rocket report

Welcome to Edition 7.47 of the Rocket Report! Let’s hope not, but the quarrel between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk may be remembered as “Black Thursday” for the US space program. A simmering disagreement over Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” coursing its way through Congress erupted into public view, with two of the most powerful Americans trading insults and threats on social media. Trump suggested the government should terminate “Elon’s governmental contracts and subsidies.” Musk responded with a post saying SpaceX will begin decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft used to transport crew and cargo to the International Space Station. This could go a number of ways, but it’s hard to think anything good will come of it.

As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Blue Origin flies aces suborbital space shot. Blue Origin, the space company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos, launched six people to the edge of space Saturday, May 31, from Bezos’ ranch in West Texas, CBS News reports. A hydrogen-fueled New Shepard booster propelled a crew capsule, equipped with the largest windows of any operational spaceship, to an altitude of nearly 65 miles (105 kilometers), just above the internationally recognized boundary between the discernible atmosphere and space, before beginning the descent to landing. The passengers included three Americans—Aymette Medina Jorge, Gretchen Green, and Paul Jeris—along with Canadian Jesse Williams, New Zealand’s Mark Rocket, and Panamanian Jaime Alemán, who served as his country’s ambassador to the United States.

If you missed it … You wouldn’t be alone. This was the 32nd flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, and the company’s 12th human flight. From a technical perspective, these flights aren’t breaking any new ground in human spaceflight or rocketry. However, each flight provides an opportunity for wealthy or well-connected passengers to view Earth from a perspective only about 700 people have seen before. That’s really cool, but most of these launches are no longer newsworthy, and it takes a devoted fan of spaceflight to tune in to a New Shepard flight on a summertime Saturday morning. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Momentum for Amentum. The US Space Force awarded Jacobs Technology a contract worth up to $4 billion over 10 years to provide engineering and technical services at the nation’s primary space launch ranges, as the military seeks to modernize aging infrastructure and boost capacity amid a surge in commercial space activity, Space News reports. Jacobs Technology is now part of Amentum, a defense contractor based in Chantilly, Virginia. Amentum merged with Jacobs in September 2024. The so-called “Space Force Range Contract” covers maintenance, sustainment, systems engineering and integration services for the Eastern and Western ranges until 2035. The Eastern Range operates from Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, while the Western Range is based at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Picking from the menu … The contract represents a significant shift in how space launch infrastructure is funded. Under the new arrangement, commercial launch service providers—which now account for the majority of launches at both ranges—can request services or upgrades and pay for them directly, rather than having the government bear the costs upfront. This arrangement would create a more market-driven approach to range operations and potentially accelerate modernization. “Historically, the government has fronted these costs,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, Space Launch Delta 45 Commander and Eastern Range Director, said June 3 in a news release. “The ability of our commercial partners to directly fund their own task order will lessen the financial and administrative burden on the government and is in line with congressionally mandated financial improvement and audit readiness requirements.”

Impulse Space rakes in more cash. This week, an in-space propulsion company, Impulse Space, announced that it had raised a significant amount of money, $300 million, Ars reports. This follows a fundraising round just last year in which the Southern California-based company raised $150 million. This is one of the largest capital raises in space in a while, especially for a non-launch company. Founded by Tom Mueller, a former propulsion guru at SpaceX, Impulse Space has test-flown an orbital maneuvering vehicle called Mira on two flights over the last couple of years. The company is developing a larger vehicle, named Helios, that could meaningfully improve the ability of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy to transport large payloads to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations in the Solar System.

Reacting to the market … The Mira vehicle was originally intended to provide “last-mile” services for spacecraft launched as part of rideshare missions. “The reality is the market for that is not very good,” said Eric Romo, the company’s CEO. Instead, Impulse Space found interest from the Space Force to use Mira as an agile platform for hosting electronic warfare payloads and other military instrumentation in orbit. “Mira wasn’t necessarily designed out of the gate for that, but what we found out after we flew it successfully was, the Space Force said, ‘Hey, we know what that thing’s for,” Romo said. Helios is a larger beast, with an engine capable of producing 15,000 pounds of thrust and the ability to move a multi-ton payload from low-Earth orbit to geostationary space in less than a day. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Falcon rockets surpass 500 flights. SpaceX was back at the launch pad for a midweek flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This particular flight, designated Starlink 11-22, marked the company’s 500th orbital launch attempt with a Falcon rocket, including Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, Spaceflight Now reports. This milestone coincided with the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch on June 4, 2010. The day before, SpaceX launched the 500th Falcon rocket overall, counting a single suborbital flight in 2020 that tested the Dragon spacecraft’s abort system. The launch on Wednesday from California was the 68th Falcon 9 launch of the year.

Chasing Atlas … The soon-to-be-retired Atlas rocket holds the record for the most-flown family of space launchers in the United States, with 684 launches to date, beginning with Atlas ICBMs in the Cold War to the Atlas V rocket flying today. In reality, however, the Atlas V shares virtually nothing in common with the Atlas ICBM, other than its name. The Atlas V has new engines, more modern computers, and a redesigned booster stage that ended the line of pressure-stabilized “balloon tanks” that flew on Atlas rockets from 1957 until 2005. The Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy share more heritage, all using variants of SpaceX’s Merlin engine. If you consider the Atlas rocket as the US record-holder for most space launches, SpaceX’s Falcon family is on pace to reach 684 flights before the end of 2026.

SpaceX delivers again for GPS. The Space Force successfully sent its latest GPS III satellite to orbit Friday, May 30, demonstrating the ability to prepare and launch a military spacecraft on condensed timelines, Defense News reports. The satellite flew on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. GPS III, built by Lockheed Martin, is the latest version of the navigation and timing system and is designed to provide improved anti-jamming capabilities. It will broadcast additional military and civilian signals.

More anti-jamming capability … The launch was the second in a series of Rapid Response Trailblazer missions the Space Force is running to test whether it can quickly launch high-value satellites in response to national security needs. The goal is to condense a process that can take up to two years down to a handful of months. The first mission, which flew in December, reduced the time between launch notification and lift off to around five months—and the May 30 mission shortened it even further, to around 90 days. In addition to demonstrating the launch could be done on an accelerated timeline, Space Force officials were motivated to swap this satellite from United Launch Alliance’s long-delayed Vulcan rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in order to add more tech to the GPS constellation to counter jamming and spoofing. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

An autopsy on Reaction Engines. An article published by the BBC this week recounts some of the backstory behind the bankruptcy of Reaction Engines, a British company that labored for 35 years to develop a revolutionary air-breathing rocket engine. According to the vision of the company’s leaders, the new engine, called SABRE, could have powered a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane or hypersonic vehicles within the atmosphere. If an engine like SABRE could ever be mastered, it could usher in a new era of spaceplanes that can take off and land horizontally on a runway, instead of launching vertically like a rocket.

A little too quixotic … But Reaction Engines started in an era too soon for true commercial spaceflight and couldn’t convince enough venture capital investors that the idea could compete with the likes of SpaceX. Instead, the company secured a handful of investments from large aerospace companies like Boeing, BAE Systems, and Rolls-Royce. This money allowed Reaction Engines to grow to a staff of approximately 200 employees and kept it afloat until last October, when the company went into administration and laid off its workforce. “A few people were in tears,” Richard Varvill, the company’s chief engineer, told the BBC. “A lot of them were shocked and upset because they’d hoped we could pull it off right up to the end.” It was galling for Varvill “because we were turning it around with an improved engine. Just as we were getting close to succeeding, we failed. That’s a uniquely British characteristic.” (submitted by ShuggyCoUk)

Draconian implications for Trump’s budget. New details of the Trump administration’s plans for NASA, released Friday, May 30, revealed the White House’s desire to end the development of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that could have shown a new way of exploring the Solar System, Ars reports. The budget proposal’s impacts on human spaceflight and space science have been widely reported, but Trump’s plan would cut NASA’s space technology budget in half. One of the victims would be DRACO, a partnership with DARPA to develop and test the first nuclear thermal rocket engine in space.

