Tag: rocket

SpaceX Test Fires Starship Booster Rocket

SPACE reported that SpaceX “closed out 2023 with a fiery double test of its next Starship megarocket booster and spacecraft…, sharing some stunning videos of both vehicles in the process.” The dual test of engines “on the giant Starship and Super Heavy rocket stages at SpaceX’s Starbase proving ground in Boca Chica, Texas on Friday comes as the company prepares for its third Starship launch test, which is expected in early 2024.” The test, which “lasted about 10 seconds, successfully fired all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, which serves as the first stage of the Starship rocket, the world’s largest and most powerful booster.” SpaceX “confirmed the successful test of the Super Heavy Booster 10, as well as a separate test of one Raptor engine on the Starship Ship 28 that will ride atop Super Heavy Booster 10 during the upcoming test flight.” That Starship test “was aimed at demonstrating the Raptor engine’s restart capabilities in space, the company said.”
Full Story (SPACE)

ULA Vulcan Centaur Rocket’s Maiden Launch Delayed to January

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.”
Full Story (SPACE)

ULA Prepares for First Vulcan Centaur Launch

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.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

Firefly Ready to Test Launch USSF On-Demand Service

Aviation Week reports that sometime in the next six months, Boeing’s Millennium Space Systems and startup Firefly Aerospace “will receive a call from the U.S. Space Force to integrate and launch a satellite in 24 hr.” Until then, the companies “will stand at the ready for the military’s Victus Nox mission.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

NRO Contracts Firefly, Xtenti for Responsive Space Mission

Aviation Week reports Firefly Aerospace is “parlaying technology” developed for its “Alpha launch vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander with expertise acquired through its purchase of Spaceflight into a new business line focused on in-space services, with the National Reconnaissance Office.” Space News reports that on Tuesday, NRO “announced a contract with Firefly Aerospace and Xtenti for a responsive space mission.” The NRO mission is “scheduled to launch on a Firefly Alpha launch vehicle in 2024,” and will “demonstrate multiple on-orbit deployments with Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle and Xtenti’s Fantm-Ride small satellite dispenser.” Elytra will “deploy commercial rideshare payloads with Fantm-Ride, before performing an on-orbit maneuver.” After the maneuver, Elytra “will remain in orbit on standby, prepared to deploy U.S. government payloads on-demand.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)

Space Force to Increase Rocket Launch Purchases

CNBC reported the US Space Force “plans to buy even more rocket launches from companies in the coming years than previously expected, granting more companies a chance at securing billions in potential contracts.” Amid increasing need to improve “military capabilities in space,” the US plans to “almost triple the number of launches in Phase 3 that it bought in Phase 2 in 2020.”
Full Story (CNBC)

Vulcan Rolled Out to Launchpad for Final Series of Tests Ahead of its Debut Launch

Aviation Week (5/11) reports that a “United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan-Centaur rocket was rolled out to its launchpad on May 11 for a final series of tests ahead of its debut launch, targeted for this summer.” Space News reports ULA said on Thursday that the “Vulcan is in position atop SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to undergo a full launch day rehearsal tomorrow and flight readiness firing test of its main engines planned for next week.” ULA CEO Tory Bruno tweeted on Wednesday that the “Vulcan was returning to tanking tests although the investigation of a Centaur upper-stage testing anomaly that occurred on March 29 has not yet been completed.” Bruno said that “ULA plans to livestream the flight-readiness test firing of the BE-4 main engines. The test fire is expected to last about six seconds, he said. ‘A short burn, but a very long time to be on the pad.’”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)