Rocket Report: ULA Launches Military Lobbying, SLS Launches Within Two Months

Welcome to Rocket Report Edition 5.01! The rocket report is 5 years old today. In other words, we are currently publishing about 200 editions. I probably wrote 400,000 words — more than one word per kilometer to the moon. It may seem like a daunting task, but I feel like I’m just getting started. Thanks to everyone who read together and shared the newsletter with your friends and colleagues.

As always, we Readers’ posts are welcome, And if you don’t want to miss the issue, subscribe using the box below (forms don’t appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report contains information about small, medium, and large rockets and an overview of the next three launches on the calendar.

Rocket Lab launches first deep space mission..The company’s small electronic vehicle launched a 25kg CAPSTONE mission on Tuesday, and the rocket put the spacecraft in good orbit, CEO. Peter Beck said.. Since then, Rocket Lab’s “Photon” spacecraft bus has been performing additional combustion to raise the orbit of CAPSTONE. A few days later, after raising the orbit of CAPSTONE to 60,000 km, the Photon stage will perform the final combustion, pushing CAPSTONE into deep space.

New orbit, new orbit .. .. As Ars reports, This is a small but innovative mission, developed by the private company Advanced Space and partially paid by NASA. The main purpose of the mission is to demonstrate a new system of autonomous navigation around and near the Moon, but to open up new orbits that use more time and less fuel to reach the Moon. .. This “ballistic lunar movement” allowed CAPSTONE to be launched with a small electron booster. Finally, CAPSTONE flies around the moon in a special orbit called the almost linear halo orbit. This helps NASA show the trajectory it plans to use for the Lunar Gateway. (Submitted by Ken the Bin and Ell Pea Tea)

The launch of Virgin Orbit was delayed.. Final preparations for the company’s second launch in 2022 were put on hold shortly before the takeoff of the rocket carrier. Cosmic girl Aircraft from Mojave Air & Space Port in California on Wednesday night. The company said in an email statement that it “has evacuated from today’s launch attempt.” “Our system is very healthy, but the temperature of our propellant is slightly out of range and with great care we are scrubbed for the day.”

Tell me straight now … Virgin Orbit said it would work to retry the launch “in the next few days”. Named after Paula Abdul’s hit, the “Straight Up” mission aims to provide the LauncherOne rocket with seven payloads for space system commands as part of the Pentagon’s Space Test Program. This is an important mission for the company. Space System Command, a component of the Space Force, is responsible for rapidly developing, acquiring, equipping, defending, and maintaining deadly and resilient space functions.

Space Ryde talks about balloon launch plans.. The Canadian company recently held a media event at its Toronto-based headquarters. CTV News Report.. The company plans to release a rocket that can use a balloon as a first step to lift a small rocket above most of the Earth’s atmosphere (about 30 km) and then launch the CubeSat into orbit. is. The company plans to launch its first satellite next year and then accelerate its rhythm. “We’re considering a weekly launch for the next few years, but eventually every day,” said Safari Haghighat, who co-founded the company with her husband Sohrab Haghighat.

Some warning signs … First of all, I sincerely hope that this creative approach will make the company successful. However, there are some warning signs here. In both the CTV and CBC articles, the company states that it aims to launch a $ 250,000 mission per payload. Such a price per launch does not seem to be achievable. Moreover, whenever startups are actively talking about weekly launches, it’s someone who doesn’t know what they’re against, or just being happy to smoke, not to mention the daily launches. Attacks me as a sign of. But does the balloon rocket company need a little bit of heat to fly? (Submitted by Constable Joey and Dale)