But wait, there’s more … The budget proposal not only cancels DRACO, but it also zeros out funding for all of NASA’s nuclear propulsion projects. Proponents of nuclear propulsion say it offers several key advantages for sending heavy cargo and humans to deep space destinations, like Mars. “This budget provides no funding for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion and Nuclear Electric Propulsion projects,” officials wrote in the NASA budget request. “These efforts are costly investments, would take many years to develop, and have not been identified as the propulsion mode for deep space missions. The nuclear propulsion projects are terminated to achieve cost savings and because there are other nearer-term propulsion alternatives for Mars transit.” Trump’s budget request isn’t final. Both Republican-controlled houses of Congress will write their own versions of the NASA budget, which must be reconciled before going to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

Blue Origin CEO says government should get out of the launch business. Eighteen months after leaving his job as a vice president at Amazon to take over as Blue Origin’s chief executive, Dave Limp has some thoughts on how commercial companies and government agencies like NASA should explore the Solar System together. First, the government should leave launching things into space to private industry. “I think commercial folks can worry about the infrastructure,” he said. “We can do the launch. We can build the satellite buses that can get you to Mars much more frequently, that don’t cost billions of dollars. We can take a zero, and over time, maybe two zeros off of that. And if the governments around the world leave that to the commercial side, then there are a lot more resources that are freed up for the science side, for the national prestige side, and those types of things.”

Do the exotic … While commercial companies should drive the proverbial bus into the Solar System, NASA should get back to its roots in research and exploration, Limp said. “I would say, and it might be a little provocative, let’s have those smart brains look on the forward-thinking types of things, the really edge of science, planning the really exotic missions, figuring out how to get to planetary bodies we haven’t gotten to before, and staying there.” But Limp highlighted one area where he thinks government investment is needed: the Moon. He said there’s currently no commercial business case for sending people to the Moon, and the government should continue backing those efforts.

Hurdles ahead for Rocket Cargo. The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the military for details on a proposal to build a rocket test site in a remote wildlife refuge less than 900 miles from Hawaiʻi Island, Hawaiʻi Public Radio reports. The Air Force announced in March that it planned to prepare an environmental assessment for the construction and operation of two landing pads on Johnston Atoll to test the viability of using rockets to deliver military cargo loads. While the announcement didn’t mention SpaceX, that company’s Starship rocket is on contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to work on delivering cargo anywhere in the world within an hour. Now, several conservationists have spoken out against the proposal, pointing out that Johnston is an important habitat for birds and marine species.

Scarred territory … For nearly a century, Johnston Atoll has served dual roles as a wildlife refuge and a base for US military operations, including as a nuclear test site between 1958 and 1963. In March, the Air Force said it anticipated an environmental assessment for its plans on Johnston Atoll would be available for public review in early April. So far, it has not been released. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a Freedom of Information Act request about the project. They say a determination on their request was due by May 19, but they have not received a response. The center filed a lawsuit last week to compel the military to rule on their request and release information about the project.

Getting down to business at Starbase. SpaceX’s rockets make a lot of noise at Starbase, but the machinations of setting up Texas’ newest city are in motion, too. After months of planning, SpaceX launched the city of Starbase on May 29 with its first public meeting chaired by Mayor Robert Peden and the City Commission at The Hub, a building owned by SpaceX, ValleyCentral.com reports. During the meeting, which lasted about 80 minutes, they hired a city administrator, approved standard regulations for new construction, and created a committee to guide the community’s long-term development. Voters approved the creation of Starbase on May 3, incorporating territory around SpaceX’s remote rocket factory and launch site near the US-Mexico border. SpaceX owns most of the land in Starbase and employs nearly everyone in the tiny town, including the mayor.

Property rights and zoning … The new city’s leaders have told landowners they plan to introduce land use rules that could result in changes for some residents,” KUT reports. In a letter, Starbase’s first city administrator, Kent Myers, warned local landowners that they may lose the right to continue using their property for its current use under the city’s new zoning plan. “Our goal is to ensure that the zoning plan reflects the City’s vision for balanced growth, protecting critical economic drivers, ensuring public safety, and preserving green spaces,” the letter, dated May 21, reads. This is a normal process when a city creates new zoning rules, and a new city is required by state law to notify landowners—most of which are SpaceX or its employees—of potential zoning changes so they can ask questions in a public setting. A public meeting to discuss the zoning ordinance at Starbase is scheduled for June 23.

Next three launches

June 7: Falcon 9 | SXM-10| Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 03: 19 UTC

June 8: Falcon 9 | Starlink 15-8 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 13: 34 UTC

June 10: Falcon 9 | Axiom Mission 4 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | 12: 22 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.46 of the Rocket Report! As I write this, the date is May 29. From a meteorological standpoint, “spring” ends in fewer than three days. Summer lasts from June 1 through August 31. Consider this a public service announcement for launch companies targeting “spring” and “summer” launches for various missions.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Xodiac rocket makes its final flight. Originally built by Masten Space Systems, the suborbital Xodiac rocket had flown 175 successful missions before a flight from Mojave, California, on Wednesday. But now, it will fly no more. “While the vehicle remained within its planned flight envelope, it detected an anomalous condition and commanded a flight termination,” said Astrobotic, which acquired Masten a couple of years ago. “This resulted in a rapid descent and caused a loss of the vehicle upon impact with its launch pad.”

Now entering the Xogdor waiting room … There were no injuries or significant damage to the company’s infrastructure in Mojave. The vehicle is essentially a hopper and has been used in recent years by various customers, including companies building commercial lunar landers, to test their hazard-detection systems. Astrobotic has been working on a larger version of Xodiac, which it is calling Xogdor.

Chinese firm tests Grasshopper-like rocket. Chinese private rocket firm Space Epoch said Thursday it had successfully run a flight recovery test, Reuters reports. Beijing-based Space Epoch, or SEPOCH, said its Yuanxingzhe-1 verification rocket was launched at 4: 40 am from a sea-based platform off the waters of the eastern province of Shandong. The rocket soared upward, its engines briefly shutting down after the peak of its trajectory, then reigniting as it began its vertical descent to enter the Yellow Sea in a circle of fire, a video posted on Space Epoch’s WeChat account showed.

Chasing the Falcon 9 … The flight lasted 125 seconds, reaching a height of about 2.5 km (1.6 miles), the company said. Last year, another Chinese launch company, LandSpace, completed a 10-km (6.2-mile) VTVL test, marking China’s first in-flight engine reignition in descent. Both companies are pushing to make debut tests of their reusable rockets later this year.

Florida company aims to acquire F-4 Phantoms for launch. Starfighters International, a company best known for doing air shows, is now seeking to move into air launch. Based at Kennedy Space Center, the company is in the process of acquiring a dozen F-4 Phantoms, a Cold War-era fighter jet, TWZ reports. Starfighters International is seeking to acquire the F-4 aircraft from South Korea.

Press F-4 to doubt? … Based upon the information in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company is considering both a suborbital and orbital launch capability for small satellites, which would fly to space on a small rocket deployed from the F-4 Phantom. In my experience, air-based launch systems always seem like a better idea on paper than in reality. Perhaps there is some potential for hypersonics here, but I would be shocked to ever see a satellite launched into orbit from a fighter jet. (submitted by Biokleen)

Rocket Lab acquires Geost. Rocket Lab is expanding deeper into the defense sector with the acquisition of Geost, a supplier of electro-optical and infrared sensor payloads used in US military satellites, Space News reports. In a deal announced Tuesday, Rocket Lab will acquire Geost from the private equity firm ATL Partners for $125 million in cash and $150 million in stock, with an additional $50 million in potential cash payments tied to revenue targets in 2026 and 2027.

Seeking mil money … The acquisition gives Rocket Lab access to satellite sensor technology used by the US Department of Defense for missile-warning systems and space surveillance—capabilities that could help it win lucrative Pentagon contracts. “The acquisition of Geost will bring on board critical technology and payloads that are relied upon by the Department of Defense,” said Rocket Lab’s chief executive, Peter Beck. Rocket Lab has been seeking to expand its military contracts in recent years, and this move is consistent with that.

