Tech News
Around the world in 80 launches —
“We’re crazy-expanding our factories and hiring.”
Eric Berger
– Aug 9, 2019 11: 00 am UTC
Enlarge / The mighty Delta IV Heavy rocket takes to the skies.
Welcome to Edition 2.10 of the Rocket Report! We are stuffed with news this week, running over 2,000 words with lots of things coming out of the Small Satellite Conference in Utah this week. But there was also plenty happening with bigger rockets, including launches of the Atlas V, Falcon 9, and Ariane 5 rockets, as well as developments with Starship and the Space Launch System vehicles.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Rocket Lab seeks to reuse its Electron rocket. On Tuesday, the US-based company Rocket Lab announced that it had begun to explore the possibility of reusing its smallsat launch vehicle, Electron. This represented a change of heart for the company, whose chief executive, Peter Beck, had previously dismissed the possibility of re-using the Electron booster. In a lengthy interview with Ars, Beck explained the company’s decision by saying customer demand exceeds its capability to build Electrons.
Not a bad problem to have … Beck: “Scaling production is not a trivial thing. We need to quadruple production over the next couple of years. You can take any product on this planet—a chair or a consumer product—and say ‘I want a 4x production of that product.’ And that’s no trivial thing to do. When you have a supply chain as they have in the aerospace industry, which is really quite fragile, you’re not just asking yourself to scale four times—you’re asking your suppliers to scale four times. Take the engine, for example: even if we wanted to double engine production and order a bunch more printers, those printers are six- or 12-month lead time. Really, we need to be all in. We’re crazy-expanding our factories and hiring. But this is an additional step we need to take to increase launch opportunities.”
Vector lands its first Air Force mission. Small launch provider Vector Launch has received a $3.4 million contract from the Air Force Rocket Systems Launch Program office to lift experimental satellites to low Earth orbit, SpaceNews reports. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center announced the award Wednesday for a payload that will consist of multiple 3U and larger US government cubesats bound for low Earth orbit. Launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2021 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Air Force supporting innovation in launch … “The Small Rocket Program-Orbital framework provides orbital launch services to academia, DOD, and other government agencies for operations, research, development, and test missions and is a shining example of SMC’s drive to provide innovation and partnership across the enterprise faster than ever before,” Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of SMC’s Launch Enterprise, said in a statement. (submitted by Ken the Bin and Unruly Cow)
Benchmark signs on for Firefly’s first launch. Benchmark Space Systems has reached a deal with Firefly to demonstrate the launch preparation and safety features of its DFAST propulsion system before running through a suite of maneuvers on-orbit, Satnews reports. The Alpha rocket’s first flight will target an altitude of 300km, where the demonstrator mission can test its capabilities. It will fit within a 3U CubeSat.
Slip confirmed … Firefly has yet to announce other customers for its inaugural Alpha mission, although the company appears to have confirmed that the first Alpha flight will slip into the first quarter of 2020. It had been targeting the end of 2019 for a flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Orbex wins contract for launch from Scotland. The United Kingdom-based small-launch vehicle developer announced Wednesday that another British company, In-Space Missions, awarded it a contract for the launch of a small satellite. Orbex’s Prime small-launch vehicle will launch the Faraday-2b satellite in 2022 from the Space Hub Sutherland spaceport, which is to be developed in northern Scotland. Terms were not disclosed, SpaceNews reported.
An English affair … In-Space Missions provides flight services for payloads of various types, aggregating them on a single spacecraft. The company’s first satellite, Faraday-1, is a six-unit cubesat that will launch later this year on a Rocket Lab Electron. In-Space said one advantage of flying with Orbex was an end-to-end regulatory environment as both companies were based in one country. (submitted by Unruly Cow and Ken the Bin)
Speaking of that Scottish spaceport … The real-estate companies working on a land deal for the facility have signed a 75-year lease for the site to be used for Space Hub Sutherland, TechCrunch reports. Orbex will be the Scottish Highlands site’s primary tenant and plans to begin launching from Sutherland in the early 2020s. Construction on the site may begin next year.
Not quite a done deal … Completion of the land lease remains dependent on final approval being given for the spaceport, which is in process as the groups behind its development, including the UK Space Agency, are finalizing designs, funding, and environmental impact studies. However, this sounds like a case of everyone wanting to make this happen, so expect it to do so. (submitted by danneely)
Spaceflight buys first launch of India’s new rocket. Spaceflight announced August 6 that it will purchase the first commercial launch of a new Indian vehicle, called the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, which is scheduled to make its debut later this year. According to SpaceNews, the rideshare integrator will launch payloads for an undisclosed US satellite constellation customer.
A good deal … India’s new smallsat launcher will be able to carry up to 500 kilograms to mid-inclination low Earth orbits and 300 kilograms to Sun-synchronous orbit. While the company didn’t disclose pricing, Spaceflight president and chief executive Curt Blake said the price is “a little bit better” than rideshares on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. “In terms of small launch vehicles, it’s much better than what’s out there.” (submitted by Ken the Bin)
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