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Welcome to the Rocket Report 1.19 edition! A lot of news this week about the development of rocket engines in the United States, South Korea and elsewhere. There are also milestones for the Ariane 5 rocket and a birthday for SpaceX.
As always, we accept submissions from readers, and if you do not want to miss a problem, please register using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP compatible versions of the site). Each report will include information on small, medium and large rockets, as well as a quick overview of the next three launches of the schedule.
SpaceX hits 10 years since the Falcon 1. In a detailed article, Ars recounts the difficult eight weeks that followed the third failed flight of the Falcon 1 rocket and the fourth successful flight. "If we had not reached the orbit on this attempt, SpaceX would not exist," Elon Musk said. "It was a very difficult pitch emotionally." Shortly after the launch of the Falcon 1, SpaceX stepped up its work on the development of its Falcon 9 rocket.
An industry changer … It is difficult to overestimate the impact of this successful launch on September 28, 2008 and a commercial launch a year later. "To launch a satellite before SpaceX, money should not be an object," said Chad Anderson, CEO of Space Angels. "It could be $ 90 million, $ 170 million or whatever they want that day, these are incredible barriers to entry for a new business." It's worth reading.
Stratolaunch unveils its PGA rocket engine. In an image gallery presented by Aviation Week, Stratolaunch unveils conceptual drawings of its engine capable of supporting 200,000 pounds of thrust. The story notes that the company's medium rocket, designed to carry six tons in low Earth orbit, will have three cores, each containing a single PGA engine.
Many uses for the engine … The fully reusable Black Ice Spaceplane will also be powered by three PGAs for single-orbit air launch capability. A human version of the vehicle, designed for in-orbit maneuvers and the return of cargo, remains a long-term possibility. The company said it had conducted preliminary PGA engine testing, including hot testing of a smaller set of injectors.
Northrup Grumman seeks to reduce costs for small launchers. Faced with growing competition from start-ups entering the field, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems is seeking to reduce the costs of its existing Pegasus and Minotaur rockets, SpaceNews reports. "Over the years, our designs and concepts and our architecture [have] has evolved with an emphasis on reliability, "said Phil Joyce, vice president of small space launches at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. This reliability is not always cheap. "
Not competitive with rockets coming online … The high costs associated with Pegasus – NASA's 2014 contract for launching the ICON satellite on a Pegasus – were valued at $ 56.3 million, including payload processing and other services. in small satellites. The Pegasus has only been launched four times in the last ten years. Competitors are developing rockets with lifting capacity similar to Pegasus in the $ 10-20 million range. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
South Korea tests the engine on the first floor. The Korean Aerospace Research Institute said it was making progress on its first indigenous rocket, the KSLV-II, which could be ready for flight by 2021. The agency announced that the next step would be between 25 and October 31st. flight test of a single engine fueled with kerosene. According to Yonhap, the single-engine booster should reach an altitude of about 100 km for a suborbital flight.
An important test … The current design of the KSLV-II rocket requires that four of these engines power the first stage and one engine for the second stage. With this program, South Korea is seeking to develop a low cost booster capable of lifting up to 1.5 ton in low Earth orbit. The government hopes to use it for its own purposes and make it also available for commercial launches.
Norwegian company launches hybrid rocket. Nammo's Nucleus rocket, which combines solid and liquid propellant, reached an altitude of more than 107 km in less than three minutes on Thursday and spread to the Atlantic Ocean, 180 km off the Norwegian coast.
Potentially lower costs … A liquid oxidant based on hydrogen peroxide and a rubber-like substance were used as fuels. The liquid and solid fuels remain separated inside the rocket until they are mixed with ignition. As hybrid propellants have a low evaporation rate, they can be loaded safely well before launch. This potentially reduces the cost of launch operations compared to other technologies.
Vector patents propylene fuel rocket engine. Vector has received a patent for its liquid oxygen propylene rocket engine, three of which will power its Vector-R orbital rocket, reports Ars. Never used before in a larger engine, propylene has useful properties of higher density and specific impulse that will give more performance to Vector's little rocket.
A simpler design … Without turbopumps, engine design can be simpler and designers do not have to worry about bubbles or cavitation in the propeller. "For us, every little bit more performance can help us," said Vector co-founder John Garvey. The company is still working on launching its Vector-R rocket this year, from a launch site in Alaska.
Blue Origin's BE-4 engine will power Vulcan. The latest financial release from aerospace manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne reveals that the company did not spend money on developing the AR1 engine this spring. In addition, the 10-Q quarterly filing indicates that Aerojet may permanently stop funding the engine with its own funds – a sign that the company has no immediate customers, Ars reports. This includes United Launch Alliance.
