Category Archives: Space transport roundup

Latest on all means of traveling to, from and in space.

Roundup: Reusable Rocket Vehicles – March.2024

I’ve gathered here recent news and updates on reusable rocket powered vehicles in operation and in development. Check out previous roundups:

Rocket reusability will lead to space transports with aircraft-like operation. That is, orbital flight and return followed by rapid reflight with minimal preparation. Vehicles should fly thousands of times with only occasional refurbishment and, most importantly, spacefare should fall to levels similar to long distance airfare.

Reusable rocket powered vehicle designs fall roughly into the following five categories:

  1. Partially reusable orbital transport:
  2. Fully reusable orbital transport:
  3. Reusable spacecraft: (incl. space tugs, fuel depots, etc.):

  4. Fully reusable suborbital:
  5. Fully reusable hypersonic suborbital for long distance point-to-point transport:

Below are reports on several projects and programs that fall into at least one of these categories.

** SpaceX Starship –  Third test flight shows major progress

—- The third orbital test flight (OFT-3) successfully demonstrated several key Starship capabilities

On March 14th, SpaceX flew a Starship for the third time. The flight test fulfilled a number of goals beyond those accomplished in the previous two flights. See this SpaceX overview: Starship’s Third Flight Test | SpaceX – Mar.14.2024

OFT-3 highlights:

  • For second time, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster fired from liftoff through hot-stage separation.
  • The separation again went well, with the Starship upper stage successfully lighting its six Raptors and continuing towards orbit.
  • After the hot-stage separation:
    • The booster did a flip maneuver and completed a boostback burn to propel itself towards the splashdown target in the Gulf. In the second test flight, while the booster was orienting itself for the boostback burn, its engines began to turn off and one blew up, destroying the entire vehicle.
    • As the the booster neared the surface of the Gulf, it began to light up engines for a soft landing onto the Gulf waters and then sink to the bottom. At a few hundred meters above the surface, something happened and “the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly”)“. As of the time of this posting, SpaceX has not revealed what caused the RUD.
  • Following the separation, the Starship upper stage continued firing its engines for the full duration and reached a near orbital velocity when the engines were shut down.
  • Video imagery via Starlink showed the vehicle rotating slowly around its long axis.
  • SpaceX planned to fire a Raptor to demonstrate a powered de-orbit  but they canceled the firing due to the rotation.
  • The orbit had a low perigee that brought it into the atmosphere and caused Starship to reenter over the Indian Ocean even without the de-orbit engine thrust.
  • As the vehicle entered the atmosphere, the video displayed the bright glow of the hot gasses around the vehicle.
  • The vehicle struggled to maintain its orientation and began tumbling. Eventually the video and data connection died and presumably the breakup of the vehicle began soon after.

During the coast phase in orbit, two important tests were carried out:

  • Opening and closing the Starship’s payload door, which will be needed for Starlink Gen 2 satellite deployments.
  • A propellant transfer demonstration.

—- FAA suspends Starship license until an investigation into the problems of this flight is completed. This happens automatically if there is any variation from the approved flight plan significant enough to be classified as a mishap:

The mishap investigation should not significantly increase the time to the launch of the fourth Starship since both stages achieved their primary goals and the problems were not as serious as for the first two test flights. SpaceX will actually do the investigating and the FAA will then evaluate the results. If they are deemed satisfactory, the FAA issues a statement about the completion of the investigation and sometime after that they issue a modification to the current launch license that approves another flight.

It should be pointed out that the Starship is basically operational now as an expendable launch vehicle. The boosters functioned properly through stage separation and the second stage on OFT-3 would have reached a full orbit with just a brief extension of the firing of the Raptors. Reusability, however, is key to SpaceX’s plans for the vehicle and it won’t be declared operational until the booster does a soft landing and the Starship stage survives reentry and makes a soft landing as well.

—- SpaceX expects to be ready for 4th test flight by early May: SpaceX planning rapid turnaround for next Starship flight | SpaceNews – Mar.19.2024

Speaking at the Satellite 2024 conference March 19, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said the company was still reviewing the data from the vehicle’s third integrated launch March 14 but expected to be ready to fly again soon.

“We’re still going through the data” from the flight, she said when asked about the analysis of data from the mission. “It was an incredibly successful flight. We hit exactly where we wanted to go.”

“We’ll figure out what happened on both stages,” she said, not discussing what may have gone wrong with either, “and get back to flight hopefully in about six weeks,” or early May.

Shotwell doubted they would launch any Starlink satellites during the mission.

Speaking at the Space Capitol III event by Payload March 18, Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said he did not anticipate that investigation to turn up any major issues that could significantly delay the next launch.

The FAA also hopes to move soon to a license that covers multiples flights

… Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the license is valid for “portfolio of launches” rather than individual ones. That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is planning six to nine more Starship launches this year.

That is part of a broader effort to streamline the launch licensing process to address criticism from industry and Congress that the FAA is moving too slowly on approving launch licenses under a new set of regulations known as Part 450. …

Preparations for the fourth test are underway: Following IFT-3 milestones, SpaceX prepares for fourth Starship flight | NASASpaceFlight.com – Mar.22.2024

SpaceX is preparing to follow up its third flight of Starship – one that achieved another leap forward with the world’s largest rocket in history – with the IFT-4 mission. Potentially as early as May, the fourth flight is expected to pair Booster 11 with Ship 29, with the latter already back at the launch site for its Static Fire test campaign.

A static firing test of the 6 Raptor engines on Ship 29 took place on March 25th :

—- Another test firing, this time of only one engine, took place on March 27th. This presumably tests for a de-orbit firing.

—- OFT-3 Videos:

  • Launch through booster landing attempt and shutdown of Starship upper stage engines: Blastoff! SpaceX Starship launches to space on 3rd integrated test flightVideoFromSpace

  • Starship entry into the atmosphere: Wow! Watch SpaceX Starship re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in these incredible viewsVideoFromSpace

Enjoy this incredible audio and video from the launch pad and various locations of the most powerful rocket to ever fly, SpaceX’s Starship on its third integrated flight test, IFT3! 4K slow motion captured on various ZCam’s, BlackMagic 12K Ursa, RED Komodo X and G2 4.6K with SIGMA lenses and Meade Telescopes.

SpaceX’s third launch of Starship took place on March 14th, 2024, from Starbase, TX. Both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage completed their full duration burn placing them on nominal trajectories. However, neither survived their full reentry or landing tests.

A fresh view of flight three along with some imagery of the aftermath. Plus, a new barrel section for Booster 14 outside the Mega Bay and work on the segments of the second tower continues at the Sanchez lot.

More about the test:

—- Starship activity at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center

There has been little activity visible in the past few months at the Starship launch tower built at launch complex 39A. However, in the past week or so there has been some work around the pillars of the orbital launch mount and one was taken down. No word yet on what is the plan for the mount.

—- More Starship related articles, reports, and other web resources.

For background on Starship see the SpaceX Starship report, which is published by NewSpace Global and for which I was the primary author. The initial version came out in March 2023 and then we updated it in May to include coverage of the first flight test.

==================

Check out the
The Lurio Report
for news and analysis of key developments in NewSpace

The latest issue:
Starlink’s Progress, Vulcan, Moon Landing Attempts
Vol. 19, No. 1, February 2, 2024

Space Frontier Foundation Award for NewSpace Journalism

==================

** SpaceX Falcon Rockets & Dragon Spacecraft

SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters have achieved 258 reflights and 288 landings as the morning of Mar.24.2024.

—- Overview of booster recovery at sea: Revolutionizing Rocket Reusability – SpaceX’s Mini NavyNASASpaceflight

The vital role of Autonomous Spaceport Droneships (ASDS) in revolutionizing rocket reusability. In this detailed video, we unravel the necessity of droneships for high-performance missions, the evolution of these marine marvels, and the unique technology that sets them apart from ordinary barges. Discover how SpaceX’s marine assets contribute to their mission success, defy conventional recovery methods, and what the future holds for these floating launch pads. Whether you’re a space enthusiast or curious about marine engineering, this video is packed with insights into the intersection of aerospace and maritime technology. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more space exploration content!

—- Bahamas to host a SpaceX droneship used for F9 booster landings:   Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation Secures Historic Agreement with SpaceX to Propel Bahamas into the Space Technology & Tourism Frontier | The Official Website of The Bahamas – Feb.16.2024

The LOA [Letter of Intent] establishes a strategic collaboration that positions The Bahamas as a global destination for witnessing booster landings.

SpaceX, a pioneer in space exploration, is currently finalizing mission designs where one of the company’s autonomous droneships will serve as a Falcon 9 landing location east of The Exumas, offering a spectacle that will be visible only in The Bahamas. This unique opportunity sets the stage for tourists to witness awe-inspiring space events from cruise ships, resorts, and various tourist hotspots, solidifying The Bahamas’ position as a key player in the emerging space tourism industry.

The exclusive visibility of rocket landings on an autonomous droneship from various Bahamian islands distinguishes this destination as the only one of its kind worldwide.

—- Polaris DawnDevelopment progress “heating up”

** Blue Origin New GlennFirst stage tank tests completed

—- Cryo tests of first stage tanks completed on SL-36 pad: New Glenn completes initial cryogenic testing at Launch Complex 36 | NASASpaceFlight.com – Mar.6.2024

In late February and early March, Blue successfully carried out three cryogenic propellant filling tests of the New Glenn first stage on the pad at Launch Complex 36. This was the first time a full stack of first and second stages with functional hardware had been rolled to the pad.

After the tanking tests, the stack was rolled back to the integration facility to prepare for returning to the pad for static firing tests of the seven BE-4 engines on the first stage. Several upper stages are in development for the flight tests expected to start late this year.

Blue is planning for an initial fleet of four boosters, as each New Glenn first stage is intended to be reused at least 25 times. With experience gained from 22 successful propulsive landings of New Shepard’s propulsion module, it is not unreasonable that Blue will be able to achieve its goal of successfully landing New Glenn’s first stage on the maiden launch. However, a landing platform is yet to be seen after the company scrapped its Jacklyn ship in 2022 in favor of a more simplified barge-like system.

A reusable second stage appears to remain a goal:

Blue Origin recently filed updated site plans for LC-36 as part of a permit to upgrade the facility. Included in the plans was a new site at the northeast corner of the complex, referred to as an MKX Test Stand. With propellant lines running to this site from the pad’s main tank farm, this could be a new test stand to support the development of the company’s Clipper program, which aims to be a reusable second stage for New Glenn. It is also possible that the area may be related to Blue’s lunar lander program, as there are two variants of the Blue Moon lander — MK1 and MK2.

—- Reusablity a top priority:

—-  BE-4 engines tested in Huntsville on a famous test stand: Test Stand 4670: Building on a Legacy

Once a pivotal platform for the testing of Saturn V and Space Shuttle engines, Test Stand 4670 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has witnessed the power of innovation and the spirit of exploration. Experience the transformation of Test Stand 4670 as this historic site has come back to life, blending the rich heritage of NASA’s golden era with the cutting-edge technology of today testing our BE-4 and BE-3U engines. The rumble is back in the Rocket City.

—- Crew vehicle Blue developing reusable crew transport vehicle

With the New Glenn moving towards its first launch this year, development of a crew vehicle to go to space on it is becoming a priority: Blue Origin is getting serious about developing a human spacecraft | Ars Technica

For a time, the crew project was on the back burner, but it has now become a major initiative within Blue Origin, with the company hiring staff to develop the vehicle.

The first public hint of this renewed interest came last June, when NASA announced that Blue Origin was one of seven companies to sign an unfunded Space Act Agreement to design advanced commercial space projects. Later, in a document explaining this selection process, NASA revealed that Blue Origin was working on a “commercial space transportation system.” This included a reusable spacecraft that would launch on the New Glenn rocket.

No debut date for the crew vehicle released yet but more information is likely to be released by Blue later this year.

** Sierra Space Dream Chaser in final tests before launch

—- Thermal vacuum testing in Ohio:

—- Vibration test report: Dream Chaser Spaceplane Environmental Test Campaign at NASA Armstrong Test Facility – Feb.27.2024

The Dream Chaser spaceplane is running through it’s environmental test campaign at NASA Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. These critical tests will ensure Dream Chaser is ready for the launch pad later this year for the NASA CRS-2 Mission to the International Space Station.

** Rocket LabUpdate

Here are some recent items about Rocket Lab. The company still says the first Neutron launch will happen this year:

** Stoke SpaceFull scale second stage prototype propulsion system

—- Prototype second stage with 30 thrusters undergoing static firing tests: Stoke Space continues to test reusable second stage, looks ahead to full rocket | NASASpaceFlight.com – Mar.7.2024

The upper stage of the Stoke fully reusable rocket, now named Nova, uses an innovative design combining a capsule-like heat shield with a ring of thrusters along the outer edge. Previously, a prototype with 15 thrusters underwent static firings and then powered a short flight of the Hopper 2 demonstrator.

The hydrogen fuel for the thrusters first travels through passages in the heat shield to cool it before going into the combustion chambers of the thrusters.  The company is now testing a ring of 30 thrusters as will be used on the operational stage.

Stoke Space also clarified, “Our heat shield is engineered for active cooling at multiple critical mission stages, ensuring optimal protection, performance, and mobility to, through, and from space.”

When asked whether there were any specific engineering issues with pumping the hydrogen through the longer-than-usual channels, the company responded, “We’ve encountered no significant challenges in this regard. Engine test and Hopper flight data validated analytical predictions made by our in-house tools, confirming the ability to manage these requirements.”

Differential throttling of the thrusters provides control of the orientation and direction of the vehicle:

“All of those thrusters have individual throttle control ability,” [Stoke CEO Andy] Lapsa said. “They actually have throttle control in two different places. One is with the pumps, so the bulk engine thrust can be throttled. Then the relative thrust from one side to the other can be managed by the individual thrusters.”

The goal is 24 hour turnaround between orbital flights of Nova. The company sees delivery of satellites and other payloads to space as a viable market and also the capture and return to earth of spacecraft at end of their working life or that have become derelicts.

** Relativity Space– Progress in Terran R development

—- Recent tests of thrust chamber for Aeon R engines that will power the Terran R rocket: Aeon R Thrust Chamber Assembly Testing | NASA StennisRelativity Space/YouTube – Mar.19.2024

2 weeks. 18 hot fires. 335 seconds of blue fire. The team closed out another round of Aeon R thrust chamber assembly (TCA) testing, screening 4 different injector designs and ramping up full-power high mixture-ratio (MR) testing.

Hats off to the crew for executing 2+ hotfires each day with precision, speed, and nimbleness.

—- Reusable engine turbopumps: A video about the development of the liquid oxygen and methane turbopumps for the Aeon engines to power the reusable Terran R rocket:  Relatively Speaking: Aeon R Turbopumps ExplainedRelativity Space/YouTube – Feb 27, 2024.

We’re taking a deep dive into Aeon R’s turbopumps, the heart of Aeon R. With additive manufacturing, we’re refining our turbopump design, reducing parts and enhancing efficiency. Hear directly from the team on our approach to design, testing, and iteration.

