Welcome to Edition 1.11 of the Rocket Report! This week we have scads of news, including some rocket failures in America and big plans among Chinese rocket companies. Also, the Japanese space agency seems alarmed at the rise of reusable rockets and is now doing what it can to catch up to SpaceX.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't 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.
Virgin reaches 52km in latest Unity flight. During the third powered flight of the VSS Unity vehicle, the spacecraft reached an altitude of 52km, just over halfway toward the Kármán line, which generally is regarded as the beginning of outer space. This is the first time that Virgin Galactic has flown into the mesosphere, Ars reports.
Space tourism race ... One of the most interesting things we're watching in 2018 is whether Richard Branson (Virgin) or Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) succeeds in putting humans in space first. Secondarily, we're curious about how high Unity will be able to reach (probably about 80km) and whether that is high enough for the aerospace community to regard it as "space." Either way, we're happy to see Virgin making progress with its Unity test flight program and to see it also looking at flying into space from places like Italy. (submitted by acornkenya)
Minuteman III missile test launch ends in failure. Range control officers at Vandenberg Air Force Base terminated the flight of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile after it launched on Tuesday, according to Noozhawk, a publication covering Santa Barbara, California. The three-stage weapon launches from an underground silo on North Base en route to a predetermined target in the central Pacific Ocean near the Kwajalein Atoll.
So what happened? ... Officials aren't saying, other than to note that the anomaly was "unexpected." Vandenberg conducts several test launches each year to gather information about the weapon system's performance. The test launch program helps the command evaluate the Minuteman III and gather data to keep the system effective. The United States has about 400 Minuteman III missiles on alert at Air Force bases around the country.
Chinese company targets "rapid" launch of micro rocket. A company created by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has unveiled a micro rocket known as the Lightning Dragon No.1 with a capacity of 150kg to a Sun-synchronous orbit, a Chinese news site says. "The Lightning Dragon series micro-rocket is named after the Chinese word for dragon, as they are both fast, agile, and flexible," said Tang Yagang, president of Chinarocket.
How fast did you say? ... Reportedly, the rocket will be capable of launching within 24 hours after arriving at the launch site. It can be delivered to the customer six months after a contract is signed. We have seen Western companies struggle (so far) to reach this level of efficiency. Perhaps the Lightning Dragon will live up to its name. And perhaps not. There were no details on when the rocket might debut. (submitted by tpc3)
Another Chinese company is ready to launch. LandSpace is set to launch its first rocket into orbit in the final quarter of 2018, carrying a small satellite for a state television company. The three-stage solid-propellant LandSpace rocket, named Zhuque-1, will carry the China Central Television (CCTV) satellite for space science experiments and remote sensing before the end of the year, officials said. The payload is roughly the size of the 3U CubeSat.
The first of many ... Every week, this newsletter seems to bring word of a new Chinese rocket company. But LandSpace is launching soon, and it has grand ambitions, so the company appears to be one to watch. For example, according to SpaceNews, it has plans for boosters that can lift 6, 17, and 32 tons to low Earth orbit. (submitted by Unrulycow and Ken the Bin)
The outcome of a recent Alaska launch is unclear. The California-based Astra Space carried out a suborbital launch from an Alaska spaceport in late July, but more than a week after the event few details about what actually happened are clear, SpaceNews reports. The company was licensed for a suborbital flight test of its Rocket 1 vehicle, according to government paperwork.
A mishap, or not? ... According to the FAA, there was a "mishap" during the launch. However, Craig Campbell, president and chief executive of Alaska Aerospace, told the publication that, "Our customer has requested we not discuss their operations with the press. I can confirm that a launch from the Pacific Spaceport Complex–Alaska occurred on Friday, July 20th and that the customer is very pleased with the outcome of the launch." (submitted by Ken the Bin)
NASA picks four companies for suborbital flights. NASA's Flight Opportunities Program has selected four companies to integrate and fly technology payloads on commercial suborbital reusable platforms that carry payloads near the boundary of space. The winners of five-year grants totaling $45 million were Aerostar International (aka Raven Aerostar), Blue Origin, UP Aerospace, and World View.
The great thing about NASA ... One thing the space agency doesn't get enough credit for is supporting all kinds of wild and crazy spaceflight ideas, some of which turn into really transformative things (hello, Falcon 9 rocket that lands on boats). It's great to see support for these companies trying innovative ways to get very high into the atmosphere.
Military told to move from expendable to reusable rockets. The fiscal year 2019 military budget bill calls for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program of the Department of Defense, commonly known as the EELV program, to be named the "National Security Space Launch program" as of March 1, 2019. In addition, the report says the US Air Force must consider both expendable and reusable launch vehicles as part of its solicitation for military launch contracts.
