Northrop Grumman
Welcome to version 3.31 of the Rocket Report! With particularly interesting buttons relating to the Falcon Heavy Rocket and NASA’s Europa Clipper, most of the news this week has been with the Big Rockets. It’s also exciting to see NASA and Boeing move the launch date for Starliner’s second test flight. Next.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the following using x (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 at the next three launches on the lander.
Firefly seeks to raise additional funds. Firefly Aerospace said this week it is considering raising $ 350 million to increase production and work on a new, larger vehicle, Space News reports. Speaking during a webinar on Tuesday about investing in the space industry, Firefly CEO Tom Marquez said the fund would support its long-term growth as it brings the Alpha rocket into service while the company develops a mid-range launch vehicle called Beta.
Betting on growth … “He said,” In the next five years, when we’re on the order of ુક 10 billion, we want to go out of alpha and SUVs in about a year and take flight flights from a 1 billion company. The SUV that the company Marquez was referring to has a high platform called a space utility vehicle that can serve as a space tug. The Alpha Rocket will launch in a few weeks, and the beta could launch as early as 2024, Marquez said. (Submitted by BH and Ken Bin)
Virgin Orbit pushes commercial launch agreement. Refreshing the first successful flight of its launcher rocket, Virgin Orbit announced on Monday that it had chosen to launch the Dutch space-engineering company Innovative Solutions Space in the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s first-ever satellite, the BRIK-6U cubeset. II.
A ride share mission … Currently set to launch in 2021, BRIK-II will fly as a ride-share payload on the next launcher mission. U.S. Virgin Orbit is working through its subsidiary, VOX Space, to add payloads to the mission from the Department of Defense’s space test program. The mission will fly from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. (Not your username, submitted by Platicartic and Ken Bin)
Starliner launch date is pending. NASA said this week that as part of the agency’s commercial crew program, it and Boeing are now targeting before Thursday, March 25, Thursday. This is four days ahead of the previous date announced by NASA, and is due to the changing availability of the Atlas V rocket.
Rocket ahead … This week, the United Launch Alliance announced that it was delaying the launch of the STP-3 mission for the US space force “to enable the customer to evaluate the readiness of the launch of the STP Satellite-6 spacecraft.” That mission was supposed to launch before Starliner, but now its delay means UL could focus on Boeing’s test flight. (Submitted by Ken Bin and Platicartic)
The crew was named for the first fully private orbital crew launch. The largest man to travel in space in the crew of the first fully private orbital space mission, the second Israeli in space, the 11th Canadian to fly in space, and the first former NASA astronaut to return to the International Space Station, Collect Space reports. Houston-based Axiom Space is hosting the mission.
Launch in one year … SpaceX Dragon is slated to launch on the spacecraft: Larry Connor, an American real estate and technology enterprise; Eaton Stebbay, a businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot; Mark Pethy, Canadian investor and philanthropist; And Michael Lopez-Allegria, a retired NASA astronaut. The X-1 mission could begin as early as January 2022. (Submitted by Ken Bean and Tafarog 04)
Japan is advancing to the next stage of H3 rocket testing. The main phase of the country’s next pay generation launcher, the H3, will be taken to its launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center for a series of tests starting in February. According to Space News reports, a wet dress rehearsal is planned for March, when the launcher will be loaded with cryogenic propellant, which will mimic the work up to launch.
No launch date yet … These rocket cats are basically optimistic signs for the expected launch in 2020, but which had to overcome problems with its new LE-9 main engine. However, no target launch date has been chosen (or at least announced) yet. JXA says the launch date of the first H3 rocket will be determined “after coordination with the development status of the onboard satellite and related organizations.” (Submitted by Ken Bin and Platicartic)
The Falcon 9 launched a record number of satellites. On Sunday, SpaceX launched its first dedicated ride-sharing mission, called the Transporter-1, aboard the Falcon 9 rocket. With this launch of 1,143 total satellites, SpaceX surpassed the previous record holder for most of the satellites launched in a single mission set up in 2011 by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
How popular is it? … SpaceX did not disclose many details about the popularity of its ride-sharing program or the number of payloads booked at a future launch. However, many customers have said that they were surprised by the price and speed of the service offered by SpaceX. The company plans to launch some of these ride-sharing missions every year on the Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA Clipper wants information on commercial launch. NASA has posted a request for a commercial launch vehicle to send its clipper spacecraft to Jupiter’s lunar Europa. “The launch vehicle will deliver at least 6,065 kg of Europa Clipper spacecraft with the characteristics of a Mars-Earth-gravity-assisted route,” the request states. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket is the only commercial rocket available that is capable of this route. If a Delta IV heavy booster was to be used, it would need a Venus flyby for the clipper to require additional thermal protection.