0:00 – 0:27 Turbopumps explained
0:28: -1:14 Dual Shaft system explained
1:15 – 1:29 What makes our turbopump unique
1:30 – 2:16 Long Beach Component Test Yard
2:17 – 2:42 Testing turbopumps
2:43 –3:01 Benefits of testing in our backyard
3:02 – 3:50 Collaborative teams

 Learn more about Aeon R: https://bit.ly/aeonr

** Introducing: Ascender H1 Variant Orbital AirshipJohn Powell

John Powell of JP Aerospace gives an update on the company’s long running Airship To Orbit (ATO) program:

This is the newest version of the Ascender orbit airship designed to carry cargo to space. It’s the final stage of ATO, the airship to orbit program. The H1 is the latest update in development of this class of vehicle and the directly result of decades of development and test flights. ATO is changing the very nature of space travel.

=== Hypersonic rocket vehicles – Long distance point-to-point

** Stratolaunch Talon A-1 hypersonic rocket vehicle flies successfully

Stratolaunch’s hypersonic test vehicle Talon A-1 (TA-1) was carried on March 9th by the company’s gigantic Roc aircraft over the Pacific to a point where it was dropped. The vehicle’s Hadley engine, built by Ursa Major Technologies, fired and accelerated the vehicle and made a sustained climb in altitude, before eventually exhausting its fuel and then made a controlled water landing.  The engine uses liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants and can produce 5,000 pounds-force of thrust. The exact top speed attained has not been released publicly but “reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5” according to the company.

While the TA-1 was expendable and lost at sea, the next test flight later this year will be carried out by the reusable TA-2. A third vehicle, TA-3, is under construction and will also be reusable. The Talon vehicles are precursors to future operational hypersonic and space vehicles.

[ Update: Additional info and video released by Stratolaunch:

TA-1 First flight:

First steps are hard. They require careful planning, calculated risk, and most of all, courage. We took a daring first step earlier this month with the completion of TA-1’s first powered flight, reaching high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5. The flight was a landmark moment on our path to providing our customers and nation a reusable and routine hypersonic test capability. Congratulations to the Stratolaunch team and our partners on this achievement! Stay tuned on our progress as we prepare to fly our first fully reusable Talon-A vehicle, TA-2, later this year.

]

** Venus Aerospace – Successful flight test of rocket powered drone

Venus Aerospace announced that their drone made a successful flight powered by a monopropellant rocket engine. This prepares them for the next stage of tests with a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE): Venus Aerospace Achieves Successful Inaugural Supersonic Drone Flight | Venus Aerospace – Mar.26.2024

Venus Aerospace’s supersonic flight test drone successfully completed its inaugural flight on Feb 24, 2024. The eight foot, 300lb drone was dropped at an altitude of 12,000 ft and accelerated to a top speed of Mach 0.9, flying for 10 miles. It was powered by a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine at 80% thrust in order to not exceed Mach 1. The test successfully demonstrated flight controls, stability, one leg of the ultimate Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) propulsion system, telemetry, ground operations, and air launch. “Using an air-launched platform and a rocket-with-wing configuration allows us to cheaply and quickly get to the minimum viable test of our RDRE as a hypersonic engine. The team executed with professionalism and has a wealth of data to anchor and tweak for the next flight,” says CTO & Co-Founder Andrew Duggleby.

“This is how you do hard things: one bite at a time. Up next is RDRE flight, and ultimately hypersonic flight, proving that the RDRE is the engine that unlocks the hypersonic economy,” says CEO & Co-Founder Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby.

These prototypes are to prepare for the development of the Stargazer hypersonic point-to-point transport vehicle.

Update: An article from Brian Berger: The company building a rotating detonation engine is pushing the tech forward | Ars Technica – Mar.27.2024

Based on the company’s latest tests, Duggleby said Venus is now increasingly confident that it will be able to combine its rocket engine with air-breathing technology—using the forward motion of the engine to ingest air for combustion—to create what is known as a rocket-based combined cycle engine. Such an engine, if it can be realized, will allow Venus to see excellent performance at a wide variety of altitudes and velocities. The idea has been largely theoretical until now, developed mostly in universities rather than pursued for commercial purposes.

“We’re now 100 percent compelled by this path,” Duggleby said. “I’m convinced that this is going to be the engine that unlocks the hypersonic economy.”

=== Europe

** MaiaSpace Funding from French government if orbit reached

MaiaSpace, which is developing a launcher with a reusable first stage, is one of four startup launcher companies receiving  contracts with the French government for funding if they achieve orbit by 2028: France Expected to Commit €400M to Support Four Launch Startups | European Spaceflight

The HyPrSpace OB-1 and Latitude Zephyr rockets will be the smallest of the lot and will be capable of delivering between 100 and 200 kilograms to low Earth orbit. The Sirius 1, Sirius 13, and Sirius 15 rockets will be capable of delivering between 175 and 1,100 kilograms to orbit. The Prometheus-powered Maia rocket is expected to be the most powerful, with a payload capacity of up to three tonnes when launched in its expendable configuration.

The agreement with the French state will see each company receive a small upfront payment to secure the flights. The bulk of the €400 million, which will be supplied through the France 2030 initiative, will, however, only be awarded if the companies manage to launch a maiden flight of their respective vehicles between 2026 and 2028. As a result, the actual development process will need to be funded through other public programmes or through private investment.

=== China

** China Accelerates Development of Two Large Reusable RocketsCCTV Video News Agency

China is accelerating the development of both 4-meter-diameter and 5-meter-diameter reusable rockets, with their inaugural flights scheduled for 2025 and 2026, respectively.  CCTV article.

** LandSpace update: A Reusable Chinese Stainless Steel Rocket in 2025?Dongfang Hour

As one of the leading Chinese commercial launch companies, Landspace is currently operating the medium-lift methalox-fueled Zhuque-2, and plans to roll out the heavy-lift Zhuque-3 rocket. The latter is a partially reusable rocket with similar specifications to SpaceX’s Falcon-9, and could represent one of the first “Chinese Falcon 9s” to be available.

While there are strong resemblances between the two rockets, the Zhuque-3 has some differences, including the choice of propellant (methane), materials used (stainless steel), and its rocket booster recovery approach.

In this episode, we deep dive into these topics, while also going over the history of Landspace. Enjoy!

If you like what you see and would like to support me, please consider joining our small Patreon community at https://patreon.com/dongfanghour !
We also have some very cool space merch available at https://shop.dongfanghour.com .

00:00 Introduction
00:17 Landspace’s Beginnings
02:06 The First (Failed) rocket: the Zhuque-1
03:32 All-in on Liquid-fueled Rockets
4:03 the Medium-lift Zhuque-2 & How it’s Different
5:33 Landspace’s own Launch Site
7:21 the Reusable Stainless Steel Zhuque-3
10:12 Recovering Rockets on Land!
11:18 Perspectives for 2024 and 2025

—- More Land Space reports:

—- China’s govt space organization accelerates reusable rocket development: China to debut large reusable rockets in 2025 and 2026 | SpaceNews – Mar.5.2024

China’s main state-owned contractor plans test flights for two new large diameter reusable rockets in the next couple of years, despite existing commercial reusability efforts.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) plans to launch four-meter and five-meter-diameter reusable rockets for the first time in 2025 and 2026 respectively, Wang Wei, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, told China News Service March 4.

** Chinese reusable rocket developers:

See also the table at SpaceNews.

=== India

** RLV LEX-02 prototype winged space vehicleSuccessful mid-altitude drop flight and landing test

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been developing reusable rocket technology starting with the RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator) program. The program aimed to launch a reusable winged uncrewed vehicle, similar to the X-37, atop an expendable booster.

The configuration of RLV-TD is similar to that of an aircraft and combines the complexity of both launch vehicles and aircraft. The winged RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies, namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing and powered cruise flight.

A RLV-TD prototype was successfully flight tested on May 23, 2016 after a drop from a helicopter. Another winged vehicle was tested in 2023 in a similar drop test called RLV-LEX-01. Then on March 22, 2024, the LEX-02 experiment involved a second drop test with an improved  prototype vehicle named Pushpak: ISRO achieves yet another success in the RLV Landing Experiment | ISRO – Mar.22.2024

ISRO has achieved a major milestone in the area of Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology, through the RLV LEX-02 landing experiment, the second of the series, conducted at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga in Karnataka today morning at 7:10 hrs IST.

After the RLV-LEX-01 mission was accomplished last year, RLV-LEX-02 demonstrated the autonomous landing capability of RLV from off-nominal initial conditions at release from Helicopter. The RLV was made to undertake more difficult manoeuvres with dispersions, correct both cross-range and downrange and land on the runway in a fully autonomous mode. The winged vehicle, called Pushpak, was lifted by an Indian Airforce Chinook helicopter and was released from 4.5 km altitude. After release at a distance of 4 km from the runway, Pushpak autonomously approached the runway along with cross-range corrections. It landed precisely on the runway and came to a halt using its brake parachute, landing gear brakes and nose wheel steering system.

This mission successfully simulated the approach and high-speed landing conditions of RLV returning from space. With this second mission, ISRO has re-validated the indigenously developed technologies in the areas of navigation, control systems, landing gear and deceleration systems essential for performing a high-speed autonomous landing of a space-returning vehicle. The winged body and all flight systems used in RLV-LEX-01 were reused in the RLV-LEX-02 mission after due certification/clearances. Hence reuse capability of flight hardware and flight systems is also demonstrated in this mission. Based on the observations from RLV-LEX-01, the airframe structure and landing gear were strengthened to tolerate higher landing loads.

More about the project:

=== Reusable suborbital rocket vehicles for tourism, science & technology

** Astrobotic reusable rocketsNight flights of Xodiac

The reusable Xodiac low-altitude reusable rocket executes a night time tethered-flight tests: Watch a Night Flight – Xodiac Preps for Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge | Astrobotic – Mar.20.2024

Astrobotic’s Propulsion & Test department flew Xodiac, a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) reusable terrestrial rocket, for its first-ever night flight. The tethered night test prepared Xodiac for upcoming flight testing with the NASA TechLeap Prize’s Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge, managed by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. TechLeap is designed to rapidly identify and develop technologies of interest to the agency using a series of challenges, and the Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge will test the ability of three winning payloads to map a lunar surface for navigation in near-total darkness.

Flights for TechLeap are slated to begin in April, continuing Xodiac’s flight heritage of over 160 successful flights. The Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge flights will also mark the debut of Astrobotic’s Lunar Surface Proving Ground (LSPG), a high-fidelity 3D test field that will mimic the topography and optical properties of the Moon’s surface. The size of two football fields, the LSPG will provide a unique simulated lunar topography to enhance the realism of payload flight tests aboard Xodiac.

More flight campaigns later this year:

These TechLeap payload flights will be Xodiac’s first major flight campaign of 2024. Xodiac is also scheduled to fly campaigns this year for NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, Draper, San Diego State University, and Astrobotic’s Robotics & Surface Systems department. The latter campaign will test Astrobotic’s novel hazard detection and avoidance system that will help guide its Griffin lander to a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole.

** Blue Origin New ShepardMore flights promised

New Shepard plans mentioned during the conference presentation by Blue Origin VP Lars Hoffman: Blue Origin touts capabilities of Blue Ring transfer vehicle | SpaceNews – Feb.2.2024

… the company will increase the flight rate of New Shepard. That vehicle performed a payload-only flight in December, the first since a launch mishap more than 15 months earlier. A crewed flight, the first since August 2022, will take place “very soon,” he said, but was not more specific.

Blue Origin has not disclosed how many New Shepard flights it plans for this year. “We are definitely getting back on track this year with New Shepard,” he said. “We want to get on a nice pace or rhythm here where we’re launching regularly, mostly astronaut flights but there will be payload flights mixed in there as well.”

** Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwoDispute with Boeing

—- Boeing is suing Virgin Galactic over a canceled contract for development of a new carrier aircraft: Boeing sues Virgin Galactic over mothership project | SpaceNews – Mar.26.2024

—- Other VG items:

==== Reusable in-space vehicles:

—- Blue orbital space tug

An update on the Blue Ring, a “Multi-Mission, Multi-Orbit Space Mobility Platform“, from a recent conference presentation by Lars Hoffman, a Blue Origin VP: Blue Origin touts capabilities of Blue Ring transfer vehicle | SpaceNews – Feb.2.2024

The Blue Ring will offer:

  • 12 docking ports, each able to accommodate payloads weighing up to 500 kilograms
  • The “top deck on the spacecraft can carry payloads weighing up to two and a half tons
  • 3,000 meters per second of delta V
  • Can deploy payloads to desired orbits or serve as a host for payload(s) that remain attached to it
  • Is refuelable and can also refuel spacecraft. No info on type of propellants.
A rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring space tug.

** Defense Innovation Unit funding development of in-space transport transports:

DIU wants two types of utility multi-orbit logistics vehicles (m-OLV). A light version should host or transport one or more payloads in the 50 kg payload range. A heavy version will tackle payloads in the 500 kg range.

And DIU also wants a

fuel depot capable of storing and transferring sufficient chemical and/or electrical propellant to a m-OLV or self-propelled satellite to achieve a LEO-to-GEO transfer

Three companies obtained contracts. Blue Origin obtained funding

to demonstrate a heavy utilitym-OLV system utilizing their ‘Blue Ring’ platform [see above]. Blue Origin is in the final stages of developing the Dark-Sky-1 mission system, which will demonstrate core mission operation and flight system capabilities.

Northrop Grumman’s Space Logistics in-space servicing subsidiary received support for its

suite of in-space refueling technologies, including the Active Refueling Moule (ARM) and Passive Refueling Module (PRM), in concert with complementary efforts sponsored by Space Systems Command (SSC). The refueling system includes elements to successfully dock and transfer fuel, as well as a refueling payload that handles fuel transfer. SSC contracted with Northrop Grumman to fly the PRM on an operational mission. 

Spacebilt, formerly Skycorp, is the third company to receive a DIU contract, which will be used to further validate

their approach In Space Assembly and Manufacturing for enabling their m-OLV product for DoD use cases. Since award, Spacebilt has progressed toward a mass manufacturable product, conducted risk reduction missions to the International Space Station for their flight hardware, and maturity of their commercially available avionics hardware. Spacebilt is working toward a Q4 2026 launch for the first mOLV STARcraft.

The company makes reusability a key feature of their spacecraft:

Until now, space systems have been mission focused and disposable. Tomorrow, spacecraft will be updated to suit changing customer needs. Reusability reduces lifecycle cost by 80%.

=== Other reusable rocket and space vehicle related news:

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SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA,
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Roundup: Reusable rocket vehicles – February.2024

Find here the latest news and updates on reusable rocket powered vehicles in operation and in development. (See also the previous Roundup from November 2023.) Such technology should eventually lead to space transports with aircraft-like operation. That is, orbital flight and return followed by rapid reflight with minimal preparation. Vehicles should fly thousands of times with only occasional refurbishment and, most importantly, spacefare should fall to levels similar to long distance airfare.

In the decades following the launch of Sputnik 1, missile derived expendable launchers dominated and progress towards reusable transports moved at a slow crawl. The one major attempt at reusablity, the Space Shuttle, was a major disappointment, providing no reduction in space transport costs due to the lengthy refurbishment and component replacements after each flight. However, progress sped up considerably in the past decade with the arrival of the SpaceX Falcon 9, whose boosters have achieved 248 reflights and 277 landings as of Feb.26.2024.

