Category Archives: Rockets

Rockets

Space transport roundup – July.23.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** LightSail-2 unfurled today: Live Coverage: LightSail 2 Sail Deployment | The Planetary Society

** India launches the Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission, which includes an orbiter, lander, and rover. The spacecraft’s elliptical orbit of Earth will gradually extend farther and farther out until on August 14 the engines will fire to put the spacecraft on course for the Moon. It will go into lunar orbit on August 20th. The goal is to separate the lander/rover combo from the orbiter on September 1st and settle down on the lunar surface on September 6th. If successful, the landing will be the first time a spacecraft has reached the southern polar region, where water ice is believed to be embedded in the floors of permanently dark craters.

An animation of the mission:

More about the mission:

** Russian Soyuz launches 3 new ISS crew members and docks with the station just 6 hours after liftoff. The July 20th flight took place on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. Currently, the US has no operational system for putting people into orbit (though, in a pinch, the SpaceX Cargo Dragon could certainly be configured to take someone to orbit).

The new members of the ISS crew include cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA physician-astronaut Andrew Morgan. More at:

** Rocket Lab’s next launch set for August and will carry four satellites: Rocket Lab’s Next Mission Focused On Building Constellations And Enabling R&D | Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab

announced its next launch is a mission carrying satellites destined to begin a new constellation for UNSEENLABS, as well as more rideshare payloads for Spaceflight, consisting of a spacecraft for BlackSky and the United States Air Force Space Command.

The mission – named ‘Look Ma, No Hands’ – will lift-off in August from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, carrying a total of four satellites aboard an Electron launch vehicle.

See also:

** Gilmour Space Technologies prepares for a suborbital launch of the company’s OneVision rocket. The 8.6 meter high, 1600 kilogram vehicle

will flight test the company’s first-stage 80kN orbital engine, and demonstrate their mobile launch capability.

The company plans to launch smallsats into orbit in the 2021 time frame. More about Gilmour Space:

** Blue Origin is making progress with its BE-7 rocket engine that will power the Blue Moon lander vehicle: Blue Origin fires BE-7 lunar lander engine for full 6 minutes – GeekWire

** SpaceX:

*** Falcon 9 set to launch Cargo Dragon on CRS-18 mission on Wednesday at 6:24 pm EDT (2224 GMT) from Cape Canaveral. The weather forecast (pdf), however, gives only a 30% chance of acceptable conditions for liftoff within the instantaneous launch window.

A view of the Falcon 9 static fire test last Friday (via www.USLaunchReport.com):

*** A fuel leak fire following the Starhopper static engine test last week resulted in a scary fireball but caused no significant damage to the vehicle. The first brief flight of the vehicle is planned for this week.

Some recent views of the Starhopper and the orbital Starship demonstrator at Boca Chica Beach, Texas:

*** Elon gives more clues about Super Heavy Booster/Starship system design: SpaceX’s Elon Musk says Starship, Super Heavy will have more than 40 Raptor engines – Teslarati

If the above Starhopper test flight is successful, Elon promises to provide a more extensive update soon after on the latest design details.

*** Elon Musk discusses SpaceX projects in two interviews. Highlights include his belief that the first crewed Dragon mission to the ISS will happen within 6 months, an uncrewed Starship could land on the Moon within 2 years, and with a crew in 3-4 years:

*** More about the Crew Dragon test explosion. Last week, SpaceX released an Update on the In-Flight Abort Static Fire Test Anomaly Investigation that occurred in April. Scott Manley gives a lucid description of the investigation’s findings:

See also:

*** Crew Dragon parachute development and testing appear to have reached a successful conclusion:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA,
and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Rockets

Space transport roundup – July.14.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** SpaceX Starhopper demo vehicle prepared for first un-tethered low altitude flights at the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site. More in SpaceX section below.

** India scrubs today’s launch of the Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk.3).

More about the mission:

GSLV MkIII-M1 / Chandryaan 2 vehicle
The GSLV MkIII-M1 / Chandryaan 2 vehicle on the launch pad.

