SpaceX
Welcome to Edition 5.34 of the Rocket Report! Wow, what half a year it has been for the launch. In the past six months, we’ve seen the two most powerful rockets ever fly, the Space Launch System and Starship. What a time for the industry and enthusiasts – the future looks so bright!
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe via 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 brief preview of the next three launches on the calendar.
Rocket Lab will reuse a first stage motor. Rocket Lab said Wednesday it plans to fly a Rutherford rocket engine for the first time in the third quarter of this year. The 3D-printed engine, previously flown on the ‘There and Back Again’ mission launched in May 2022, has undergone extensive qualification and acceptance testing to certify it for re-flight. This includes multiple full mission duration hot fires where the pre-flown engine performed as if it were a new build.
Step-by-step … Although the engine is now ready to fly again, the Electron missiles scheduled for launch in the second quarter have already been built. The company, which eventually aims to reuse the entire Electron first stage, said re-flying this engine is the latest milestone in its “iterative and methodical” reusability program. Rocket Lab has recovered hardware and first stages from six Electron missions so far, the last of which was recovered last month. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
Virgin Orbit nears completion of anomaly investigation. The California-based launch company said Wednesday it had successfully completed a full month-long test run to verify the cause of the launcher’s launch failure on Jan. 9. The investigation focused on a filter in the exhaust of the fuel tank, and the test campaign recreated flight conditions and demonstrated the detachment and subsequent movement of the filter in the Newton-4 engine. This high-fidelity test article covered all major elements from the fuel delivery system to the engine intake.
Some financing issues still need to be resolved … The ground test results matched the flight data, confirming the filter detachment as the launch event of the January launch failure. A series of nine tests verified the performance of a redesigned filter. A fix has been made in Virgin Orbit’s next rocket, which could fly from Mojave Air and Space Port later this year. Such a scenario assumes the company resolves its funding issues and emerges from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process with a sale next month. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
South Korea is preparing the next KSLV-2 launch. The South Korean-developed KSLV-2 rocket is scheduled for launch on May 24, carrying a 400-pound technology demonstrator satellite and seven cubesats, Space News reports. The mission comes 11 months after the first successful satellite launch of KSLV-2. The rocket, which is fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen, can carry up to 1.9 tons to low Earth orbit.
Getting ready for something bigger … South Korea plans to conduct four more launches of this missile until 2027, including the next one, to improve the technical reliability of the missile. After that, the company plans to deploy the larger KSLV-3 rocket, which is expected to lift 10 tons to low Earth orbit. South Korea plans to launch a domestically developed robotic lunar lander on KSLV-3 by 2032. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
A new air launch contender emerges. A Spanish propulsion company called Pangea Aerospace announced this week that it is partnering with a New York-based launch startup called Tehiru. Tehiru is developing a reusable air-launched rocket that can carry a payload of 550 kilograms to orbit, reports European Spaceflight. The company has stated that it is working on an “innovative electric landing mechanism” that will be used to recover the rocket after a launch. Tehiru expects to be able to reuse its rocket up to 50 times.
That is an ambitious project … Pangea will supply Tehiru with the company’s 67,000-lb ARCOS aerospike engines that will power the rocket’s first stage. It is not clear whether the agreement includes a prepayment. It is also unclear whether Tehiru has raised significant funds to date. What does seem clear to me is that it is extremely difficult to develop a small, reusable rocket with an electric landing mechanism and first stage aerospike motors. Especially one that is air-launched. Good luck with that. (submitted by brianrhurley)
