Nine satellites in the TJSW series were delivered toward geostationary space in 2025.

Today's launch was the 15th flight of a Long March 7A vehicle, the 26th flight of the Long March 7 series, and the 645th flight of the Long March launch vehicle series.

The Long March 7A has only flown from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan's east coast.

TJSW-24 verifies multi-band, high-throughput communications technologies for radio, television, and data transmission.

The Long March 7A was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

The China Launch Vehicle Academy plans to fly the Long March 7 series 12 times in 2026.

A Long March 7A launched from Launch Complex 201 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site at 00:16 China Standard Time on May 27, sending TJSW-24 toward geostationary space.

Construction work on the new dual-bay vehicle assembly building began at the start of 2025.

TJSW-24 is a spacecraft developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.

The Long March 7A is 60.13 meters tall and weighs 573,000 kilograms when fully fuelled.

The Long March 7A has a payload capacity of more than 8,000 kilograms to medium Earth transfer orbit, 7,000 kilograms to geostationary transfer orbit, 5,500 kilograms to a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, and 5,000 kilograms to a trans-lunar trajectory.

TJSW-24 was the first satellite in its series to launch in just over six months.

NASA’s move away from supporting free-flying stations toward financing a core module reflects a tempered view of future customers for low Earth orbit.

The UK government is working across space, health, and civil-aviation authorities to issue coordinated guidance, provide regulatory proposals, and engage the full supply chain.

Ellen P. Carlin previously served as senior staff for the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Anne Cheever served as director for technology and national security at the White House National Security Council from 2023 to 2024.

NASA’s FY27 budget request does not mention support for microgravity-based manufacturing for benefits on Earth.

Anne Cheever is a senior advisor at Pathway Policy Group.

In 2024, U.S. ventures secured less than half of global space venture capital funding.

The Trump administration wants to build a vibrant low Earth orbit economy that would attract $50 billion in private investment.

NASA is shifting from a major investor to an incremental funder in its approach to commercial space stations.

The UK government has announced a cross-governmental approach to catalyze microgravity innovations and create regulatory clarity for commercialization.

Ellen P. Carlin is a partner at Pathway Policy Group.

Anne Cheever was a program manager at DARPA.

In 2024, Europe and China together accounted for more than 50% of global space venture capital funding.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s conversations with industry about space-manufactured products remain nascent.

Ellen P. Carlin co-founded and co-directed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense from 2014 to 2017.

The cold spray technology shows promise for repairing and remanufacturing existing components.

Calum Hicks is a senior technologist at the Digital Factory within the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

Engineers at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland developed a new manufacturing route for copper rocket nozzles using high-pressure cold spray technology.

The cold spray approach offers a scalable manufacturing route for aerospace, energy, and shipbuilding applications.

The prototype copper rocket nozzle demonstrates that large, high-performance copper components can be produced rapidly with high-pressure cold spray.

The high-pressure cold spray process can reduce production lead times for large copper parts from several months to a few days.

The new manufacturing method still requires validation through full-scale rocket engine testing.

The high-pressure cold spray process can achieve deposition rates of up to ten kilograms per hour.

Ryan Devine is a senior research and development engineer at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

Voyager Technologies’ Acceleration Measurement System provides ultra-precise delta-V and acceleration measurements for the Otter mission.

Voyager Technologies’ Acceleration Measurement System will fly aboard the DARPA Otter spacecraft.

Voyager Technologies’ Acceleration Measurement System traces its heritage to more than a decade of uninterrupted, failure-free operations on NASA’s Space Acceleration Measurement System and Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System instruments.

Redwire awarded Voyager Technologies a subcontract to supply a high-precision Acceleration Measurement System for the DARPA Otter spacecraft.

Redwire is a publicly traded space technology company with a portfolio spanning deployable structures, power systems, and advanced manufacturing.

Voyager Technologies’ precision measurement capabilities supported NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale constellation.

DARPA Otter is developing a first-of-its-kind air-breathing spacecraft capable of sustained operations in very low Earth orbit.

NASA’s partnership with SpaceX has helped maintain the United States’ presence in space.

The Perseverance rover cost $300 million less than Curiosity by reusing the same design and spare parts.

NASA’s Office of Inspector General concluded that private industry was not mature enough to handle lunar exploration with minimal oversight and funding.

Boeing’s Starliner failed to dock with the International Space Station on its first test flight because of an internal clock failure.

NASA’s Space Launch System has reached per-vehicle production costs of $2.5 billion, excluding Orion and ground systems.

NASA’s low-cost Discovery-class planetary science probes have a cost cap of $500 million per mission.

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has supported commercial Polaris and Axiom missions carrying private astronauts.