From SFN:

If everything goes according to plan, the three-in-one spacecraft will arrive in orbit around the moon around Aug. 5, then detach the landing craft around Sept. 2 or 3 to begin lowering its altitude in preparation for a final descent to the lunar surface as soon as Sept. 6.

“We are landing at a place where nobody else has gone,” said K. Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization.

Indian scientists are targeting landing of the Chandrayaan 2 lander at an unexplored site located on the near side of the moon at 70.9 degrees south latitude, closer to the moon’s south pole than any previous mission. The landing module is named Vikram for Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space program, and will deploy the Pragyan rover, named for the Sanskrit word for “wisdom.”

** Russian Proton-M rocket launched the Spektr-RG astrophysical x-ray observatory from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan: Russian Proton-M launches Spektr-RG observatory – NASASpaceFlight.com

** An Arianespace Vega rocket failed during the launch of UAE’s Falcon Eye-1 earth observation satellite:

The $400M payout for the failure will be a real blow to the space insurance industry.

** A Russian Soyuz 2-1v launched four military satellites with little prior public notification: Soyuz 2-1v conduts surprise military launch – NASASpaceFlight.com

** Virgin Orbit executes successful drop test of LauncherOne rocket from the “Cosmic Girl” 747 carrier aircraft:

** EXOS Aerospace posts videos from recent launch in which the SARGE reusable rocket suffered a guidance glitch shortly after liftoff but still manages to return for a landing via paraglider:

** China’s Galactic Energy Aerospace Technology, Ltd wants to challenge SpaceX in reusable rocketry: Chinese rocket start-up aims at ‘SpaceX dominance’ – ecns.cn

Beijing-based private rocket start-up Galactic Energy Aerospace Technology Co has made a breakthrough in its “Pallas” medium liquid-propellant rocket, a step closer to the firm’s goal of forging a Chinese version of the Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by U.S. spaceflight company SpaceX.

…

The gas generator, which helps provide thrust to the rocket’s 40-ton engine that is powered by reusable liquid oxygen and kerosene, has completed seven ignition tests over the weekend, with an accumulated operation time of 380 seconds, according to Galactic Energy. The maximum single operation time lasted 100 seconds.

The company started developing the main rocket engine for the Pallas in December 2018, and it is the first Chinese rocket with engines that run on reusable liquid oxygen and kerosene.

Galactic Energy’s products include the Pallas family of medium-sized liquid rockets, named Pallas, and small solid rockets named Ceres.

The Ceres-1 is aimed at the low-orbit commercial small satellite market and is expected to fly in March 2020. The Pallas-1 is expected to launch in December 2022.

** Spaceflight takes advantage of two cargo spacecraft and the ISS to put six smallsats into their designated orbits : SEOPS Mission Preview – Spaceflight
Continue reading Space transport roundup – July.14.2019 →

Rockets

Space transport roundup – July.9.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** Russian Soyuz launches 33 satellites last wee including the primary Meteor-M No.2-2 weather satellite and 32 smallsats from a host of countries and organizations:

A busy month planned for Russian rockets: Russia plans seven space launches in July – TASS

** PLD Space releases video of a high altitude drop in April of a demo booster for the MIURA 5 orbital rocket, which will have a reusable first stage booster: Successful drop test of the demonstrator of the first stage of MIURA 5 – PLD Space

Drop Test of the demonstrator of the first stage of MIURA 5 orbital microlauncher. This project was part of ESA’s FLPP-LPSR programme. PLD Space successfully completed in April the first drop test with a full-scale demonstrator of the first stage of the MIURA 5 orbital rocket. As a result, we have documented assessment of all the recovery and reusable technologies that will help PLD Space to develop its recovery and reusability technology roadmap. One step closer to reusability in Europe!

With this, we have validated many operational procedures, including all recovery and reusability steps, as well as the telemetry down-links, among others. This project is part of the FLPP-LPSR program, promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA), supported by CDTI, INTA, Ejército de Tierra #FAMET #BHELTRAV and with the participation of Tecnalia.