Northrop names rocket, invests in Firefly. Northrop Grumman announced Thursday that it is investing $50 million into Firefly Aerospace to further development of a medium-lift rocket. The company also revealed that the rocket will be named “Eclipse.” The rocket will be capable of launching up to 16,300 kg of cargo to low-Earth orbit or 3,200 kg of cargo to geosynchronous transfer orbit, and initially it will likely be used for Cygnus cargo missions to the International Space Station.

A match made in heaven? … Eclipse will use the same first stage Firefly is developing for the Northrop Grumman Antares 330 rocket. Both launch vehicles will use seven of Firefly’s Miranda engines. The new rocket is expected to make its debut no earlier than 2026 (and, if history is any guide, probably later). “Eclipse gives customers the right balance of payload capacity and affordability,” Northrop Vice President Wendy Williams said in a statement. “Our partnership with Firefly builds on our capacity to provide crucial space-based communication, observation, and exploration for civil and national security customers.”

China launches asteroid mission. A Chinese spacecraft built to collect specimens from an unexplored asteroid and return them to Earth launched Wednesday from a military-run spaceport in the country’s mountainous interior, Ars reports. The liftoff aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang launch base kicked off the second mission in a series of Chinese probes to explore the Solar System. This mission, designated Tianwen-2, follows the Tianwen-1 mission, which became the first Chinese spacecraft to land on Mars in 2021.

Sending samples home … China has two objectives for Tianwen-2. First, Tianwen-2 will fly to a near-Earth asteroid designated 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, or 2016 HO3. Once there, the spacecraft will retrieve a rocky sample from the asteroid’s surface and bring the material back to Earth in late 2027 for analysis in labs. After the spacecraft releases its sample carrier to land on Earth, Tianwen-2 will change course and head to a mysterious comet-like object found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Next Kuiper launch gets a June date. United Launch Alliance said Thursday that an Atlas V rocket will launch its second batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites next month. The Atlas V 551 rocket launch is planned for 2: 29 pm ET on June 13 from Space Launch Complex-41, pending range approval.

A speedy turnaround … Amazon also confirmed that it has finished processing the Kuiper satellites for the launch, saying all 27 spacecraft have been integrated onto the rocket. Getting to space in June with this mission will mark an impressive turnaround from Amazon, given that its KA-01 mission, also with 27 Internet satellites, launched on April 28.

SpaceX set to launch another GPS satellite. SpaceX is gearing up to launch a Global Positioning System satellite for the US military on Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, marking another high-profile national security mission that shifted from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan to the Falcon 9 rocket, Space News reports. The launch of GPS III SV-08—the eighth satellite in the GPS III constellation—was originally assigned to United Launch Alliance but was switched to SpaceX as the military prioritizes getting advanced anti-jamming capabilities into orbit as quickly as possible.

Gotta go fast … This marks the second consecutive GPS III satellite to be switched from ULA to SpaceX, following December’s launch of GPS III SV-07. ULA’s Vulcan, which received certification to launch national security missions, continues to face delays and has accumulated a backlog of military launches. In a press call this week, Space Force officials said the mission was executed on an unusually accelerated timeline. Launch planning for GPS III SV-08 kicked off in February, with Lockheed Martin receiving a formal request on February 21 and SpaceX following on March 7, just under three months ahead of liftoff. That’s an extraordinary pace for a national security launch, they said, which typically takes 18 to 24 months from contract award.

Another Starship launch, another second-stage issue. SpaceX made some progress on another test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket Tuesday, finally overcoming technical problems that plagued the program’s two previous launches, Ars reports. But minutes into the mission, SpaceX’s Starship lost control as it cruised through space, then tumbled back into the atmosphere somewhere over the Indian Ocean nearly an hour after taking off from Starbase, Texas, the company’s privately owned spaceport near the US-Mexico border. During the rocket’s two previous test flights—each using an upgraded “Block 2” Starship design—problems in the ship’s propulsion system led to leaks during launch, eventually triggering an early shutdown of the rocket’s main engines.

Not great, not terrible … On both flights, the vehicle spun out of control and broke apart, spreading debris over an area near the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The good news is that that didn’t happen on Tuesday. The ship’s main engines fired for their full duration, putting the vehicle on its expected trajectory toward a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. For a short time, it appeared the ship was on track for a successful flight. The bad news is that Tuesday’s test flight revealed more problems, preventing SpaceX from achieving the most important goals Musk outlined going into the launch, including testing Starship’s reentry tiles.

Elon Musk talks Starship version 3. In an interview with Ars Technica, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he expects that an upgraded version of Starship—essentially Block 3 of the vehicle with upgraded Raptor engines—should fly before the end of the year. The business end of the rocket will have a sleek look: “The upgraded Raptors have a complete redesign of the aft end of the booster and the ship,” Musk said. “So, because we don’t need the heat shield around the upper portion of the engine, it greatly simplifies the base of the booster and the ship. It’ll look a little, frankly, naked, especially on the booster side, because the engines will just be there, like, not with stuff around them.”

A difficult upgrade to work through … “This is a design change that I really had to push the team very hard to do, to get rid of any secondary structure, and any parts that could get burned off because there will be no heat shield,” Musk added. “So it’ll be very clear when we have a Raptor 3. Version 3 of the Ship and Booster has quite a radical redesign.” Given the challenges that version 2 of Starship has faced with its recent flights, an upgrade in the overall design appears to be much-needed.

Next three launches

May 30: Falcon 9 | GPS III SV-08 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 17: 23 UTC

May 31: New Shepard | NS-32 | Launch Site One, West Texas | 13: 30 UTC

May 31: Falcon 9 | Starlink 11-18 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 20: 01 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.44 of the Rocket Report! We had some interesting news on Thursday afternoon from Down Under. As Gilmour Space was preparing for the second launch attempt of its Eris vehicle, as part of the pre-launch preparations, something triggered the payload fairing to deploy. We would love to see some video of that. Please.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Rotating detonation rocket engine takes flight. On Wednesday, US-based propulsion company Venus Aerospace completed a short flight test of its rotating detonation rocket engine at Spaceport America in New Mexico, Ars reports. It is believed to be the first US-based flight test of an idea that has been discussed academically for decades. The concept has previously been tested in a handful of other countries, but never with a high-thrust engine.

Hypersonics on the horizon… The company has only released limited information about the test. The small rocket, powered by the company’s 2,000-pound-thrust engine, launched from a rail in New Mexico. The vehicle flew for about half a minute and, as planned, did not break the sound barrier. Governments around the world have been interested in rotating detonation engine technology for a long time because it has the potential to significantly increase fuel efficiency in a variety of applications, from Navy carriers to rocket engines. In the near term, Venus’ engine could be used for hypersonic missions.

Gilmour Space has a payload fairing mishap. Gilmour Space, a venture-backed startup based in Australia, said this week it was ready to launch a small rocket from its privately owned spaceport on a remote stretch of the country’s northeastern coastline, Ars reports. Gilmour’s three-stage rocket, named Eris, was prepped for a launch as early as Wednesday, but a ground systems issue delayed an attempt until Thursday US time. And then on Thursday, something odd happened: “Last night, during final checks, an unexpected issue triggered the rocket’s payload fairing,” the company said Thursday afternoon, US time.

Always more problems to solve… Gilmour, based in Gold Coast, Australia, was founded in 2012 by two brothers, Adam and James Gilmour, who came to the space industry after careers in banking and marketing. Today, Gilmour employs more than 200 people, mostly engineers and technicians. The debut launch of Gilmour’s Eris rocket is purely a test flight. Gilmour has tested the rocket’s engines and rehearsed the countdown last year, loading propellant and getting within 10 seconds of launch. But Gilmour cautioned in a post on LinkedIn early Wednesday that “test launches are complex.” And it confirmed that on Thursday. Now the company will need to source a replacement fairing, which will probably take a while.

