{"id":44007,"date":"2026-04-24T20:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-report-artemis-iii-rocket-getting-ready-spacex-is-now-an-ai-company\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:16:24","slug":"rocket-report-artemis-iii-rocket-getting-ready-spacex-is-now-an-ai-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-report-artemis-iii-rocket-getting-ready-spacex-is-now-an-ai-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Report: Artemis III rocket getting ready; SpaceX is now an AI company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Edition 8.38 of the Rocket Report! The big news this week concerned the third launch of the New Glenn rocket. The first 15 minutes of the flight were exhilarating for Blue Origin, seeing a previously flown rocket take flight and then triumphantly land on a barge at sea. But then the highest of highs was followed by the company\u2019s first loss of an orbital payload, the AST SpaceMobile satellite being injected into a low orbit due to an upper stage failure. We\u2019ve heard it was due to a valve problem, but that would be no scoop as it seems like it\u2019s always the valves that fail in this industry.<\/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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Canada\u2019s spaceport plans are not without critics<\/strong>. About a month ago, the Canadian National Defense Minister, David McGuinty, announced an \u201chistoric investment\u201d of $200 million over 10 years to Maritime Launch Services for the lease of a dedicated \u201cspace launch pad\u201d in Nova Scotia. But some local residents, including Marie Lumsden, are pushing back. Writing in the Halifax Examiner, Lumsden shares a photo of a small concrete pad at the end of a gravel road (the entirety of the spaceport). The residents have formed a group, Action Against the Canso Spaceport, because they have \u201cgenuine concerns about this project and the people behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A litany of concerns<\/em> \u2026 The article outlines some of the organization\u2019s concerns about the spaceport, Maritime Launch Services, and a \u201crevolving door\u201d of team members. There are also questions about an environmental assessment by the Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change regarding the environmental risks of launching a Ukrainian rocket with a mix of UDMH\/LOX\/kerosene fuels. \u201cThis project was approved by an utterly inappropriate and broken environmental assessment process whose outcome, despite the outcry of NSECC staff, is determined by lobbyists, unscrupulous proponents, and their friends in high political places,\u201d Lumsden. (submitted by Adapheon)<\/p>\n

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Rocket Lab launches \u201corigami\u201d satellite<\/strong>. An Electron rocket on Thursday launched the Japanese space agency\u2019s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 mission, which aims to test advanced space tech developed by startups and universities, The Independent reports. Among the payloads was a small 10 cm cube that unfolds to a 2.5-meter array.<\/p>\n

A lot of unfolding<\/em> \u2026 Rocket Lab\u2019s name for the mission, its second for JAXA, was \u201cKakushin Rising.\u201d JAXA describes the 10cm cube as \u201can unprecedentedly lightweight and highly packable deployable array antenna for space, with antenna elements attached to a two-layer deployable membrane that can be folded using origami techniques.\u201d It sounds pretty cool.<\/p>\n

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Astrobotic tests rotating detonation engine<\/strong>. Astrobotic on Thursday announced the successful hot fire testing of its Chakram rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. Two Chakram engine prototypes completed eight successful hot-fire tests, accumulating more than 470 seconds of total run time without any discernible damage to the engine hardware, the company said.  The campaign included a 300-second continuous burn, which is believed to have set the record for the longest duration hot firing of an RDRE engine to date.<\/p>\n

Plans to incorporate over time<\/em> \u2026 During testing, each engine produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust, making Chakram one of the most powerful such engines ever demonstrated. This successful test campaign represents an important milestone in Astrobotic\u2019s development of rotating detonation rocket engines to improve the performance and payload capacity of its spacecraft. Astrobotic plans to incorporate this state-of-the-art propulsion technology into future vehicles, including Griffin-class lunar landers, Xodiac- and Xogdor-class reusable rockets, and an orbital transfer vehicle currently in development.<\/p>\n

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SpaceX eyes financial future as an AI company<\/strong>. Reuters reviewed the forthcoming S-1 regulatory filing for SpaceX, in which companies disclose their financials and key risks before going \u200bpublic, and there were some eye-opening details. SpaceX estimates that its total addressable market\u2014the maximum revenue a company could generate if it captured every customer in a particular market\u2014could be as much as $28.5 trillion.<\/p>\n

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But where money does that come from?<\/em> \u2026 SpaceX expects more than 90 percent of that market, or $26.5 trillion, to stem from the AI sector. The vast majority of that, $22.7 trillion, could come \u200bfrom AI for businesses. The company is moving ahead with an IPO expected this summer targeting a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion and seeking \u2060to raise about $75 billion, which would make it the largest initial public offering in history. \u201cWe believe we have identified the largest actionable total addressable market in human \u200bhistory,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n