Reusable rocket powered vehicle designs fall roughly into the following five categories:

  1. Partially reusable orbital transport:
  2. Fully reusable orbital transport:
  3. Reusable spacecraft:
  4. Fully reusable suborbital:
  5. Fully reusable hypersonic suborbital for long distance point-to-point transport:

Below are reports on several projects and programs that fall into at least one of these categories.

** SpaceX Starship –  Third orbital flight test expected in March.

Recent remarks from Elon Musk indicate that the third test flight could happen by mid-March. The test will launch the combo of Starship 28 and Super Heavy Booster 10, which have been undergoing preparations for the flight for several months including repeated trips to and from the orbital launch site for cryogenic pressure tests, engine firings, etc. In mid-February the stages were stacked atop the launch mount and twice an attempt at a wet dress rehearsal was made but each time the propellant filling was stopped prematurely and the rehearsal ended. Subsequently, the Starship was de-stacked and moved to the nearby suborbital test area for engine testing, starting with a spin prime test on Feb.26th (spin prime refers to a test of the engine turbopumps). Booster 10 was moved back to the production site.

[ Update: Just after posting this item, the FAA announced that the mishap investigation with SpaceX has been completed. Presumably, they will soon issue a permit for the next flight test.

SpaceX must implement 17 corrective actions. Seven on the boosters and ten on the Starship upper stage.

SpaceX also has an update describing the second test flight and reasons for the loss of the two stages. For the booster:

Following stage separation, Super Heavy initiated its boostback burn, which sends commands to 13 of the vehicle’s 33 Raptor engines to propel the rocket toward its intended landing location. During this burn, several engines began shutting down before one engine failed energetically, quickly cascading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly (RUD) of the booster. The vehicle breakup occurred more than three and a half minutes into the flight at an altitude of ~90 km over the Gulf of Mexico.

The most likely root cause for the booster RUD was determined to be filter blockage where liquid oxygen is supplied to the engines, leading to a loss of inlet pressure in engine oxidizer turbopumps that eventually resulted in one engine failing in a way that resulted in loss of the vehicle. SpaceX has since implemented hardware changes inside future booster oxidizer tanks to improve propellant filtration capabilities and refined operations to increase reliability.

For the Starship stage:

At vehicle separation, Starship’s upper stage successfully lit all six Raptor engines and flew a normal ascent until approximately seven minutes into the flight, when a planned vent of excess liquid oxygen propellant began. Additional propellant had been loaded on the spacecraft before launch in order to gather data representative of future payload deploy missions and needed to be disposed of prior to reentry to meet required propellant mass targets at splashdown.

A leak in the aft section of the spacecraft that developed when the liquid oxygen vent was initiated resulted in a combustion event and subsequent fires that led to a loss of communication between the spacecraft’s flight computers. This resulted in a commanded shut down of all six engines prior to completion of the ascent burn, followed by the Autonomous Flight Safety System detecting a mission rule violation and activating the flight termination system, leading to vehicle breakup. The flight test’s conclusion came when the spacecraft was as at an altitude of ~150 km and a velocity of ~24,000 km/h, becoming the first Starship to reach outer space.

SpaceX has implemented hardware changes on upcoming Starship vehicles to improve leak reduction, fire protection, and refined operations associated with the propellant vent to increase reliability. The previously planned move from a hydraulic steering system for the vehicle’s Raptor engines to an entirely electric system also removes potential sources of flammability.

The update goes on to say the measures to protect the launch pad worked well and few fixes were required after the test.

The next test flight will implement various

performance upgrades, including the debut of a new electronic Thrust Vector Control system for Starship’s upper stage Raptor engines and improving the speed of propellant loading operations prior to launch.

]

The company is preparing for up to nine test flights in 2024. The rate of production of vehicles should be sufficient for such a test program as indicated by this recent image of four Super Heavy boosters inside the Megabay 1 at Starbase:

SpaceX continues to build up the Starship infrastructure at a rapid pace. Here is a sampling of the changes since the last Roundup:

  • Starbase orbital launch site: Major modifications and upgrades have been made at the launch site area including
    • The tank farm received new horizontal cryogenic tanks and related piping, pumps, propellant coolers, etc.
    • Two of the eight vertical tanks were dismantled
    • A shielding wall was added to protect the tank farm during liftoff.
    • Heavy steel plates erected on the base of the tower will protect it from the blast during liftoffs.
  • Starbase production site:
    • New permanent buildings are replacing the tent-like structures used for production of major components, particularly the steel ring segments that make up the structure of each stage.
    • Construction of the second Megabay is nearing completion.
    • These bays are used for the stacking of the steel ring segments, engine installation, and other final assembly operations on the Starship stages.
    • Construction of an office building and parking garage has begun.
  • Massey’s site: The former gun club site has become more than just a storage site.
    • New vehicle stages undergo initial cryogenic and stress testing here.
    • Similar testing for new structure designs
    • An engine test facility is under construction.

This video from RGV Aerial Photography gives a sky view of Starbase along with a narration of recent changes. (Note that they divide the Production Site is divided into two sections: the Sanchez open yard area and the Build site.)

And here is a summary of recent SpaceX activities at Starbase and in Florida:

See also the latest NASASpaceFlight.com update on Starbase.

—- SpaceX has now revealed where it would like to put the second launch tower at Starbase:

—- Starship activity at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center is becoming more visible again after a long period when not much was happening in public view. In 2022 SpaceX built a Starship launch tower adjacent to the Pad-39A complex used for Falcon 9/Heavy launches and Crew Dragon missions.  Several sections for a second tower were assembled at the company’s facility on Roberts Road. However, work on the Pad-39A tower and the second tower were suspended without any public explanation.

The Pad-39A Starship facility work was perhaps stopped due to concerns at NASA that a Starship accident could damage the nearby Falcon launch facility and leave the agency without a domestic means of sending crews to the ISS. A new service tower at SLC-40 is nearly complete and it will enable Crew Dragon flights from there. Perhaps, after SpaceX has demonstrated a crew launch from SLC-40, work on the Pad-39A tower and launch mount will resume.

Recently, most of those tower sections at Roberts Road have been sent via barges to Starbase in Boca Chica for the second tower there (see above item). However, a second tower at the Cape remains very much a priority. Recently, it was revealed that an environmental impact study is underway for a second Starship launch facility:  Proposed Action – Space Force Starship EIS.

The study will consider two possible locations:

  • Space Launch Complex 37, from which the final Delta-4 Heavy rocket will lift off in March.
  • A new SLC-50 site within the Cape Canaveral Air Station site between SLC-37 and SLC-40.

So the study will take at least a year and so construction cannot start till that is finished and the various permits and approvals are given. For more details: SpaceX wants to take over a Florida launch pad from rival ULA | Ars Technica – Feb.17.2024

—- A space habitat payload contract announced: Starlab Space Selects SpaceX’s Starship for Historic Launch | Voyager Space – Jan.31.2024.

Starlab Space LLC (Starlab Space), the transatlantic joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus, today announced the selection of SpaceX to launch the Starlab commercial space station to low-Earth orbit (LEO). Starship, SpaceX’s fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond, will launch Starlab in a single mission prior to the decommissioning of the International Space Station.

“SpaceX’s history of success and reliability led our team to select Starship to orbit Starlab,” said Dylan Taylor, Chairman and CEO, Voyager Space. “SpaceX is the unmatched leader for high-cadence launches and we are proud Starlab will be launched to orbit in a single flight by Starship.”

—- Elon Musk gave a talk on January 8th to Starbase employees about the status and future of the Starship program. His  presentation was quite informative but one could easily have missed some important items during his lengthy discourse. This video has edited out everything but his key statements and packs them into about 10 minutes:

—- More Starship related articles, reports, and other web resources.

For background on Starship see the SpaceX Starship report, which is published by NewSpace Global and for which I was the primary author. The initial version came out in March 2023 and then we updated it in May to include coverage of the first flight test.

==================

Check out the
The Lurio Report
for news and analysis of key developments in NewSpace

The latest issue:
Starlink’s Progress, Vulcan, Moon Landing Attempts
Vol. 19, No. 1, February 2, 2024

Space Frontier Foundation Award for NewSpace Journalism

==================

** SpaceX Falcon Rockets & Dragon Spacecraft

The Falcon program continues to be extremely active as shown by the accumulation of 313 launches so far. The company hopes to do as many as 150 Falcon launches this year. The majority of these will carry Starlink satellites to low earth orbit but there will be many other commercial and government payloads as well.

Reusability plays a major role in Falcon operations and is key to the affordability of the Starlink constellation. There have been  248 reflights and 277 landings as of Feb. 25th. Some boosters have flown 19 times and the company now believes they can fly up to 40 times. An engine has flow 22 times:

—- Polaris DawnFirst EVA from Dragon could happen this summer.

Polaris Dawn is a private Crew Dragon mission sponsored by Jared Isaacman. Currently, the mission is targeted for launch sometime in the summer of 2024. The goals of the mission include:

  • … flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavoring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown [by a crewed vehicle].
  • Orbiting through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt, Polaris Dawn will conduct research with the aim of better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.
  • … the crew will conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights
  • …first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications system necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
  • At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit.

More at

—- X-37 launches on Falcon Heavy A high apogee orbit for USAF spaceplane

A Falcon Heavy rocket put one of the two reusable X-37 spaceplanes into orbit on December 28, 2023. The vehicle will carry out a classified mission for the US Air Force. Previous missions have lasted as long as two years before the winged vehicles returned for landings either in California or at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This mission differs from previous ones in going to a much higher orbit. The spaceplane has been tracked by civilian observers:

According to Ars Technica:

Amateur observations of the spaceplane indicate it is flying in a highly elliptical orbit ranging between 201 and 24,133 miles in altitude (323 and 38,838 kilometers). The orbit is inclined 59.1 degrees to the equator.

An interesting video report from the Wall Street Journal about the X-37 and its Chinese counterpart of similar design and size:

Both the U.S. and China launched secretive space missions using high-tech space planes right before the new year. The U.S. blasted its autonomous X-37B plane up in a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket just weeks after China dispatched its own Shenlong spacecraft, sparking lots of speculation about where the planes are going and whether they could be used as space weapons.

I take a look at what the U.S.’s Boeing-made X-37B space plane is capable of doing, and how these launches underscore the intensifying space race between superpowers.

0:00 X-37B secret mission
0:39 X-37B features
1:21 Potential space applications
3:24 New mission to deep space?
4:55 The U.S.-China space race

** Blue Origin New GlennBE-4 Methalox engines drive Vulcan to orbit & New Glenn 1st stage rolls out

Blue Origin activity has ramped considerably in the past few months at the Cape. The company appears to be making good progress towards the first launch of the New Glenn heavy lift rocket later this year. They aim to launch twice by the end of the year.

A fully stacked New Glenn with a flight capable first stage and an engineering prototype upper stage rolled to the pad at Launch Complex 36 on February 21st: Blue Origin Debuts New Glenn on Our Launch Pad | Blue Origin – Feb.21.2024.

Our New Glenn vehicle successfully rolled out and upended today for the first time on the pad at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36). This milestone represents the first view of the advanced heavy-lift vehicle, which will support a multitude of customer missions and Blue Origin programs, including returning to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Everything on the pad is real New Glenn hardware. The upending is one in a series of major manufacturing and integrated test milestones in preparation for New Glenn’s first launch later this year. The test campaign enables our teams to practice, validate, and increase proficiency in vehicle integration, transport, ground support, and launch operations. These tests do not require engines, which are hotfiring at the historic 4670 Test Stand in Huntsville and Launch Site One in West Texas.

A view of the first fully stacked New Glenn vehicle raised at Launch Complex 36. It will undergo a series of tanking and mechanical system tests. Credits: Blue Origin

The announcement goes on to say:

  • The tests will demonstrate cryogenic fluid loading, pressure control, and the venting system
  • The launch pad and ground systems are complete and will be activated for the first time
  • The reusable first stage is designed for a minimum of 25 missions
  • The stage will land on a sea-based platform located about 620 miles (1,000 km) downrange.

More about preparations underway for getting New Glenn off the ground.

—- Testing of the BE-4 engines for the New Glenn rocket:

—- Blue orbital space tug – More details about the reusable in-space vehicle: Blue Origin touts capabilities of Blue Ring transfer vehicle | SpaceNews – Feb.2.2024.

  • 12 docking ports, each able to accommodate payloads weighing up to 500 kilograms
  • Can hold “payloads weighing up to two and a half tons
  • offers 3,000 meters per second of delta V, or change in velocity, to maneuver to different orbits
  • Can deliver payloads to particular orbits and can also host a payload, providing it with services such as power, communications, etc.
  • Can act as a refueling depot since it is re-fuelable and can also refuel other spacecraft

** Sierra SpaceVulcan launch of Tenacity, first Dream Chaser cargo vehicle, expected by summer

The successful launch of the  first ULA Vulcan expendable rocket on January 8th sets up the countdown to the first launch of the reusable Dream Chaser lifting-body vehicle by late spring or early summer of this year. The Dream Chaser won a NASA contract for seven flights of cargo to the ISS. As with the SpaceX Dragon, Dream Chasers can also return cargo to the ground, unlike the single-use Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo carrier that burns up on reentry.

The Dream Chaser is currently in preparation for tests to insure it can survive the vibrations of launch:

A video about the testing: Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Spaceplane at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio – Sierra Space

The stage is set for the reveal of Dream Chaser in full launch configuration atop the world’s largest vibration table at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. More to come.

See also Dream Chaser undergoes NASA testing ahead of first flight – NASASpaceFlight.com

** Rocket LabRecovery of first stage

Rocket Lab’s recent launch of an Electron two stage rocket included the successful recovery of the first stage. The stage returned via parachute to a soft landing onto the ocean where it floated until lifted into a recovery vessel. The company has recovered first stages on some previous missions but has not yet reused a stage. However, an engine has flown twice.

Press release for the mission: Rocket Lab Successfully Launches First Electron Mission of Busy 2024 Launch Schedule | Rocket Lab – Jan.31.2024

The ‘Four Of A Kind’ mission for Spire’s customer NorthStar successfully launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 19:34 NZDT / 06:34 UTC. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket deployed four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites to a 530km circular Earth orbit where the satellites, built and operated by Spire, will monitor near-Earth objects from space to provide timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts. The mission was Rocket Lab’s 43rd Electron launch overall, bringing the Company’s record of successfully deployed satellites to 176. The mission was the first of a busy launch year for Rocket Lab, with the Company scheduled to launch more in 2024 than any previous year since the Company began missions in 2017.

The mission also resulted in the successful return of the rocket’s first stage after launch as part of Rocket Lab’s plan to evolve Electron into a reusable rocket. After launch and stage separation, Electron’s booster made its way back to Earth under a parachute and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 17 minutes post lift-off. Rocket Lab’s recovery operations are currently underway to retrieve the stage and bring it back to the Company’s production complex for a post-launch review and analysis before proceeding to one of the program’s final tasks: reusing a previously-launched first stage on a future mission.