** Amateur spacecraft observers capture images of the X-37B spaceplane: Mysterious X-37B Military Space Plane Caught on Camera (Photo) – Space.com

** Rocket Crafters thruster demos suffer various glitches: Cocoa-based Rocket Crafters working through issues ahead of 2021 debut – Florida Today

** System for long duration in-space storage for cryogenic propellants has been developed by a Chinese team: Scientists make breakthrough that enables rockets to orbit longer – Xinhua

Scientists from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology have developed two insulating materials that can reduce propellant evaporation loss and keep rockets in flight for longer than before.

According to Zhang Shaohua, a member of the research team, a cryogenic rocket will face a severe thermal environment when it flies in orbit, which will cause lots of propellant evaporation, accelerate propellant loss and reduce the time in orbit.

Long term cryogenic propellant storage is important for space tugs and fuel depots.

** Canadian SpaceRyde developing a high-altitude balloon rocket launch system for orbiting smallsats:

** The latest on space elevators: ISEC Space Elevator Newsletter July 2019

According to Pete Swan, president of the ISEC (Int. Space Elevator Consortium), the development of space elevators is “Closer than you Think”:

There are two factors that lead to this conclusion:

The first is that the material for space elevator tethers has been discovered and is in the laboratory now. Single Crystal Graphene has been developed towards a continuous growth production concept (grow a single molecule very long – hundreds of meters) (currently at 0.5 x 0.1 meter single molecule one atom thick in laboratories). Adrian Nixon projected that future of very long molecules during his talk at our recent ISEC Webinar. The material is going to be available in the required strength and length for space elevators.

The second is that we (ISEC with the other organizations such as IAA, Obayashi Corporation, and JSEA) have conducted engineering studies and testing showing great progress across the engineering design segments of a space elevator. The following year long (IAAs and Obayashi were multi-year) studies have lead to the conclusion that the space elevator is ready to start testing the technologies needed inside each of its major segments and regions.

The 2018 ISEC Space Elevator Conference will be held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington over August 16-18.

** SpaceX:

*** Launch contracts:

*** Practicing for Crew Dragon docking to the ISS: NASA, SpaceX Simulate Astronauts Docking to Station on Crew Dragon Spacecraft – Commercial Crew Program

NASA and SpaceX practiced Crew Dragon rendezvous and docking to the International Space Station during a virtual dress rehearsal on June 26 for the company’s first crew flight test, known as Demo-2, to the microgravity laboratory

The activity is part of a series of integrated simulations bringing together NASA and SpaceX flight control teams to complete multiple practice runs for each dynamic phase of a mission from launch to splashdown. These simulations provide the teams plenty of practice to ensure they safely and successfully perform the planned operations of the actual spaceflight, with opportunities to fine-tune their procedures and gain experience on how to solve problems should they arise.

*** Views of a recovered Falcon fairing: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy fairing tries to enter hyperspace, lands in net in new videos – Teslarati. Here Scott Manley discusses the fairing return videos:

*** Raptor engine debugging nearly done: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says major Starship engine bug is fixed as Raptor testing continues – Teslarati

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed the latest official photo of the company’s Raptor engine in action and indicated that a major technical issue with vibration appears to have been solved, hopefully paving the way for Starhopper’s first untethered flights.

Partly due to Musk’s own involvement in the program, SpaceX’s propulsion development team have struggled to get any single Raptor engine to survive more than 50-100 seconds of cumulative test fires. According to information from sources familiar with the program, Musk has enforced an exceptionally hardware-rich development program for the first full-scale Raptor engines to such an extent that several have been destroyed so completely that they could barely be used to inform design optimization work. Although likely more strenuous and inefficient than it needed to be, the exceptionally hardware-rich test program appears to have begun to show fruit, with the sixth engine built (SN06) passing its first tests without exhibiting signs of a problem that has plagued most of the five Raptors that came before it.

