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Welcome to the Rocket Report 1.07 Edition ! This week there is a lot of news of the little booster side, as well as some interesting comments from the NASA administrator about the future of the Space Launch System rocket
As always, we accept submissions from readers. Do not want to miss a problem, please subscribe using the box below. Each report will include information on low, medium and heavy lift rockets, as well as a quick overview of the next three launches of the schedule.
The space of relativity targets military contracts . Relativity, which intends to print in 3D both its rocket engines and the thrusters themselves, hopes to win commercial and military contracts. The CEO of the company, Tim Ellis, told SpaceNews that the Pentagon favors agile suppliers capable of rapidly manufacturing products. He said, "They need the ability to replenish the constellations quickly.It is very important based on the conversations we hear at the government level."
A Macro Rocket of Relativity 1 [macro] offers a slightly larger payload than most micro rockets under development Ellis believes this capability will be attractive to the military. We will be impressed if Relativity reaches the launch date scheduled for the end of the year 2020 for the Terran booster 1. (Submitted by Ken the Bin)
A Chinese start-up tests a rocket engine . One Space, which is looking to develop low-cost rockets, has successfully tested the first-stage rocket engine of its family of M-series rockets. According to Space Tech Asia, the success of this test means that One Space is on the point of launching the first test of OS-M1, the first of its series M launchers, scheduled for the end of the year 2018.
New Chinese Space .. This first M-Series rocket will be 19 meters long and will be powered by a solid four-stage rocket. It will also be able to carry a maximum payload of 205 kg in low Earth orbit. One Space is remarkable for several reasons. First, it is one of the leading new space companies in China seeking to operate outside the established and state-supported industry. And secondly, most other efforts to develop small satellite launchers have not used solid fuel rockets, which seems to be a somewhat innovative approach to this market. We are looking forward to seeing the results of his flight test.
The Japanese rocket fails for the second time . Speaking of test flights, Interstellar Technologies Inc. attempted to launch its Momo-2 rocket on Saturday, June 30, but the rocket caught fire a few seconds after Hokkaido took off. This attempt to launch the 1 ton rocket followed the failure of the Momo-1 rocket last July. The founder of the private company, Takafumi Horie, described the second failure as "unprecedented", reported by Japan Times
This is a cliche … but the space is difficult. Horie is a colorful character in Japan, so it will be interesting to see where Japan's most famous private rocket company comes from. Despite Horie's comment, rocket failures are not unprecedented, and as difficult as it may be to get engineering, supporting a business through multiple failures can be even more difficult. (Ask Elon Musk about 2007 and 2008). (submitted by tpc3)
Virgin Orbit obtains a launch license for the first flight . Virgin Orbit received a license from the Federal Aviation Administration for the first launch of its LauncherOne vehicle, and the flight could take place later this summer. As for the payload, it will be a "mass simulator with CubeSat" according to the launch license, along with some other details.
The second on the market … The test flight is based on success With these planned tests, Virgin Orbit continues to make progress to become the second small launch company satellites to reach the market among the new generation (after Rocket Lab). A vice-president of special projects, Will Pomerantz, said Virgin had focused on limiting the time between the first and second flights of his rocket, so the company could be short of commercial service. ] Generation Orbit launches a hypersonic test bench . Aviation Week reports that Generation Orbit Launch Services has completed the first hot test of a full-size prototype of its GOLauncher1 hypersonic flight test. booster. The company is developing the air launch system for the US Air Force Research Laboratory to serve as a flexible and affordable hypersonic test bench. The 5,000-pound thrust engine performed as expected during the test
What the Air Force wants … The rocket Single-stage liquid, launched from a Gulfstream III carrier aircraft, is designed to provide and steady access to dynamic high-pressure flight conditions at Mach 5-8 for basic research, technological development and the risk reduction. A first flight is planned for the end of 2019.
