{"id":44702,"date":"2024-10-05T01:24:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T17:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-report-falcon-9-second-stage-stumbles-japanese-rocket-nears-the-end\/"},"modified":"2024-10-05T01:24:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T17:24:56","slug":"rocket-report-falcon-9-second-stage-stumbles-japanese-rocket-nears-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-report-falcon-9-second-stage-stumbles-japanese-rocket-nears-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Report: Falcon 9 second stage stumbles; Japanese rocket nears the end"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Edition 7.14 of the Rocket Report! For readers who don\u2019t know, my second book was published last week. It\u2019s titled Reentry<\/em>, and tells the story behind the story of SpaceX\u2019s development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The early reviews are great, and it made USA Today\u2019s bestseller list this week. If you\u2019re interested in rockets, and since you\u2019re reading this newsletter we already know the answer to that, the book is probably up your alley.<\/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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Vega C cleared for next launch in November<\/strong>. Italian rocket firm Avio successfully tested a redesigned Zefiro-40 solid rocket motor for the second time on Thursday, the European Space Agency said. This second firing follows an initial firing test of the motor in May 2024 and concludes the qualification tests for the new engine nozzle design of the Zefiro-40. This rocket motor powers the second stage of the Vega C rocket.<\/p>\n

Flight three almost ready<\/em> \u2026 The redesign of the motor was necessitated by the failure of a Vega C rocket in December 2022, which was just the second flight of the launch vehicle. Then, in June 2023, a test to re-certify the motor for flight also failed. Now that the second-stage issue appears to be resolved, Vega C is on the launch calendar for November of this year, although there\u2019s the possibility the third mission of the rocket could slip a bit further. The rocket will be carrying the Sentinel-1C satellite to Sun-synchronous orbit. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)<\/p>\n

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Impulse Space raises $150 million<\/strong>. Los Angeles-based space startup Impulse Space, which is led by renowned rocket scientist Tom Mueller, has raised $150 million in a new fundraising round led by venture capital firm Founders Fund, CNBC reports. Impulse is scaling a product line of orbital transfer vehicles, and so far is building two, the smaller Mira and the larger Helios. While rockets get satellites and payloads into orbit, like an airplane carrying passengers to a metro area, space tugs deliver them to specific destinations, like taxis taking those passengers home from the airport.<\/p>\n

Taking the next step after launch<\/em> \u2026 Mueller, who founded Impulse Space three years ago, said the funds will fuel growth of the company. \u201cThis means that we\u2019re sufficiently funded through the development of Helios and the upgraded version Mira and out past the first flights of both of these products,\u201d Mueller told the publication. Impulse flew its first mission, called LEO Express-1, with a Mira vehicle carrying and deploying a small satellite, last November. In Mueller\u2019s view, while SpaceX reduced the cost to launch mass to orbit, the in-space delivery systems on the market are lacking. (submitted by Tom Nelson and Ken the Bin)<\/p>\n

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Polish company receives ESA support<\/strong>. Did you know there is a launch startup in Poland? Until this week, I confess I did not. However, that changed when the European Space Agency awarded 2.4 million euros to Poland\u2019s SpaceForest for further development of its Perun rocket. SpaceForest has developed an 11.5-meter-tall sounding rocket capable of carrying payloads of up to 50 kilograms to an altitude of 150 kilometers, European Spaceflight reports.<\/p>\n

Boosting up commercial companies<\/em> \u2026 To date, the company has completed two test flights, one reaching an altitude of 22 kilometers and another topping out at 13 kilometers. With the new funding from ESA, SpaceForest will implement upgrades to the combustion chamber of its in-house developed SF1000 paraffin-powered hybrid rocket engine. ESA awarded the funding as part of the agency\u2019s Boost! initiative. Adopted by member states in 2019, Boost! aims to foster the development of new commercial space transportation services. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)<\/p>\n