A Tweet from Elon on the rocket engine development process:

*** Starship launch facility development underway: SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy rocket needs a launch pad and work is already starting – Teslarati

*** An update presentation from Elon on Starship program tentatively set for late July:

*** Assembly of the Starhopper and two orbital Starship demonstrators appear to be moving along:

*** A fire at the Cocoa Beach facility wasn’t too serious apparently:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA,
and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Rockets

Space transport roundup – July.2.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** Rocket Lab‘s seventh Electron rocket launch successfully carried seven payloads into orbit last Saturday:

The liftoff is at about 18:55 into this webcast video:

** EXOS Aerospace‘s SARGE reusable sounding rocket suffers guidance anomaly shortly after liftoff but successfully returns via parasail for a soft landing. Exos suffers setback in reusable suborbital launch attempt – SpaceNews.com

Liftoff is at about the 2:57:30 point in this webcast video. The miscue in the trajectory is visible just before the rocket goes out of view of the camera.

A problem with the engine gimbal is mentioned in the video. Haven’t seen any update since then from the company giving more details about the problem. The vehicle appears to be undamaged so the next launch could happen relatively soon. You can follow EXOS at EXOS (@exosaerosystech) | Twitter.

** A SpaceShipTwo hybrid moter is tested in Mojave by The SpaceShip Company, the Virgin Galactic subsidiary in charge of manufacturing the SS2/WhiteKnightTwo vehicles.

** bluShift Aerospace of Main wins NASA SBIR funding for development of the MAREVL (Modular Adaptable Rocket Engine for Vehicle Launch): Maine rocket company wins NASA grant | Journal Tribune.

Modern orbital rockets are made up of two or more stages. Different stages use different engine types, each optimized for a specific part of the ascent. With MAREVL, each stage will have different numbers of the same engine type and it uses a hybrid rocket, in which liquid oxidizer combines with a solid fuel, to reduce the complexity, weight, and cost of the engine.

“We are developing a modular hybrid rocket engine that will use a bio-derived solid fuel to launch cubesats into low-Earth orbit,” Lockman said.

The goal is development of a smallsat launcher. Here is a recent presentation by Seth Lockman of bluShift: 5 Minute Genius: Seth Lockman – From Maine to the Stars. Maine Science Festival 2019

And another intro video about the company:

Find updates at bluShift Aerospace (@bluShiftAero) | Twitter.

** Another article about Spinlaunch and its catapult launch system: This Startup Wants To Use A Hypersonic Catapult To Throw Satellites Directly Into Space By 2022 – Forbes

The company was founded back in 2014 but only emerged into the public eye in 2018 after spending four years in stealth mode. The company raised $40 million in Series A funding in April last year from Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins. They are touting launch costs of $250,000, and up to five launches per day. It’s unclear what the weight limit is per launch.

** Blue Origin is preparing the ship on which New Glenn boosters will land:

** Chinese commercial launch companies:

*** Polar Space Exploration Technology Ltd. developing  vertical takeoff and landing launch system: “Tianmeng” rocket project – Weibo

Booster landing from animation of Tianmeng launch system.

*** OneSpace tests two thrusters:

 

** SpaceX:

*** The first Starship operational orbital launch set for 2021 according to SpaceX VP: SpaceX targets 2021 commercial Starship launch – SpaceNews.com

The first commercial mission for SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy launch system will likely take place in 2021, a company executive said June 26. 

Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, said the company is in talks with prospective customers for the first commercial launch of that system roughly two years from now. 

“We are in discussions with three different customers as we speak right now to be that first mission,” Hofeller said at the APSAT conference here. “Those are all telecom companies.”

*** Falcon 9 standard launch price is now $50M according to Hofeller in the same presentation.

Hofeller said the discounted pricing SpaceX gave to early customers of Falcon 9 missions with pre-flown first-stage boosters is now the company’s normal pricing. SpaceX Founder Elon Musk said last year that previously flown booster missions were priced “around $50 million,” down from $62 million. Musk said SpaceX’s prices would continue to decline, too. 