Falcon boosters have now landed 600 times<\/strong>. SpaceX completed its 600th Falcon booster landing during a Starlink mission Sunday, Spaceflight Now reports. The Starlink 17-22 mission added another 25 broadband Internet satellites into the company\u2019s low Earth orbit constellation that consists of more than 10,200 spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget the hard-working ships<\/em> \u2026 SpaceX used Falcon 9 first stage booster B1097, which was flying for the seventh time. It previously launched Sentinel-6B, Twilight, and five previous batches of Starlink satellites. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1097 landed on the SpaceX drone ship, \u201cOf Course I Still Love You.\u201d It was the 191st landing on this vessel. Another droneship, \u201cJust Read the Instructions,\u201d will now be dedicated to supporting Starship operations.<\/p>\n

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Two steps forward, one step back for New Glenn<\/strong>. The third flight of Blue Origin\u2019s heavy-lift New Glenn launcher began Sunday with the company\u2019s first successful reflight of an orbital-class booster, but ended with a setback for Jeff Bezos\u2019 flagship rocket, Ars reports. After the launch, the booster settled onto the ship for a smoky but on-target touchdown less than 10 minutes after liftoff. The landing marked the end of the second flight for this booster, a stunning success for the company.<\/p>\n

Second-stage issues<\/em> \u2026 But Blue Origin could not celebrate the achievement for long. Within a couple of hours, it became clear that something went wrong with the mission\u2019s remaining milestones. Blue Origin confirmed New Glenn\u2019s upper stage missed its aim and released its payload, a cellular broadband communications satellite for AST SpaceMobile, into an inaccurate orbit. The satellite later reentered Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The second stage issue will force Blue Origin to stand down New Glenn at a time when NASA needs the vehicle to ramp up operations to support the Artemis Program.<\/p>\n

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Vulcan issue proves costly to Northrop<\/strong>. Northrop Grumman said Tuesday it had taken a $71 million charge due to an anomaly with a solid rocket booster that grounded the Vulcan Centaur rocket, Space News reports. The problem occurred on a February 12 launch, when one of four GEM 63XL boosters attached to the rocket shed debris about 65 seconds after liftoff.<\/p>\n

Payloads waiting to go to space<\/em> \u2026 After the mission, which concluded successfully, United Launch Alliance called the incident a \u201csignificant performance anomaly\u201d that would need to be investigated prior to Vulcan\u2019s next flight. This was the second time in four Vulcan missions that a solid rocket booster suffered an issue. The problems have delayed the launch of several payloads for the US Space Force. For more on this, read on.<\/p>\n

Space Force may use Vulcan for lower-risk missions<\/strong>. Amid an ongoing investigation into a solid rocket motor anomaly that grounded United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan rocket for US national security missions, the Space Force is exploring options to use the heavy-lift launch vehicle for less complex missions, Aviation Week reports. Since the issue is restricted to the Northrop Grumman-built solid rocket motor, the service is considering flying Vulcan without those boosters, Col. Eric Zarybnisky, acting program acquisition executive for space access, said.<\/p>\n

No solids, no problem<\/em> \u2026 The Space Force could launch certain missions without solid rocket boosters that carry lower mass or are bound for lower orbits. For example, the service could launch an upcoming Space Development Agency mission on Vulcan, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, Space Systems Command chief, told reporters in a separate briefing. \u201cEssentially, if it doesn\u2019t rely on a solid, there\u2019s no reason why we can\u2019t launch, and I\u2019m committed to supporting that and keeping that mission going,\u201d he said. The Space Force has switched four GPS III missions from a Vulcan rocket to a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle since December 2024<\/p>\n

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NASA rolls out Artemis III core stage<\/strong>. NASA said this week it has rolled out the core stage of the agency\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the crewed Artemis III mission in 2027. The stage departed from the agency\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday for shipment to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Using highly specialized transporters, engineers maneuvered the top four-fifths of the SLS core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt, from inside NASA Michoud to the agency\u2019s Pegasus barge.<\/p>\n

Launching sometime in 2027<\/em> \u2026 After the core stage arrives at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams will complete the stage outfitting and vertical integration, and the agency\u2019s Exploration Ground Systems Program will stack the rocket\u2019s components in preparation for launch. Next year\u2019s Artemis III mission will launch astronauts to Earth\u2019s orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft on top of SLS to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land Artemis IV astronauts on the Moon in 2028.<\/p>\n

Next three launches<\/h2>\n

April 25<\/strong>: Long March 6 | Unknown payload | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China | 12:15 UTC<\/p>\n

April 25<\/strong>: Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-34 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 22:21 UTC<\/p>\n

April 26<\/strong>: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17=16 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 14:00 UTC<\/p>\n

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