Welcome to Edition 6.03 of the Rocket Report! Today marks the 54th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. For a long time this has meant a time to reflect on the glories of the past. But finally, with the Artemis Program, we also can look forward with hope about what’s coming. That’s something I’m thankful for.
As all the time, we welcome reader submissions, and in case you don’t need to miss a problem, please subscribe using the box below (the shape won’t appear on AMP-enabled versions of the location). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets in addition to a fast look ahead at the following three launches on the calendar.
Rocket Lab recovers one other booster. The launch company’s Electron rocket boosted seven satellites for NASA, Space Flight Laboratory, and Spire Global on Tuesday. This was Rocket Lab’s thirty ninth launch overall, and after the first mission Electron’s first stage accomplished a successful ocean splashdown. Rocket Lab’s recovery team rendezvoused with the stage on the water, successfully bringing it onto a vessel using a specially designed capture cradle, the corporate said.
… The stage was then moved to Rocket Lab’s production complex in Latest Zealand for evaluation to tell future recovery missions and, eventually, re-flight of an Electron. “With this mission we’ve made big strides toward reusability with Electron and we are actually closer than ever to relaunching a booster for the primary time,” said Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck. The corporate is working toward its fortieth launch before the tip of July, with a tentative date of July 28. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
Japanese rocket engine explodes in test. An engine being developed to be used within the Epsilon S small rocket exploded last Friday at a testing facility in Akita Prefecture, the Japan Times reports. The incident occurred about one minute after the bottom test for the second-stage engine began. The engine suddenly spat flames and exploded with a roar, spewing an enormous plume of white smoke into the air that turned black because the inferno continued.
… JAXA is developing the Epsilon S because the successor to the present solid-fueled Epsilon series to reinforce the country’s competitiveness within the growing satellite launch market. Obviously, it is a setback. Furthermore, it comes a couple of months after a second-stage engine issue with the country’s recent H3 rocket forced it to self-destruct. So, not an ideal moment for second-stage engines in Japan. (submitted by BilTheGalacticHero and tsunam)
Europe’s boost program having an impact. With a view to help stimulate industrial space in Europe, the European Space Agency launched the Boost! program in 2019 to offer relatively small grants to firms in the world of launch, in-space services, and other disciplines. A number of years on, the European Spaceflight newsletter assessed the impact that Boost! has had on the industry. The short answer is: It has been a reasonably positive one. “I initially chastised ESA for not doing enough, for not being more daring in providing larger tranches of funding to the businesses,” the creator of the newsletter, Andrew Parsonson, states.
… The newsletter continues: “In November 2022, ESA revealed that for each euro invested by the agency as a part of the Boost! program, the recipient firms managed to draw five euros from private actors. That may mean that the €39.79 million in co-funding awarded by ESA attracted €198.95 million in private investment within the European space industry. That’s a reasonably incredible statistic. And that success ensured that on the 2022 ministerial meeting more funding was allocated for this system and more member states signed on to learn from it.”
Canadian space agency inquisitive about suborbital launches. The Canadian Space Agency is considering using suborbital flights for Canadian scientists and biomedical inventors, spaceQ reports. The agency recently released an announcement of opportunity for flights on providers corresponding to Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. Each flight would come with roughly 4 minutes of microgravity, or 12 times the 20 seconds of availability per cycle on a typical parabolic flight.
… “One in all our mandates is to try to offer access to space to Canada,” the space agency’s Mathieu Caron, director of astronauts, life sciences, and space medicine, told the publication. Acknowledging that the suborbital flights can be “a brand new direction,” he said the announcement of opportunity would help determine if proceeding in that direction would effectively meet the mandate. This would definitely be a pleasant boost for the suborbital space tourism industry if it involves pass. (submitted by Joey-SIVB)