Hofeller reiterated that prices would keep dropping through the introduction of Super Heavy and Starship. The fully reusable nature of the launch system enables those lower prices, he said. 

According to the official SpaceX Falcon 9 specs, the $50M price makes for $2193/kg ($995/lb) to LEO, $6024/kg ($2732/lb) to GEO, and $12440/kg ($5643/lb) to Mars.

*** We may see a Falcon booster fly for its 6th time this year: SpaceX sets new Falcon 9 Block 5 reusability milestones for second half of 2019 – Teslarati

Speaking at 2019’s Asia-Pacific Satellite (APSAT) Conference, SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Jonathan Hofeller – squeezed into a sea of breaking-news updates – announced that the company plans to launch the same Falcon 9 Block 5 booster for the fifth (or sixth) time by the end of 2019.

Just an add-on at the end of a number of updates focused on SpaceX’s next-generation Starship/Super Heavy rocket, the phrasing reported by SpaceNews.com technically means that there are plans for a Falcon 9 booster to launch for the sixth time in the second half of 2019. The demonstration of such an extreme level of operational reusability barely 18 months after Falcon 9 Block 5’s debut would make it clear that SpaceX’s latest Falcon upgrade has been a resounding success. In line with those positive signs, Hofeller also noted that SpaceX is already starting to transfer the fruits of those labors to its customers by permanently lowering the base price of Falcon 9 launch contracts.

*** Great views of the most recent Falcon Heavy launch: More photos from SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy night launch – Spaceflight Now.

The the Air Force Research Laboratory had two spacecraft on the flight: AFRL puts new technologies into space aboard world’s most powerful launch vehicle – U.S. Air Force.

…the Green Propellant Infusion Mission spacecraft, which enables the first ever on-orbit demonstration of the AFRL developed Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-toxic Propellant.

Space demonstration of this new propellant, ASCENT, formerly known as AF-M315E, marks a major milestone in a national effort to develop new energetic propellants to replace hydrazine, the current established chemical propellant of choice for nearly all current satellite propulsion. Not only is ASCENT 50% higher performing than hydrazine, it is also a vastly safer alternative, allowing for streamlined ground operations relative to legacy propellants. While hydrazine is flammable, toxic and requires the use of Self Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble suits for handling operations, ASCENT propellant requires minimal Personal Protective Equipment such as a lab coat and a splash guard for the face.

…

Also part of the STP-2 mission was AFRL’s Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft. The first of its kind globally, the DSX flight experiment will conduct new research to advance DOD’s understanding of the processes governing the Van Allen radiation belts and the effect they have on spacecraft components. DSX’s elliptical path in medium Earth orbit will increase understanding of this orbital regime, and advance understanding of the interplay between waves and particles that underlie radiation belt dynamics, enabling better specification, forecasting and mitigation. This will ultimately enhance the nation’s capability to field resilient space systems, AFRL officials say.

DSX’s mission is different from most other Air Force flight experiments as it is a purely scientific mission. The spacecraft is equipped with a unique suite of technologies such as space weather sensors and graphite antenna booms used to conduct experiments with very-low frequency radio waves. DSX has two sets of immense deployable booms due to the large antenna requirements of these experiments. One set extends 80 meters tip-to-tip and the other extends 16 meters tip-to-tip, making the DSX spacecraft one of the largest deployable structures in orbit.

Despite the third launch success, there are no FH missions listed on the public manifest till the end of 2020:

*** Turning the return and capture of a Falcon fairing into a physics lesson: SpaceX Recovered Its First Rocket Fairing. Let’s Crunch the Numbers! | WIRED

A SpaceX fairing is falling from an altitude of 50 km and falls with a constant terminal velocity of 20 m/s. You are the captain of the fast boat Ms. Tree. Mission control has just determined that the fairing will land a distance of 12.3 km from your location. Since you are trying to impress everyone, you decide to wait until the last possible moment to travel to the rendezvous site. How long should you wait?

