that it should start anytime, although it's unlikely we'll hear much about how the actual service works as participation includes accepting an NDA.
SpaceX first flew a full-scale prototype of its starship, jumping a long fuselage (with a simulated weight in place of the eventual dome cap and temporary legs) to a height of about 500 feet. The jump included an uphill flight and then a controlled descent and landing, all seemed to have gone very well. This is the first significant advance forward the Starship development program has made this year, really, after a series of (arguably very educational) failures.
Rocket Lab has increased the payload capacity of its Electron launch vehicle by a third, increasing the total weight it can carry to orbit to 660lbs. This should open up a lot of potential new market for the company and allow small satellite manufacturers to create additional functionality in the spacecraft they are mounting with the rocket. The company has built this generation of intermediate products thanks to optimizations of the battery technology that powers some of its powertrains, along with a few other modifications.
Netflix's The new Away show stars Hilary Swank as an astronaut on a mission to Mars, and appears to focus on the family challenges she encounters between her pivotal mission and the people she left behind on Earth. It sounds more like "This is Us" and less like "The Martian", but it could be great.
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