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Welcome to Rocket Report 1.38 This week we have news of the global launch, coming from France, Spain and even South Africa. But the biggest news is probably the imminent launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in Florida early Saturday morning. This is a show not to be missed for all space lovers, even considering the launch time at 2:49.
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.
Firefly will invest in Florida facilities. The Texas-based Firefly rocket company said Friday it has reached an agreement on the development of manufacturing facilities and a launch site at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida. The company announced that it would invest $ 52 million in facilities and that Florida Spaceport's development authority, Space Florida, would also invest an additional $ 18.9 million in infrastructure.
These are big investments Firefly will build its launch facilities at Space Launch Complex 20 and will also build an extensive facility to assemble its Alpha rockets (and possibly the largest Beta) near the large Blue Origin plant in Florida's exploration park. The new facility will support the production of up to 24 Alpha rockets per year, with the possibility of expanding from there, reports Ars. Now, Firefly just needs to install its Alpha rocket in the dashboard, which is not an easy task.
China will increase its long March-6 capacity. China announced Monday that it was developing the modified version of the Long March-6 rocket in order to add four solid boosters to increase its carrying capacity, Space Daily reports. The goal is to increase the commercial competitiveness of the rocket, which can currently carry about 1 ton in a helical orbit.
Can compete with the PSLV of India … Ding Xiufeng, executive director of the Long March-6 project, said the vehicle would become more competitive through technical improvements and by providing easier, faster and more complete services to domestic and international users. Earlier this year, the China Great Wall Industry Corporation signed an agreement with Satellogic to use Long March-6 and Long March-2 rockets for the launch of 90 satellites for the Argentine company.
Spaceport America plans Virgin flights this year. Now that Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity shuttle has flown more than 80km, its New Mexico headquarters are hoping it will finally benefit from its investment in the company. "If I bet, I would say this year, the odds are very high," said Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks on commercial flights from New Mexico, according to KOB4 TV.
Human flights are no longer the great vision … New Mexico has been waiting for a dozen or so years. Meanwhile, the vision has gradually shifted from space tourism to the launch of small satellites. Hicks said: "Realistically and strategically, from an economic growth, [tourism]It will be a small percentage, but I think that at the time, it was necessary to make people understand the space and to excite it. "He has asked New Mexico for an additional $ 60 million to strengthen Smallsat's launch capabilities, which will be good for legislators."
Arizona also wants a spaceport. Despite the New Mexico experience, Arizona is considering creating its own spaceport, reports AZ Big Media. "Arizona is well positioned to grow in the industry and create its own world-class launch site," the site said, noting that heavyweights such as Boeing, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics have of facilities There.
Two options … One of the options for a launch site in Arizona is to upgrade an existing airport, while another is to set up a launch site development specifically addressing the needs of the market in full expansion of smallsat. We've said it before, but unless a spaceport has a clear link to a potential launch tenant, we're not sure that the build-and-go-to-come approach works.
PLD Space opens facilities at Spanish airport. Pedro Duque, the first Spanish astronaut, was present this week when Spanish start-up PLD Space unveiled its engine testing facilities at an airport in the east of the country, reports Parabolic Arc. "PLD Space is the perfect example of a transfer between science and innovation," said Duque, Spanish Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities. "The enthusiasm of young engineers has allowed PLD Space to no longer be a long-term project, but a reality now."
Serve for two purposes … PLD Space now has two test benches on its site at Teruel Airport: one to qualify its Miura-1 rocket engine and a second one for a static shot for the rockets themselves. . The Miura-5 rocket of the company, with a capacity of 300 kg in orbit, could be ready for a test flight in 2021. (presented by Ken the Bin)
EXOS expects suborbital launch Saturday. EXOS Aerospace is planning what it calls a "reusability test" with its sub-orbital rocket SARGE on Saturday. If successful, the launch will reinforce the company's plan to use this technology as a design basis for its Jaguar orbital launcher, designed to provide a reusable first stage capable of carrying 100 kg in a low Earth orbit, announced the society.
From suborbital to orbital … The SARGE EXOS Rocket 36 meters high and 20 inches wide is designed for reuse and suborbital flight. What is innovative about EXOS is that it seeks to apply the possibility of reuse to such small launchers. If the Texas-based company succeeds, it could further reduce the cost of launching small satellites, which is a reason to follow with interest Saturday's attempt. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
The launch of the South African test fails. In early February, graduate students from the University of Natal, South Africa, attempted to launch a Phoenix-1B rocket with a range of 15 km at a speed twice that of sound. . However, the rocket failed to ignite, ITWeb reports, and was lost. The problem was due to a defective valve between the propellant tank and the rocket engine.