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A new take on a kinetic launch system<\/strong>. Longshot Space is developing a straight-line kinetic launch system that will gradually accelerate payloads to hypersonic speeds before launching them to orbit, TechCrunch reports. The startup is betting it can achieve very, very low costs to orbit compared to a rocket, possibly as low as $10 per kilogram. The company raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round in April 2023 and now, nearly 18 months later, Longshot closed a little over $5 million in combined venture capital and funding from the US Air Force\u2019s TACFI program.<\/p>\n

Pulling some serious Gs<\/em> \u2026 The new capital will be used to build a large, 500-meter-long gun in the Nevada desert to push 100-kilogram payloads to Mach 5. The system has to be so long in order to keep acceleration forces low, which is better for both the vehicle and payload. For eventual space missions, Longshot is aiming to keep the maximum gravitational forces to 500\u2013600 times the force of gravity. The company\u2019s name serves a dual purpose, as its technology requires a longshot to reach space, and its prospects for success are probably a longshot. Nevertheless, it\u2019s great to see someone trying new ideas. (submitted by Ken the Bin)<\/p>\n

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Falcon 9 rocket upper stage misfires<\/strong>. SpaceX is investigating a problem with the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s upper stage that caused it to reenter the atmosphere and fall into the sea outside of its intended disposal area after a launch last Saturday with a two-person crew heading to the International Space Station, Ars reports. The upper stage malfunction occurred after the Falcon 9 successfully deployed SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on SpaceX\u2019s Crew-9 mission. Hague and Gorbunov safely arrived at the space station Sunday to begin a five-month stay at the orbiting research complex.<\/p>\n

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Returning to flight shortly<\/em>? \u2026 Safety warnings issued to mariners and pilots before the launch indicated the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage was supposed to fall somewhere in a narrow band stretching from southwest to northeast in the South Pacific east of New Zealand. Most of the rocket was expected to burn up during reentry, but SpaceX targeted a remote part of the ocean for disposal because some debris was likely to survive and reach the sea. This is the third time SpaceX has grounded the Falcon 9 rocket in less than three months, ending a remarkable run of flawless launches. A return to flight is expected as early as October 7 with the European Space Agency\u2019s Hera spacecraft.<\/p>\n

New Zealand seeks to reduce rocket regulations<\/strong>. New Zealand plans to implement a new \u201cred tape-cutting\u201d strategy for space and aviation by the end of 2025, the New Zealand Herald reports. \u201cWe have committed to having a world-class regulatory environment by the end of 2025,\u201d Space Minister Judith Collins told the NZ Aerospace Summit recently. \u201cTo do that we\u2019re introducing a light-touch regulatory approach that will significantly free up innovators to test their technology and ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiwis have a different attitude<\/em> \u2026 The goal of reducing regulations is to allow companies to focus more on innovation and less on paperwork. New Zealand officials are motivated by concerns that Australia may seek to lure some of its space and aviation industries. Among the space companies with a significant presence in New Zealand are Rocket Lab, Dawn Aerospace, as well as smaller firms such as Astrix Astronautics. The move comes as US-based firms such as SpaceX, Varda, and others are pushing the country\u2019s launch regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, to be more nimble.<\/p>\n

H2A nears the end of the road<\/strong>. Japan launched the classified IGS-Radar 8 satellite early Thursday with the second-to-last H-2A rocket, Space News reports. Developed and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the H-2A rocket debuted in 2001 and has flown 49 times with a single failure, suffered in 2003. It has been a reliable medium-lift launch vehicle for Japan\u2019s national space interests, as well as a handful of commercial space customers.<\/p>\n

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The rocket\u2019s 50th launch will be its last<\/em> \u2026 The final H-2A core stage is now completed and is scheduled for shipment to the Tanegashima Space Center. That launch, expected in late 2024, will carry the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle satellite. The H3 will succeed the H-2A. The new generation H3 had a troubled start, with its first flight in March 2023 suffering a second-stage engine failure. However, the new rocket has since flown successfully twice. (submitted by Ken the Bin)<\/p>\n