Long way in a short while ... Less than a year and a half has passed since SpaceX first flew a used first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, but already it has come to this. For the government, this is ludicrous speed. Someone in Congress (and/or the military) must really like "flight-proven" boosters. And this isn't just a win for SpaceX. Blue Origin will be competing for these contracts in a few years, too.
China matches national record with 22 launches. China launched an Earth observation satellite July 30 and equaled its record for launches in a calendar year with 22, SpaceNews reports. Oh, and it's just August 2. China notched 22 launches back in the year 2016, too. Now the country, which set a target this year of 35 flights, appears to be on pace for more than 30 orbital launches.
Lunar mission looming ... If all goes well with the rest of its manifest this year, China will launch a Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-4 lunar mission late this year. This spacecraft will then attempt the first-ever soft-landing on the far side of the Moon. The Chinese are justifiably proud of their space program. (submitted by tpc3)
Air Force "close" to launch service agreement selection. The Air Force plans to reveal this month which companies it has selected for the next phase of the LSA program that will help fund the development of commercial rockets for national security space missions. A decision was originally scheduled to be announced in July but has slipped to "sometime in August," a spokeswoman for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center told SpaceNews.
Huge implications here ... This is one of the most closely watched announcements since NASA narrowed the commercial crew program down to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014. The questions are myriad. Will Northrop Grumman's Omega rocket get funded? (Probably.) How much money will United Launch Alliance get for Vulcan? Will Blue Origin and SpaceX get awards? And if so, for what? The future, in some ways, will be determined for the US launch industry with this announcement. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
JAXA feels a "strong sense of crisis" with regard to launch. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to test a "reusable rocket" next year, and the agency feels as though it is in a race to catch up to its US and European rivals, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports. "We feel a strong sense of crisis," said Koichi Okita, who heads JAXA's research unit for the project. "Japan also needs to acquire the technology to enhance its international competitiveness."
Kind of like Grasshopper ... This is the kind of thing SpaceX was doing back in 2012. JAXA plans a test launch in March 2019 that will send a two-ton rocket up to about 100m in altitude before it lands vertically back on Earth. A test to 5km is planned later in the year. This technology would reportedly be incorporated into the next generation of rockets after the H-3 booster, which may make its debut in 2020. (submitted by tpc3)
Energomash agrees to sell six more RD-180 engines in 2020. This sale, which will provide the rocket engines to United Launch Alliance, will allow for six additional flights of the Atlas V rocket, the Moscow Times reports. With the first flight of Vulcan looming in 2020 or 2021, these may be the last RD-180 engines that ULA buys as it seeks to move off the reliable Russian engine.
Why not troll the customer? ... After Russian publications announced the sale, the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, decided the best response it could make would be to troll on Twitter. "Russian rocket engines to continue launching America into space," the embassy tweeted, highlighting the RD-180 engine's qualities of being "cheaper and more reliable." It was a curious tweet for a country that clearly faces a challenging future in the launch business.
Bill to streamline launch licence moves forward. The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would streamline commercial launch and remote-sensing regulations, SpaceNews reports. Among the bill's provisions is one that sets a deadline of 90 days for the Department of Transportation to issue a new launch license to a company that already holds one, versus the 180-day deadline currently used for all applications.
Moving on ... The bill now goes to the full Senate and then must be reconciled with the House version. However, the overall direction here is great for rocket companies. Lawmakers support what they're doing and want to make flying into space easier for US rocket companies. It's therefore incumbent upon those companies now to take every precaution to ensure they're doing so safely. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Aerojet begins work on six new SLS engines. NASASpaceFlight.com reports that Aerojet Rocketdyne has begun production on six new RS-25 engines for the Space Launch System rocket. "Long-lead items for the six flight engines in the contract are already being fabricated," the site reports. All of the flight engines are planned to be delivered to NASA by July 2024 and will likely be used beginning with the fifth flight of the SLS rocket.
Quite the lead time ... A reasonable estimate for the fifth flight of the SLS rocket is sometime between 2026 and 2030, given current delays for the maiden launch and other factors. So Aerojet has a contract to build six engines that will probably not be used for eight to 10 years (if at all). (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Next three launches
August 7: Falcon 9 | Merah Putih | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | 05:19 UTC
August 11: Delta IV Heavy | Parker Solar Probe | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | 07:48 UTC
August 18: Falcon 9 | Telstar 18 VANTAGE | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | 03:35 UTC
Listing image by Rocket Lab/Kieran Fanning
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