Note that the small first stage for the Electron does not use propulsive braking on its return. Surviving the fall from high altitude relies instead on a layer of thermal protection as it heats up from the air drag. The drag slows the fall to the point it can release the parachute. See the Reusable Rockets section at Rocket Lab for more details.

The first stage also tested a thermal protection panel that the company plans to use on the reusable Neutron mid-sized launcher:

The Neutron booster stage will be too large for parachute return but will have sufficient scale to enable propulsive braking similar to the SpaceX Falcon 9.

** Stoke SpaceUpdate on development of a fully reusable vehicle.

The previous Roundup include a lengthy section on Stoke Space’s unique design of a two stage fully reusable rocket.  Stoke CEO Andy Lapsa adds lots of interesting additional details in this interview with NASASpaceflight:

In this episode of NSF Live, Das will talk with Andy Lapsa, CEO of Stoke Space. Topics will include Aerospike Engines, the path to flight, the next testing milestones, and much more.

—- Mach33 Financial Group offers a 40 page investment guide on Stoke Space.

—- Updates on Stoke Space engine tests:

** Relativity Space– Progress on engine development

Plans for 2024 in latest newsletter: What’s Ahead in 2024 – Relativity Space.

We’ve got another big year ahead of us at Relativity. Here’s a preview of what you can expect to see in the months ahead: 

    • Propulsion progress: Block upgrades to the design of our Aeon R engines to unlock power and performance. We’ll be testing lots of different component configurations and doing hot fires at various power levels throughout the year.  
    • Vehicle architecture: Progressing from preliminary design review (PDR) to critical design review (CDR), getting us significantly closer to our flight-ready vehicle.  
    • Manufacturing: How our production teams drive rapid iteration cycles. And, how we are building out our HQ to meet the production demands of Terran R at scale.  
    • Testing: Expand our testing campaigns to dive into data collection for many of Terran R’s core elements. And yes, lots and lots more hot fire coming your way with engine testing! 
    • Infrastructure: Continue the build-out of engine and stage test stands at NASA Stennis in Mississippi, the development of our new and improved larger launch pad at, LC-16 in Cape Canaveral, and our headquarters in Long Beach to ramp up manufacturing.  

—- Two videos about engine development: Relatively Speaking: How Engines are Manufactured at Relativity

Our teams wholeheartedly embrace iteration, leveraging additive techniques for rapid engine component development. This approach accelerates our design process, leading to improved performance and unprecedented testing speed. In less than 2 years, we progressed from sizing Aeon R to completing a successful mission duty cycle, conducting over 1,000 component and subsystem tests along the way. This rapid data accumulation culminated in this month’s successful MDC.

Check out this behind the scenes look at our iterative approach to engine design from blank sheet sketches to fire breathing engines.

0:00 – 0:20 Intro: How Engines are Manufactured at Relativity
0:21– 00:44 The Benefits of Powder Bed Fusion Printing
00:43 –1:20 Unlocking Rapid Iteration
1:20 – 2:08 How Powder Bed Fusion Works
2:09 – 2:42 Powder Bed Fusion in Practice: Gas Generator Injector
2:43 – 3:33 Part Assembly Line Journey to Full Assembly
3:34 – 4:19 End: The Power of Iterative Design

 Learn more about Aeon R: https://bit.ly/aeonr

—- Relatively Speaking: Aeon R Engine Explained

Taking it back chalkboard style, we’re breaking down our Aeon R engine 101 style, explaining how our Aeon R engine systems work together to create thrust. We’ll cover how each subsystem collaborates to produce blue fire.

Aeon R Engine, By the Numbers:
✔️13x engines powering Terran R
✔️258,000 lbf each, for a combined liftoff thrust of 3,354,000 lbf
✔️ High-pressure gas generator cycle
✔️ LOX/Methane propellants

0:00 – 0:34: Introduction: What is a Rocket Engine.
0:35 – 0:56: The Purpose of a Rocket: Understanding the Principle of Conservation of Momentum.
0:57 – 1:34: Understanding the Functionality of a Thrust Chamber Assembly.
1:35 – 2:31: Insight into the Operations of a Gas Generator.
2:32 – 2:55: The Crucial Role of Valves.

=== Hypersonic rocket vehicles – Long distance point-to-point

** POLARIS Flying demonstrator Mira with aerospike engine

Polaris is a German company developing a long distance spaceplane they call AURORA. They have built a series of sub-scale demonstratorsof increasing size, mass and complexity“.  So far the demonstrators have used turbojets for propulsion but the current Mira prototype also includes an aerospike rocket engine:

MIRA is a dedicated validation vehicle for in flight-demonstration and testing of linear aerospike rocket engines. Linear aerospikes form a novel class or rocket engines that offer large performance increases compared to conventional rocket engines. Flight-testing including engine in-flight ignition and operation will be conducted under a Bundeswehr/BAAINBw study contract awarded in April 2023. The first flight under turbine power was successfully conducted on 26th of October, 2023 at Peenemünde Airport. Flights under rocket-power will follow soon. Similar to ATHENA, MIRA is licensed for BVLOS operation with a telemetry range of 20 km. MIRA is also equipped with a redundant flight termination system (FTS). MIRA is the largest and most complex vehicle built and flown by POLARIS so far. The total development time from begin of vehicle design from scratch until first flight was just six and a half months.

In January the aerospike on the MIRA was activated during a ground roll test for three seconds at 60% thrust: POLARIS Spaceplanes Conduct First Rocket-Powered Roll Test | European Spaceflight – Feb.1.2024.

The next demonstrator is NOVA:

NOVA will be the final demonstrator before the spaceplane. The main purpose is the demonstration of safe and repeatable rocket-powered supersonic flight capability at high altitudes, while fulfilling the full regulatory framework required for airport-based operation. The first flight is planned for 2024.

NOVA will be nearly 7 meters long and include four kerosene fueled jet turbines and one aerospike engine.

** New Frontier AerospaceMjolnir engine progress

New Frontier posts a new video about their Mjolnir engine in development for hypersonic propulsion:

– Affordable
– 3D printed
– Full flow staged combustion
– 100:1 thrust to weight
– “Gas and go”
– Ideal for both hypersonic and in-space propulsion

See a discussion of New Frontier in the previous Roundup in the section about co-founder Jess Sponable. There is also this article from last year from Alan Boyle: New Frontier Aerospace bridges hypersonic past and future | Geekwire – Sept.8.2023

=== Europe

** ESA requests BEST proposals for reusable launch systems

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the Boosters for European Space Transportation (BEST!) initiative, which invites proposals from commercial industry for development of reusable space transportation systems, particularly reusable boosters with liquid propulsion: ESA Publishes Call for Reusable Rocket Booster Concepts | European Spaceflight – Feb.10.2024

The Boosters for European Space Transportation (BEST!) initiative is being managed by ESA’s Space Transportation Directorate under its Future Launcher Preparatory Programme (FLPP). According to the initiative’s call, the aim of BEST! is to allow the development of new launcher architectures or the improvement of existing launch systems. That second element is an interesting addition as it goes on to state that concept studies should focus on a liquid reusable booster or a reusable first stage.

The management of Europe’s primary launch system provider, Arianespace, disputed the need for reusability when selecting the design for Ariane 6, the successor to its Ariane 5 workhorse expendable rocket. However, the success of Falcon 9 in lowering space access costs and attracting most of the available payload market has forced Arianespace to begin several projects involving development of reusable rockets (e.g., see next item about MaiaSpace). The BEST! initiative looks to be another source of funding for Arianespace’s reusability program:

The phrasing of “liquid reusable booster” and the fact that the programme will potentially be aimed at existing launch systems suggests that this may be part of an Ariane 6 evolution. If this is not one of the direct aims of the initiative, ArianeGroup will certainly be in a position to utilize BEST! as a means to fund, at least partially, the transfer of the knowledge gained during the ongoing development of the reusable booster demonstrator Themis to an evolved Ariane 6 variant.

** MaiaSpace Developing a partially reusable microlauncher

ArianeSpace created the subsidiary MaiaSpace to develop a low cost launcher with a reusable first stage that can deliver up to 3 tonnes to low earth orbit. The first stage will be powered by the Prometheus® engine, an ESA and  ArianeGroup engine that uses liquid Methane and LOX propellants. The booster will land on a sea platform similar to the Falcon 9.

The goal is to fly the first orbital mission by the end of 2025.

Some recent updates:

** PLD Space – Gains in funding for MIURA 5 medium lifter

PLD Space had a successful first launch last year of the MIURA 1 suborbital rocket. The lessons learned from this test will apply to  development of MIURA 5, an orbital two stage rocket whose first stage will return via parachute for recovery and reuse. They aim for an initial launch of MIURA 5 in 2025.

PLD recent obtained an award from ESA to assist development of the payload adapter for MIURA 5: PLD Space gets even more Boost! | ESA – Feb.19.2024

The contract signed today by ESA and PLD Space supports the Miura 5 launch service development by co-funding to the value of €1.3 million to develop a modular, customisable, payload accommodation system. Designed to release all types of satellites with as much flexibility as possible, the payload system – called MOSPA for Modular Solution for Payload Adapter – will allow PLD Space to offer its customers a wider range of missions and services, including accommodation of CubeSats, nanosatellites and microsatellites. The development of the modular payload adapter will be done in partnership with OCCAM Space.

And PLD also won a loan from the Spanish government: Spanish Government Awards €40.5M Loan to PLD Space for Miura 5 | European Spaceflight – Jan.27.2024

** ESA Commercial Cargo spacecraft initiative

The European Space Agency (ESA) started a project in 2023 to sponsor commercial development and operation of a craft to take and return cargo to the ISS and other future space stations in low earth orbit. The program is clearly inspired by the success of NASA’s commercial cargo program, which includes vehicles operated by SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Space.

Proposals will be submitted this month. The goal is for a demonstration mission by 2028.

The reusable Nyx spacecraft from the Exploration Company is one design that meets the requirement to take a minimum of 4000 kilograms to LEO and bring 2000 kilograms back to earth.

For more info, see:

=== China

** Vertical takeoff and landing test flight of a rocket built by the Chinese company Landspace:

BIG BREAKING: Here comes another Chinese private firm challenging SpaceX with successful hop test to achieve reusability of rockets. China’s Landspace conducts first vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) test for reusable stainless steel rocket. Chinese launch startup Landspace executed a first vertical takeoff, vertical landing with a test article Friday at a launch and recovery site at Jiuquan spaceport.

The Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 reusable vertical take-off and landing recovery verification rocket lifted off from Landspace facilities at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 3:00 a.m. Eastern (0800 UTC), Jan. 19.

The methane-liquid oxygen test article reached an altitude of around 350 meters during its roughly 60-second flight before setting down in a designated landing area. The landing had an accuracy of about 2.4m and a landing speed of about 0.75m/second, according to Landspace.

The test is part of the development of the stainless steel Zhuque-3 rocket first announced in November 2023. The company is aiming for the first flight of Zhuque-3 in 2025. The company earlier planned to execute this first VTVL test last month.

** OrienSpace gains funding for development of partially reusable rocket: Chinese launch startup Orienspace secures $83.5 million | SpaceNews – Feb.14.2024

The funds will be used for research and development of its first liquid propellant rocket. The 60-meter-tall, 4.2-meter-diameter Gravity-2 will use nine 100-ton-thrust Yuanli-85 gas generator, variable thrust kerosene engines for the first stage and be supported by solid boosters. The first stage is planned to be reusable.

Find more ab out OrienSpace rocket designs here.

** Space Circling of China is developing high-thrust liquid fueled engines suitable for reusable launch vehicles. The company recently obtained additional funding to support its efforts: Chinese rocket engine startup Space Circling secures funding | SpaceNews – Feb.20.2024

Here is an announcement (Google translate) of a test of the new Qiaolong-1 engine:

On January 31, Tianhui Aerospace successfully completed the first complete ignition test of its independently developed 85-ton staged combustion pumping cycle liquid oxygen kerosene engine ‘Qiaolong No. 1’ at the Tongchuan test base. “

On January 31, the 85-ton staged combustion pumping cycle liquid oxygen kerosene engine “Qiaolong No. 1” independently developed by Tianhui Aerospace successfully completed the complete engine ignition test at the Tongchuan test base. This ignition verified the correctness of the ignition and shutdown timing of the entire engine system. It also verified the advantages of the new staged combustion extraction cycle engine using structural fusion design…

The engines would be provided for the rockets of other companies as well as Space Circling’s own reusable vehicles:

 The Huilong-1 would have a length of 38 meters, a 3.35-meter-diameter core stage and 2.25-meter-diameter boosters. It is to be capable of lifting five metric tons to sun-synchronous orbit.

The larger Huilong-2 would be capable of carrying nine tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit or 25 tons to LEO.

** Other Chinese reusable rocket developers:

See also the table at SpaceNews.

=== Reusable suborbital rocket vehicles for tourism, science & technology

** Suborbital is worth the effort…

Back in 1990s and early 2000s, many advocates for entrepreneurial commercial space development promoted a step-by-step approach that could provide a viable path to low cost orbital space transports. This would require less capital to start with and the revenue generated along the way would sustain the startups as they developed increasingly capable vehicles.

In particular, we hailed the development of reusable suborbital rockets  (e.g. see my Space Review article from 2003) and the introduction of prizes like the $10M Ansari X PRIZE,  won in 2003 by the Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne project, and NASA’s Centennial Challenges.

SpaceX became a success despite skipping the suborbital spaceflight option (except for the Grasshopper test flights) and prize competitions. Elon and NASA supplied sufficient capital to enable SpaceX to go a more direct route to orbit. However, these approaches did benefit other NewSpace participants.

For example, the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander can trace its lineage back to the Lunar Lander Challenge and John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace team:

Blue Origin is using the lessons learned from their reusable suborbital New Shepard (see next item) for development of the New Glenn booster :

Building on experience operating its reusable New Shepard suborbital launch system, Blue plans to land its New Glenn rockets beginning with the first flight. “That sounds aggressive, but it’s not,” Jones said. “Think about how many times we’ve landed New Shepard right on the dime. All of the avionics systems, flight systems and everything that we’ve learned, we’ve transferred over—even the people have all come to work for New Glenn—and so I feel pretty confident.”Aviation Week

Note also that the New Glenn upper stage uses a vacuum version of the BE-3 engine that powers the New Shepard. The multiple test flights of New Shepard will no doubt contribute to making the New Glenn propulsion system more reliable.

** Blue Origin New ShepardReturn to flight

A New Shepard rocket booster failed during an uncrewed flight on Sept. 12, 2022. The capsule fired its emergency abort motor and successfully separated from the booster and landed with its science and technology payloads undamaged. The investigation found

the direct cause of the mishap to be a structural fatigue failure of the BE-3PM engine nozzle during powered flight. The structural fatigue was caused by operational temperatures that exceeded the expected and analyzed values of the nozzle material.

Blue Origin implemented

corrective actions, including design changes to the combustion chamber and operating parameters, which have reduced engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures. Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads.

New Shepard flights resumed on Dec.19.2023: Blue Origin Successfully Completes 24th Mission to Space | Blue Origin

The flight carried 33 payloads from NASA, academia, research institutions, and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 150. Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit, flew 38,000 postcards as part of its Postcards to Space program.