Is an orbital launch from Argentina imminent? We don’t know much about the Argentinian launch company TLON Space, which is developing a (very) small-lift orbital rocket called Aventura 1. According to the company’s website, this launch vehicle will be capable of lofting 25 kg to low-Earth orbit. Some sort of flight test took place two years ago, but the video cuts off after a minute, suggesting that the end of the flight was less than nominal.

Maybe, maybe not… Now, a publication called Urgente24 reports that an orbital launch attempt is underway. It is not clear exactly what this means, and details about what is actually happening at the Malacara Spaceport in Argentina are unclear. I could find no other outlets reporting on an imminent launch attempt. So my guess is that nothing will happen soon, but it is something we’ll keep an eye on regardless. (Submitted by fedeng.)

Poland launches suborbital rocket. Poland has successfully launched a single-stage rocket demonstrator at the Central Air Force Training Ground in Ustka, European Spaceflight reports. The flight was part of a project to develop a three-stage solid-fuel rocket for research payloads. In 2020, the Polish government selected Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 1 to lead a consortium developing a three-stage suborbital launch system.

Military uses eyed… The Trójstopniowa Rakieta Suborbitalna (TRS) project involves the Military Institute of Armament Technology and Zakład Produkcji Specjalnej Gamrat and is co-financed by the National Center for Research and Development. The goal of the TRS project is to develop a three-stage rocket capable of carrying a 40-kilogram payload to an altitude exceeding 100 kilometres. While the rocket will initially be used to carry research payloads into space, Poland’s Military Institute of Armament Technology has stated that the technology could also be used for the development of anti-aircraft and tactical missiles.

Latitude signs MoU to launch microsats. On Wednesday, the French launch firm Latitude announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the launch of a microsatellite constellation dedicated to storing and processing data directly in orbit. In an emailed news release, Latitude said the “strategic partnership” represents a major step forward in strengthening collaborations between UAE and French space companies.

That’s a lot of launches… Madari Space is developing a constellation of microsatellites (50 to 100 kg), designed as true orbital data centers. Their mission is to store and process data generated on Earth or by other satellites. Latitude plans its first commercial launch with its small-lift Zephyr rocket as early as 2026, with the ambition of reaching a rate of 50 launches per year from 2030. An MoU represents an agreement but not a firm launch contract.

China begins launching AI constellation. China launched 12 satellites early Wednesday for an on-orbit computing project led by startup ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab, Space News reports. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 12: 12 am Eastern on Wednesday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Commercial company ADA Space released further details, stating that the 12 satellites form the “Three-Body Computing Constellation,” which will directly process data in space rather than on the ground, reducing reliance on ground-based computing infrastructure.

Putting the intelligence in space… ADA Space claims the 12 satellites represent the world’s first dedicated orbital computing constellation. This marks a shift from satellites focused solely on sensing or communication to ones that also serve as data processors and AI platforms. The constellation is part of a wider “Star-Compute Program,” a collaboration between ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab, which aims to build a huge on-orbit network of 2,800 satellites. (Submitted by EllPeaTea.)

SpaceX pushes booster reuse record further. SpaceX succeeded with launching 28 more Starlink satellites from Florida early Tuesday morning following an overnight scrub the previous night. The Falcon 9 booster, 1067, made a record-breaking 28th flight, Spaceflight Now reports.

Booster landings have truly become routine… A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, SpaceX landed B1067 on its drone ship, Just Read the Instructions, which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean to the east of the Bahamas. This marked the 120th successful landing for this drone ship and the 446th booster landing to date for SpaceX. (Submitted by EllPeaTea.)

What happens if Congress actually cancels the SLS rocket? The White House Office of Management and Budget dropped its “skinny” budget proposal for the federal government earlier this month, and the headline news for the US space program was the cancellation of three major programs: the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and the Lunar Gateway. In a report, Ars answers the question of what happens to Artemis and NASA’s deep space exploration plans if that happens. The most likely answer is that NASA turns to an old but successful playbook: COTS.

A market price for the Moon… This stands for Commercial Orbital Transportation System and was created by NASA two decades ago to develop cargo transport systems (eventually, this became SpaceX’s Dragon and Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft) for the International Space Station. Since then, NASA has adopted this same model for crew services as well as other commercial programs. Under the COTS model, NASA provides funding and guidance to private companies to develop their own spacecraft, rockets, and services and then buys those at a “market” rate. Sources indicate that NASA would go to industry and seek an “end-to-end” solution for lunar missions—that is, an integrated plan to launch astronauts from Earth, land them on the Moon, and return them to Earth.

Starship nearing its next test flight. SpaceX fired six Raptor engines on the company’s next Starship rocket Monday, clearing a major hurdle on the path to launch later this month on a high-stakes test flight to get the private rocket program back on track. SpaceX hasn’t officially announced a target launch date, but sources indicate a launch could take place toward the end of next week, prior to Memorial Day weekend, Ars reports. The launch window would open at 6: 30 pm local time (7: 30 pm EDT; 23: 30 UTC).

Getting back on track… If everything goes according to plan, Starship is expected to soar into space and fly halfway around the world, targeting a reentry and controlled splashdown into the Indian Ocean. While reusing the first stage is a noteworthy milestone, the next flight is important for another reason. SpaceX’s last two Starship test flights ended prematurely when the rocket’s upper stage lost power and spun out of control, dropping debris into the sea near the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Next three launches

May 16: Falcon 9 | Starlink 15-5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 13: 43 UTC

May 17: Electron | The Sea God Sees | Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | 08: 15 UTC

May 18: PSLV-XL | RISAT-1B | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India | 00: 29 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.42 of the Rocket Report! For about a decade now, we’ve been following the development of the Starbase facility in South Texas. Up until 2019, progress was slow, but then the Starship program kicked into high gear, and SpaceX built up a production site beneath tents. The area has come a long way since then, and as soon as this weekend, there may be a new municipality, Starbase, in Texas.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Firefly’s Alpha rocket fails again. Firefly Aerospace launched its two-stage Alpha rocket from California early Tuesday, but something went wrong about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, rendering the vehicle unable to deploy an experimental satellite into orbit for Lockheed Martin, Ars reports. The booster stage jettisoned from Alpha’s upper stage two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, and that’s when things went awry. A bright cloud of white vapor appeared high in the sky, indicating an explosion—or something close to it.

Not a great record … A short time later, Firefly released a statement acknowledging a “mishap during first stage separation… that impacted the Stage 2 Lightning engine nozzle.” Firefly is one of just a handful of active US launch companies with rockets that have reached low-Earth orbit, but its Alpha rocket hasn’t established a reliable track record. In six flights, Alpha has amassed just two unqualified successes. Two prior Alpha launches deployed their payloads in lower-than-planned orbits, and the rocket’s debut test flight in 2021 failed soon after liftoff.

Hypersonic missile launches from the Cape. The US military launched a long-range hypersonic missile last Friday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a test flight that, if successful, could pave the way for the weapon’s operational deployment later this year. The Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon fired out of a canister on a road-mobile trailer shortly after sunrise on Florida’s Space Coast, then headed east over the Atlantic Ocean propelled by a solid-fueled rocket booster, Ars reports.

Getting into the game … The new missile is poised to become the first ground-based hypersonic weapon fielded by the US military. Russia has used hypersonic missiles in combat against Ukraine. China has “the world’s leading hypersonic missile arsenal,” according to a recent Pentagon report on Chinese military power. After a successful test flight from Cape Canaveral last year, the long-range hypersonic weapon—officially named “Dark Eagle” by the Army earlier this week—will give the United States the ability to strike targets with little or no warning.

Vega launches Biomass satellite. A Vega C rocket successfully launched an Earth science satellite for the European Space Agency, a mission officials said was also a demonstration of European space sovereignty, Space News reports. The 1,250 kg Biomass satellite was built by Airbus Defence and Space as part of ESA’s Earth Explorer program of Earth science missions. The launch was the first for the Vega C since its return to flight in December 2024, nearly two years after a launch failure on a mission designated VV22.