A learning opportunity (…) "It's part of the game when it comes to launching rockets, and we hope to learn a lot more when we look at what might have caused this," said a university official at the publication. . With this project, the university hopes to eventually create a series of sounding rockets to meet the needs of South African and African scientific research communities. We wish them good luck. (submitted by Ocher_face)
First flight of the commercial crew scheduled for Saturday. After the Falcon 9 rocket and SpaceX spacecraft SpaceX had passed their flight readiness exam, NASA allowed them to launch Saturday at 02:48 (07:48 UTC) from the Kennedy Space Center. This demonstration mission will test the flight capability of the SpaceX launch system to allow its team to travel safely to the station. She will also wear a mannequin adapted and instrumented.
Almost there … crewed flight almost returned to the United States. For the next test, this Demo-1 mission must be successfully launched, docked at the International Space Station approximately 24 hours later, and then returned to Earth a few days later under a lighted parachute. Provided this test goes well (and after SpaceX has completed a flight test of the capsule exhaust system), the first crewed mission to orbit could be launched from Florida later this year.
The Soyuz rocket launches the first six OneWeb satellites. On Wednesday, a Soyuz rocket launched the first six satellites of a constellation that could one day approach 2,000. Fortunately, everything went well. Soyuz rockets had four anomalies in 19 months, SpaceNews OneWeb has therefore changed the number of satellites from 10 to 6, choosing to retain some in case of problems with the rocket.
Other rockets in the eyes … The launch and completion of in-orbit testing paves the way for 20 additional Soyuz launches, each with up to 36 satellites. However, OneWeb has announced that some satellites will also fly on Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne, and Arianespace also announced after its launch that OneWeb would fly satellites on the maiden flight of its Ariane 6 reminder. This could happen in 2020. (submitted by Unrulycow and Ken the Bin)
Reusable rocket plans from Europe seem familiar. The European rocket manufacturer Ariane Group and the French space agency CNES have announced the creation of an "acceleration platform" to accelerate the development of future launchers, reports Ars. As part of this announcement, the new Ariane Works organization has released a video promoting the group's first stage, a so-called Themis demonstrator. The goal of this project is to build a first vertical launch multi-engine rocket that lands near the launch site.
It looks like a Falcon 9 … The rocket has four landing legs and the performance of the first stage seems almost identical to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. "The Chinese are also building a similar prototype, and I have no problem saying that we have not invented anything," said a European official, while Ariane Works was developing a similar landing gear. grasshopper to test the capabilities of vertical landing. Imitation, they say, is the most sincere of flatteries. (submitted by platykurtic)
SpaceX complains about European subsidies. In the 2018 trade negotiations, US companies were asked about their grievances regarding the current barriers to free trade with the European Union. Among the companies that responded were SpaceX, which stated: "The main obstacle to expanding SpaceX launch services to European governments and companies is the maintenance of government subsidies to European launcher programs. ".
Same desired playground … SpaceX was looking for fair competition, which, he said, was impossible because European governments support Arianespace's development and operations. Until recently, Europeans have been complaining mainly about unfair subsidies at the US government's price to SpaceX. Overall, while Europe Is It heavily subsidizes its pitchers sector to avoid being indebted to non-European countries that want its assets to be exported to outer space.
Test bench completed for the Ariane 6 upper stage. The German space agency announced Tuesday the completion of a new test bench in the countryside near Stuttgart to support the top floor of the new Ariane 6 rocket. The test bench is for the Vinci engine, one of which powers the second floor. This new engine, with 40,000 pounds of thrust, had never flown in space before.
A tight schedule … According to the European Space Agency, the test bench will be subject to checks until mid-2019 to check its performance. The full upper stage of Ariane 6 will arrive at the Lampoldshausen facility at the end of 2019 and the simulations will begin in the first quarter of 2020. These are key tests that must be carried out at the beginning of the year. next if the Ariane 6 rocket is to make its first flight in 2020.
Three upcoming launches
March 2: Falcon 9 | Demo-1 Business Team | Kennedy Space Center, Florida. 07:49 UTC
March 9: Long walk 3b | Chinasat 6C | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China | 16:30 UTC
March 13: Delta IV | Broadband global SATCOM spacecraft | Cape Canaveral, Florida 23:40 UTC
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