Northrop Grumman
Welcome to issue 3.31 of the Rocket Report! Most of the news this week happened with larger rockets, with a particularly interesting piece regarding NASA’s Falcon Heavy rocket and Europa Clipper worth checking out. It’s also exciting to see NASA and Boeing move the launch date for Starliner’s second test flight forward.
As always, we welcome you to submit readers, and if you do not want to miss a problem, sign in with the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report contains information on small, medium and heavy lift rockets, as well as a quick look at the next three launches on the calendar.
Firefly seeks additional funding. Firefly Aerospace said this week they want to raise $ 350 million to scale up production and work on a new, larger vehicle, SpaceNews reports. Firefly CEO Tom Markusic said during a webinar on investing in the space industry on Tuesday that the funding will support long-term growth as it launches the Alpha rocket as the company develops a medium-class launcher called Beta .
Betting on growth … “In the next five years,” he said, “we want to take Firefly from a $ 1 billion company when we step out and Alpha and the SUV fly after about five years, at about $ 10 billion company.” The SUV that Markusic referred to is an upper stage called the Space Utility Vehicle that can serve as a spaceflight. The Alpha rocket will make its debut in a few weeks, and Beta could debut as early as 2024, Markusic said. (submitted by BH and Ken the Bin)
Virgin Orbit nabs commercial launch contract. Virgin Orbit announced on Monday that it has been selected by the Dutch space engineering company Innovative Solutions in Space to launch the first satellite of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, a 6U CubeSat called BRIK-II, of the first successful flight of its LauncherOne rocket off. .
A ride-sharing mission … BRIC-II, currently being launched in 2021, will fly as a payload on a new LauncherOne mission. Virgin Orbit is working through its subsidiary, VOX Space, to add payloads to this mission of the U.S. Department of Defense’s space testing program. The mission flies from Mojave Air & Space Port in California. (Submitted by NotYourUsername, platykurtic and Ken the Bin)
The launch date of Starliner shifts to the left. NASA said this week that Boeing and Boeing will not target the launch of Starliner’s second flight test as part of the agency’s commercial crew program until Thursday, March 25. This is four days earlier than NASA’s predecessor, and this is due to the changing availability of an Atlas V rocket.
Next rocket on … United Launch Alliance also announced this week that it has delayed the launch of the US Space Force’s STP-3 mission “to enable the customer to evaluate the launch readiness of the STP Satellite 6 spacecraft. ” The mission had to be launched before Starliner, but its delay now means ULA can focus on Boeing’s test flight. (submitted by Ken the Bin and platykurtic)
Crew nominated for first fully private orbital crew. The crew of the first private orbital space mission will include the second oldest person in space, the second Israelite in space, the 11th Canadian to fly into space, and the first former NASA astronaut to return to the International Space Station, CollectSpace- reports. The Houston-based Axiom Space is organizing the mission.
Start within a year … The launch of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is: Larry Connor, a US real estate and technology entrepreneur; Eytan Stibbe, a businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot; Mark Pathy, a Canadian investor and philanthropist; and Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut. This Ax-1 mission can be launched from January 2022 (submitted by Ken the Bin and Tfarog04)
Japan moves to next phase of H3 rocket test. The core phase of the country’s next generation launcher, H3, will be transported to February’s launch site in the Tanegashima Space Center for a series of tests. A wet dress rehearsal is planned for March, when the launcher will be loaded with cryogenic propellant, which will simulate the work leading up to a launch, SpaceNews reports.
No launch date yet … These are hopeful signs for the rocket that was originally scheduled to launch in 2020, but which had to overcome problems with its new LE-9 main engine. However, no target launch date has yet been selected (or at least announced). JAXA says the launch date of the first H3 rocket “will be decided after the development status of the satellite on board and related organizations.” (submitted by Ken the Bin and platykurtic)
Falcon 9 launches record number of satellites. On Sunday, SpaceX launched its first dedicated ride-sharing name, called Transporter-1, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. With this launch of 143 total satellites, SpaceX surpassed the previous record holder for most satellites launched in a single mission, introduced by the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in 2017, reports Ars.
