Trevor Merlman
Welcome to Rocket Report 5.23! It’s been a difficult week for rocket enthusiasts, as Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne and ABL Space’s RS1 vehicle failed in quick succession on Monday and Tuesday. I hope both companies find and fix the technical issues and get back on track soon.
As always, we look forward to reading your contributions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, use the box below to subscribe (the form is not visible in his AMP-enabled version of the site). Each report includes information on small, medium and heavy rockets and a summary of his next three launches on the calendar.
Virgin Orbit launch from UK failed to reach orbit. later cosmic girl The aircraft took off in a big way from Cornwall, England, on Monday night, but Virgin Orbit’s mission fell through after failing to properly launch nine payloads into orbit during the second phase. In a statement released Thursday morning, Virgin Orbit provided a little more information about the failure.
protection of those assets … This was the company’s first failure after its first demonstration mission in 2020. Since then, LauncherOne has reached orbit four times in a row, indicating that the launch system is fundamentally sound. The failure comes at an unfortunate time for Virgin Orbit, which Ars reports is struggling to raise money. In December 2020, the founder asked Richard Branson to provide another $20 million in funding after Virgin halted his fundraising efforts in November. However, this convertible bond had a string attached to it that gave Branson the first and foremost security interest. In essence, Virgin Orbit appears to have pledged all of its assets to Branson. (Posted by Ken the Bin)
ABL Space Debut Launch FailedAccording to Space News, the maiden flight of ABL Space Systems’ RS1 rocket failed to reach orbit on Tuesday. The company said his nine engines in the first stage of the RS1 vehicle failed simultaneously after liftoff, causing the vehicle to return to the pad and explode. The company did not disclose when the post-launch shutdown took place or the altitude the rocket reached. The explosion damaged the launch facility, but no personnel were injured.
next attempt … “This is not what we wanted today, but what we prepared for,” the company said. The two-stage vehicle has nine E2 engines in the first stage and one vacuum-optimized E2 engine in the upper stage, using kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants. The vehicle is designed to launch from a facility with minimal infrastructure and lift up to 1.35 tons into low earth orbit. ABL has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from venture capital firms and Lockheed Martin is a strategic investor and major customer. (Posted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)
RFA launched from northern ScotlandGerman launch company Rocket Factory Augsburg announced Wednesday that the first launch will take place from the Saxabord spaceport, located at the northernmost tip of the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland. The Scottish spaceport is ideally located for RFA to launch payloads into a polar synchronous orbit at a high rhythm, the company said. According to the news release, RFA will have exclusive access to “Launch Pad Fredo” at the spaceport.
Will you fly the RFA One this year? … From the attached images, it appears that a large steel launch support structure has already been constructed at the site. (RFA calls this structure a “launch pad”, but we’ll use a different term in this family-friendly publication. Midway through this year. We’ll have to see if that happens, but RFA ‘s first orbital launch doesn’t seem too far away. (Submitted by Brangdonj, EllPeaTea, and Ken the Bin)
European launch races still openThe failure of Virgin Orbit’s debut launch from the UK leaves the ability to declare the first country and company to be launched into orbit from Western Europe still open. He has already agreed one, Isar Aerospace, to launch from Norway’s Andøya Spaceport, NRK reports.
Sweden too … the German company’s Spectrum rocket can launch about a ton into low-Earth orbit, and Isar is attempting its orbital debut this year. But wait. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will visit the Esrange spaceport in northern Sweden on Friday to “cut the ribbon” of the orbital complex there. However, Esrange’s orbital launch tenant has not yet been announced. (Posted by audunru)
Electron gets new US launch dateRocket Lab has set a new launch date for Electron’s maiden flight from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport after a weather-related hiatus in late 2022. The launch window for the “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission he plans to open on January 23rd, with backup dates through his early February. Daily launch opportunities are from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (23:00 to 1:00 UTC).
wishing for a gentle wind in the new year The mission will deploy three satellites to HawkEye 360, a radio frequency geospatial analytics provider. The mission is the first of his three Electron launches of HawkEye 360, with Rocket Lab contracting to deliver 15 of his satellites to low Earth orbit by the end of 2020. Year 2024. Electron’s U.S. debut was delayed by more than a year as the company sought to obtain a launch license. (Posted by Ken the Bin)