Good for blue … Thursday, The Wall Street Journal Blue Origin had indeed won a contract with United Launch Alliance for its Vulcan rocket, beating Aerojet. An announcement was expected later Thursday. (submitted by Unrulycow)
Ariane 5 launches its 100th launch. On Tuesday, Ariane 5 completed its 100th mission, raising two 10-tonne satellites to the geostationary transfer orbit, reports BBC News. The Horizons 3rd spacecraft and the Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 platform have been delivered in good condition.
The rocket is not over yet "Ariane 5 has been a great success and it's not over, we still have four or five years left with this product," said Alain Charmeau, president of ArianeGroup. "And even with the 100th flight, we continue to improve the product and continue to gain a few extra pounds of payload that we can offer to our customers." It seems more and more likely that the James Webb Space Telescope will be the last flight of the Ariane 5 rocket before Arianespace embarks on the more competitive Ariane 6 propeller. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Japanese company chooses SpaceX for lunar launches. A Japanese company named ispace has announced that it has two planned missions to the moon over the next three years and has acquired releases on two Falcon 9 rockets to perform these flights. The launches will take place mid-2020 and mid-2021.
Japan and SpaceX … The last few weeks have been good for the Asian country and the California rocket company, between this announcement and the Big Falcon Rocket space tourist. "We are entering a new era in space exploration, and SpaceX is proud to have been chosen by ispace to launch [its] first lunar missions, "said Gwynne Shotwell, COO of SpaceX, about the announcement of the lunar lander. This reinforces the perception that SpaceX is helping to pave the way for a new era of flight in large non-governmental spaces.
Northrup launches its GEM-63 engine. For the first time Northrup Grumman tested this week its solid rocket engine GEM-63. The launcher, or a variant, should be used by United Launch Alliance for its Atlas V and Vulcan rockets, as well as for the Northrup Omega launcher.
A successful test … According to SpaceFlight Insider, the 110-second test was successful and marked the beginning of a test that will see the new solid rocket engine ready for use by 2019. (submitted by Ken the Bin).
After a delay of nearly two weeks, the H-IIB rocket is launched. First a typhoon, then technical problems, and finally other weather problems have delayed the launch of a large Japanese rocket and the payload of its HTV spacecraft. The rocket was finally launched successfully on Sunday morning, Japan time, from Tanegashima in the south of the country, reports Spaceflight Now.
Unsung hero … Japan's reliable rocket is a large HTV spacecraft capable of carrying more than five tons of supply, which has been a major drag for NASA when it went commercial with the International Space Station. In this case, the HTV also brought interesting experiments in the space, as well as a small capsule back samples that will bring back the search for orbit.
Spacecom cancels contracts with SSL and SpaceX. Israeli satellite operator Spacecom said on Sept. 25 that it had terminated last spring's contracts with Space Systems manufacturer Loral and launch provider SpaceX for Amos-8. SpaceNews reports. The telecommunications satellite will instead be built in Israel.
A full refund … According to the filing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Spacecom "is entitled to receive a refund of funds paid to SpaceX for the launch of AMOS-8, net of an amount agreed with SpaceX. " Spacecom had ordered Amos-8 from Space Systems Loral to replace the Amos-6 satellite destroyed during the SpaceX Falcon 9 incident in September 2016. (Submitted by Ken the Bin)
Signs of activity in South Texas finally. As SpaceX begins to develop equipment for the Big Falcon rocket and spacecraft, activities around the Boca Chica, Texas facility have been growing in recent months, particularly in recent weeks. That's what Teslarati reports, based on the observations of local observers. Among recent arrivals, there are two large, vacuum insulated tanks for liquid oxygen and liquid methane / natural gas.
Soil overload work … Over the past two years, the SpaceX site has been essentially leveled, loaded with hundreds of tonnes of soil, sealed with drainage pipes, and left alone to do the rest of the work. This has drained and compacted the unstable Texas coastline, which should make it stable enough to build launch facilities. All this suggests that work on the site is continuing towards potential BFR testing by the end of 2019. (Submitted by Ken the Bin)
Three upcoming launches
September 29: Kuaizhou-1A | Satellite Centispace-1 S1 | Jiuquan, China | 04:05 UTC
October 7: Falcon 9 | Satellite SAOCOM 1A | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California 02:22 UTC
October 11: Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-10 with Aleksey Ovchinin and Nick Hague | Baikonur, Kazakhstan | 08:39 UTC
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