AP News reports that yesterday “Blue Origin launched the 29 lunar technology experiments to the edge of space from West Texas. The company later confirmed that roughly two minutes of artificial lunar gravity were achieved by spinning the capsule 11 times a minute. It was Blue Origin’s first attempt at mimicking lunar gravity, which is one-sixth that of Earth.”
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New Shepard Mission NS-29 Webcast
(Blue Origin; YouTube)
SPACE reports, “Blue Origin is targeting Feb. 4 for the 29th launch of its New Shepard suborbital rocket, which was postponed from Jan. 28 due to weather and a technical “issue with the rocket’s avionics. But everything appears to be in order now … Liftoff of the NS-29 mission is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. ET.”
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Spaceflight Now reports, “Less than a month after the second of two planned certification launches, United Launch Alliance is getting a Vulcan rocket ready for its first national security mission: United States Space Force 106 (USSF-106). On Monday, ULA shared photos of the 109.2-foot-long (33.3 m) booster being hoisted into the Vertical Integration Facility to begin the stacking process. In the days and possibly weeks to come, the 38.5-foot-long (11.7 m) Centaur 5 upper stage will be added along with four solid rocket boosters and the payload fairings.”
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Gizmodo reports United Launch Alliance’s “202-foot-tall (61.6-meter) Vulcan Centaur rocket is set to launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral” on Monday, January 8. According to Gizmodo, this is a “huge deal, as it marks the debut of ULA’s first new rocket design in 18 years. While the (mostly) expendable Vulcan Centaur may not be revolutionary from a technological perspective, it represents a significant evolutionary step for ULA.”
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SPACE reports that the premiere “of the Space Coast’s newest launch vehicle, carrying a moon lander aiming for the first commercial touchdown, will likely slip to the beginning of 2024.” United Launch Alliance (ULA) “performed a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) of the company’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket over the weekend, which includes loading propellant into the spacecraft and running through launch-day procedures up to the moments before engine ignition.” However, the test did not go to plan. A social media post from ULA CEO Tory Bruno Sunday indicated the test “ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish.” Vulcan’s first launch, “which includes the rocket’s Centaur second stage, was scheduled for Dec. 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida.” But the incomplete WDR “means that window is likely out.” The next window “opens Jan. 8, and will last four days, the CEO clarified in a follow-up post.” Each of those opportunities “include an instantaneous launch window to accommodate the mission’s main payload: Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, headed for the moon.”
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The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that United Launch Alliance “has its missing rocket piece in hand at Cape Canaveral and all systems are go for a Christmas Eve launch to mark the debut of its Vulcan Centaur rocket.” A new Centaur upper stage “arrived by barge to the Space Coast on Monday, a replacement for the stage ULA originally planned to fly on the Certification-1 mission this past May.” That initial flight, “already delayed for nearly two years, was again put on hold after an issue with a test version of the Centaur stage was destroyed amid a massive fireball in the spring, requiring design changes to ensure a repeat didn’t happen during actual liftoff.” ULA has been anxious “to get this debut launch off the ground with its primary payload of Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander, part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions.” The lander “traveled from Astrobotic’s headquarters in Pittsburgh arriving to the Space Coast on Oct. 31.”
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Space News reports that satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital “has signed an agreement with French aerospace giant Safran to explore U.S.-based production of satellite propulsion systems, the companies announced June 23.” Under the agreement, Safran Electronics & Defense and Terran Orbital “will investigate opportunities and prerequisites for the production of electric propulsion systems for satellites based on Safran’s PPSX00 plasma thruster.” The PPSX00 “is a hall effect plasma thruster, recently introduced by Safran for the low Earth orbit satellite market.” Safran said, “Plasma propulsion has become the go-to solution for satellite positioning, orbital transfer and stationkeeping, because it offers significant weight savings over conventional chemical propulsion.”
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Space News reports that United Launch Alliance “launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket June 22 at 5:18 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.” It was ULA’s second attempt “of this launch that had been previously scheduled for June 21 but was delayed, the company said, ‘due to an issue with a ground systems pneumatic valve.’” About four minutes into flight, “the outer boosters of the three-core Delta 4 Heavy separated.” The second stage “separated about two minutes later.” This mission was “ULA’s first launch of 2023.” The company in May 2019 “received a U.S. Air Force contract to launch NROL-68.” The Delta 4 Heavy configuration “first launched in December 2004.” Each of the Delta 4 Heavy’s common booster cores “is powered by Aerojet [Rocketdyne’s] RS-68A main engines.” The Delta cryogenic second stage “is powered by an RL10C-2-1 engine.”
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Space News reports that the new Vega C medium-lift rocket took off on its maiden flight Wednesday, “carrying an Italian physics satellite and six cubesats.” The Vega C was launched from the ESA facility in Kourou, French Guiana at 9:13 a.m. EST “at the end of a two-hour launch window. Technical issues had twice halted the countdown sequence.” The primary payload was the 295-kilogram Laser Relativity Satellite-2 (LARES-2), placed “in an unusual inclined orbit at 5,893 kilometers to test Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.”
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First launch of the ESA’s new Vega-C launch vehicle, July 13, 2022
(SciNews via YouTube)
SPACE reports that Rocket Lab has delivered “another spacecraft to orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which operates the nation’s fleet of spy satellites.” The Rocket Lab Electron booster “topped with the NROL-162 spacecraft lifted off from the company’s New Zealand site on Wednesday (July 13) at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT; 6:30 p.m. local time in New Zealand).” About an hour later, “the Electron’s ‘kick stage’ deployed NROL-162 into Earth orbit as planned, Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck confirmed via Twitter.” Rocket Lab wrote Wednesday that NROL-162 “will strengthen the NRO’s ability to provide a wide range of timely intelligence information to national decision makers and intelligence analysts to protect the United States’ vital interests and support humanitarian efforts worldwide.” NROL-162 is a “joint effort of the NRO and the Australian Department of Defence.”
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Rocket Lab’s NROL-162 Launch, July 13, 2022
(The Launch Pad via YouTube)