Russians can invest in SpaceX now? Da<\/strong>. One of the odder stories this week concerns a Russian broker apparently offering access to privately held shares of SpaceX. An article in the Russian newspaper Kommersant suggests that a Moscow-based financial services company, Finam Holdings, managed to purchase a number of shares from a large foreign investment fund. The article says the minimum investment for Russians interested in buying into SpaceX is $10,000.<\/p>\n

On bonds and broomsticks<\/em> \u2026 Honestly, I have no idea about the legality of all this, but it sure smells funny. SpaceX, of course, periodically sells shares of the privately held company to investors. In addition, employees who receive shares in the company can sometimes sell their holdings. Given the existing sanctions on Russia due to the war on Ukraine and the potential for additional sanctions, it seems like these shareholders are definitely taking some risk.<\/p>\n

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ULA chief \u201csupremely confident\u201d in Vulcan\u2019s second launch<\/strong>. The second flight of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan rocket, planned for Friday morning, has a primary goal of validating the launcher\u2019s reliability for delivering critical US military satellites to orbit. Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s chief executive, told reporters Wednesday that he is \u201csupremely confident\u201d the Vulcan rocket will succeed in accomplishing that objective, Ars reports. \u201cAs I come up on Cert-2, I\u2019m pretty darn confident I\u2019m going to have a good day on Friday, knock on wood,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cThese are very powerful, complicated machines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A lengthy manifest to fly<\/em> \u2026 The Vulcan launcher, a replacement for ULA\u2019s Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, is on contract to haul the majority of the US military\u2019s most expensive national security satellites into orbit over the next several years. If Friday\u2019s test flight goes well, ULA is on track to launch at least one\u2014and perhaps two\u2014operational missions for the Space Force by the end of this year. The Space Force has already booked 25 launches on ULA\u2019s Vulcan rocket for military payloads and spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office. Including the launch Friday, ULA has 70 Vulcan rockets in its backlog, mostly for the Space Force, the NRO, and Amazon\u2019s Kuiper satellite broadband network.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s mobile launcher is on the move<\/strong>. NASA\u2019s Exploration Ground Systems Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida began moving the mobile launcher 1 from Launch Complex 39B along a 4.2-mile stretch back to the Vehicle Assembly Building this week. First motion of the mobile launcher, atop NASA\u2019s crawler-transporter 2, occurred early on the morning of October 3, the space agency confirmed. Teams rolled the mobile launcher out to Kennedy\u2019s Pad 39B in August 2023 for upgrades and a series of ground demonstration tests in preparation for the Artemis II mission.<\/p>\n

Stacking operations when<\/em>? \u2026 After arriving outside the Vehicle Assembly Building later on Thursday, the launch tower will be moved into High Bay 3 on Friday. This is all in preparation for stacking the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis II mission, which is nominally scheduled for September 2025 but may slip further. NASA has not publicly said when stacking operations will begin, and this depends on when the space agency makes a final decision on whether to fly the Orion spacecraft with its heat shield as-is or adopt a different plan. Stacking will take several months.<\/p>\n

Next three launches<\/h2>\n

Oct. 4<\/strong>: Vulcan | Cert-2 mission | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 10:00 UTC<\/p>\n

Oct. 7<\/strong>: Falcon 9 | Hera | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 14:52 UTC<\/p>\n

Oct. 9<\/strong>: Falcon 9 | OneWeb-20 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 06:03 UTC<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Edition 7.14 of the Rocket Report! For readers who don\u2019t know, my second book was published last week. It\u2019s titled Reentry, and tells the story behind the story of SpaceX\u2019s development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The early reviews are great, and it made USA Today\u2019s bestseller list this week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44704,"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":[9476,21],"class_list":["post-44702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-rocket-report","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44702"}],"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=44702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}