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Welcome to Rocket Report edition 1.49! Another week has passed and we meet again in mid-May. For Houston, from where this report comes, it basically means the beginning of the summer. But for those of you who live in colder climates, we hope that there is a lot of news here to warm your heart.
As always, we appreciate the contributions of readers. If you do not want to miss a problem, please register using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-compatible site versions). Each report will contain information on small, medium and large lift rockets, as well as a quick overview of the next three launches of the schedule.
Vega prepares his rocket for the launch of a carpool. Arianespace has developed a payload of 42 satellites for the launch of Vega in September, said officials of the company. "We are complete, we have no more gram of performance," said Marino Fragnito, vice president of the Vega division at Arianespace, during a round table at the Satellite 2019 conference, reports SpaceNews.
A promise made, a promise delivered? … This is an interesting development as Arianespace has introduced its next-generation Vega and Vega-C rockets as the continent's response to the competition for small satellite launches. With this launch of the Small Spacecraft Mission (and more to come), the leading European rocket company will be able to deliver on this promise to compete with small satellite launch contracts. Ben fatto! (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Hermeus plans to develop Mach 5.0 aircraft. A new aerospace company has entered the race to provide supersonic commercial air travel, reports Ars. On Monday, an American company, Hermeus, announced its intention to develop a plane capable of traveling at speeds up to Mach 5. Such an aircraft would reduce travel time New York-Paris from more than 7 hours to 1.5 hours.
Ambitious, it is the least we can say … "We are not undertaking anything too miraculous," said Skyler Shuford, the company's operations director. "We want to do engineering, not science." Titanium will be among the primary materials and the propulsion system will be powered by a combined cycle turbine engine. Over the next five years, the company plans to create a demonstration vehicle that will move to Mach 5 before developing planes for commercial service in eight to ten years from now. Such a quick plan could decrease the appetite for suborbital travel, point-to-point, later this century.
Virgin Galactic sits in a new spaceport. Virgin announced that its development and testing program had advanced enough to move Mojave, California, transmission line and spacecraft personnel to their headquarters at Spaceport America, NM. NASASpaceFlight.com reports that the VSS Unity shuttle and its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, are expected to travel to New Mexico this summer.
It has been a long time … Sir Richard Branson announced for the first time the agreement on the creation of a spaceport on land north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 2005. Due to delays in the flight schedule SpaceShip Two, the facilities have remained virtually unutilized since the completion of construction work several years ago. . Now this will finally change. This is another healthy sign that tourist flights will start on VSS Unity later this year. (submitted by FredOG and Ken the Bin)
Rocket Crafters is associated with RUAG. The Florida-based small satellite launch company, Rocket Crafters, has reached an agreement with the Swiss company RUAG to provide flight components for its rockets, reports Spaceflight Insider. "With their support, we will quickly build a prototype of our suborbital test rocket, gain a valuable legacy of flight on our engines, and evolve rapidly to become our Intrepid-1 small satellite launcher," said Robert Fabian. President of Rocket Crafters.
On the Karman line, but under the radar … The Florida company has flown largely under the radar, and it is not trying to build the tallest or most elegant rocket of the small race to space. On the contrary, it is mainly focused on controlling costs so that more people can carry out their experiments in the space. This agreement also allows RUAG to develop product lines for smaller launchers than its traditional customers. (submitted by Mars1 and Ken the Bin)
Falcon 9 to launch its heavier payload. The first batch of SpaceX Internet satellites will be launched Thursday night from Florida, weather permitting. With a mass of 18.5 tons, it will be the heaviest launch of the company so far for the Falcon 9 rocket or Falcon Heavy. The rocket will propel 60 Starlink satellites, each weighing 227 kg, at an altitude of 440 km.
Just the beginning … This is the first Starlink satellite block for what should eventually be a much larger constellation. They will help SpaceX evaluate its performance and test several key systems. In the coming months, these first satellites will be joined by six additional launches carrying payloads of similar size. These launches will bring the constellation an initial "operational" capability.