Space sovereignty a priority … After the launch, officials emphasized the importance of having both Vega C and the larger Ariane 6 rocket in operation. “In the current context, full of uncertainty and with some geopolitical evolution,” said David Cavaillolès, chief executive of Arianespace, “the fact that we are able to cover any mission with our two launchers is something that is of utmost importance.” There are four more Ariane 6 and two more Vega C launches planned for this year, with the next being another Vega C launch in July.

Europe tests P160C rocket booster. The European Space Agency said that the initial test of its P160C solid-propellant rocket motor, on April 24, was a success. The test firing lasted for more than two minutes, completing a full burn and expending all of its propellant as would happen during a launch. This new booster is a larger version of the P120C motor currently in use as a strap-on booster by the Ariane 6 rocket and as the core stage of the Vega C rocket.

We need more power, Scotty … Compared to the P120C, the new booster holds 14 percent more propellant, for a total of 167 metric tons, and is a meter taller. The larger and more powerful booster will allow Ariane 6 and Vega-C to launch heavier payloads into different orbits and destinations. It will also be used by the next-generation Vega-E rocket. The upgraded booster is important for the Ariane 6 to meet its commitment to launch hundreds of Project Kuiper satellites for Amazon.

ULA launches its first rocket of the year. The first 27 operational satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband network lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast on Monday evening on an Atlas V rocket, the opening salvo in a challenge to SpaceX’s dominant Starlink global Internet service, Ars reports. Monday’s milestone launch kicks off a test campaign in low-Earth orbit to verify the functionality and performance of Amazon’s satellites. In a statement earlier this month, Amazon said it planned to begin providing service to customers later this year.

Putting the Atlas V to the test … The Atlas V, manufactured by United Launch Alliance, flew in its most powerful configuration, with five strap-on solid rocket boosters and an extended nose cone to accommodate the Kuiper satellites. Amazon’s 27 spacecraft added up to become the heaviest payload ever launched by an Atlas V in 102 missions. Amazon is using the Atlas V to boost its first batches of satellites to orbit and aims to launch thousands more Kuiper satellites in the next few years.

SpaceX launches 50th rocket of the year. The California company launched two separate Starlink missions within six hours of each other on Monday. The second of these, the Starlink 12-10 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, was the company’s 50th of the year, Spaceflight Now reports.

That’s quite a cadence you’ve got there … Since there are so many, it is kind of boring keeping count of Falcon 9 missions these days, but with 50 launches in the first third of the year, the company is on pace for 150 Falcon family launches this year. For what it’s worth, the company also recently launched its 250th Starlink mission overall, a pretty remarkable feat in less than six years.

Isaacman commits to Artemis II and III as is. The US Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday advanced the nomination of private astronaut and businessman Jared Isaacman as the next administrator of NASA to the Senate floor, setting up the final step before he is confirmed, Ars reports. The vote was not unanimous, at 19–9, with all of the nay votes coming from senators on the Democratic side of the aisle. However, some key Democrats voted in favor of Isaacman, including the ranking member of the committee, Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Approval was contingent on support for Artemis … Notably, both Cantwell and the committee’s chair, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas, cited Isaacman’s support for the Artemis Program, and flying the next two missions on the Space Launch System rocket, as critical factors in their support. “A commitment to keeping on with the Moon mission is the key requirement we have to have in this position,” Cantwell said. “While it’s not clear to me where the Trump administration ultimately will end up on the NASA budget, and I have concerns about some of their proposed cuts today, Mr. Isaacman seems to be committed to the current plan.”

NASA swaps an Artemis II rocket engine. A couple of weeks ago, ground teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida removed one of the four main engines from the Space Launch System rocket slated to send four astronauts on a voyage around the Moon next year, Ars reports. NASA officials ordered the removal of one of the massive rocket’s RS-25 main engines after discovering a hydraulic leak on the engine’s main oxidizer valve actuator, which controls the flow of super-cold liquid oxygen propellant into the engine’s main combustion chamber.

Installed two years ago … In its place, technicians installed another RS-25 engine from NASA’s inventory to the bottom of the rocket’s core stage, which is standing vertical on its mobile launch platform inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy. This is the first time NASA has replaced a main engine on the SLS core stage. The four RS-25 main engines had been installed on the core stage in 2023 while the rocket lay horizontally inside its factory in New Orleans before its shipment to Florida.

China eyes stainless steel, like Starship. A Chinese state-owned rocket maker is making progress in producing large diameter stainless steel tanks for its next-generation launch vehicles, Ars reports. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has announced the development of prototype 5.0-meter and 10.6-meter-diameter stainless steel propellant tanks over the past month, with the latter marking a breakthrough for the country’s super heavy-lift rocket plans.

Working toward Long March 9 … The 10.6-meter-diameter, 9.0-meter-high tank is part of the development of the Long March 9, a future reusable super heavy-lift rocket designed for large lunar and infrastructure missions that would transform the country’s launch capabilities. It is also being used in early mission concepts for crewed Mars missions. The Long March 9 project has morphed in recent years from an expendable rocket designed to facilitate crewed lunar missions, to a reusable, stainless-steel project for major infrastructure missions. The changes follow the development and demonstrated progress of SpaceX’s Starship.

A vote is coming on Starbase, the city. Nearly 10 years after SpaceX began operating in a small community in Cameron County just a few miles inland of the Gulf Coast, employees who live there and other residents will vote to incorporate their Starbase community as Texas’ newest city. If the majority of them vote yes on Saturday, the leaders they elect at the same time will have the responsibility of creating a city from the ground up, the Texas Tribune reports.

Given who is voting, a yes vote is likely … As a Type C municipality, Starbase will have a commission form of government—a mayor and two commissioners—who will be elected by the voters on the same day they vote to incorporate. Their terms in office last two years, unlike the typical four-year terms held by officials in larger cities. SpaceX leaders have made no secret of their plans to grow Starbase. “Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world-class place to live—for the hundreds already calling it home, as well as for prospective workers eager to help build humanity’s future in space,” Starbase Manager Kathryn Lueders wrote recently.

However, SpaceX loses contest over beach access. Proposed legislation that would have handed authority to SpaceX to issue closures of Boca Chica Beach and the nearby road died after a vote by state lawmakers on Monday, Chron.com reports. The vote was close, with seven members of the Texas House State Affairs Committee against and six members in favor of Senate Bill 2188, which is the companion to state Rep. Janie Lopez’s House Bill 4660. SpaceX sought more control over when it could control the main road leading to and from the Starbase site for launch-related activities.

Battle is not over yet … The South Texas Environmental Justice Network celebrated the bills’ demise, saying it also stopped an associated bill that would have made it a Class B misdemeanor for unauthorized people to remain at a closed beach, as it would be an “FAA-designated hazard area.” The group said the bills’ defeat is a “significant victory” in preserving beach access for future generations. Going forward, Cameron County in South Texas can retain authority over beach closures near SpaceX’s launch facilities. Still, a retooled version of the bill could wind up going through the legislature before it adjourns at the end of May.

Next three launches

May 3: Falcon 9 | Starlink 15-3 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 18: 13 UTC

May 4: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-84 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | 08: 48 UTC

May 5: Long March 12 | Unknown payload | Wenchang Space Launch Site, China | 11: 05 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.40 of the Rocket Report! One of the biggest spaceflight questions in my mind right now is when Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will fly again. The company has been saying “late spring.” Today, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said they were told June. Several officials have suggested to Ars that the next launch will, in reality, occur no earlier than October. So when will we see New Glenn again?

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Phantom Space delays Daytona launch, again. In a story that accepts what Phantom Space Founder Jim Cantrell says at face value, Payload Space reports that the company is “an up-and-coming launch provider and satellite manufacturer” and has “steadily built a three-pronged business model to take on the industry’s powerhouses.” It’s a surprisingly laudatory story for a company that has yet to accomplish much in space yet.

