Trevor Mahlman/Ars Technica
Welcome to the 6.16 edition of Rocket Report! Lots of big rocket news today, including SpaceX’s push for faster launch clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration. A full courtroom in Washington, D.C., was filled with reporters as the company announced that the Starship rocket was ready for a second flight test but was still awaiting final regulatory approval. The earliest the launch is currently possible is in the first half of November.
As always, we We welcome reader contributions.If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (this form does not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report includes information about small, medium, and heavy lift rockets, as well as a summary of the next three launches on the calendar.
Virgin Galactic flies 6th mission in less than 6 months.California-based suborbital space travel company announced this week The company’s Galactic 05 mission is scheduled to fly as early as November 2nd. Such flights would continue Virgin Galactic’s impressive monthly pace of VSS flights. unity This year’s spaceship. This flight will carry researchers who will use the interior of the spaceplane as a laboratory for their research.
Famous passengers …I’m especially looking forward to Galactic 05 because the two passengers are acquaintances. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist who led the New Horizons mission to Pluto, which is attempting to perform suborbital astronomical observations. Earlier this year, he told me that it was significantly cheaper to experiment with VSS. unity Rather than NASA buying a sounding rocket. Another researcher on this flight, Kelly Gerardi, is someone I’ve known over the last 10 years through commercial space advocacy. She was kind enough to write the introduction to my book about the origins of SpaceX. unload. Travel safely wherever you go!
Small launch companies struggle with Falcon 9 price. Industry executives say SpaceX’s dominant position in the launch market makes it difficult for smaller rockets to compete. Space news coverage. Executives during a panel discussion at the Satellite Innovation Conference on Tuesday said the Falcon 9 Transporter mission has a “very chilling” impact on the small launch industry, which is struggling to compete on price. Ta. “They definitely dominate the market and have a dominant position,” said Space, former chief executive of launch services company Spaceflight, who now heads law firm Wilson Sonsini’s commercial space group. Kurt Blake of X said. “I think the real question is pricing: What does it cost, and why is it so cheap, dramatically cheap?”
Are you cornering the market? … SpaceX has begun offering rideshare launch opportunities for small satellites at prices as low as $5,000 per kilogram. The company has since raised the price to $5,500 per kilogram, with plans to increase the price annually in the future. However, in most cases their price is far below that offered by dedicated small launch vehicles. “I don’t think we needed to go that low to get a dominant market share,” Blake said, adding that SpaceX has priced between $10,000 and $12,000 per kilogram. He speculated that he could have gotten big business from it. “This is bound to have a huge chilling effect on other funds flowing into start-up launch companies.” (Submitted by Ken The Bin)
Industry unites to extend learning period. Representatives for SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, the three U.S. companies currently able to send people into space, told lawmakers Wednesday they accept new federal safety regulations for their customers. He said the industry is still not mature enough. . A nearly 20-year moratorium on federal regulations regarding the safety of passengers on commercial human spaceflight missions is set to expire on January 1, Ars News Agency reported. In a report submitted to Congress on September 29, the FAA said it believes the United States is ready for the moratorium’s sunset.
I need more time …”The FAA will work with industry and other U.S. government agencies to establish a new safety framework for space transportation that provides for the safety of crew members, government astronauts, and spaceflight participants,” FAA officials said. is written in the report. But officials from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, the three companies active in the field of commercial human spaceflight, were united in the Senate hearing. All agreed that the suspension of human spaceflight regulations should be extended. It was scheduled to expire in early October, but Congress added a three-month extension to the emergency spending bill signed into law to prevent a government shutdown.