The long delay before resuming flights led to some speculation that Blue might end its suborbital program so as to focus more resources on development of its New Glenn orbital rocket (see above). However, company management express support for New Shepard following the successful NS-24 flight:

Demand for New Shepard flights continues to grow and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024.

** Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwoVSS Unity carries four passengers on first flight of 2024

On January 26th, Virgin Galactic successfully flew the VSS Unity spacecraft on

its first spaceflight of 2024 and 11th mission to date. Today’s ‘Galactic 06’ flight marked the first time all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied by private astronauts.

Following the flight, Virgin Galactic discovered that a pin used in the attachment of the SpaceShipTwo to the carrier aircraft had fallen out at some point after the spacecraft had detached. This had no affect on the rocket plane, which successfully completed its mission:

Assuming no major delay from this problem, the company’s next mission is planned for the second quarter of 2024 and “will include both a researcher and private astronauts“.

In November of 2023 the company announced that it would reduce flights from monthly to quarterly in 2024. This would release additional funding for the development of the Delta class ships. (See Q3 2023 Earnings presentation – Nov.8.2023 (pdf).)

The next-gen Delta vehicles will be more robust than the current VSS Unity model. Deltas will fly up to two times per week versus once per month for Unity. The Deltas will fly with 6 customers versus the current maximum of 4. At the expected prices of $450k per person or $600k per seat for research flights, monthly revenues could reach close to $30M, which is more that 10 times the current max income.

The goal is to begin testing the Delta ships in 2025 and then start commercial flights in 2026. A new carrier mothership would be built after the ramp up of the Delta fleet.

=== Other reusable rocket and space vehicle related news:

=== Amazon Ads ===

When the Heavens Went on Sale:
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

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Space Race 2.0:
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA,
and the Privatization of the Final Frontier

Roundup: Reusable rocket vehicles

Significant progress is being made towards space transportation systems that operate repeatedly rather than just fly once and then discarded. Reusable rocket powered vehicles will eventually lower the cost of access to space by orders of magnitude from expendables when the vehicles can fly  hundreds of times with only brief refurbishment between flights.

While the Space Shuttle program aimed for cost-effective reusablity, the extensive refurbishment, if not rebuilding, after each flight prevented the Shuttles from making any progress towards lower cost space access.

The multiple recoveries and reuses of SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages have proven that lower cost launch can be attained even with partial reuse. The per kilogram to orbit cost is about $2000, which is roughly a factor of 10 lower than conventional expendables were when the program started.

Below are updates on the SpaceX vehicles as well as several other reusable rocket systems in development including suborbital and long distance point-to-point vehicles.

Liftoff for the first test flight of a Starship with Booster B7 and upper stage SN24 on April 20, 2023. Credits: SpaceX

** SpaceX StarshipSecond orbital flight test soon.

[ Update Nov.21.2023: SpaceX released a statement summarizing the second flight tests: Starship’s Second Test Flight – SpaceX – Nov.21.2023.

The statement basically restates the same positive and negative aspects of the flight listed in the update below. However, one difference is that the destruction of the booster was due to “a rapid unscheduled disassembly“, i.e. an explosion in the vehicle’s systems, rather than a deliberate detonation by the flight termination system. The upper stage, on the other hand,  was definitely destroyed by the FTS:

The flight test’s conclusion came when telemetry was lost near the end of second stage burn prior to engine cutoff after more than eight minutes of flight. The team verified a safe command destruct was appropriately triggered based on available vehicle performance data.

The statement provides no information or speculation on what might have led to the destruction of the stages.

Update Nov.20.2023: The second flight test lifted off on Nov.18th within a tight 20 minute window. The test demonstrated that the major issues that afflicted the first flight in April had been resolved.

  • No significant damage to the launch pad. The steel plate and water deluge system worked to protect the launch mount and the ground area beneath it. Elon Musk: “Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch…
  • No engine failures or engine compartment fires this time on the Super Heavy Booster. All 33 engines performed well from launch till staging.
  • Hot staging, a major design change implemented since the first test, appeared to work well.
  • The six engines on the Starship upper stage started up at staging and powered the stage to 148 kilometers, thus reaching space.

There were, however, two significant shortcoming to the test:

  • After separation, the booster began maneuvering for the boostback burn, which would have led to a soft landing on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. However, the flight termination system soon destroyed the vehicle. SpaceX has not yet reported what led to  the abort. It’s possible that the hot staging resulted in sloshing of propellants, which could have caused one or more of the engines to shut down.
  • After the upper stage engines burned for 6 minutes of the planned 6.5 minute thrust time, the flight termination system destroyed the stage. SpaceX has not yet indicated what caused the abort just 30 seconds before scheduled engine cutoff.

Both of these problems will probably have straight-forward fixes and won’t significantly delay the next test flight. The most important component of the Starship system yet to be tested is the heat shielding on the upper stage. This test flight would have had the upper stage reach just short of orbital velocity and reenter near Hawaii. Hopefully, the next flight will achieve this goal.

Elon Musk has indicated that a Starship for the next test flight could be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. However, before a FAA license can be approved, SpaceX must show that it understands the problems with this flight and has implemented solutions.

See also:

Some videos of the launch:

]

SpaceX has designed Starship for recovery of both stages after each mission and re-flight after a rapid turnaround. If this goal is achieved,  Starships should allow the cost of access to orbit to drop by another factor of 10 over the Falcon 9. The cost could go even lower if the flight rate can rise to a very high level.

A series of test flights are planned to achieve the operational goals for the vehicle. Meanwhile, the factories at Boca Chica Beach, Texas are churning out boosters and upper stages for the tests.

As of the time of this post, the second Starship flight test is set for November 18th. Beyond simply testing as many components and systems as possible, the end goal is to send the upper stage nearly  into orbit and have it reenter the atmosphere over the Pacific and survive the tremendous heating during reentry. It will splashdown in waters near Hawaii. For this test there will be no attempt at a powered landing. The booster, however,  will attempt a soft landing onto the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Presumably, the stage will be retrieved if it floats.

The first orbital test flight on April 20, 2023 succeeded in testing many systems in the first stage booster and it showed in a rather spectacular manner that major fixes and improvements were needed for many of those systems. Most notably, the launch mount and its ground substructure were badly damaged, with debris and dust hurled over a wide area. There were also Raptor engine failures as well as fires in the engine compartment that eventually severed control of the booster and prevented separation of the stages. Thus there was essentially no testing at all of the Starship upper stage.

SpaceX has spent the past several months implementing those fixes and improvements. The launch mount has undergone a major overall that included the installation of metal flooring that implements a water deluge system to handle the enormous heat and blast produced by 33 Raptors firing at liftoff. The engine compartment was also modified to better prevent fires and to isolate a fire if one does occur. Using electric actuators instead of hydraulics to power the thrust vector control for the 13  inner engines (i.e. change the angle of the thrust) will eliminate a common source of problems and significantly reduce TVC related hardware.

A major design change to the vehicle will also get its first test on this flight. A vented ring was added between the stages to  allow engines on the Starship to start firing while the stages are still connected. This “hot staging” should increase the payload capability by about 10%. This technique has been used on Soviet/Russian launch systems but never before on America launchers.

The Starship program is attracting massive coverage from a wide array of professional and volunteer reporters. Here are links to some articles of interest and video report sites.

See also the SpaceX Starship report, which is published by NewSpace Global and for which I was the primary author. The initial version came out in March 2023 and then we updated it in May to include coverage of the first flight test.

==================

** SpaceX Falcon 9Currently aiming for 20 flights per booster

The Falcon 9 (F9) has become one of the most successful launch systems ever developed. As of the date of this posting, there have been 282 total F9 launches starting with the first flight in 2010. F9 and the Super Heavy have flown 83 times so far in 2023 and may reach close to 100 for the year. The goal for 2024 is 144 flights, or 12 per month.

Reusability has played a big role in its success. In those 282 launches, the booster has landed 245  times and 217 used a first stage booster that had flown previously.

So far, a F9 booster has achieved 18 flights and should fly at least 20. SpaceX appears to have followed a pattern in which after achieving each additional set of five flights, a  deep examination of the vehicles is made to check for any signs of fatigue and degradation in the structures and components. Whether booster reuse will extend beyond 20 will depend on another such evaluation.

A Falcon 9 first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship following the launch of Starlink satellites on Nov.3.2023. This was the 18th launch and landing of the booster. Credits: SpaceX

A F9 payload is protected during launch by a nosecone composed of two fairings that split and fall away shortly after stage separation. The F9 fairings are now routinely recovered and reused after parachuting back to the sea. Initially, SpaceX aimed to catch fairings in a large net extended above a ship but this turned out to be more difficult than hoped. Fortunately, fairings recovered after floating on the sea showed far less damage from salt water than expected. After some design modifications to fully eliminate water effects, fairings are now routinely recovered from the ocean, refurbished and reused, saving several million dollars over construction of a new set of fairings.

SpaceX recovery vessel Doug retrieves a fairing half from Atlantic waters following a launch of Starlink satellites on Nov.3, 2023. The fairing was on its 13th mission. Credits: SpaceX

Note also that Dragon Crew/Cargo space capsules have also been reused. The current Dragon II capsules have been designed to re-fly up to 15 times.

** Stoke SpaceSecond stage prototype successfully hops.

Stoke is developing an fully reusable two stage vehicle called Nova that will carry 7 ton payloads to LEO. Though much smaller than Starship, the goal is to achieve low cost to orbit via 24 hour turnaround and a high number of flights per vehicle. To accomplish this goal, their vehicle design uses an innovative approach to the most difficult challenge of full reusability: a second stage that can take a substantial payload to orbit and then reenter the atmosphere and execute a powered soft landing.

A space capsule like a SpaceX Dragon uses a heat shield over its “bottom” to protect the vehicle from the high temperatures generated as it is slowed by atmospheric drag. The capsule’s gumdrop shape and low center of mass keep the shield facing forward and no dynamic piloting is required. Eventually the capsule slows to the point that it simply falls through the lower portion of the atmosphere. The capsule deploys parachutes for the final phase of the descent and landing. (The Shuttles similarly used heat shields but employed their aerodynamic surfaces, i.e. the wings, to help reduce speed and glide to a landing.)

The Stoke second stage also uses a capsule-like heat shield during re-entry. Unlike the ablative materials typically used for capsule shields, the Nova upper stage will use an actively cooled metallic shield. In addition, rather than deploying parachutes for the final phase of speed reduction and landing, the vehicle is slowed and landed via the thrust of an array of combustion chambers set along the outer rim of the shield. During ascent, these same thrusters fire to send the upper stage into orbit after it separates from the first stage booster.

Stoke recently carried out a successful test vertical-takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) “hop” of a second stage prototype: Update on Hopper2: The Hopper Has Landed | Stoke Space – Sept.17.2023.

And the company subsequently obtained a substantial investment that will enable development of the first stage of Nova: Stoke Space Announces $100 Million in New Investment | Stoke Space – Oct.4.2023.

The goal for the debut of Nova is 2025: Stoke Space hops its upper stage, leaping toward a fully reusable rocket | Ars Technica – Sept.18.2023.

==================

Check out the
The Lurio Report
for news and analysis of key developments in NewSpace

The latest issue:
A Starship Waits, Chandrayaan-3, Private Spaceflight Paths
Vol. 18, No. 3, Oct.23, 2023

Space Frontier Foundation Award for NewSpace Journalism

==================

** Relativity Space –  Terran-R with reusable first stage to fly in 2026

Relativity Space aims to begin launching the mid-lift Terran R from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral in 2026. The vehicle design resembles the Falcon 9 with a reusable first stage that lands downrange on a sea platform and an expendable upper stage. Initial goal is 20 flights per first stage unit. The vehicle will take as much as 23,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

On left stands a stacked Terran R rocket with both stages and nosecone fairings. On left is the reusable first stage alone. Credits: Relativity Space

A September update marked  the following milestones :

Broke new ground at the A-2 test stand
Completed our fifth Aeon R thrust chamber assembly campaign, bringing us to 43 hot fires to date.
Shipped and mounted our Aeon R powerpack: the first integrated test article that will be hot-fired on our new dual bay stand.

** Rocket LabElectron first stage recovered from launch; Neuron development underway

Rocket Lab is pursuing two reusability projects. They are progressing with a reusable first stage for the Electron small payload launch system while in parallel they are developing the reusable Neutron launch system for larger payloads.

Initially, Rocket Lab intended for a helicopter to use a hook to grab the parachute of an Electron booster and return it to land, preventing any contact with the sea. One attempt to do this briefly succeeded in snagging a booster’s parachute but it was then quickly detached due to signs of excessive stress. The booster went into the ocean but it floated and was recovered. Similar to the SpaceX experience with fairings, Rocket Lab found little sea water damage to stages and decided to eliminate the helicopter snag and let the boosters fall softly into the water. In July of 2023, Rocket Lab successfully recovered an Electron rocket booster after it was deliberately landed onto the sea.

See this video for a description of a Electron booster’s return and recovery.

So far, no booster has re-flown but they did successfully reuse an engine from a recovered booster.

Progress on development of the reusable Neutron rocket vehicle is proceeding well according to the company. The Neutron has a reusable first stage with an alligator style nosecone with hinged fairings that open to release the payload.  An expendable second stage is attached to the payload for reaching orbit. The hinges close and the stage returns for a powered landing. The Neutron will place up to 13,000 kg into LEO.

An artist rendering of a Neutron rocket first stage deploying a payload attached to a propulsion stage to reach orbit. Credits: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab will use a former Virgin Orbit facility in Long Beach, California to build the Neuron rockets.

First launch of Neutron could be as early as 2024: Peter Beck pushes toward a Neutron debut in 2024, but acknowledges challenges | Ars Technica – Aug.18.2023.

** Blue Origin New GlennLots of work underway at the Cape

Blue Origin seldom provides updates on the progress in development of the heavy-lift New Glenn launch system. However, outside observers (e.g. here) have reported that a great amount of activity has been happening this year at the Blue Origin facilities at Cape Canaveral. These facilities include a large factory complex, testing sites, and Launch Complex 36 (LC-36).

The first-generation NG will consists of a reusable booster and an expendable upper stage. For the longer term, a reusable upper stage is in development. The seven-meter diameter and 98-meter height will make it one of the largest rockets ever built. The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines burning liquid natural gas and oxygen propellants. BE-4 engines also power the ULA Vulcan rocket’s first stage. The NG booster will land on a ocean platform.

The upper stage has two BE-3U engines, which are vacuum optimized variants of the BE-3 engines used on the suborbital New Shepard vehicle (see below). These engines use liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants.

It’s believed that Blue is aiming to fly the first New Glenn by late 2024 but this obviously could slip.

** Sierra SpaceAssembly of first Dream Chaser cargo vehicle completed

The first of the reusable Dream Chaser lifting-body vehicles has been assembled and will soon “ship to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for environmental testing“: Today Sierra Space Introduces Tenacity | Sierra Space – Nov.2.2023

A Dream Chaser will launch atop an expendable ULA Vulcan rocket for missions to low earth orbit (LEO). After servicing the ISS or carrying out other tasks, the Dream Chaser will return in a manner similar to the Space Shuttles:

Harnessing cutting-edge technology, Dream Chaser showcases its mettle by safely withstanding temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees during re-entry, all while being cool to the touch mere minutes after landing. The incorporation of the most advanced autonomous flight system, ensuring a minimum 15-mission lifespan, marks a monumental leap forward in space transportation.