Putting the brakes on Daytona … What caught my eye is the section on the Daytona rocket, a small-lift vehicle the company is developing. “The company expects to begin flying Daytona late next year or early 2027, and already has a Daytona II and III in the works,” the publication reports. Why is this notable? Because in an article published less than two years ago, Cantrell said Phantom was hoping to launch an orbital test flight in 2024. In other words, the rocket is further from launch today than it was in 2023. I guess we’ll see what happens. (submitted by BH)

It appears the Minotaur IV rocket still exists. A Northrop Grumman Minotaur IV rocket successfully launched multiple classified payloads for the US National Reconnaissance Office on Wednesday, marking a return to Vandenberg Space Force Base for the solid-fueled launch vehicle after more than a decade, Space News reports. The mission, designated NROL-174, lifted off at 3: 33 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg, California. The launch was successful.

Back on the California Coast … The Minotaur IV is a four-stage vehicle derived in part from decommissioned Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles. The first three stages are government-furnished Peacekeeper solid rocket motors, while the upper stage is a commercial Orion solid motor built by Northrop Grumman. NROL-174 follows previous NRO missions flown on Minotaur rockets—NROL-129 in 2020 and NROL-111 in 2021—both launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

French launch firm gets some funding runway. The French government has awarded Latitude funding to support the construction of its new rocket factory in Reims, which is expected to open in 2026, European Spaceflight reports. Latitude first announced plans to develop a larger rocket factory in late 2023, when it expanded its original site from 1,500 to 3,000 square meters. The new facility is expected to span approximately 25,000 square meters and will support a production capacity of up to 50 Zephyr rockets per year.

Working toward a launch next year … The Zephyr rocket is designed to deliver payloads of up to 200 kilograms to low Earth orbit. It could make its debut in 2026 if all goes well. Latitude did not disclose the exact amount of funding it received for the construction of its new factory. However, it is known that while part of the funding will be awarded as a straight grant, a portion will take the form of a recoverable loan. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

RFA gets a new CEO. German launch vehicle startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has replaced its chief executive as it works toward a second chance for its first launch, Space News reports. Last Friday, RFA announced that Stefan Tweraser, who had been chief executive since October 2021, had been replaced by Indulis Kalnins.

Working toward a second launch attempt … The announcement did not give a reason for the change, but it suggested that the company was seeking someone with expertise in the aerospace industry to lead the company. Kalnins is on the aerospace faculty of a German university, Hochschule Bremen, and has been managing director of OHB Cosmos, which focused on launch services. RFA is working toward a second attempt at a first flight for RFA ONE later this year. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Blue Origin launches all-female mission. Blue Origin’s 11th human flight—and first with an all-female flight team—blasted off from West Texas’ Launch Site One Monday morning on a flight that lasted about 10 minutes, Travel + Leisure reports. Katy Perry and Gayle King were joined by aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist and scientist Amanda Nguyễn, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez.

I kissed a Kármán line … “This experience has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you, how much love you have to give, and how loved you are, until the day you launch,” Perry said in her post-flight interview on the Blue Origin livestream, calling the experience “second only to being a mom” and rating it “10 out of 10.”

Bahamas to SpaceX: Let’s press pause. The Bahamas government said on Tuesday it is suspending all SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landings in the country, pending a full post-launch investigation of the latest Starship mishap, Reuters reports. “No further clearances will be granted until a full environmental assessment is reviewed,” Bahamian Director of Communications Latrae Rahming said.

Falling from the sky … The Bahamian government said in February, after SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 first stage landing in the country, that it had approved 19 more throughout 2025, subject to regulatory approval. The Bahamas’ post-launch investigation comes after a SpaceX Starship spacecraft exploded in space last month, minutes after lifting off from Texas. Following the incident, the Bahamas said debris from the spacecraft fell into its airspace.

NASA will fly on Soyuz for a while longer. NASA and Roscosmos have extended a seat barter agreement for flights to the International Space Station into 2027 that will feature longer Soyuz missions to the station, Space News reports. Under the no-exchange-of-funds barter agreement, NASA astronauts fly on Soyuz spacecraft and Roscosmos cosmonauts fly on commercial crew vehicles to ensure that there is at least one American and one Russian on the station should either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles be grounded for an extended period. “NASA and Roscosmos have amended the integrated crew agreement to allow for a second set of integrated crew missions in 2025, one set of integrated crew missions in 2026, and a SpaceX Dragon flight in 2027,” an agency spokesperson said.

Flying fewer times per year. One change with the agreement is the cadence of Soyuz missions. While Roscosmos had been flying Soyuz missions to the ISS every six months, missions starting with Soyuz MS-27 this April will spend eight months at the station. Neither NASA nor Roscosmos offered a reason for the change, which means that Roscosmos will fly one fewer Soyuz mission over a two-year period: three instead of four. I presume that this is a cost-saving measure. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Falcon 9 sets reuse record. SpaceX notched another new rocket reuse record with its midnight Starlink flight on Sunday night from Florida, Spaceflight Now reports. The Falcon 9 rocket booster with the tail number 1067 launched for a record-setting 27th time, further cementing its position as the flight leader among SpaceX’s fleet.

Approaching 500 launches … It supported the launch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites heading into low Earth orbit. The 27th outing for B1067 comes nearly four years after it launched its first mission, CRS-22 on June 3, 2021. Its three most recent missions were all in support of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation. The Starlink 6-73 mission was also the 460th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket to date. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

The real story behind the Space Shuttle legislation. Last week, two US senators from Texas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, filed the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act” to move Space Shuttle Discovery from its current location at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to Houston. After the senators announced their bill, the collective response from the space community was initially shock. This was soon followed by: why? Ars spoke with several people on background, both from the political and space spheres, to get a sense of what is really happening here.

Bill is not going anywhere … The short answer is that it is all political, and the timing is due to the reelection campaign for Cornyn, who faces a stiff runoff against Ken Paxton. The legislation is, in DC parlance, a “messaging bill.” Cornyn is behind this, and Cruz simply agreed to go along. The goal in Cornyn’s campaign is to use the bill as a way to show Texans that he is fighting for them in Washington, DC, against the evils there. Presumably, he will blame the Obama administration, even though it is quite clear in hindsight that there were no political machinations behind the decision to not award a space shuttle to Houston. Space Center Houston, which would be responsible for hosting the shuttle, was not even told about the legislation before it was filed.

Next three launches

April 18: Long March 4B | Unknown payload | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China | 22: 55 UTC

April 19: Falcon 9 | NROL-145 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 10: 41 UTC

April 21: Falcon 9 | CRS-32 | Cape Kennedy Space Center, Florida | 08: 15 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.36 of the Rocket Report! Well, after nine months, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally back on Earth, safe and sound. This brings to conclusion one of the stranger and more dramatic human spaceflight stories in years. We’re glad they’re finally home, soon to be reunited with their families.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Summary of 2024 launch activity. In its annual launch report, released earlier this month, Bryce Tech analyzed the 259 orbital launches conducted last year. Among the major trends the analysts found were: Nearly 60 percent of all launches were conducted by US providers, Commercial providers accounted for about 70 percent of launches, and Small satellites, primarily for communications, represented the majority of all spacecraft launched at 97 percent.

Trends dominated by Starlink launches … SpaceX conducted more than half of the launches last year (134), putting 2,390 spacecraft into orbit (the vast majority of which were Starlink satellites). The next closest competitor was China, with 48 launches and 186 spacecraft. The nearest US competitor to SpaceX was Rocket Lab, with 14 launches and 33 spacecraft. The competition in “upmass,” that is total kg lofted into orbit, was less close still. SpaceX put 1.86 million kg into space, followed by China (164,000 kg) and Roscosmos (76,000). The closest US competitor was United Launch Alliance, at 29,000 kg. Put another way, for every kilogram ULA put into orbit, SpaceX lofted 66.

MaiaSpace inks first commercial customer. MaiaSpace, a French subsidiary of ArianeGroup founded in 2022, signed an agreement to fly multiple missions for Exotrail’s SpaceVan orbital transfer vehicle beginning in 2027. The partnership with Exotrail provides an early vote of confidence that the reusable Maia rocket can increase Europe’s sovereign launch capabilities, Payload reports. This is one of several launch agreements signed recently by Exotrail.