China developing an "intelligent" rocket . The state press services report that China is developing a rocket capable of identifying mechanical failures during a launch and charting a new flight path based on problems encountered. A team from the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has started working on the "smart" rocket, which, in cases where there is a non-structural or non-explosive failure, will have the ability to perceive, judge, plan and execute flight corrections by itself.
A software problem? … We do not know exactly what is entirely new here. Some rockets, like the Falcon 9 booster, already have software to explain the failure of an engine on the way to orbit. So, it may be just a better system of flight computers or software updates. In any case, we hope that "intelligent" in this case does not mean that the rockets join the Internet of Things. (submitted by tpc3)
SpaceX steals its final version of Block 4 of Falcon 9 . On Friday, June 29, SpaceX launched a Dragon spacecraft on the International Space Station, its 15th replenishment mission. (If you missed them, the launch photos before dawn were incredible). The company had flown the Falcon 9 rocket just two months earlier and said it was the last time that she was piloting a variant of Block 4 of the Booster. All future missions will go to the Block 5 version, optimized for reuse.
Now Comes the Hard Part … The big question now is when will SpaceX begin rebuilding Block 5 boosters and how many times they steal them? We will probably have answers to this question by the end of the year, as the company is planning a dozen missions scheduled for 2018. We are planning several flights from here to here.
India considers human spaceflight program . This week, ISRO has tested the crew exhaust system for its crew capsule in a situation of abandonment of the emergency platform. The test was part of a relatively unobtrusive work on a capsule that would be launched at the top of the GSLV Mk III rocket and would carry a team of two into orbit, reports NASASpaceFlight.com.
Not allowed, still . India has not yet declared its support for a large-scale manned space flight program, which would cost several billion dollars and would take up to a decade. However, such a success would give India access to an exclusive club that contains Russia, the United States and rival China as its only members. It is uncertain when a decision could be made. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
The Space Force speech unites Europe behind rocket plans . In an interview with Ars, Paris-based Ariane group chief Alain Charmeau said President Trump's desire for "domination" in space unified Europe behind his rocket program. "The position of the United States helps Europe to strengthen its position," said Charmeau
European Independence … Later, Charmeau noted that the leaders of the United Germany and France expressed their full support. The Ariane Group plan to finalize the development of the Ariane 6 rocket, as well as the Vega C booster for medium payloads. Europe invests in both rockets and satellite systems such as Galileo and Copernicus to remain independent of the United States in space.
The director of NASA wonders what to do with the rocket SLS . At a question-and-answer session with Politico, NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, was asked about how the space agency sees commercial pitchers. His answer: "As we move forward, we may need to rethink … how well do we begin to leverage these commercial capabilities as they reduce costs, give us more capacity, and what do we do? -they? we do with SLS? … We are not here yet, but there is certainly a horizon here: is it 10 years old? I do not know what the answer is, but what we can not do is abandon our national capacity, our national capacity, when we have no alternative. "
Speaking of Chronology … NASA still has not exactly the" national capability "of the SLS rocket heavyweight class, so we have heard rumors of. A shift to 2021 for the first launch date, in which case the New Glenn from Blue Origin has a chance to fly first, as has already made SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket
landing in 2023 Blue Origin's business development director, AC Charania, said at a conference that the company's Blue Moon program is "our first step towards the development of 39, a lunar landing capacity for the country, for other international customers. The company did not say what role could play its great orbital rocket under development, New Glenn, in a mission on the Moon.
Not just a beer … Charania said that the company had moved The Blue Moon's architecture was launched after the government expressed interest in sending a series of items. robotic landers and humans to the moon in the next decade. "I think we are very happy to implement this long-term commercial solution with the NASA partnership," he said
The Next Three Launches
July 6, 19459020: Long March 2C | The satellites PRSS-1 and PakTes-1A | Jiuquan, China | 03:50 UTC
9th July : Soyuz 2.1A | MS-09 Replenishment Mission | Baikonur, Kazakhstan | 21:51 UTC
20th of July : Falcon 9 | Iridium NEXT satellites | Vandenberg AFB, California | 12:12 UTC
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