The company currently has a contract with NASA for 7 cargo resupply missions. These include carrying experiment materials, waste, and other items back to earth.

Development of crew capable versions of Dream Chasers, referred to by the generic name DC-200, appears to be a long term priority for Sierra. These could carrying people to and from the ISS as well as commercial space stations such as Orbital Reef, for which Sierra is a co-developer.

See also

** Suborbital space tourismVirgin Galactic and Blue Origin updates

There are currently two reusable suborbital rocket systems that have flown paying “spaceflight participants“.

*** Virgin Galactic on November 2, 2023 flew the VSS Unity reusable rocket plane on its fifth operational commercial flight: Virgin Galactic Completes Sixth Successful Spaceflight in Six Months | Virgin Galactic – Nov.2.2023.

The flight carried three paying participants, two pilots and an “Astronaut Instructor”. Two of the participants, Alan Stern and Kellie Gerardi, were scientists who each carried out some experiments during the 3 minutes of weightlessness.  See Stern’s reports about the project and the flight. This article describes the tests they did: Virgin Galactic Flies Science Experiments to the Edge of Space | Universe Today – Nov.15.2023.

Such flights begin with the White Knight vehicle carrying the space plane to an altitude of about 16 kilometers and then releasing it. The space plane fires its hybrid rocket motor, which can send the vehicle to an altitude of 85 to 90 kilometers. This exceeds the 80 km border to space as defined by the USAF.

Previously, the company had said it would fly Unity monthly while developing in parallel the next-generation Delta class vehicles. However, the company recently announced that it would phase out the current flight program in 2024 and focus its limited manpower and resources on development of the Delta-class vehicles. About 15% of the workforce was laid off. The  much higher flight rate enabled by the Delta vehicles is essential if the company is to remain financially viable.

The Delta-class vehicles can carry up to six customers, fly twice per week, and require lower maintenance costs than the current vehicle. The company is aiming for flight operations by 2026.

*** Blue Origin developed the New Shepard rocket to learn how to do vertical takeoff and landings and to use it for suborbital tourism and science missions. The vehicle includes a capsule atop a booster stage, which is powered by the liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen BE-3 engine. The booster’s engine fires for about 110 seconds and then the booster and capsule separate at around 40 kilometers in height. Both continue upwards  and exceed 100 kilometers before they begin to fall back to earth. The booster restarts its engine and makes a powered soft landing. The capsule returns for a soft landing with parachutes. A solid rocket fires just before touching down to soften the impact.

Following a series of test flights over several years, the first crewed flight happened on July 20, 2021. This was followed by an uncrewed flight with commercial payloads aboard and then there were 5 flights with paying passengers by August 4, 2022.

A New Shepard booster failed during a flight on Sept. 12, 2022 . The capsule payload included a set of experiments but no people. The capsule successfully fired its abort motor to separate from the booster and then landed safely with its parachutes. Blue Origin announced in March 2023 that the failure had been traced to a structural fatigue flaw in the nozzle of the New Shepard’s engine. They were implementing a fix and  expected “to return to flight soon, with a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads“.

However, as of November 2023, flights have not resumed. No explanation for the delay has been given and there is speculation that the company may discontinue the service to focus its manpower and resources on development of the orbital New Glenn rocket: How long will Jeff Bezos continue to subsidize his New Shepard rocket? | Ars Technica – Nov.3.2023.

** PLD Space – Successful suborbital test flight

The PLD Space Miura-1 suborbital lifts off on Oct.7.2023. Image credits: PLD Space.

This Spanish company has been developing a reusable launch system for several years. On October 7, 2023 the company carried out their first successful test flight of the  prototype suborbital rocket,  MIURA 1. The rocket flew the planned trajectory to an apogee of 46 kilometers. (Range safety issues led to lowering the apogee from a previous goal of 80 km.) A payload of memorabilia items was released and the rocket’s parachute opened as planned. The vehicle reached the sea service in one piece but high lateral winds caused the vehicle to hit the water at an excessive speed that “caused one of the two main tanks to rupture, filling with water and sinking the vehicle“.

Based on lessons learned from this test, the company will proceed with development of MIURA 5, “which will make its first flight in 2025 from the European spaceport CSG, in Kourou (French Guiana), and will place satellites of up to 500 kg in polar orbit and up to one ton in equatorial orbit“. The first stage of Miura 5 will be recovered via parachute return and be reused. Commercial operations will then begin in 2026 and their goal is to average 30 launches per year subsequently.

More details at

Below is a video of the launch and a press conference.

** Pangea AerospaceDeveloping aerospike engines

Pangea is a Spanish company developing reusable aerospike propulsion systems. Aerospike engines can provide stable, efficient thrust at full atmospheric pressure and in vacuum while conventional engines need different nozzles for the two regimes. So theoretically aerospike engines would be ideal for single-stage-to-orbit vehicles but this has yet to be proven in practice.

Pangea has demonstrated a Methane-Liquid Oxygen aerospike engine:

Check out their collection of videos providing an introduction to aerospace propulsion.

** Jess SponableRLV history and a new P-2-P hypersonic rocket vehicle project

Jess Sponable discussed the history and current state of reusable rocket vehicles on a recent episode of The Space Show. While with the Air Force, DARPA, and other organizations, Sponable participated in several reusable rocket vehicle projects including the DC-X, X-33, and X-34.

Sponable also discussed his recent work with New Frontier Aerospace (NFAero), a startup company developing a rocket powered lifting body vehicle for long distance, point-to-point flights at Mach 8. The vehicle takes off and lands vertically and can reach any place on earth within two hours. It will be powered by the Mjölnir, a “3D-printed, full-flow staged combustion engine“.

Mojlnir full flow staged combustion engine. Credits: NFAero and PRLog

More about Mjölnir amd MFAero:

** Venus Aerospace Hypersonic flight with rotating detonation rocket engine

Venus is another company pursuing global hypersonic transportation. They say their Stargazer would reach anywhere in the world in one hour. It would be powered by a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) currently in development.

Stargazer will take off from a primary airport with jet engines, then when away from city-center, our rocket engine will propel passengers gently to 170,000 feet and Mach 9, crossing 5000 miles in 1 hour. San Francisco to Japan. Houston To London. All with a 2-hour turn-around.

The company has raised more than $20M and investors include Airbus, Draper Associates, and several other firms.

See this video for a good intro to RDRE: How NASA Reinvented the Rocket EngineReal Engineering.

** Astrobotic Zodiac flies again.

Astrobotic acquired Masten Space last year after it ran into a cash flow crisis that resulted in bankruptcy: Astrobotic Acquires Masten Space Systems | Astrobotic – Sept.13.2022.

Astrobotic promise to

continue to offer and develop [Masten’s] unique test capabilities, including providing VTVL test flights for commercial and government customers. Astrobotic plans to expand these test flight offerings with the development of the next-generation Xogdor rocket, which will offer higher altitudes, longer missions, and supersonic flight for suborbital payload testing.

NASA’s Flight Opportunities has sponsored a number of projects that took advantage of VTVL flights for applications such as testing lunar landing sensors and guidance systems. In October the first flight campaign since the Astrobotic acquisition was successfully carried out with the Xodiac rocket, which has flown over 150 times. The flight test experiments were funded by NASA.

Astrobotic, a leader in vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) reusable rockets, successfully completed a flight test campaign for the University of Central Florida (UCF) last week at the company’s facility in Mojave, CA. The campaign consisted of four flights aboard Astrobotic’s Xodiac VTVL rocket to test UCF’s Ejecta STORM laser sensor, which was developed by Dr. Phil Metzger to study plume-surface interactions (PSI) between a rocket plume and lunar regolith. This test campaign will provide valuable data for researchers, including Dr. Metzger, as they seek to better understand PSI for humanity’s return to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program.

Here is a  video of the test.

University of Central Florida researchers tested an instrument designed to measure the size and speed of surface particles kicked up by the exhaust from a rocket-powered lander on the Moon or Mars. The four tethered flights on Astrobotic’s Xodiac rocket-powered lander took place in Mojave, California, from Sept. 12 through Oct. 4, 2023. Researchers tested the Ejecta STORM technology’s integration with a lander and operation in flight conditions that simulated the plume effects of a lunar lander.

** Exos AerospaceTests engine for suborbital vehicle to fly in 2024

Exos Aerospace, a descendant of John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace, continues to develop reusable suborbital vehicles. The company is based in Greenville, Texas and recently test fired an ethanol engine mounted in a tethered rocket. A Purdue student group collaborated in the test:

Exos Aerospace BLK3 Engine Tests with Purdue University Sept 13 2023:
“Exos Aerospace, a Greenville-based company, tested an engine for a rocket as they prepare for a launch in 2024.” -NBCdfw.com

“a team from Purdue University was on hand for the rocket test Wednesday, performing a lunar lander thermal experiment as part of the test.” -dallasinnovates.com

““This is a reduced throttle run,” said John Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Exos Aerospace, according to NBC 5 DFW. “It’ll be 60% throttle on the first test and 70% on the second test” -dallasexpress.com

North Texas commercial spaceflight tests rocket engine (Article and video)
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/nor…

Other Exos news items:

Exos Aerospace BLK3 Hold Down Test and Hover Test.
0:01 BLK3 Tether Test
0:45 BLK3 Hover Test

We’re your expedited space delivery expert! You can find us at: www.exosaero.com
Booking now, SPACEavailable…
Exos Aerospace is a Preferred Partner with Precious Payload Inc. to facilitate booking.
https://preciouspayload.com/launch-sc…

https://youtu.be/Ezj4DIFVlHY

** Chinese RLV development iSpace Hyperbola-2 rocket does vertical takeoff and landing flight

The Chinese government program and several Chinese companies are pursuing rocket reusability. Some of these projects include:

On November 2nd, iSpace flew its Hyperbola-2 methane fueled test stage to 178 meters and then came back down for a soft landing: China’s iSpace launches and lands rocket test stage – SpaceNews. Such VTVL tests were flown by the DC-X in the early 1990s, by Masten and Armadillo in the 2000s, and by SpaceX with the Grasshopper vehicle to master vertical takeoffs and landings.

The company is aiming for a SpaceX Falcon 9 type of system with a reusable first stage and expendable upper stage.

** Other reusable rocket related projects:

=== Amazon Ads ===

When the Heavens Went on Sale:
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

===

Space Race 2.0:
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA,
and the Privatization of the Final Frontier

Space transport roundup: Part 3 – SpaceX – Oct.27.2021

This roundup provides a sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here). The roundup is split into three postings:

  • Part 1: Orbital launches
  • Part 2: Light orbital lift development, suborbital, space transport articles, news, videos, etc.
  • Part 3: SpaceX Falcon 9, Dragon, and Starship

Falcon  9 and Dragon

The SpaceX Falcon 9 launch rate slowed considerably this past summer. There were 20 missions flown from January through June but none in July and just three from August till the middle of October. There were several factors leading to the slowdown, the primary one being the completion by June of the initial phase of the Starlink constellation buildup. (See links at bottom here for latest info on the Starlink project). Thirteen of those 20 missions each sent 50+ Starlink satellites into low earth orbit. Those Starlinks went into +/- 55 degree inclination orbits where they can provide Internet services to people living in the mid-latitudes.

The next phase of the Starlink project requires launching satellites to polar orbits to enable full global coverage. It appears most of these polar missions will be launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.  The first polar orbital launch lifted off on September 14th (see below).  These second-phase satellites carry laser communications systems that enable in-space intra-constellation links, greatly reducing the latency of packets transmitted between far distant points on the globe. Completing development of the laser system and ramping up its production took extra time, which also contributed to the delay in launches.

The F9 launch rate is now picking up again with ten missions scheduled for the remaining months of 2021. A NASA crew of 4 is set to head for the ISS this Sunday, Oct.31.2021.

Here are items about the three F9 missions for August and September:

** Sept.16: Inspiration4 mission success. The first all-civilian spaceflight mission successfully sent four non-professional astronauts into orbit for four days and returned them safely to Earth. It was very successful at public outreach as well. The mission gained widespread media attention, most of which seemed quite positive.  A five episode special series on Netflix presented captivating profiles of the space travelers and followed their activities during training, the launch, in-orbit and through the return to a splashdown and recovery at sea. Funded by Jared Isaacman, the project surpassed his goal of raising $200M for St. Judes Children’s hospital. (Helped by a $50M contribution of Elon Musk and by Issacman’s own $100M.)

Reports, articles, and commentary:

** Inspiration4 inspires plans for multiple civilian flights per year on SpaceX vehicles.

*** Sept.14: Falcon 9 launches first Starlink mission from Vandenberg. The first stage booster successfully landed after its 10th flight. The 51 satellites deployed by the upper stage will go into orbits at 70 degree inclination with respect to the equator. Over 1700 satellites of the initial Starlink shell were launched from Cape Canaveral into 53 degree inclinations that allow Internet service to a band of the earth between +/- 55 degrees latitude. This West Coast launch began the filling of a second shell that will provide coverage to the polar regions. These are the first Starlink satellites to carry laser systems for in-space communications. This will allow the sats to connect directly with each other. Ground stations are few and far between in the polar regions so a laser network will provide for in-space data transfers to whichever satellite is currently above a ground station. Eventually lower latitude shells will also be replaced with sats equipped with laser-comm systems since in-space comm is faster than transversing optical fibers and multiple routers to reach a particular destination.

** Aug.29: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Cargo Dragon to the ISS with nearly 2180 kg of supplies, equipment, and research materials. The rocket lifted off at 3:14 am EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The booster B1061, on its fifth flight, landed successfully on the new ocean platform named, Shortfall of Gravitas. The spacecraft docked to the station on the morning of Aug.30th.

** Third SpaceX Commercial Crew Mission set for end of October. Crew 3 includes NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Raja Chari and German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer.  This  mission will actually be the fifth Crew Dragon flight with people on board when one includes the CCP demonstration mission plus the Inspiration 4 civilian flight discussed above.

