Forget all the new Star Wars info, there's real space news to keep up with in late August

[View this email in your browser]( [Open Ars Technica in your browser]( [Ars Orbital HQ] [The last single-stick Delta rocket launch]( We know, we know—Ars has a dedicated newsletter to all things space and rocket industry. And if you like those topics and don't already subscribe to Ars Space Guru Eric Berger's Rocket Report, stop what you're doing right now and [rectify the situation](. (We'll wait.) But sometimes, even the vastness of space (and the reach of the Rocket Report) isn't enough to contain all the space-worthy news Ars bursts with in a given week. The end of August is proving to be such a period, and we're not even really counting what's happening in a galaxy far, far away (but [Ewan!]( And [Werner freakin' Herzog!](. [Scott Kelly's favorite]( video game [announced a sequel]( for next year. Scientists recreated the Sun's solar winds in a lab [thanks to a big red ball](. And ULA's single-core Delta IV rocket launched for the last time recently, its 29th successful mission since 2002 (and this thing had flexibility for its time—it could fly with or without small, side-mounted solid rocket boosters). Those things represent a mere fraction of the space news to peruse before September shows up. So for this week's Orbital Transmission, we're looking towards the skies and sharing some of the major space happenings to be aware of. Maybe this week's Rocket Report will still have a few nuggets that we don't (srsly, it's worth a subscription), but we're confident only one Ars newsletter this week contains a story that genuinely relies upon Wi-Fi from a public restroom. —[@NathanMattise]( [Advertisement]( [Image not meant for display] [Image not meant for display] [Powered by Live Intent]( [Ad Choices]( Orbital Transmission 08.28.2019 [A December 2018 rocket launch at LC-1 in New Zealand]( [Watching rocket launches]( at the end of the world Less than two weeks ago, Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launched towards the heavens from New Zealand's remote Mahia Pennisula. Presumably, it was a breathtaking experience—we kinda know that because Ars' rocket photographer extraordinaire had the opportunity to take in similar sights back in December 2018. Mahlmann recently [shared his tale (and his photos)]( of traveling 40-plus hours to visit perhaps the world's most remote (and most beautiful) rocket launch facility. The TL;DR? A few sleepless days are worth it for what you can find in scenic New Zealand, especially when Rocket Lab gives photographers almost free reign of the area when compared to other launch setups. [SpaceX's Starhopper]( SpaceX's Starhopper [does it again]( with liquid-methane propellant Yes, maybe the images look like something out of an old Ultraman run of episodes. But silo/watertower-y spacecraft [successfully acing tests down in Southern Texas]( has big implications for SpaceX and the space industry at large. For now, this was the first time a large rocket engine burning liquid-methane propellant made a significant flight, and it appeared to be mostly, if not entirely, successful. But longterm, Starhopper's two flights should be seen as steps toward a vehicle with potentially revolutionary capabilities, including landing and taking off propulsively from distant worlds including the Moon and Mars. [Sierra Nevada's space habitat]( This [inflatable space habitat]( could make galactic life comfy Frankly, we've lived in New York or San Francisco apartments that pale in comparison (and probably don't cost much less) than [the Sierra Nevada Corporation's proposed space habitat](. The company's inflatable habitat is, first and foremost, large. It measures more than 8 meters long, and with a diameter of 8 meters has an internal volume of 300 cubic meters, which is about one-third the size of the International Space Station. Sierra Nevada developed the concept with the aid of NASA, and it recently showed off its prototype to many onlookers' pleasant surprise. [Asteroid Ryugu]( Ryugu: Not a Street Fighter character, but [a wild asteroid]( It'll take us awhile to not shout "HADOUKEN" everytime we see the word "Ryugu," but luckily the actual thing happens to be just as cool as everyone's favorite Street Fighter. For the last few months, Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has been engaged in various acts of interplanetary aggression, shooting the asteroid Ryugu in order to blast free material for a return to Earth. And as part of these studies, Hayabusa2 dropped off a tiny French-German robot that was meant to hop across the asteroid's surface in order to sample some of its rocks. Despite landing upside-down, the robot eventually hopped into the right orientation, and [a paper describing what it found (and the dust it didn't) was published last week](. [Advertisement]( [Image not meant for display] [Image not meant for display] [Powered by Live Intent]( [Ad Choices]( [Facebook Logo]( [Twitter Logo]( [YouTube Logo]( [Instagram Logo]( Copyright © 2019 Ars Technica / Condé Nast, All rights reserved. You are receiving our newsletter because you signed up at Ars Technica (). 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