So why not just contract out SpaceX? … For years, Congress had mandated that the Clipper Space Launch system would launch on a rocket. However, recent wind tunnel tests have found that the torsional vibration that induces the SLS booster is too high and will require significant work on the spacecraft. Congress therefore agreed to let the mission go to a private rocket. However, since some in Congress do not have the biggest fan of SpaceX, they wanted NASA to open a competition for non-flying rockets, including Vulcan and New Glen. Tory Bruno of the United Launch Alliance in response to a question on Twitter Refused to say Can the base-model Vulcan complete the route NASA wants. (Submitted by Ken Bin)
Trump left Biden with Roden confusion. Only two years have passed since then Vice President Mike Pence offered this strong love for SLS engineers at NASA: “If American industry can provide complex business services without government development, we will buy it. And if the only way to commercial rocket is American For astronauts to reach the moon in the next five years, commercial rockets will be it. “
Well, maybe not … Today, the former vice president’s ambitious 2024 landing target is out of reach. Pence has left the office. And of course, the SLS rocket did not launch in 2020. Now, it is virtually certain not to launch before 2022. So what happens This Ars article looks at what is coming for NASA and the SLS rocket that it is building to send humans back to the moon.
SpaceX Scrubs is trying to launch Starship on Thursday. SpaceX was gearing up for the launch of its SN9 prototype on Thursday, but shortly before 11 a.m. local time, the “temporary flight restrictions” for the day’s starship launch were lifted. Before the bush, engineers and technicians were preparing the vehicle for launch. Local residents were also evicted.
Elon is not happy … The launch seems to have been delayed because the FAAA has not given final approval to the 10-kilometer launch attempt. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX Tweeted Saying about the FAA, “Their rules are for a handful of costly launches every year from certain government facilities. Under these rules humanity will never reach Mars.” Temporary flight restrictions are also in place for Friday, making it possible for the vehicle to take off as soon as possible. The weather should be more mild for SN9 on Friday.
Space Force concludes deals with Northrop, Blue Origin. In late 2020, the U.S. Space Force officially ended the launch-technology partnership signed in October 2018 with Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman, Space News reports. This was a six-year public-private partnership where both the government and the contractors agreed to invest in rocket development and infrastructure to participate in the national security space launch program.
Not a great deal? … Deals with Northrop and Blue Origin ended because both were not selected for the event. From October 2018 to December 2020, 5,255.5 million were paid to Blue Origin. The original six-year contract was worth 500 500 million. Northrop Grumman received 53 1,531.7 million in the same period, which is about two-thirds of LSA’s total value of 2 792 million. In return for the investment, the space force will receive limited rights to data and hardware from companies developed under the agreements.
Northrop conducts rocket-motor recognition test. On Jan. 21, Northrop Grumman said it conducted ground recognition tests of an extended-length, 63-inch-diameter graphite epoxy motor in a promontory in Utah. The company developed the GEM stra 63 strap-boo na booster in partnership with the United Launch Alliance to provide additional lifting capacity to the Vulcan Centurion rocket.
Rocket ready … The GE 63XL motor fired for about 90 seconds, producing about 449,000 pounds of thrust to validate the motor design’s operating capacity. Moreover, the test firing tested the internal insulation of the motor, propellant grains, ballistics and nozzles in hot weather environments. (Submitted by Ken Bin)
Next three launches
31 Jan.: Falcon 9 | Starlink-18 | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 12:00 UTC
15 February: Soyuz | Progress 77 p | Baikonur Cosmodrome | 04:45 UTC
20 Feb.: Antares | Northrop Grumman-15 ISS Supply Mission | Wallpapers Island, Virginia | 17:36 UTC