*** A Falcon  9 booster may join the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral: Kennedy Space Center wants a SpaceX Falcon 9 core for its Rocket Garden – Teslarati

*** 57 Starlink satellites have reached operational orbit while 3 are not in contact with the controllers.  These first-generation spacecraft were inserted into orbit at 440 km in May and then used on-board ion thrusters to reach 550 kilometers. Since they are in the lower orbit, the three failed satellites will reenter the atmosphere within a year or two.

** Some info about NASA’s commercial crew program from Eric Berger including an item about the investigation into the explosion during the test of the abort system on a Dragon spacecraft on April 20th:

*

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA,
and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Rockets

Space transport roundup – June.28.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

[ Update: SpaceX accelerates Super Heavy/Starship development : SpaceX targets 2021 commercial Starship launch – SpaceNews.com.

More SpaceX items below.

]

** Rocket Lab aims to launch an Electron rocket on June 29th following two postponements.

Live streaming webcast will begin 20 minutes before the targeted lift-off time. Here is some background on the “Make it Rain” mission:

The Make It Rain mission will launch multiple spacecraft as part of a rideshare flight procured by Spaceflight. The launch will take place from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula.

The mission is named ‘Make it Rain’ in a nod to the high volume of rainfall in Seattle, where Spaceflight is headquartered, as well in New Zealand where Launch Complex 1 is located. Among the payloads on the mission for Spaceflight are BlackSky’s Global-3 satellite and Melbourne Space Program’s ACRUX-1 CubeSat.

More about the mission:

** Space is the theme of the July/August 2019 issue of MIT Technology Review magazine and several of the articles deal with space transport related topics, e.g.

** An interesting interview with Tom Markusic, founder and CEO of Firefly Aerospace, who talks about his experiences in working at NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic: Talking With a Leader of the Next Generation of Rocketry Companies – Texas Monthly

TM: I recently saw a stat that said SpaceX built its Falcon 9 rocket with almost $400 million, whereas there was a NASA estimate that it would cost $1.6 billion to build a similar kind of vehicle. Why is it so much cheaper for a private company to do that? 

MARKUSIC: When you’re doing something in that heritage space way, you’re inheriting a lot of requirements that can drive cost up. It’s a very risk-averse framework. Many things in the government are like, “You just add money and a person. Here are the instructions—do this thing.” That type of approach is usually pretty reliable in getting the result you want, but it’s really expensive. And it’s usually undergirded by contractors who are disincentivized to make things at the lowest cost. With New Space, you’re spending people’s money; you’re not spending this amorphous blob of taxpayer money. That just pervades the whole culture. 

** China’s Kyushu Yunjian rocket company fires up the gas generator for the “Longyun” Liquid Methane/Liquid Oxygen engine: “Longyun” 80t high thrust engine gas generator passed the assessment – Google Translate

In the second half of the year, Kyushu Yunjian […] will conduct a test of the whole machine test for the “Lingyun” engine. After the whole machine is tested, the “Lingyun” engine will enter the reliability test and assessment stage. The 80-ton “Longyun” liquid oxygen methane engine with greater thrust will also be tested and tested by other components in the second half of the year. Reusable and recycling technology verification rocket platform “Ling Wei” has completed the program demonstration, and is currently undergoing detailed engineering design and optimization.

** EU backed project pursues development of vertical landing reusable rockets.

Five European Companies and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have teamed up to tackle the shortcoming of
know-how in reusable rockets in Europe, which start upright and land upright after a successful mission. For that,
they commonly decided to investigate and develop key technologies to land rockets backwards. What is state-of-the-
art in the USA is only in its beginnings in Europe, and the consortium is determined to accept the challenge and
to become important players in this game changing technology.