How popular is it? … SpaceX did not disclose much details about the popularity of its ride-sharing program or the number of payloads discussed at future launches. However, several customers said they were amazed at the cost and speed of the service that SpaceX offered. The company plans to launch some of these ride-along missions a year on the Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA asks for information on the commercial launch of Clipper. NASA has asked for a request for a commercial launch vehicle to send its Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter’s moon Europe. “The launch vehicle must deliver a minimum of 6,065 kg of Europa Clipper spacecraft with Mars-Earth-Gravity-Assist trajectory characteristics,” the request reads. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is the only available commercial rocket capable of reaching this orbit. If the Delta IV Heavy Booster is used, it must execute a Venus fly, which requires extra protection from Clipper.
So why not just award the contract to SpaceX? … For years, Congress ordered Clipper to launch on the Space Launch System rocket. Recent wind tunnel tests, however, found that the torsional vibration that the SLS amplifiers would cause was very high and that it would require significant processing of the spacecraft. Therefore, Congress agreed to allow the mission to move to a private rocket. However, because some in Congress are not the biggest fans of SpaceX, they wanted NASA to open up the competition to rockets not yet flying, including Vulcan and New Glenn. In response to a question on Twitter, Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance did not want to say or a base model Vulcan can complete the orbit that NASA wants. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Trump leaves Biden with a rocket dilemma. Only two years have passed since then-Vice President Mike Pence offered this hard love for SLS engineers at NASA: “If American industry can provide critical commercial services without government development, then we will buy it. And as commercial Rockets are the only way to bring American astronauts to the Moon in the next five years, then they will be commercial rockets. ‘
Well, maybe not … Today, the former Vice President’s ambitious 2024 goal of landing on the Moon fell out of reach. Pence left office. And of course, the SLS rocket did not launch in 2020. Now it is virtually certain that it will not be launched before 2022. What comes next? This Ars article looks at what’s possible for NASA and the SLS rocket it’s building to send humans back to the Moon.
SpaceX scrubs Thursday’s Starship launch effort. SpaceX was ready to launch its SN9 prototype on Thursday, but shortly before 11 a.m. local time, the “Temporary Flight Restrictions” for the launch of the Starship of the Day were canceled. Before the scrub, engineers and technicians prepared the vehicle for a launch. Local residents were also evacuated.
Elon not happy … It appears that the launch was delayed because the FAA did not give the final approval for the 10km launch attempt. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX tweeted about the FAA and said: “Their rules are meant for a handful of expenses per year from some government facilities. Under the rules, humanity will never get to Mars.” Temporary flight restrictions also apply to Friday, which is now the earliest possible time for the vehicle to fly. The weather should be better for SN9 on Friday.
Space Force terminates transactions with Northrop, Blue Origin. At the end of 2020, the US space force will officially end the launch technology partnerships signed in October 2018 with Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman, SpaceNews reports. These were six-year public-private partnerships where both the government and the contractors agreed to invest in missile development and infrastructure needed to compete in the National Security Space Launch program.
Not much? … The transactions with Northrop and Blue Origin were terminated because no one was selected for the program. From October 2018 to December 2020, Blue Origin was paid $ 255.5 million. The original six-year deal was worth $ 500 million. Northrop Grumman received $ 531.7 million in the same period, nearly two-thirds of the LSA’s total value of $ 792 million. In return for the investment, the Space Force will have limited rights to data and hardware developed by the companies under the agreements.
Northrop performs a rocket engine validation test. On January 21, Northrop Grumman said he had done a validation test of a 63-inch-long graphite epoxy engine in Promontory, Utah. This variation of the GEM 63 tape-on-booster was developed in partnership with United Launch Alliance to offer the Vulcan Centaur rocket additional lifting capability.
Ready for a rocket … The GEM 63XL engine fired for about 90 seconds and produced nearly 449,000 pounds of thrust to confirm the performance of the car design. Furthermore, the test fire confirmed the internal insulation, propellant, ballistics and nozzle of the car in a hot-conditioned environment. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Next three launches
January 31: Valk 9 | Starlink-18 | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. | 12:00 UTC
February 15: Soyuz | Progress 77P | Baikonur Cosmodrome | 04:45 UTC
February 20: Antares | Northrop Grumman-15 ISS Forwarding Mission | Wallops Island, Virginia | 17:36 UTC