** New ocean-going ships added for Crew Dragon recovery ops and for first stage landings:

Starship

Though there were no Starship test flights since the previous roundup at the end of July,  a tremendous amount of activity has taken place at the Boca Chica production and launch facility  in preparation for future Starship missions. These activities can be divided among the following sites and hardware systems:

  • Orbital Launch Site (OLS):
    • The OLS includes a launch integration tower (note that a second one is planned as well), a launch mount, and a vast ground infrastructure that includes huge upright cryogenic fluid tanks, a maze of piping, multiple fluid handling and cooling systems, electrical power distribution systems, etc. Substantial progress has been made in all of these areas.
    • Orbital Launch Integration Tower (OLIT):
      • Fitting out of the OLIT has continued night and day since the final segment was set in place by a huge crane in July. The OLIT will not only provide propellants and power to the Starship and Super Heavy booster but it will also stack the former onto the latter for launch and then catch each of the two during landings.
      • Quick Disconnect arm (QD) was installed at a level near the joint between the Starship and the Booster. It will be used to transfer propellants to and from the vehicle as well as stabilize the combo during high winds.
      • Mechazilla, as tagged by Elon Musk, was installed this past week onto the OLIT. This mechanism includes long arms  and moves up and down on the OLIT. It will lift, raise and stack a booster onto the Launch Mount and then stack a Starship on top of the booster.  It also will work with the QD to hold the combo in place. Furthermore, the “Chopsticks” will catch a booster during its landing and then catch a Starship to stack upon the booster.
    • Launch Mount:
      • The Starship/Booster combo will sit atop the Launch Mount until the 29 Raptor engines (33 on a later design) fire and send it into space. The Launch Mount consists of a circular structure atop six tall heavy pillars. The mounting structure provides a number of important duties including the feeding of propellants up till the moment of liftoff when the feed-lines must quickly disconnect, hold-downs to keep the rocket securely upright until liftoff when they must quickly and uniformly let go of the booster, electric power connections, etc. Work on the circular mount structure has been going on continuously from the time it was at the production site to the current position at the launch site, where it is enveloped in metal tubular scaffolding.
    • Orbital Tank Farm:
      • The tank farm consists of eight vertical tanks for storing liquid oxygen, liquid methane, and water. The tanks were built by SpaceX in a manner very similar to the booster and Starship from cylinders of stainless steel. Each of the eight tanks has now been encapsulated by an insulating shell, also built by SpaceX.
      • There are also several other tanks on the OLS for additional fluid handling and storage.
“Starbase under construction” – Elon Musk, Oct.22.2021
  • Starship 20:
    • Thermal protection tiles:
      • Black ceramic tiles for thermal protection during reentry from orbit were installed on the “belly” side of Starship 20 while it was in the High Bay but many were marked with tape to indicate that they needed adjustment, replacement, and/or testing. After the vehicle was moved to a mount at the launch site, these problem tiles were dealt with by workers lifted via mobile elevated work platforms. This was the first time a complete set of tiles were attached to a Starship. A handful of tiles have fallen off during tank pressure and engine tests but Elon has indicated such problems were expected.
    • Raptor installation:
      • Raptor engines, both the sea-level and vacuum optimized types, have been installed, removed, and re-installed a few times. (The Starship uses three Raptors optimized for sea-level pressure and three for vacuum.)
    • Tests:
      • Pressure testing of the propellant tanks.
      • Structural test with hydraulic actuators pressing on the bottom of the vehicle during pressurization of the tanks.
      • Firing tests of the sea level and vacuum Raptors (see video below).
      • On October 21st, a vacuum-optimized Raptor was fired for the first time outside of the company’s McGregor, Texas engine test site.
  • Super Heavy Booster 4:
    • Preparation of Booster 4 has been quite intense. After the booster and Starship were briefly mounted atop one another on the Launch Mount, the booster was moved back to the Build Site for additional work and then returned to the OLS where it currently sits atop a temporary mount.
    • Engines on Booster 3 were test fired back in July but there has not yet been a test firing of engines installed on Booster 4. (Booster 3 was partially disassembled and the lower portion currently remains standing at the launch site.)
  • Build site:
    • Starship 21:
      • Stacking of the segments is nearly complete in the Mid-Bay hangar.
    • Starship 22:
      • Several of the segments have been assembled and await stacking.
    • Boosters:
      • Stacking of Booster 5 is nearly complete in the High Bay hangar. Segments for Booster 6 have been observed.
    • New Wide Bay:
      • Construction of a third hangar is proceeding apace with the first metal frame pillars for the walls are being put in place following the completion of the foundation.
      • This hangar will be as tall as the high bay but roughly twice as wide.
    • High Bay:
      • The penthouse dining/bar facility on top appears nearly complete with the installation of large clear glass walls to allow visitors to see the facilities and watch launches and landings.
      • Staircase segments have been built and will apparently be stacked along the side of the building and will probably enclose the elevator, which currently rises in the open air.

To help meet all of these goals for Boca Chica, the company initiated a surge of workers by bringing them in from other facilities:

** SpaceX Starbase, Tx Flyover (October 18, 2021)RGV Aerial Photography.  A recent view from above the Boca Chica site; includes helpful labels on the many features of interest.

***** Aug.1: Starbase – July 2018 vs Aug.2021RGV Aerial Photography – A look at how the Boca Chica site has changed in the past three years.

** Status of development of Starships and boosters is displayed in this infographic posted by Brendan Lewis:

** SpaceX video shows highlights of activities at the Boca Chica spaceport:

** A timeline for Starship 20 and Booster 4:

** Date of first Starship orbital test flight remains uncertain. The intense effort at Boca Chica has paid off in terms of preparation for a test launch. Elon Musk on Twitter:

If all goes well, Starship will be ready for its first orbital launch attempt next month, pending regulatory approval

However, as he indicates, the FAA may not license a launch for at least a few months (see FAA environmental review discussion below). A NASA project to use special cameras to observe a Starship’s thermal protection surface during reentry is expecting a launch in March. Whether this will be the first Starship orbital launch is not said.

** Pace of Starship development now depends on the FAA. The Commercial Space Transportation wing of the FAA is currently reviewing whether the environmental impact study (EIS) that was approved several years ago for the SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas remains valid. The earlier EIS was based on Falcon 9 launches from the site while SpaceX subsequently switched the spaceport completely to Starship/Super Heavy Booster operations.

The FAA could decide that no revisions are needed, or that some revisions are needed, or that a new enviro study must be completed from scratch. A whole new study could means years of delay. However, from a draft assessment released in September (see links below), such an option seems unlikely. If the FAA instead requires that some number of elements of the old study must be redone or that some elements must be added, that might still mean months of delay before any test flights can be carried out.

Recently, the FAA held hearings in which members of the public could express their views on the Boca Chica project. The pros greatly out-weighed the cons but we won’t know for weeks or months whether issues brought up at the hearing motivated additional requirements on SpaceX.

Links to items about the FAA regulatory situation:

Note that according to the FAA draft reviews, the number of Starship/Super Heavy launches from Boca Chica would be limited to five per year. So SpaceX’s goal of eventually making daily Starship flights to orbit will await the completion of the two offshore launch/landing platforms, Phobos and Deimos.

** Meanwhile, firing tests of the Raptors on the Starship, and presumably soon the Booster, have started:

*** Full set of 29 Raptors have been installed on Super Heavy Booster #4:

Since August some engines have been removed and others installed.

*** Supplying propellants to ravenous Super Heavy Booster engines requires a monumental maze of piping and control lines:

**** Starship SN20 stacked atop Super Heavy Booster #4. The stacking lasted only few hours for fit checks and a photo op. However, it was a great milestone on the road to eventual launch. Later, Booster 4 was moved from the Launch Mount to a separate stand so that work could continue on the Mount.

More Tweets from Elon:

  • Aug 6: “An honor to work with such a great team
  • Aug.6 – Michael Scheetz: “Nice! How many heat shield tiles does Starship 20 need in total to survive reentry?
    • Elon: “It is ~98% done, but the remaining tiles are unique shapes requiring machining

  • Aug.6: “There is a reason no fully reusable orbital rocket has been built – it’s an insanely hard problem. Moreover, it must be rapidly & completely reusable (like an airplane). This is the only way to make life multiplanetary. Efficiencies of scale is why Starship is so large.

  • Aug.6: Elliott – “Will the tanks of the Ship and Booster be stretched over time, like how Falcon 9’s were?
    • Elon: “Inevitably
  • Aug.6: “Over time, we might get orbital payload up to ~150 tons with full reusabity. If Starship then launched as an expendable, payload would be ~250 tons. What isn’t obvious from this chart is that Starship/Super Heavy is much denser than Saturn V.
  • Aug.6: Sheetz – “What’s next after destacking? Pressure tests?
    • Elon: “4 significant items:
      – Final heat shield tiles for ship
      – Thermal protection of booster engines
      – Ground propellant storage tanks
      – QD arm for ship
      2 weeks.

  • Oct.20: Pranay Pathole – “How much tons of payload could Starship deliver to orbit if it were to do an expendable launch? Could it deliver ~300 tons to orbit expendable? That’d be like double of Saturn V!
    • Elon: “Well-optimized Starship would do ~250 tons to orbit as expendable & ~150 tons fully reusable
  • Oct.21 : Toby Li – “Looks like some TPS tiles fell off during the static fire. Do you think this will be a major issue for the orbital launch or does the team already have a solution?
    • Elon: “No, we expect some tiles to shake loose during static fires

*** Elon Musk interview and tour of Boca Chica facility with Tim Dodd, the “Everyday Astronaut. Below are the three videos in which Musk talks with Dodd as they first walk around the build site and then the launch site. Notes on Musk’s comments are available at Starbase Tour and Interview with Elon Musk | Everyday Astronaut.

** Vertical powered landing can be made safe enough for human passenger flights. Here’s a discussion of whether a vertical landing rocket vehicle like the Starship can be safe for human passengers:  Will Starship Landings Ever Be Safe Enough? — Part 1: Engine Reliability

With three engines lighting on each landing, the required engine reliability could be demonstrated with a high degree of confidence with a string of fewer than 100 nominal landings following fixes addressing engine failures on early flights.

Note that this does not take into account the fact that early crew flights will have a small enough complement that landed mass will be low enough for single engine landings, further reducing engine reliability requirements.

All this suggests that however hard other aspects of Starship may be to human-rate, the landing method is not likely to be a blocker to NASA astronauts landing on Earth with Starship this decade.

Orbital tourist flights with small complements require a similar degree of safety. Passenger counts are likely to increase over time as the system is refined and proven out. Eventual airliner-like reliability may or may not happen, but if it doesn’t, the engines, at least as far as soft failures are concerned, are highly unlikely to be bottleneck.

I imagine that somewhere between a 1:100k and 1:1 million whole flight fatality risk would be low enough for most people to feel comfortable using Starship for point to point transport — the most ambitious use case, in terms of required safety.

This would likely call for somewhere between a 1:3 million and 1:300 million risk due to soft engine failures on landing. On the low end, this calls for engine reliability comparable to the Merlin engine. On the high end, we’re looking at less than an order of magnitude improvement in reliability.

** Recent video reports on Boca Chica activities:

*** Hydraulic Actuator Lifted For Fit Checks on Mechazilla’s Chopsticks | SpaceX Boca ChicaNASASpaceflight – YouTube

A hydraulic actuator, used to move the Chopstick arms, was lifted for fit checks. Meanwhile, thermal insulating foam was spotted on Booster 4 around its QD plate and COPVs. Video and Pictures from Mary (@BocaChicaGal) and Nic (@NicAnsuini). Edited by Jack (@theJackBeyer).

*** Oct.25: Booster 6 Aft Dome Ready for Sleeving | SpaceX Boca Chica NASASpaceflight – YouTube

The aft dome for Booster 6 was readied for sleeving as crews continue to work on Ship 21. Meanwhile, Perlite expansion furnaces were spotted at the launch site. Perlite is used as an insulator between the cryo shells and GSE tanks. Video and Pictures from Mary (@BocaChicaGal) and Nic (@NicAnsuini). Edited by Derek “DK” Knabenbauer (@DKlarations).

*** Oct.24: Ship 21 Nosecone Rolled Out of Production Tent Ahead of Stacking | SpaceX Boca ChicaNASASpaceflight – YouTube

Ship 21’s nosecone rolled out ahead of it being stacked atop its barrel section. Booster 9’s thrust puck was delivered, along with a booster methane transfer tube (aka downcomer). Meanwhile, work on Booster 5, the B2.1 test tank, and Mechazilla’s chopstick arms continued. Video and Pictures from Mary (@BocaChicaGal). Edited by Jack (@theJackBeyer).

**** Oct.23: SpaceX Starship fires up & tower arms go on, NASA to select second HLS, SLS Fully Stacked Marcus House

**** Aug.8: How SpaceX Designed A Heat Shield For The Largest Spacecraft Ever BuiltScott Manley

For the first time we saw the fully assembled Starship/SuperHeavy stack assembled on the pad. This is all designed to put Starship, the largest spacecraft ever built, into orbit, but we also got a really good look at a near complete thermal protection system, and that’s critical to bringing the Starship back from orbit safely.

==================

Check out the
The Lurio Report
for news and analysis of key developments in NewSpace

The latest issue:
Space Suit Opportunities, Inspiration4, FAA & Starship
Vol. 16, No. 6, September 22, 2021

Space Frontier Foundation Award for NewSpace Journalism

==================

*** Misc SpaceX news, articles, reports, etc.:

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Continue to Roundup Part 1.

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The X-15 Rocket Plane:
Flying the First Wings into Space

Space transport roundup: Part 2 – Light orbital lift, Suborbital, News, etc. – Oct.27.2021

A sampling of articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport from late July till today (find previous roundups here). The roundup is split into three postings:

  • Part 1: Orbital launches
  • Part 2: Light orbital lift development, suborbital, space transport articles, news, videos, etc.
  • Part 3: SpaceX Falcon 9, Dragon, and Starship

** USA – Oct.13: Blue Origin flies William Shatner and three others to suborbital space. The second flight of a New Shepard vehicle with people on board went quite well. The crew included actor William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek series, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, Glen de Vries, Vice-Chair, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Dassault Systèmes and co-founder, Medidata, and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations.

Shatner was deeply affected by the experience as indicated by his emotion-laden comments just after emerging from the capsule. Check out this transcript: Speech of William Shatner after flying to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin capsule · GitHub. For example,

What you [Bezos] have done… everybody in the world needs to be in this [capsule]. Everybody in the world needs to see [in tears] … it was unbelievable, unbelievable.”

“William Shatner looks out of the New Shepard windows on NS-18.” Credits: Blue Origin

More about the flight:

**** USA – Aug.26: Blue Origin launches an uncrewed New Shepard to suborbital space. This was the seventeenth flight of a New Shepard vehicle, the fourth in 2021, and the eighth for this particular vehicle.

The vehicle carried

“… a NASA lunar landing technology demonstration a second time on the exterior of the booster, 18 commercial payloads inside the crew capsule, 11 of which are NASA-supported, and an art installation on the exterior of the capsule“.

**** Blue Origin developing reusable second stage for New Glenn heavy lift rocket.

Although Blue Origin has not publicly discussed this effort to build a reusable upper stage for the New Glenn rocket, sources said the company’s primary goal is to bring down the overall launch cost of the New Glenn rocket. The vehicle’s large upper stage, which has a 7-meter diameter and two BE-3U engines, is costly. Making New Glenn fully reusable is necessary for Blue Origin to compete with SpaceX’s Starship launch system.

The tank project is one aspect of the reusable upper stage program, and the other aspect is selecting and finalizing a design for the second stage. Both of these projects, operating within Blue Origin’s Advanced Development Programs unit, are making progress.

Project Jarvis encompasses the tank program, which is intended to rapidly prototype a propellant tank to withstand the rigors of multiple launches and re-entries. The company’s engineers are studying the use of stainless steel as a material for these tanks, as SpaceX has chosen to do with its Starship booster and upper stage. Stainless steel is cheaper and better able to withstand atmospheric heating during re-entry, but it’s about five times heavier than composites.

