{"id":43381,"date":"2026-02-27T20:26:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-report-vulcan-many-months-from-flying-falcon-9-extends-reuse-milestone\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:26:53","slug":"rocket-report-vulcan-many-months-from-flying-falcon-9-extends-reuse-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-report-vulcan-many-months-from-flying-falcon-9-extends-reuse-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Report: Vulcan \u201cmany months\u201d from flying; Falcon 9 extends reuse milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Edition 8.31 of the Rocket Report! We have some late-breaking news this week with an update Thursday afternoon from Rocket Lab on the timing of its much-anticipated Neutron rocket. Following the failure of a first stage tank during testing, the company is pushing the medium-lift rocket\u2019s debut into the fourth quarter of this year. Effectively that probably means 2027 for the booster, which is disappointing because we all very much want to see another reusable rocket take flight.<\/p>\n

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don\u2019t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.<\/p>\n

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The ghost of Vector lives on<\/strong>. Tucson, Arizona-based satellite and rocket developer Phantom Space, co-founded by Jim Cantrell in 2019, has acquired the remnants of Vector Launch, Space News reports. The announcement is notable because Cantrell left Vector as its finances deteriorated in 2019. Cantrell said some of the assets, comprising flight-proven design elements, engineering data, and other technology originally developed for Vector, will be immediately integrated into Phantom\u2019s Daytona vehicle architecture to reduce development risk.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your vector, Victor?<\/em> \u2026 \u201cAs the original architect of Vector\u2019s vision, it\u2019s deeply meaningful to bring these assets home to Phantom,\u201d Cantrell said in a statement. \u201cThis acquisition isn\u2019t just about technology, it\u2019s about momentum. We\u2019re accelerating Daytona, creating high-tech aerospace jobs in Tucson, and moving faster toward orbital capability.\u201d The small-lift Daytona rocket could use some acceleration since it has been delayed year after year for a while now. At present, it is slated to debut during the second half of 2027.<\/p>\n

UK limits launch liability<\/strong>. An amendment to the United Kingdom\u2019s Space Industry Act will mandate that limits are set on how much launch operators are financially liable if something goes wrong, European Spaceflight reports. According to Sarah Madden, a space lawyer at the London-based law firm Winckworth Sherwood, the amendment to the legislation removes the risk that operators launching from the UK might face unlimited liability.<\/p>\n

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Putting policy into law<\/em> \u2026 Although the legislation provided certainty, all three launch operator licenses issued to date by the UK Civil Aviation Authority include a cap on indemnity to the government. Virgin Orbit\u2019s 2022 horizontal launch license capped this at $250 million, while the vertical launch licenses granted to Skyrora and Rocket Factory Augsburg in 2025 set the cap at \u00a310.5 million ($14.2 million). However, these limits were imposed as a matter of policy rather than law.<\/p>\n

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PLD nabs launch contract<\/strong>. Spanish satellite operator Sateliot has signed a launch services agreement with PLD Space to launch its first two high-capacity 5G D2D (Direct-to-Device) Trit\u00f3 satellites aboard a dedicated MIURA 5 mission, European Spaceflight reports. PLD Space is working toward the first flight of its 35.7-meter-tall MIURA 5 rocket in 2026. The rocket is designed to deliver payloads of up to 1,040 kilograms to low-Earth orbit and will initially launch from a new multi-user facility being built on the grounds of the Guiana Space Centre\u2019s former Diamant launch complex.<\/p>\n

Two at a time<\/em> \u2026 PLD Space will attempt to carry its first two Trit\u00f3 satellites to orbit aboard a dedicated MIURA 5 mission in 2027. According to the company, Sateliot selected PLD Space \u201cbased on MIURA 5\u2019s ability to provide an independent, dedicated service tailored to the client\u2019s specific needs, ensuring optimal launch conditions for deploying its space infrastructure.\u201d Each Trit\u00f3 satellite will have a mass of approximately 160 kilograms.<\/p>\n

