ESA-M. Peduso
Welcome to edition 6.41 of Rocket Report! As I finish reading this issue, I am listening to Boeing’s post-flight readiness review press conference for crew flight tests. Everything appears to be on track for launch on May 6th at 10:34pm ET. We are pleased that this important milestone for Boeing and the U.S. human spaceflight program is on the horizon.
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.
Shetland Spaceport preparing for launch. Scotland’s Saxavord Spaceport is set to launch the UK’s first vertical rocket into orbit. BBC reported. The Civil Aviation Authority has granted the Scottish spaceport a range license, which will give the company control over the sea and airspace during launches. Previously, this facility received a spaceport license in December 2023. The facility ambitiously aims to launch up to 30 rockets each year.
From Germany to Scotland with love …”This is a critical element in launch preparation,” said Frank Strang, chief executive officer of Saxavod Spaceport. “As the only fully licensed vertical launch spaceport in Western Europe, we are now preparing to make further space history with the start of orbital launch operations.” Germany-based rocket manufacturer Rocket Factory Augsburg could launch its first orbital mission from the Shetland Islands later this year (submitted by Ken the Bin).
Rocket Lab launches 5th Electron this year. Rocket Lab on Tuesday launched a South Korean small satellite and NASA solar sail experiment on the company’s fifth flight of the year. Space news coverage. NEONSAT-1 is the mission’s main payload, an imaging satellite with a mass of approximately 100 kilograms. The probe is part of a group of 11 probes called the “New Space and Earth Observation Satellite Group for National Security,” and the remaining 10 are scheduled to be launched on South Korea’s Nuri rocket in 2026 and 2027.
I’d better get busy … This was the first Electron launch in more than a month, following a National Reconnaissance Office mission from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 in Virginia on March 21. Company executives said during a February earnings call that the company plans 22 Electron launches this year, including two suborbital versions of HASTE. This would be an impressive total if Rocket Lab could achieve it. (Submitted by Jay500001)
PLD Space raises €120 million.Startup from Spain revealed this week The company announced that it has raised 120 million euros to date, providing the necessary funds to launch the Miura 5 rocket into orbit by the end of 2025. Last October, the company’s small suborbital Miura 1 rocket underwent what the company described as a “successful” test flight. Reached an altitude of 46km. My very rough rule of thumb is that a launch company needs at least $100 million in funding to have a fighting chance of reaching orbit.
build a new building …The Miura 5 vehicle is designed to have a load capacity of up to 250 kg in low Earth orbit. The new funding will primarily be used to expand PLD Space’s infrastructure, increasing the facility’s area from 169,000 square meters to 834,000 square meters. The company also plans to begin construction of a launch site for the Miura 5 rocket in Kourou, French Guiana, later this year. (Submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
SpaceX lands 300th Falcon booster. Tuesday night’s launch of the Starlink mission and subsequent return of the Falcon 9 first stage marked SpaceX’s 300th successful booster landing. Over the lifetime of the Falcon fleet, SpaceX has landed about 85 percent of the Falcon rockets it has ever launched, Ars reports. These days, more than 90% of all missions are launched on previously flown boosters. So recycling rockets is totally important.
save a lot of metal … Landing 300 rockets means SpaceX saved 2,700 Merlin rocket engines. In rough numbers, the Falcon 9 first stage has a dry mass of approximately 50 metric tons, so landing all these rockets would prevent 15,000 metric tons of metal and other materials from being dumped into the ocean. it was done. To put this number into perspective, only a handful of rockets have ever been launched. launched I have participated more than 300 times, all of them Russians.
China launches astronaut mission. The Long March 2F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Thursday, carrying Shenzhou 18 and its three-person crew into orbit. Space.com report. Shenzhou 18 will be commanded by 43-year-old Ye Guangfu, who participated in the Shenzhou 13 mission three years ago. Fighter pilots Li Kong, 34, and Li Guan-Su, 36, both new to spaceflight, make up the rest of the crew.
Control changes … The three will spend about six months in space. Their spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the Tiangong Space Station six and a half hours after liftoff. The trio will be greeted at the orbital outpost by Shenzhou 17’s crew members, including Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin. The latter three will soon end his six-month stay in orbit. (Submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
