Welcome to Version 7.01 of the Rocket Report! We’re compiling this week’s report a day later than standard as a result of Independence Day vacation. Ars is starting its seventh yr publishing this weekly roundup of rocket information, and there is a number of it this week regardless of the vacation right here in america. Worldwide, there have been 122 launches that flew into Earth orbit or past within the first half of 2024, up from 91 in the identical interval final yr.
As at all times, we welcome reader submissions, and in the event you do not need to miss a difficulty, please subscribe utilizing the field under (the shape won’t seem on AMP-enabled variations of the positioning). Every report will embrace data on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets in addition to a fast look forward on the subsequent three launches on the calendar.
Firefly launches its fifth Alpha flight. Firefly Aerospace positioned eight CubeSats into orbit on a mission funded by NASA on the primary flight of the corporate’s Alpha rocket since an higher stage malfunction greater than half a yr in the past, Area Information reviews. The 2-stage Alpha rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Area Power Base in California late Wednesday, two days after a difficulty with floor tools aborted liftoff simply earlier than engine ignition. The eight CubeSats come from NASA facilities and universities for a spread of instructional, analysis, and know-how demonstration missions. This was the fifth flight of Firefly’s Alpha rocket, able to inserting a few metric ton of payload into low-Earth orbit.
Anomaly decision … This was the fifth flight of an Alpha rocket since 2021 and the fourth Alpha flight to attain orbit. However the final Alpha launch in December failed to position its Lockheed Martin payload into the right orbit as a result of an issue in the course of the relighting of its second-stage engine. On this week’s launch, Alpha deployed its NASA-sponsored payloads after a single burn of the second stage, then accomplished a profitable restart of the engine for a aircraft change maneuver. Engineers traced the issue on the final Alpha flight to a software program error. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Two firms added to DoD’s launch pool. Blue Origin and Stoke Area Applied sciences — neither of which has but reached orbit — have been accredited by the US Area Power to compete for future launches of small payloads, Breaking Protection reviews. Blue Origin and Stoke Area be a part of a roster of launch firms eligible to compete for launch process orders the Area Power places up for bid via the Orbital Companies Program-4 (OSP-4) contract. Underneath this contract, Area Programs Command buys launch companies for payloads 400 kilos (180 kilograms) or higher, enabling launch from 12 to 24 months of the award of a process order. The OSP-4 contract has an “emphasis on small orbital launch capabilities and launch options for Tactically Responsive Area mission wants,” mentioned Lt. Col. Steve Hendershot, chief of Area Programs Command’s small launch and targets division.
A good dozen … Blue Origin goals to launch its orbital-class New Glenn rocket for the primary time as quickly as late September, whereas Stoke Area goals to fly its Nova rocket on an orbital check flight subsequent yr. The addition of those two firms means there are 12 suppliers eligible to bid on OSP-4 process orders. The opposite firms are ABL Area Programs, Aevum, Astra, Firefly Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Relativity Area, Rocket Lab, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and X-Bow. (submitted by Ken the Bin and brianrhurley)
Italian startup test-fires small rocket. Italian rocket builder Sidereus Area Dynamics has accomplished the primary built-in system check of its EOS rocket, European Spaceflight reviews. This check occurred Sunday, culminating in a firing of the rocket’s kerosene/liquid oxygen MR-5 fundamental engine for roughly 11 seconds. The EOS rocket is a novel design, using a single-stage-to-orbit structure, with the reusable booster returning to Earth from orbit for restoration beneath a parafoil. The rocket stands lower than 14 ft (4.2 meters) tall and might be able to delivering about 29 kilos (13 kilograms) of payload to low-Earth orbit.
A lean operation … After it completes built-in testing on the bottom, the corporate will conduct the primary low-altitude EOS check flights. Based in 2019, Sidereus has raised 6.6 million euros ($7.1 million) to fund the event of the EOS rocket. Whereas it is a fraction of the funding different European launch startups like Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, and Orbex have attracted, the Sidereus’s CEO, Mattia Barbarossa, has beforehand said that the corporate intends to “reshape spaceflight in a fraction of the time and with restricted assets.” (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)
