Crew-13 is go for launch to the space station — Sol 1 · Mars Year 39 · 30 September 2026

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 03:30:00 GMT

Sol 1 · Mars Year 39 · 30 September 2026 — Special edition: Happy new year: Mars Year 39 begins today — sample edition

Crew-13 is go for launch to the space station

A Falcon 9 is set to lift four astronauts from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, the first of four SpaceX launches this week.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch on 1 October at 15:10 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, on a Falcon 9. Launch Library 2 lists the launch as go.

The Crew Dragon is due to dock autonomously with the International Space Station the next day, carrying four astronauts. NASA will stream prelaunch, launch and docking coverage.

It is a busy week for the company: NASASpaceflight expects four orbital launches, all of them by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, including a Falcon Heavy mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Sources: NASA: NASA Sets Crew-13 Launch, Docking Coverage · NASASpaceflight: Launch Preview: Crew-13 to launch to ISS, Falcon Heavy to launch mission for the NRO · The Space Devs: Launch Library 2

Perseverance looks closely, sol 1994

The rover's arm-mounted camera took a close-up late on its evening of 29 September.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech — Raw image, sol 1994.

NASA's Perseverance rover took this image with the SHERLOC Autofocus and Context Imager, the camera on the turret at the end of its robotic arm.

It was acquired on 29 September 2026, sol 1994 of the mission, at 21:29 local mean solar time in Jezero crater.

Sources: NASA/JPL-Caltech: Mars Perseverance Sol 1994: SHERLOC ACI Camera

New Glenn 9×4 joins NASA's launch catalogue

Blue Origin's larger rocket follows Relativity's Terran R onto the same contract this month.

NASA has added Blue Origin's New Glenn 9×4 launch service to its NASA Launch Services II contract, under the contract's on-ramp clause, so the agency's Launch Services Program can use it for future missions.

Three weeks earlier, on 9 September, Relativity Space's Terran R was added to the same contract through the same on-ramp provision.

Sources: NASA: NASA Adds Blue Origin New Glenn 9×4 to Launch Services Contract · NASA: NASA Adds Relativity Space's Terran R to Launch Services Contract

Rocket Lab disputes a NASA Mars spacecraft award

The company says the decision does not match NASA's own eligibility criteria.

Rocket Lab has objected to a NASA award decision on a Mars spacecraft. "NASA's award decision appears to be inconsistent with the eligibility criteria," the company said, as reported by Ars Technica.

Sources: Ars Technica: Rocket Lab is seeing red about NASA's decision on a Mars spacecraft

Next off the pad

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-13 — SpaceX, 2026-10-01T15:10:06Z (Go)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 18 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare) — SpaceX, 2026-10-01T18:18:00Z (Go)
Falcon Heavy | NROL-97 — SpaceX, 2026-10-02T03:53:00Z (Go)
SR75 | Flight 2 — HyImpulse, 2026-10-05T00:00:00Z (TBD)

Weather at Gale crater

Sol 4995 (2026-08-25): -71 to -5 °C, 777 Pa, Sunny.

Who's talking to Earth

Voyager 1 — Goldstone DSS25
Mars Odyssey — Madrid DSS53
Danuri — Madrid DSS65
Parker Solar Probe — Canberra DSS35
New Horizons — Canberra DSS43

From the belt

Classifieds

WANTED: a seat on the next Starship. Serious offers only. — M.W.
FOR SALE: one window wiper, lightly dusted. Works every sol. Buyer collects from Arcadia. — The hab
NOTICE: the lamp stays on. Visitors welcome after dark. — M.W.

Written by AI from the linked sources.

New Glenn 9×4 joins NASA's launch catalogue — Sol 668 · Mars Year 38 · 29 September 2026

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 03:30:00 GMT

Sol 668 · Mars Year 38 · 29 September 2026 — sample edition

New Glenn 9×4 joins NASA's launch catalogue

Blue Origin's larger rocket follows Relativity's Terran R onto the same contract this month.

Three weeks earlier, on 9 September, Relativity Space's Terran R was added to the same contract through the same on-ramp provision. The on-ramp lets NASA add new launch vehicles as they come online rather than waiting for a new competition.

For a hab that watches launches for a living, two new heavy-lift names on the agency's list in one month is a good month.

Sources: NASA: NASA Adds Blue Origin New Glenn 9×4 to Launch Services Contract · NASA: NASA Adds Relativity Space's Terran R to Launch Services Contract

Mars Year 38 ends tomorrow morning

The northern spring equinox, Ls 0°, falls at 08:21 UTC on 30 September; the hab's clocks roll over to Mars Year 39.

AI illustration — At Ls 0° the terminator runs from pole to pole: equal day and night everywhere on Mars.

By the Mars24 algorithm NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies publishes for mission clocks, areocentric solar longitude reaches 0° tomorrow at about 08:21 UTC. That instant is the northern spring equinox and, in the Clancy numbering that counts Mars Year 1 from 11 April 1955, the start of Mars Year 39.

A Mars year lasts 668.6 sols, or about 687 Earth days. Arcadia Planitia, at 39.8° north, has just come through its winter; the paper's window should show a shorter night from here.

Sources: NASA GISS: Mars24 Sunclock: technical notes on Mars solar time

Four SpaceX launches on the board this week

Crew-13 to the space station on Thursday, a Falcon Heavy for the NRO on Friday, and two more Falcon 9s.

NASASpaceflight's weekly preview lists four orbital launches for the week, all of them SpaceX: the Crew-13 astronaut mission to the International Space Station, the Transporter-18 rideshare, a Falcon Heavy carrying a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, and a Starlink flight.

Launch Library 2 has Crew-13 at 15:10 UTC on 1 October from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, status go.

Sources: NASASpaceflight: Launch Preview: Crew-13 to launch to ISS, Falcon Heavy to launch mission for the NRO · The Space Devs: Launch Library 2