ULA to test the inflatable heat shield. An in-flight demonstration of an inflatable heat shield, which could be used to recover reusable engines from the United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, could be tested by the end of 2021 or early 2022, reports Spaceflight Now. The test would be a payload on an Atlas 5 rocket with a NOAA weather satellite.
Dual-use technology … ULA and NASA are interested in the test. The rocket company hopes to one day recover the BE-4 engines used on the first stage of its Vulcan booster. This potentially lighter thermal shield technology could also allow NASA's future missions to provide rovers, landing gear and, eventually, human-rated habitats on the Martian surface. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Jeff Bezos unveils lunar lander, Blue Moon. During a speech in Washington DC, the founder of Blue Origin presented his overall vision of the future of humanity in space, citing the low-cost launch and the use of in situ resources as two key steps. For this second stage, Bezos has revealed new details about "Blue Moon", his great lunar lander capable of delivering up to 3.6 tons of cargo and scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Blue Origin has been working on the vehicle for three years, reports Ars. Naturally, it will go well in the fairing of a New Glenn rocket.
Work on engine tests … The company also has a brand new engine, still unknown, dubbed BE-7, which has 10,000 pounds of thrust. It will feed the Blue Moon vehicle as it descends to the lunar surface. The company will carry out its first BE-7 engine hot test this summer in West Texas. In a configuration with "stretched tanks", Bezos said that Blue Moon could carry up to 6.5 tons up to the lunar surface, which would be big enough for a crewed vehicle. This is consistent with NASA's vision of creating a multi-stage lunar landing gear including both a downhill vehicle and then another men's spacecraft, the lift vehicle, which will return from the moon's surface and bring back the Crew in low lunar orbit.
NASA still wants to speed up the launch of EM-1 on an SLS rocket. NASA plans to postpone some program certification activities after Exploration Mission-1, in addition to other initiatives to shorten the inaugural launch schedule, reports NASASpaceFlight.com. The goal remains to find ways to boost the launch date at the end of 2020 from the current Spring 2021 forecast.
Finally, an emergency … This kind of activity is certainly useful, but one can not help wondering where this emergency has occurred over the last seven or eight years. Whatever the case may be, it is good to see the White House and, by extension, the NASA rulers stand up to Boeing in order to speed up the development of the main stage, as well as to get the best of them. other subcontractors with respect to other elements. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Europe invests in the upper floor of Ariane 6. The European Space Agency has signed contracts with ArianeGroup and MT Aerospace for the development of a prototype upper stage that could lead to an advanced carbon composite upgrade for the Ariane 6 rocket, reports SpaceNews. This prototype work would lead to the development of a higher floor called Icarus, which could be commissioned by 2025.
Ambitions up? … An upper floor built with carbon composite materials instead of aluminum could bring down the price of Ariane 6 launches while increasing the amount it can carry in a geosynchronous orbit. up to two metric tons. This is double the previous goal and reflects the ambitions that Europe has for its new big rocket. (submitted by Unrulycow)
SpaceX A / B tests its Starship versions. The company's founder, Elon Musk, confirmed that SpaceX would develop a prototype spacecraft in Florida in parallel with ongoing work in South Texas. "Both sites will make many spaceships" Shared Musk on Twitter. "It's a competition to see which location is the most effective, the answer could be both." It will not be a strict A / B test, nor a randomized experiment. Any idea gained by one team should rather be shared with the other, but the other team is not obliged to use them, Ars reports. This is consistent with the way technology companies generate internal competitions to develop better products.
Brownsville back on the front of the stage … Meanwhile, after about five weeks of downtime, SpaceX appears ready to step up operations at its Boca Chica test site in South Texas. In early April, a series of tests culminated in a brief jump from a prototype shaped spacecraft. Now, the company could resume testing activities later this month. A nearby highway will be closed on May 28 between 14h and 22h (Pacific Time) or alternatively May 29th and 30th. How high will they jump this time?
Three upcoming launches
May 17: Falcon 9 | Starlink Mission | Cape Canaveral, Florida 02:30 UTC
May 17: Long walk 3C | Beidou-2 G8 | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China | 3:42 UTC
May 21: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle | RISAT-2B | Sriharikota, India | 23h30 UTC
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