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Neutron rocket launch slips to Q4 2026<\/strong>. As part of its quarterly earnings guidance update on Thursday, Rocket Lab provided a new launch target for the medium-lift Neutron rocket. Following the failure of first stage tank during testing, Neutron\u2019s first launch is now targeted for \u201cQ4 2026,\u201d the company said. This is a notable slip, given that it was only last November that Rocket Lab announced a slip from the end of 2025 to \u201cmid-2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invoking Berger\u2019s Law<\/em> \u2026 In its news release regarding the fourth quarter of 2025 earnings, the company said it completed successful qualification for Neutron\u2019s thrust structure and entered the qualification phase for the interstage, and successfully qualified Neutron\u2019s Hungry Hippo fairing and delivered it to the Assembly and Integration Complex in Virginia. I hate to do it, but I\u2019m afraid that I am compelled to invoke Berger\u2019s Law for rockets on this one, which states, \u201cIf a rocket is predicted to make its debut in Q4 of a calendar year, and that quarter is six or more months away, the launch will be delayed.\u201d Since its inception in 2022, the law has been undefeated.<\/p>\n

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Falcon 9 extends its reuse milestone<\/strong>. SpaceX\u2019s most-flown Falcon 9 rocket booster launched once again Saturday night, making its 33rd mission to space and back, Spaceflight Now reports. The 33rd flight of Falcon 9 booster 1067 came about two and a half months after its previous launch in early December. Its previous missions include four flights for NASA, the European Commission\u2019s Galileo L13, and 20 batches of Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

Lordy, lordy, Falcon 9 is turning 40?<\/em> \u2026 Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1067 landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas<\/em>, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 143rd landing on this vessel and the 575th booster landing to date for SpaceX. At present, SpaceX says it is working to certify its first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket for up to 40 flights.<\/p>\n

Pentagon happy with military rockets<\/strong>. The Space Force officer tasked with overseeing more than $24 billion in research and development spending says the Pentagon is more interested in supporting startups building new space sensors and payloads than adding yet another rocket company to its portfolio, Ars reports. \u201cWe\u2019re on path for mass-produced launch,\u201d Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy said at a space finance conference in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Help needed to speed up payloads<\/em> \u2026 Payloads, Purdy told Ars after his talk, are \u201cthe last frontier\u201d for scaling space missions. \u201cI remain convinced that we\u2019re going to think about the mission that we need, and we\u2019re going to need satellites out the door and launched and in orbit within the week, at scale,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cI\u2019m very convinced that that\u2019s the path that we\u2019re going to move down on the commercial and government side.\u201d<\/p>\n

New data on how rockets pollute the atmosphere<\/strong>. New research bolsters growing concerns about the pollution produced by rocket launches, Ars reports. The new study in Nature analyzed a plume of pollution trailing part of a Falcon rocket that crashed through the upper atmosphere on February 19, 2025, after SpaceX lost control of its reentry. The authors said it is the first time debris from a specific spacecraft disintegration has been traced and measured in the near-space region about 80 to 110 kilometers above Earth. Changes there can affect the stratosphere, where ozone and climate processes operate. Until recent years, human activities had little impact on that region.<\/p>\n

