ArianeGroup
Welcome to Edition 5.11 of the Rocket Report! Sorry for the lack of a report last week, but I had an assignment with the crew of the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission. The advantage is that this week’s edition is extra long, up to 2500 words.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss any issue, please register using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-compatible versions of the site). Each report includes information on small, medium and heavy rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
SpinLaunch raises $71 million. The company developing a launch system that uses a centrifuge as its first stage announced this week that it has raised $71 million, Space News reports. This brings the company’s total funding to $150 million, enabling it to develop a system that accelerates vehicles to hypersonic speeds. After the vehicles, for lack of a better word, yelled up they use conventional rocket engines to reach space. SpinLaunch says this approach allows for a much higher flight speed than conventional rockets while being more environmentally friendly.
Building a bigger centrifuge … SpinLaunch built a smaller version of its centrifuge at Spaceport America in New Mexico, 33 meters in diameter, for suborbital testing. The company projects starting orbital launches with a much larger accelerator, 100 meters wide, as early as 2026, and presumably the new funds will bring it closer to that goal. I am curious if this approach works, as it is technically feasible. However, the challenges for the company are significant. (submitted by Ken de Bin)
European launch CEO takes photos at startups. In an interview with L’Echo, CEO André-Hubert Roussel of European institutional launch developer Ariane Group focused on the numerous launch startups across Europe, dismissing the fact that these companies were taking resources away from Ariane. Roussel seemed to be targeting German microlauncher companies Rocket Factory Augsburg, Isar Aerospace and HyImpulse in particular, though he didn’t directly name them, the Europe in Space newsletter reports.
Bringing nothing to the table? … Roussel complained that these companies duplicated what was already being done at launch and that by supporting these companies, Europe was encouraging competition that brought “nothing” to the table in terms of innovation. Frankly, this is a really crappy attitude to the competition, and if I’m honest it’s hard not to support the upstarts against the established industry.
Some in Michigan worry about the spaceport talk is all hype. After three years and $2.5 million in government dollars to study the creation of a spaceport in northern Michigan, some state officials are concerned about a lack of progress, Bridge Michigan reports. The state is still awaiting a final report from the Michigan Launch Initiative, part of the Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers’ Association, a nonprofit organization, which has been awarded $2.5 million to study building launch sites. The concerns are centered on project leader Gavin Brown, who said he secured the contract in 2019 after pitching it privately to former Governor Rick Snyder at the end of his administration.
Soon announcement? …State Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) wondered if Brown promised too much what he can deliver. “For me, the most important thing is that the people get value for the investment,” Irwin said. “It is now produced [work] that doesn’t seem to be worth $2.5 million.” Brown remains optimistic, telling the publication that he will prove critics wrong and suggesting a big announcement is coming soon. This reflects cautionary tales we’ve heard in other states that were promised great riches from new spaceports.
Skyrora launches from Canada. Scotland-based Skyrora announced this week that it would launch its Skyrora XL rocket from a spaceport under development in Nova Scotia by Maritime Launch Services. The three-stage rocket is designed to launch up to 350kg into low Earth orbit, and Skyrora completed a successful second-stage hot-fire static test at Machrihanish Airbase in Scotland in August.
A transatlantic partnership … As part of the agreement, Maritime Launch will purchase Skyrora’s vehicles and vehicle support personnel for its satellite customers. Spaceport Nova Scotia will provide Skyrora with a launch pad, ground and operational support, public security services, regulatory approvals and mission integration facilities and personnel. There is still a lot of work to do, but good luck to both. (submitted by JS)
PLD Space Approaches Suborbital Test. A Spanish company developing a small launch vehicle says it is ready to proceed with the launch of a suborbital mission after completing a static fire test. PLD Space conducted a 122-second test of its Miura 1 rocket at a corporate facility in Teruel, Spain, on Sept. 15, Space News reports. That firing, called the full mission test, came after two previous static fire tests lasting 5 and 20 seconds. The series of tests confirmed that the vehicle is ready for a real flight.
A stepping stone to a job … Now that the static fire test campaign is complete, PLD Space is ready to proceed with the maiden flight of the suborbital vehicle. That launch is planned for as early as December from the El Arenosillo site in southwestern Spain. “Our plan is to make two test flights,” said Raúl Verdú, Chief Operating Officer. PLD Space has advertised the Miura 1 as a sounding rocket that can transport 100 kilograms to an altitude of 150 kilometers and generate up to four minutes of microgravity time. Verdú said the primary purpose of Miura 1 is to demonstrate technology for its Miura 5 orbital launch vehicle under development. (submitted by Ken de Bin)
Re-watching the SpaceShipTwo crash in 2014. On Medium, an author who analyzes plane crashes recently drew attention to the fatal crash of Virgin Galactic eight years ago. On October 31, 2014, an experimental spaceplane operating for Virgin Galactic abruptly disintegrated at an altitude of nearly 10 miles during a test flight, scattering debris over a vast area of California’s Mojave Desert. Although one of the two test pilots was killed, the other remarkably survived, parachuting to safety against all odds.
Falling short of the stars … The destruction of the VSS Company and the death of one of its pilots promised to be a major blow to the commercial space industry, which was then, as it is now, in its infancy. I included this item in the Rocket Report not to despise Virgin Galactic, but because it is an excellent retrospective analysis, complete with sobering photos. It reminds us of the challenges in this industry that we all follow with such enthusiasm.