RETALT1 Artwork

RETALT (RETro propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies) is a European project which got funded with 3 Mio. €
by the European Commission in the frame of Horizon 2020. The partnering organizations are the DLR (Germany),
CFS Engineering (Switzerland), Elecnor Deimos (Spain), MT Aerospace (Germany), Almatech (Switzerland) and
Amorim Cork Composites (Portugal).

During the three years of the project lifetime the consortium will investigate the areas of aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics (i.e. the temperatures that evolve at the surface of the vehicle during flight), flight dynamics, guidance, navigation and control, and advanced structural parts, materials and mechanisms. For this purpose, two types of rocket launchers will be investigated which both start and land in an upright position. One of them will have two stages and will be similar to conventional rockets like the Falcon 9 or the Ariane 5 launcher. For this launcher only the first stage will be landed again. The second launcher has only a single stage. It will be designed for the use of smaller payloads and when returning it will break not only with retro propulsion but also with the aid of a large aerodynamic base surface at the bottom.

See also Europe says SpaceX “dominating” launch, vows to develop Falcon 9-like rocket | Ars Technica

** Boeing’s Starliner crew spacecraft passes major milestone with the qualification of the parachute system: Starliner Space Capsule Completes Parachute Testing – Boeing

** The 3rd Annual Spaceport America Cup attracted 120 teams and the UW team was the overall winner: University of Washington Wins Third Annual Spaceport America Cup

Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport and the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA), congratulate the University of Washington Society for Advanced Rocket Propulsion as the Champion of the Third Annual Spaceport America Cup. Champions were selected in each category, and the University of Washington team was chosen by judges from the group of category champions as the overall winner.  

…

From June 18–22, thousands of students and spectators flocked to southern New Mexico from all over the globe, creating an economic and tourism boost for surrounding communities as part of their attendance at the 2019 Spaceport America Cup. This year’s competition was the largest to date, with over 120 teams registered including a large international presence from 14 different countries.

** SpaceX:

**** SpaceX raises more funding for Starlink and Starship development:

“SpaceX is the world’s leading private space launch provider, and we are excited to work with the company in the next phase of its growth as it rolls out its Starlink satellite network,” said Olivia Steedman, Senior Managing Director, TIP.

SpaceX was identified as a compelling investment opportunity for TIP due to its proven track record of technology disruption in the launch space and significant future growth potential in the satellite broadband market. TIP focuses on late-stage venture capital and growth equity investments in companies that use technology to disrupt incumbents and create new sectors.

“Our investment in SpaceX fits well within the TIP investment strategy of capitalizing on significant global opportunities in new businesses and sectors that are emerging as a result of unprecedented technological change,” added Ms. Steedman.

**** Next Dragon Cargo mission to the ISS set for July 21: SpaceX Targeting Sunday, July 21, at 7:35 p.m. for CRS-18 Launch – SpaceX

**** The 24 satellites launched on the latest Falcon Heavy mission are operating:

**** Center-core landing failure due to heat from the high re-entry velocity: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explains why Falcon Heavy’s center core missed the drone ship – Teslarati

**** The first successful fairing catch took place in the dark in the Atlantic ocean:

**** Satellite image shows post landing activities of the two side boosters:

**** Watching the construction of the Starhopper and StarShip demonstrators is a popular on-line and on-site spectator pastime.

 

**** Elon visits the Starship orbital demonstrator under construction in Florida: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk & Raptor engine make surprise visit to Florida Starship – Teslarati

In what seems to be a coincidence, Musk’s message – either recorded or streamed – was filmed on SpaceX’s Florida Starship development campus, a surprisingly large facility uncovered less than two months ago. The CEO was standing in the sun directly in front of two large segments of the second orbital-class Starship prototype, part of a parallel development process featuring a second Starship prototype (and separate Starhopper) in Texas. Musk’s appearance at Starship Florida is not particularly surprising; if he flew all the way to Florida for Falcon Heavy, might as well tour SpaceX’s newest Florida facilities on the same trip.

**** The Super Heavy Booster/StarShip combo will be quite a sight to see:

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Safe Is Not an Option