**** Video updates on New Glenn rocket and the BE-4 engine:

**** Other Blue news:

** Virgin Galactic postpones next SpaceShipTwo flight till mid-2022 to provide time for fixes and enhancements to the vehicles. Virgin Galactic Begins Planned Vehicle Enhancement and Modification Period; Unity 23 Test Flight Rescheduled to Follow Completion of This Program – Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic today announced that it will now begin its planned enhancement program for VMS Eve and VSS Unity and will conduct the Unity 23 test flight after this work is complete.

The enhancement program is designed to improve vehicle performance and flight-rate capability for VMS Eve and VSS Unity. In preparation for this work, Virgin Galactic has been performing routine tests and analyses to update its material properties database. This data predicts how materials are expected to perform under certain load and environmental conditions and is used to inform the design and manufacturing enhancements that will support increased flight frequency. One of these recent laboratory-based tests flagged a possible reduction in the strength margins of certain materials used to modify specific joints, and this requires further physical inspection.

As is standard in aerospace test and evaluation practices, Virgin Galactic ships are designed to withstand forces that are substantially higher than those experienced in regular use, providing additional margin and layers of safety. The enhancement program is designed to further increase margins that will enable improved reliability, durability and reduced maintenance requirements when in commercial service. While this new lab test data has had no impact on the vehicles, our test flight protocols have clearly defined strength margins, and further analysis will assess whether any additional work is required to keep them at or above established levels. Given the time required for this effort, the Company has determined the most efficient and expedient path to commercial service is to complete this work now in parallel with the planned enhancement program.

Following the enhancement period, the Company intends to complete the vehicle testing program for VMS Eve and VSS Unity, including the planned research test flight with the Italian Air Force, before starting commercial flights.

**** Virgin Galactic raises ticket prices to $450k for a ride to space. The first commercial flight is now delayed till the second half of 2022 due to a various upgrades for the two SS2 vehicles (“VSS Unity” and “VSS Imagine“) and the WhiteKnightTwo “VMS Eve” carrier aircraft. The modificiations will enable a higher flight rate for the rocketplanes (roughly one month turnaround between flights rather than two months). With the changes, Eve will need major refurbishment every 100 flights rather than every 10.

SpaceNews:

Virgin Galactic will also begin test flights in the second half of 2022 of VSS Imagine, its first SpaceShipIII vehicle that the company unveiled in March. Colglazier said that work on a second SpaceShipIII vehicle, VSS Inspire, is on hold to focus resources on VSS Imagine, VSS Unity and VMS Eve.

The company is betting its long-term sustainability on a future “Delta class” of suborbital spaceplanes, which would be air-launched from a next-generation aircraft that replaces WhiteKnightTwo. It expects those vehicles to fly more frequently and affordably that current vehicles, allowing the company to increase its flight rate and turn toward profitability.

“The key to our ramp up is really leaning heavily into the Delta class as well as getting motherships that will carry all those spaceships,” he said, declining to provide specifics on production plans and schedules for those vehicles. “Delta class and the new mothership program clearly are important new programs for us as a company and we’ll be aligning our energy towards them.”

Here is a new promotional video:

An extraordinary spaceship design fit for an out-of-this-world experience. Learn how Virgin Galactic’s flight technology is revolutionizing space travel.

*** Controversy arises over an anomaly during SpaceShipTwo Unity’s flight back from space in July when Richard Branson was on board.

**** A possible defect flagged by a a third-party supplier was investigated. The company said on Oct.14th that the issue has been resolved.:

… the Company’s recent inquiry into a potential defect in a supplier component announced on September 10, 2021, […] has been successfully resolved. While the supplied component in question was not on either VMS Eve or VSS Unity, in accordance with safety protocols, Virgin Galactic completed detailed inspections and scans which found all components met quality and safety standards and were ready for flight. The enhancement period is now beginning approximately one month later than anticipated, and commercial service is now expected to commence in Q4 2022.

See also:

** Relativity Space prepares for first launch of Terran 1 rocket. Lift off from Cape Canaveral now set for early 2022.

We’re excited to share that Terran 1 Stage 2 just passed cryo pressure proof and hydro mechanical buckling test on our structural test stand. Up next: Stage 1 structural testing!

Here at Relativity, we’re often focused on the future, but we’re taking a beat to recognize our team’s hard work getting to this critical pre-launch phase. In 12 months, we’ve finalized Terran 1’s architecture, developed a brand new engine, upgraded its material, and grew from 150-500+ employees, all while keeping everyone’s safety a top priority.

Terran 1’s demonstration launch is now set for early 2022 from Cape Canaveral LC-16. While we recognize the wins of today, we will continue working at a breakneck speed, and provide updates along the way—as we prepare to launch the world’s first entirely 3D printed rocket.

To stay up-to-date on the latest Terran 1 updates and exclusives, sign up for our newsletter here: https://www.relativityspace.com/updates

Another video update: September 2021: Progress at Cape Canaveral

Other Relativity Space items:

** Masten Space begins development of high altitude reusable Xogdor rocket vehicle. The goal for the vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) vehicle is to start flying by early 2023. The Xogdor will enable more elaborate tests of rocket vehicle landings on Mars and other celestial sites than with Masten’s current low altitude VTVL rockets. Masten Kicks Off Development of Xogdor, our Newest Rocket with Supersonic Speed – Masten Space

Higher altitudes & faster speeds: Xogdor will be our fastest rocket yet! It will test descent and landing technologies at high subsonic speeds up to 200 meters per second (447 miles per hour).

Based on customer needs, Xogdor will also be capable of supersonic speeds to fly to the edge of space on a suborbital trajectory. Why is this important? Supersonic speeds of approximately Mach 3.5 are required to cross the Karman Line (100 km above Earth’s mean sea level). By deploying these speeds on Xogdor, we can test payloads in upper atmosphere and near-space environments with reduced gravity.

Ultimately, the closer we can simulate the lunar and Martian environment, the more accurately we can reduce risks and enable mission success with our test flights.

More payload accommodations: Xogdor will have payload capacity of at least 200 kg with accommodations that include power, data storage, thermal control, and ground telemetry. Xogdor can also provide a fully pressurized or vacuum environment for payloads. Since Earth has a thicker atmosphere than the Moon and Mars, Xogdor will have a layer in the control system that minimizes the effects of the atmosphere, such as lift and drag, from the technologies being tested.

The vehicle will also enable studies of long range point-to-point travel:

With the ability to fly longer ranges, Xogdor also offers more flexibility when it comes to the launch and landing location. That means we don’t necessarily have to launch and land at our Mojave test site. For example, based on a customer needs, we could launch Xogdor at another test site, such as Spaceport America, and land back in Mojave or vice versa. This opens the door for point-to-point payload transportation.

A new video about the company’s many projects:

See also

** Dawn Aerospace begins test flights of of the Mk-11 Aurora Spaceplane. Aurora, which is just 4.8m long and has a 75kg dry weight, currently uses a jet engine rather than the rocket that will power the vehicle to 100 km in altitude. It will carry a payload of 4kg. Dawn Aerospace Mk-II Spaceplane Flight Testing Commences – Five Flights Complete — Dawn Aerospace

Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand-Dutch space transportation company, has conducted five flights of the company’s Mk-II Aurora suborbital spaceplane. The flights were to assess the airframe and avionics of the vehicle, and were conducted using surrogate jet engines.

The campaign was run from Glentanner Aerodrome in New Zealand’s South Island. Taxi testing commenced in early July and five flights occurred between the 28th and 30th of July, reaching altitudes of 3,400 feet.

Dawn is creating reusable and sustainable space technologies – suborbital and orbital rocket-powered planes – that operate much like a fleet of aircraft, taking off and landing horizontally at airports.

Mk-II is a suborbital plane designed to fly 100 km above the Earth, and aims to be the first vehicle to access space multiple times per day. The vehicle serves as a technology demonstrator for the two-stage-to-orbit-vehicle, the Mk-III. Mk-II will also be used to capture atmospheric data used for weather and climate modelling, and to conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations.

See also Dawn Aerospace runs test flights from Glentanner near Aoraki/Mt Cook – NZ Herald.

** Rocket Factory Ausburg (RFA) pressure tests booster to destruction. The successful test of the steel structure marks an important milestone in the German company’s march towards a debut launch of the RFA One rocket in 2022 from Norway’s Andøya space port. The company recently announced progress with engine tests in Kiruna, Sweden. The booster will use nine full-scale staged combustion engines that burn kerosene and liquid oxygen. A second stage will use one of the same engines. An orbital third stage will place payloads into the desired orbit. The rocket will put up to 1600 kilograms into low earth orbit. The company says the first stage will be recovered and reused but has not given details on how this will be implemented.

More details of RFA rocket development: German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg successfully performs critical tests ahead of 2022 debut – NASASpaceFlight.com

A video of the test:

You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs! With our burst test, we pushed the limits of our first stage and successfully tested several systems and processes. A new first stage is already being built. On we go!

** A June update on Skyrora small lift rocket developer in Scotland:

In this week’s episode we chat with Skyrora’s Business Operations Manager Derek Harris. We discuss how Skyrora have been doing through the UK lockdown, ESA Boost Initiative funding, updates on Skyrora’s 2021 test launch and other exclusive updates! Skyrora designs, manufactures and deploys rockets to clear the way for small satellite manufacturers looking to access Space. Headquartered in Edinburgh, and with facilities across Europe, Skyrora is developing launch vehicle technology to ensure that the life-changing benefits of space are realised here on earth.

** Light-lift rocket company Isar Aerospace of Germany gains payload contracts:

Here is an interview with the CCO of ISAR: The Space Cafe Podcast #036: Stella Guillen: CCO of ISAR Aerospace, Europe’s hottest stock in the launcher segment – SpaceWatch.Global

** ChinaDeep Blue Aerospace vertical-takeoff and landing (VTOL) rocket makes a short hop: Chinese space firm launches and lands small test rocket – SpaceNews

*** Deep Blue Aerospace flies vertical takeoff and landing rocket to 100 meters. Deep Blue Aerospace conducts 100-meter VTVL rocket test – SpaceNews

See also this earlier report: Chinese space firm launches and lands small test rocket – SpaceNews

** Gravitilab Aerospace offers low cost reusable sounding rockets for microgravity research services. The company recently carried out a commercial sounding rocket launch from the Spaceport 1 site in the Outer Hebrides: Gravitilab makes history by launching the first commercial rocket in the UK with the Spaceport 1 team – Gravitilab

A historic UK first has taken place in the Outer Hebrides today (Thursday 26th August) with a unique commercial space launch conducted by a wholly-owned British company and a Scottish spaceport team.

Spaceport 1 joined forces with East Anglian firm Gravitilab Aerospace Services on the sub-orbital launch of flight test vehicle ‘ADA’, named after Ada Lovelace, the 19th century English mathematician who is considered the world’s first computer programmer.

ADA took off from Benbecula marking a successful launch for Spaceport 1, the consortium led by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council), which aims to open at Scolpaig, North Uist, in 2022. From this base, commercial sub-orbital space launches will begin to take place from within the UK.

The landmark launch moment represents a key milestone for this unique commercial partnership between Spaceport 1 and Gravitilab, providing proper physical evidence of how companies can work together commercially under the new Government space framework to deliver a successful rocket launch from the UK.

Gravitilab ADA suborbital rocket launches from the Outer Hebrides Spaceport 1 site.

The company has several other suborbital rockets in its fleet. A drop-pod system using a drone is also available:

Louis brings the laboratory to you, so you can undertake your research, de-risk your technology and validate your designs. Whether you’re looking for end-to-end campaign support or a streamlined route to launch, we provide the service so you can focus on the results. With a lead time to launch of one month and a cost from £63 per second of microgravity, we think you’ll agree it’s worth discovering more about this unique member of our fleet.

Payload: up to 6kg
Microgravity duration: 5-10 seconds per drop
Altitude: 600m-2,000m
Available from: Q4 2021

==================

Check out the
The Lurio Report
for news and analysis of key developments in NewSpace

The latest issue:
Space Suit Opportunities, Inspiration4, FAA & Starship
Vol. 16, No. 6, September 22, 2021

Space Frontier Foundation Award for NewSpace Journalism

==================

** Space transport briefs:

Podcasts/Webcasts:

** T+196: Checking In on Small Launch with Firefly Alpha, Astra LV0006 – Main Engine Cut Off

Last week, Firefly made their first flight attempt of Alpha, and Astra launched their latest vehicle, LV0006. Though both ended in failure, it’s a good time to check in on them and other small launchers that will debut soon like, ABL’s RS1 and Relativity’s Terran 1, and how they may all compete with each other.

** Space Policy Edition: Mars via the Nuclear OptionPlanetary Society

Can nuclear propulsion fundamentally transform our ability to send humans to Mars? Bhavya Lal, a policy and nuclear engineering expert now working at NASA, helped write a new report on the topic for the National Academies of Sciences. She joins the show to talk about the advantages of various types of nuclear propulsion, the engineering and policy challenges that face them, and the role of government versus the private sector in developing and deploying transformational technologies.

** Tuesday, Aug.24.2021Stephanie Thomas talked about “Princeton Satellite Systems fusion development program, R&D plus fusion fuels, R&D, the fusion industry overview, fusion reactor performance specs and timelines, funding fusion and much more“.

** Two Scientists Are Building a Real Star Trek ‘Impulse Engine’ – Bloomberg

See also MEGA Progress | Space Studies Institute

** NSS Space Forum – Rocket Summer: The Adventures of Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin GalacticNational Space Society

It’s rocket summer! There has never been a summer like this in the history of commercial space. Virgin Galactic has just made a successful flight with Sir Richard Branson on board as one of the passengers. Blue Origin flew a crew of four to space on July 20 aboard its New Shepard vehicle, with Jeff Bezos as one of the passengers. SpaceX’s Starship may be making its first full-up orbital test flight later this summer. NSS Space Ambassadors Loretta Hall, Bruce Mackenzie, Casey Steadman, and moderator Jim Plaxco provided an overview of these historic events and discussed their larger implications for the development of commercial space.

** Aug.13: Media Telecon: NASA, Boeing to Provide Update on Starliner’s Orbital Flight Test-2NASA Video

** How India Developed World Class Rockets From Humble Beginnings. – Scott Manley

** The Space Show – Sunday, Oct.3.2021Scott Truax talked about his father, Robert (Bob) Truax, and his father’s rocket engineering accomplishments.

** ULA Stops Selling Atlas Rocket LaunchesScott Manley

The Atlas rocket traces its ancestry back to the 1950’s, it’s been at the core of the US space capabilities, carrying historic payloads for NASA, the DoD and commercial partners. This week ULA made it clear that it has no more Atlas rockets for sale as it move to transition to Vulcan which is not reliant on engines from Russia. There are 29 launches left, which is likely more than some ‘new’ rockets, but this decade should see the final flights of Atlas, Delta and Proton – all historic vehicles with their roots in the cold war.

** Status of ISEC – Members Meeting Aug.14.2021International Space Elevator Consortium

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Continue to Roundup Part 3: SpaceX Falcon 9, Dragon, and Starship.

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Asteroids: How Love, Fear, and Greed
Will Determine Our Future in Space