Hitting the trail … Exotrail flew its first SpaceVan mission on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 flight in November 2023 and deployed the Endurosat-built “EXO-0” cubesat in LEO after three months in orbit. In November, the company signed a deal with Arianespace to launch Exotrail’s first SpaceVan mission to geostationary transfer orbit in the latter half of 2026. After leaving Ariane 64, SpaceVan will tow a customer satellite to GEO, demonstrating its ability to deliver satellites to the full range of orbital trajectories. (submitted by gma)

Electron launches twice in three days. Rocket Lab completed the deployment of a constellation of Internet of Things satellites for French company Kinéis with an Electron launch on Monday. The launch was the fifth and final mission under a contract signed by the companies in 2021. Each launch carried five satellites, weighing 28 kilograms each, to complete a 25-satellite constellation.

Continuing to steadily increase cadence … For Rocket Lab, this was the second launch in a little more than 72 hours, after another Electron launched a radar imaging satellite for Japanese company iQPS March 14. It was the fourth launch so far this year for Rocket Lab, which previously stated it expects to perform more than 20 Electron launches, including the HASTE suborbital version, this year.

Pangea raises Series A funding. The Spanish startup announced this week that it has raised 23 million euros ($25 million) in Series A funding, European Spaceflight reports. This funding includes contributions from former ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel. Founded in 2018, Pangea Aerospace initially aimed to develop Meso, a small rocket designed to deliver 400 kilograms to low-Earth orbit. The rocket was to be powered by a unique, in-house-developed methalox aerospike engine.

Twice the size … However, in early 2023, the company announced it had abandoned the development of Meso to focus on providing propulsion systems for rockets and in-orbit applications. Pangea is currently in the process of developing ARCOS, an aerospike engine designed for use aboard the booster and/or upper stage of a rocket. According to Pangea, the funding will be used to “accelerate its expansion in the European market,” aiming to grow its customer base. It will look to double its workforce and scale up its manufacturing, integration, and testing capabilities.

Relativity Space eyeing move to Texas. As he consolidates control over Relativity Space, new owner and chief executive Eric Schmidt is planning significant changes at the launch company, including a likely move to the Lone Star State, Ars reports. The company faces several major challenges as it seeks to bring the Terran R rocket to market, particularly in logistics. This is because Terran R is a large launch vehicle, too large to move across the country by highway.

Watching for Baytown … The company’s initial plan was to manufacture first stages at its massive factory in Long Beach, California, and ship them through the Panama Canal to a test site at the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. From there, they would be moved by barge again to the launch site in Florida. But this was expensive and time-consuming. Two sources have indicated that Relativity Space will likely move a significant portion of its Terran R manufacturing to Baytown, Texas, which is near Houston. Such a location would provide water access on the right side of the Panama Canal. Relativity has not made a formal announcement.

Crew-10 launches to ISS. A Falcon 9 rocket launched four astronauts safely into orbit on Friday evening, marking the official beginning of the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. Friday’s launch came two days after an initial attempt was scrubbed on Wednesday evening, Ars reports. This was due to a hydraulic issue with the ground systems that handle the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

Smooth ride to orbit … There were no technical issues on Friday, and with clear skies, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov rocketed smoothly into orbit. Although any crew launch into orbit is notable, this mission came with an added bit of importance as its success cleared the way for two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to finally return home from space after a saga spanning nine months. They did so on Tuesday evening.

SpaceX pushes Falcon 9 booster reuse record. On March 12 a Falcon 9 rocket first stage made its third launch, lofting the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions into low-Earth orbit for NASA. Following the successful launch, the first stage landed near the launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Now, this same stage could launch again on Thursday night from Vandenberg, carrying the NROL-57 mission for the US Space Force.

Rapid reuse is a thing … The launch is scheduled for 06: 49 UTC, and if it takes place it would be just nine days and four hours since the SPHEREx mission. This would shatter the company’s previous booster turnaround, set in November, of a little more than 13 days. The fast turnaround was no doubt enabled by landing the booster back near the launch site, speeding the process of inspecting and refurbishing the rocket. It’s also impressive that the Space Force greenlit such a fast turnaround time for a national security payload.

And launch pad turnaround, too. SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at sunrise Saturday morning. The mission marked a record-breaking turnaround for launch operations at Space Launch Complex 40, Spaceflight Now reports. The launch of 23 Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites came two days, eight hours, 59 minutes, and 40 seconds after the launch of the Starlink 12-21 mission. This beat SpaceX’s previous turnaround time at that pad by nearly six hours.

Ever pushing forward … Recently, Ars covered a recent string of issues with the Falcon 9 rocket, notably with its upper stage. The principal reason is that SpaceX continues to push the envelope with even its mature products like the Falcon 9 rocket, which is now nearly 15 years old. While we can take note of issues, it’s also worth celebrating the incredibly hard work that goes into pushing cadence and turnaround times. Moreover, success with the Falcon 9 rocket supports the notion that, one day, SpaceX will be able to reach a high cadence of operations with Starship.

The Jeff and the Donald. Over the past year, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Bezos has executed a sharp public reversal in his relationship with President Trump—whom he previously criticized as a “threat to democracy”—that has surprised even longtime associates. An article in the Financial Times explores this change, and finds that it is likely due, at least in part, to Bezos’ interest in his space company. There are some spicy, and to my sense of things, accurate comments that explain why Bezos has sought to curry favor with Trump.

One longtime adviser cautions … “He cares most about Blue Origin. His chance of being the player he wants to become in space could be destroyed” if the world’s richest man (Elon Musk) and most powerful politician united against him. “The growth trajectory for the entire enterprise depends on the federal contract… otherwise Blue is dead in the water.” Another close associate says that any move by Trump to deprioritize lunar missions in favor of Musk’s aspirations to reach Mars would have a significant impact on the company’s viability and success. “It is what he has always dreamt of. Nothing will hurt Jeff financially—Blue is a money loser. It is more the opportunity to be involved.”

Next three launches

March 21: Falcon 9 | NROL-57 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 06: 49 UTC

March 23: Spectrum | Demo flight | Andøya Rocket Range, Norway | 11: 30 UTC

March 24: Falcon 9 | NROL-69 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 17: 42 UTC

Welcome to Edition 7.34 of the Rocket Report! What a day in space Thursday was. During the morning hours we saw the triumphant second flight of the Ariane 6 rocket, a pivotal moment for European sovereignty in space. Then Intuitive Machines had a partially successful landing on the Moon. And finally, on Thursday evening, SpaceX’s Starship failed during its second consecutive test flight.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Firefly sets date for next Alpha launch. Having completed a static-fire test, Firefly Aerospace has set a target date of March 15 for the launch of its “Message in a Booster” mission. The Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 spacecraft from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with the 52-minute launch window opening at 6: 25 am PT (14: 25 UTC). Lockheed is self-funding the demonstration mission of its new satellite bus, the LM 400, which it says can serve civil, military, and commercial customers.

A slow build … This is Alpha’s second launch for Lockheed Martin, and the first of Firefly’s multi-launch agreement with the company that includes up to 25 missions over the next five years. Alpha is capable of lifting 1 metric ton to low-Earth orbit, and this will be the rocket’s sixth launch since its debut in September 2021. The company has recorded one failure, two partial failures, and two successes during the time. It’s been a slow ramp up for Alpha, with the rocket having launched just a single time in 2024, in July.

Isar Aerospace wins Asian launch contract. A Japanese microgravity services startup named ElevationSpace has become the first Asian customer for Germany’s Isar Aerospace, Space News reports. ElevationSpace said Monday it has booked a launch during the second half of 2026 with Isar Aerospace for AOBA, a 200-kilogram spacecraft designed to test a recoverable platform for space-based experiments and manufacturing. This is a hopeful sign that European startups will have commercial appeal beyond the continent.

