ISRO
Welcome to issue 7.08 of the Rocket Report! As always, there is a lot of news, but what I am most interested in is the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission. If all goes to plan, the flight will break new ground for commercial spaceflight in many ways, including the first private spacewalk. Good luck to Jared Isaacman and his crew on their adventurous mission.
As always, we welcome reader contributions. 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 includes information on small, medium and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a brief look ahead to the next three launches on the calendar.
RFA One blows up a booster. The first stage of Rocket Factory Augsburg's first orbital rocket was destroyed by a fireball during a test run at a spaceport in Scotland on Monday evening, Ars reports. This is a notable event for the commercial European space industry, as the German start-up company was aiming to send its first rocket into space later this year and appeared to be ahead of several competitors in the commercial European launch industry that are also developing rockets to put small satellites into orbit. The BBC has obtained video of the fiery explosion.
Now comes the hard work of anomaly investigation … In a statement, RFA said there was “an anomaly that resulted in the loss of the stage” on Monday evening. The company said no one was injured and reported the launch pad was “rescued and secured.” This was the same rocket RFA planned to launch on its first test flight. Monday's hot fire test was the first using all nine engines on RFA One's first stage. “We are now working closely with SaxaVord Spaceport and authorities to gather data and information and ultimately clarify what happened,” RFA said. “We will take time to analyze and assess the situation.” On Thursday, the cause was traced to a turbopump fire. (submitted by SPHK_Tech, gizmo23, brianrhurley, Jay500001 and Ken the Bin)
Orbex aims for a 2025 launch, but be realistic. UK-based Orbex is now planning the first launch of its small launch vehicle for 2025, the company's CEO recently told Space News. Phil Chambers, CEO of the UK-based company, said the company is making progress on both its small prime rocket and the launch site at Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland. “We're aiming for a 2025 launch,” Chambers said, but declined to be more specific on a launch date other than to say the company wanted to avoid a winter launch because of poor weather conditions. “But I want it to be 2025.”
The satellite promises to be the first successful orbital launch from the UK …There's an interesting detail in the story that caught my eye: “Vehicle subsystems are going through critical design reviews, and some flight hardware is under construction.” Let's face it, if they're still going through the critical design review process for subsystems, the chance of a 2025 launch is zero, and frankly, for a company founded in 2015, that shouldn't inspire much confidence in thinking the company will ever successfully launch an orbital rocket. (submitted by EllPeaTea)
SSLV starts for the third time. India successfully launched its third small satellite launch vehicle on Thursday, placing an Earth observation satellite into orbit and completing the solid-fuel rocket development process, Space News reports. The rocket placed the experimental Earth observation probe EOS-08 into its 475-kilometer circular orbit intended for the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Two for three … According to ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, the successful completion of the development phase of the SSLV paves the way for technology transfer to Indian industry and enables serial production and operational use of the SSLV. The first SSLV flight failed in August 2022 when the payload became stuck in a very low orbit due to an upper stage malfunction. The second launch in February 2023 was successful. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Indian company plans suborbital launch. Space Zone India, a Chennai-based startup, plans to launch its suborbital rocket Rhumi-01 from a mobile launch vehicle on Saturday. The hybrid vehicle, which combines both solid and liquid rocket propellants, will carry three cubesats and 50 smaller picosats on its first launch, reports the New Indian Express.
In search of rocket recycling … According to the company's website, the Rhumi launch vehicle can reach an altitude of about 30 km. The three Cubesats are designed to monitor and collect data on atmospheric conditions, including cosmic ray intensity, UV radiation intensity, air quality and more. The company said most of the rocket is designed to be salvaged and reused. (submitted by brianrhurley)
Sierra Space tests ULA. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are currently negotiating the sale of their rocket launch joint venture United Launch Alliance to Sierra Space, Reuters reports. A deal could value ULA at about $2 billion to $3 billion, sources told the publication. A potential deal would be an ambitious move for Sierra Space, which was spun off from Sierra Nevada in 2021 to focus on launching its long-delayed Dream Chaser spaceplane. A deal with ULA could give the company a rocket called Vulcan for unmanned and possibly manned launches of Dream Chaser.
One source considers the deal unlikely … ULA has been actively for sale for more than a year. Blue Origin and Cerberus Capital Management had bids for the company in early 2023, but neither of those offers resulted in a deal. I heard about Sierra's interest last Friday, but the Reuters article came out before I could write anything about it. From the reports I've been able to make, I can say that the talks between Sierra and ULA's owners have been serious and substantive. At this point, however, my best information suggests that a sale is unlikely. The parents believe ULA is worth more than Sierra is willing to pay. Sierra would also have to borrow significantly to facilitate a transaction. (submitted by Hacker Uno and Ken the Bin)