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Studying the Ignorosphere<\/em> \u2026 \u201cI was surprised how big the event was, visually,\u201d lead author Robin Wing, a researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, said via email. He said people across northern Europe captured images of the burning debris, which was concentrated enough to enable high-resolution observations and to use atmospheric models to trace the lithium to its source. The study shows that instruments can detect rocket pollution \u201cin the \u2018Ignorosphere\u2019 (upper atmosphere near space),\u201d he wrote. \u201cThere is hope that we can get ahead of the problem and that we don\u2019t run blind into a new era of emissions from space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambitious Chinese launch company moves into development<\/strong>. Chinese launch startup Space Epoch has secured B-round funding as the company moves toward a first orbital launch and recovery attempt late this year, Space News reports. The company says the funding means Space Epoch has entered a stage of large-scale development. \u201cThree Yuanxingzhe-1 rockets already in production will undergo ground testing in the second half of the year, with the goal of achieving a successful first orbital launch and recovery by year\u2019s end,\u201d Space Epoch said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Funding amount undisclosed<\/em> \u2026 Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) is a methane-liquid oxygen rocket designed for reusability. Space Epoch says it has a payload capacity of 13,800 kilograms to a 200-kilometer orbit and 9,000 kg to a 1,100 km orbit\u2014the latter altitude being one associated with the national Guowang megaconstellation. It also claims a price of no more than 20,000 yuan per kilogram (about $2,900 per kg), with the rocket designed to be reusable 20 times. The company conducted a vertical takeoff and splashdown test in May 2025 using a YXZ-1 verification rocket, carrying out a reuse test two months later.<\/p>\n

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Vulcan likely \u201cmany months\u201d from flying again<\/strong>. Twice, once in 2024 and again earlier this month, United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan rocket experienced issues with the nozzle on one of its solid rocket boosters during a launch. In both cases, the rocket\u2019s main engines compensated for the issues, but the US military is not eager to test Vulcan\u2019s ability to overcome such a dramatic problem again, Ars reports. \u201cAny time there\u2019s an anomaly, my team is going to be actively engaged with the contractors to make sure we understand what happened and we correct that issue,\u201d said Col. Eric Zarybnisky, program acquisition executive for Space Systems Command\u2019s space access program.<\/p>\n

A nettlesome nozzle issue<\/em> \u2026 Zarybnisky spoke with reporters Wednesday in a roundtable at the Air Force and Space Force Association\u2019s Warfare Symposium near Denver. He said it was too early to provide details on the direction of the investigation but predicted it would be a \u201cmany months process\u201d to identify the \u201cexact technical issue\u201d and the corrective actions required to prevent it from happening again. After the first booster issue in 2024, investigators identified a manufacturing defect in a carbon composite insulator, or heat shield, inside the nozzle. The latest incident suggests the defect was not fixed or that there is a separate problem with Northrop\u2019s boosters. (submitted by philip verdieck)<\/p>\n

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SLS rocket rolls back to hangar<\/strong>. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced this week that a new problem with the Space Launch System rocket will require the removal of the rocket from its launch pad in Florida. The large booster, with the Orion spacecraft stacked on top, then rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The latest issue appeared on the evening of February 20, when data showed an interruption in helium flow into the upper stage of the Space Launch System rocket, Ars reports. NASA officials were eyeing a launch attempt for Artemis II as soon as March 6, the first of five launch opportunities available in March.<\/p>\n

Marching into April<\/em> \u2026 There are approximately five days per month that the mission can depart the Earth after accounting for the position of the Moon in its orbit, the flight\u2019s trajectory, and thermal and lighting constraints. The next series of launch dates begins on April 1. The space agency bypassed launch opportunities earlier this month after a fueling test on the SLS rocket revealed a hydrogen leak. After replacing seals in the fuel line leading into the SLS core stage, NASA completed a second fueling test last week with no significant leaks, raising hopes the mission could take off next month. With the discovery of the helium issue last Friday night, the March launch dates are now off the table.<\/p>\n

Next three launches<\/h2>\n

February 27<\/strong>: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-108 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 10:20 UTC<\/p>\n

March 1<\/strong>: Alpha | Stairway to Seven | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 00:50 UTC<\/p>\n

March 1<\/strong>: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17-23 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 08:00 UTC<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Edition 8.31 of the Rocket Report! We have some late-breaking news this week with an update Thursday afternoon from Rocket Lab on the timing of its much-anticipated Neutron rocket. Following the failure of a first stage tank during testing, the company is pushing the medium-lift rocket\u2019s debut into the fourth quarter of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}