Spectrum rocket nearing debut launch … The Japanese firm cited Isar Aerospace’s direct injection capability into low Earth orbit and flexible launch scheduling as key factors in its decision to sign the contract. Isar Aerospace said last month that Spectrum, designed to deliver up to 1,000 kilograms to low-Earth orbit, has completed static-fire testing and is prepared for its first flight from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway, pending final regulatory approval.

A small launch site in French Guiana. The French space agency, CNES, has opened a public consultation period for the new multi-user micro-launcher facility at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, European Spaceflight reports. Last month, the first of four public consultation sessions into the construction of the new Multi-Launcher Launch Complex at the Guiana Space Centre was held at Kourou Town Hall. In March 2021, CNES announced plans to transform the old Diamant launch site into a new multi-use facility for commercial micro-launcher providers, supporting rockets with payloads of up to 1,500 kilograms.

Lots of potential users … The final mission launched from the Guiana Space Centre’s Diamant facility lifted off in 1976, after which it was abandoned and left to be reclaimed by the jungle. In 2019, the site was earmarked for revitalization to serve as a testing ground for the Callisto and Themis reusable rocket booster demonstrators. This testing was, however, always going to serve as a temporary justification for the launch facility’s rebirth. In July 2022, CNES pre-selected Avio, HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and Latitude to use the facility. However, MaiaSpace has since allocated the Guiana Space Centre’s old Soyuz launch pad for its partially reusable Maia rocket.

Firefly nets Earth science launch contract. Amid its successful lunar landing, forthcoming Alpha launch, and a new launch contract, Firefly is having one heck of a week. NASA revealed this week that it has selected Firefly Aerospace to launch a trio of Earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms, Space News reports. The agency said March 4 that it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to Firefly to launch the three-satellite Investigation of Convective Updrafts mission.

Hello, Virginia … NASA did not disclose the value of the task order, a practice it has followed on other VADR awards. The three satellites will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. NASA did not disclose a launch date in its announcement, but Firefly, in its own statement, said the launch would take place as soon as 2026. Firefly said it will launch the mission from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, which has been used by Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and will also be used by Alpha and the future MLV rocket.

Ariane 6 delivers for Europe when it is needed. Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket lifted off Thursday from French Guiana and deployed a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite into orbit for the French military, notching a success on its first operational flight. “This is an absolute pleasure for me today to announce that Ariane 6 has successfully placed into orbit the CSO-3 satellite,” said David Cavaillolès, who took over in January as CEO of Arianespace, the Ariane 6’s commercial operator. “Today, here in Kourou, we can say that thanks to Ariane 6, Europe and France have their own autonomous access to space back, and this is great news.”

Can no longer rely on US rockets … This was the second flight of Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, following a mostly successful debut launch last July. The first test flight of the unproven Ariane 6 carried a batch of small, relatively inexpensive satellites. An auxiliary propulsion unit (APU)—essentially a miniature second engine—on the upper stage shut down in the latter portion of the inaugural Ariane 6 flight, after the rocket reached orbit and released some of its payloads. Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister for research and higher education, says Ariane 6 is “proof of our space sovereignty,” as many European officials feel they can no longer rely on the United States.

US launch facilities are not prepared for a surge. Rocket firm executives warned this week that the nation’s primary launch facilities may soon be unable to handle the projected surge in rocket launches, potentially hampering America’s competitiveness in the rapidly expanding commercial space sector, Space News reports. “I don’t think that people realize how many rockets are going to be launching five or eight years from now,” Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, said at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Conference in Aurora, Colorado.

Support needed for multiple daily launches … Limp’s concerns were echoed by executives from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance during a panel discussion, where all three agreed that the industry must collectively prepare for a future where multiple daily launches become the norm. Jon Edwards, SpaceX’s vice president of Falcon launch vehicles, highlighted that even at Cape Canaveral, the busiest US spaceport, current protocols don’t allow simultaneous launches by different providers.

Falcon 9 first stage fails to land safely. After what appeared to be a routine Starlink mission on Sunday, a Falcon 9 first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly after the landing, however, a fire broke out in the aft end of the rocket. This damaged a landing leg and caused the rocket to topple over. Florida Today has video of the badly damaged rocket returning to Port Canaveral.

Space remains hard … The Starlink satellites safely reached orbit, so this did not impact the primary mission. However, Falcon 9 landings have become so seemingly routine, such a failure now stands out. This booster was relatively new, having launched three Starlink missions, GOES-U, and Maxar 3. It was only the first-stage booster’s fifth flight. To date, SpaceX has successfully flown a single booster 26 times.

India begins construction of a new launch site. The Indian space agency, ISRO, presently has two operational launch pads at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The space agency launches Indian and foreign satellites aboard rockets like PSLV and GSLV from here. As it seeks to expand its launch activities, ISRO officially began constructing a new launch site at Kulasekaranpattinam, in Tamil Nadu, this week, The National reports.

Avoiding the dogs … The Kulasekaranpattinam launch site is strategically located near the equator. With open seas to the south of it, the site allows for direct southward launches over the Indian Ocean. This will minimize fuel consumption and maximize payload capacity for small satellite launch vehicles, particularly beneficial for cost-effective commercial satellite launches. The site also avoids the need for complex “dogleg” maneuvers around Sri Lanka.

SpaceX launches Starship on its eighth flight. SpaceX launched the eighth full-scale test flight of its enormous Starship rocket on Thursday evening after receiving regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The test flight sought a repeat of what SpaceX hoped to achieve on the previous Starship launch in January, when the rocket broke apart and showered debris over the Atlantic Ocean and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Alas … Unfortunately for SpaceX, the Starship upper stage failed again, in a similar location, with similar impacts. About a minute before reaching the cutoff of the vehicle’s engines en route to space, the upper stage spun out of control and broke apart. “During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost,” SpaceX said in a statement about an hour later. “Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.” Ars will have full coverage of what is a serious setback for the company.

Amazon culture comes to Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos has moved to introduce a tough Amazon-like approach to his rocket maker Blue Origin, as the world’s third-richest person seeks to revive a company that has lagged behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Financial Times reports. The space company’s founder and sole shareholder has pushed to shift its internal culture with management hires from Amazon, while implementing policies akin to the e-commerce giant, including longer working hours and more aggressive targets.

Work-life balance, what? … Key to Bezos’s effort is chief executive Dave Limp. The former Amazon devices chief was appointed in late 2023 and has been followed in quick succession by several veterans from the $2.2 trillion tech giant, including supply chain chief Tim Collins, chief information officer Josh Koppelman, and chief financial officer Allen Parker. The changes in leadership have been accompanied by significant layoffs. In February, roughly 10 percent of Blue Origin’s more than 10,000-strong workforce was dismissed. Employees are now expected to work longer hours, and badge scanners have been introduced to track employee time similar to Amazon.

Space Force is to blame for Vulcan delays? The debut of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket was delayed more than four years, ultimately from 2019 to January 2024. The first flight went very well, but during the second certification mission in October 2024 there was an anomaly with one of the two solid rocket boosters powering the vehicle. Although the rocket reached its intended orbit, this issue necessitated an investigation. Vulcan has yet to fly again, and with the certification process still ongoing, it is now likely to launch no earlier than sometime this summer.

Spacecraft end up moving to the right … No one is more interested in seeing Vulcan fly than the US Space Force, which has dozens of missions lined up for the rocket. These missions were supposed to be launched between 2022 and 2026. To make up for lost time, the Space Force now hopes to launch 11 national security missions this year (this almost certainly won’t happen). In a curious comment to Space News, Bruno appeared to put some of the blame for delays on the Space Force, rather than Vulcan’s tardiness: Bruno pointed out there is inherent unpredictability in national security launch schedules, noting that “about half of the spacecraft end up needing to move right, and they move right by a lot.” It is a weird comment to make with a rocket that is years late.

Next three launches

March 9: Falcon 9 | SPHEREx & PUNCH | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 03: 09 UTC

March 9: Falcon 9 | Starlink 12-21 | Cape Canaveral, Fla. | 04: 10 UTC

March 10: Electron | The Lightning God Reigns | Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | 00:oo UTC