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Welcome to Edition 2.16 of the Rocket Report! It has been a busy week in space, with the launch of the first person from the United Arab Emirates as well as the final launch of a venerable Russian rocket. By my favorite story this week is a recollection by Wayne Hale about one contingency NASA never had to put in place with the space shuttle-a crew member riding home in the payload bay.
As always, we do not want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on the AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Blue Origin to conduct two more uncrewed test flights. The Chief Executive Bob Smith said this week. This will probably be a briefing for CNBC reports.
What is driving the delays? … "It's really the strength of our own system. [these delays], "Smith said." It's understandable that a company flying people would be cautious. Any accidents would undoubtedly put a damper on customer enthusiasm. (Submitted by danneely and Ken the Bin)
Virgin Orbit rocket ships to launch site. Virgin said this week that it has shipped the rocket that will fly its first mission into space from the company's factory in Long Beach. At its test site in Mojave, the company says it will begin the rocket's launch campaign. A launch could come late in 2019, provided testing goes well.
Off to the skies … "In the coming weeks, we're going through a number of critical exercises, including loading and fueling with our mobile ground-support equipment," Virgin said. "We are prepping and practicing, making sure we know how to do everything we can conceivably ever need to do, then it's off to the skies-first for a captive carry flight, and then for the launch itself." We're eager to see LauncherOne take to the skies. (submitted by Unrulycow)
Firefly releases updated Payload User's Guide. At first glance, the document appears to contain few significant changes. The Alpha rocket, with a maximum capacity of 1 ton to low Earth orbit, is still being offered to customers for $ 15 million a launch. The guide also provides information about the Beta rocket under development, but it does not provide a price.
Ongoing stage tests … Meanwhile, Firefly has continued to conduct a series of tests for the Alpha vehicle. The company reported last week that it had a full cluster of four Reaver engines on a test stand in Texas, in the same configuration as for an Alpha launch. Vandenberg Air Force Base is the first Firefly mission in the world. (submitted by Unrulycow)
Water plasma propulsion shows promise. Silicon Valley startup Momentus says it has had success in on-orbit testing of water plasma propulsion and other key elements of its space-saving SpaceNews reports. Since July, the company has been firing the water plasma thruster and performing in-space maneuvers on a 16-unit Cubesat.
Early results are promising … "This plasma is the first of its kind in propellant water plasma propulsion, which also has the highest propulsion among other water-based propulsion," the company said. One promising application for the technology is moving satellites from the orbit where they are dropped off by large orbits conducting rideshare missions to their optimal orbital locations. On-orbit testing will continue.
Soyuz FG makes final ride into space. The venerable Soyuz FG rocket launched for the 70th time on Wednesday, lofting Oleg Skripochka (Russia), Jessica Meir (United States), and Hazzaa Al Mansouri (United Arab Emirates) to the International Space Station. The Soyuz FG variant served as a bridge between the Soyuz-U and the newer Soyuz 2 rocket variants, NASASpaceFlight.com reports. The FG launched for the first time in May 2001.
Served NASA and the Russians well … The Soyuz FG has been the only Russian rocket to launch humans to the International Space Station for the last 17 years, and since the US Space Shuttle fleet in July 2011, it has been the only rocket capable of transporting people to the International Space Station. The rocket's only failure came in 2018, when the crew had to make an emergency landing.
Japanese rocket safely launches after pad issue. A Japanese H-2B rocket flew into orbit Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center, Spaceflight Now reports. The cargo freighter was loaded with 4.1 tons of batteries, experiments, spacewalk equipment, water, and supplies for the International Space Station.
Surviving a fire … The launch followed by a first attempt September 10, when a terrible fire on the launchpad halted the countdown. Officials determined the fire caused by the electricity and high concentrations of oxygen that dripped from the rocket's main engines during the September 10 countdown. After instituting unspecific "corrective actions," Mitsubishi Heavy Industries returned the H-2B rocket to the launchpad at half-day before Tuesday's launch to begin a new countdown. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Falcon Heavy rocket is now fully certified. Now that the Falcon Heavy rocket built by SpaceX has flown three flights, it is "fully certified" for Air Force missions. However, the work of the Defense of Reference orbits, Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Space Air Force and Missile Systems Center, told SpaceNews.
More work to go … "It's not certified for any of the most stressing national security space orbits," Gen. Thompson said. "We continue to work with SpaceX to mature their design, and I think that's going well." Launch vehicles are certified for specific mass and orbit combinations. Eventually, the Falcon all nine of the DOD reference orbits. (submitted by Ken the Bin and Unrulycow)
Senate budget fully funds Upper Stage Exploration. The US Senate has a $ 2.586 billion commitment to the Space Launch System, which is more than $ 400 million above 2019 levels. The additional SLS funding includes $ 300 million for work on the Upper Stage Exploration for the Block 1B version of the SLS, SpaceNews reports.
A message from Shelby … At the same time, the Senate budget provides $ 744 million for lunar landers, $ 1 billion NASA said it needed to keep the Artemis Program on track to send humans to the Moon by 2024. This appears to be the Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) Not-so-subtle way of reminding NASA who is really in charge of the agency.
Riding home from space in the shuttle's payload bay. In a blog post this week, space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale shared a delightful story about emergency plans, which were never used, to bring home an astronaut inside the space shuttle's payload bay. It's quite a read.
Wait, really? … "There was a good place to sit down to the bottom of the payload bay aft of the SpaceLab module.It would be a short wait to finish with the de-orbit burn, probably no longer than an hour and a half from de-orbit burn to the ground, and more than 1.5g. "
Next three launches
Oct 10: Pegasus XL | ICON | Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | 01:30 UTC
Oct 10: Proton | Eutelsat 5 West B & MEV 1 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 10:26 UTC
Oct. 21: Antares | Cygnus mission to supply ISS | Wallops Island, Virginia | 18:39 UTC
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