Tag: commercial

Rocket Lab schedules next launch, plans 22 launches in 2024

9:03 am

Rocket Lab has completed its investigation into a September 2023 launch failure and has now scheduled its next Electron launch for the end of November.

More significant, it says it has 22 booked launches scheduled for 2024, a pace that would more than double its previous annual record of 9 launches in 2022.

In its third quarterly report it also revealed that it lost just over $40 million in that quarter, more than last year’s third quarter by 17%. The September launch failure impacted those numbers, though the company’s revenue in the third quarter still grew by 7% from the previous year.

To achieve 22 launches next year will require the company to launch twice a month. With three launchpads (two in New Zealand and one in the U.S.) this is possible, but challenging. Of those launches, nine will attempt to recover and reuse the first stage, and two will not be orbital but suborbital hypersonic tests for the military.

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FCC raises questions about SpaceX’s application to link cell phones to Starlink

9:20 am

The FCC has responded to SpaceX’s application to link cell phones to Starlink with a set of questions, mostly centered on finding out whether the company’s system might interfere with other communications systems.

“This analysis should take into account the worst case scenario of all satellites transmitting at the same time, including different power levels required for rain fade and cloud cover as well as clear sky conditions over a particular area of coverage,” the FCC wrote.

In addition, the same analysis should look at the “possibility of loss of service by other authorized satellite and terrestrial operators in that area,” the Commission added. Another request asks SpaceX to provide “a map with projected beam coverage” for the US, showing the maximum and typical power levels of the satellite cellular service. The FCC also wants to know how the company can shut down the cellular Starlink system in the event interference arises over certain geographic areas.

The FCC’s concerns appear reasonable, but no one should dismiss the possibility that politics are involved as well. The Biden administration, which now has a majority of appointees on the FCC, has made it clear it opposes almost everything Elon Musk is doing.

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Virgin Galactic trims staff and spending

9:08 am

Despite having completed its fifth commercial suborbital flight on November 2, 2023, Virgin Galactic announced yesterday that it is laying off staff and cutting spending.

The number of people laid off was not revealed. Supposedly the company has done this as part of its effort to develop an upgraded version of SpaceShipTwo.

The company reported having $980 million of cash and equivalents on hand at the end of the second quarter this year, when it reported a net loss of $134.4 million. The company has not disclosed its estimated costs for development of the Delta vehicles, but said it expected those vehicles to enter service in 2026. The company expects only limited revenue from VSS Unity, which is able to fly monthly carrying up to four customers at a time.

I instead suspect that demand for suborbital flights is dwindling because of the competition from orbital operations. Had this company started flying a decade ago, as promised numerous times by Richard Branson, it would have been ahead of the curve. It didn’t and thus missed the boat.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites

8:27 am

SpaceX last night successfully launched 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage successfully completed its eleventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

80 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 92 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 92 to 79. SpaceX by itself once again leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 80 to 79.

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Three European nations sign deal with Arianegroup for use of Ariane-6

9:12 am

In a separate deal outside of the European Space Agency, Germany, France, and Italy have signed a deal with the private rocket company Arianegroup to use its still unlaunched Ariane-6, assuming the company can reduce costs.

The agreement will provide €340 million ($365 million) of financing a year for Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rocket in exchange for a commitment to an 11% cut in costs. The rocket will also be awarded at least four missions from public institutions a year, while the lighter Vega C launcher will get at least three.

Essentially the deal is intended to keep Ariane-6 afloat, as its high cost has made it difficult to attract customers. At the same time, the contract demands those costs be reduced, and adds pressure to that demand by noting that future and additional launches will be awarded on a purely competitive bidding process. It appears these three countries will open bidding not only to the new rocket startups being developed in Europe, but American rocket companies as well.

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Astra secures temporary investment funding to keep it afloat

8:44 am

Astra announced yesterday that it has secured temporary funding from private sources to cover its shortfall of cash and allow it to secure additional funds to keep it alive. From the second link:

In a statement issued after the close of trading, Astra said that JMCM Holdings LLC and Sherpa Venture Funds II, LLP, which it described as affiliates of two early investors in Astra, agreed to provide $13.4 million in “initial financing” as part of a non-binding term sheet Astra announced Oct. 23 that sought to raise $15 million to $25 million.

As part of the agreement, the investors will purchase the $8 million loan that Astra had from an unnamed institutional investor from August. Astra had defaulted on the terms of the loan agreement last week when its cash reserves dropped below $10.5 million, triggering a $3.1 million payment at a higher interest rate. The investors will also provide a $3.05 million bridge loan due Nov. 17, and purchase warrants for Astra stock.

The company is not out of the woods quite yet. It needs to obtain new investment capital by November 17th, when that bridge loan comes due.

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Sing with me!

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Reggie, the performer, simply sets up on the street and asks passersby to sing with him. This video includes a selection of some singers. From the youtube website:

As a musician, I’m all about creating musical experiences that have people feeling happy and free, and that’s why the “Sing With Me for Free” series exists. Since 2018, I have asked thousands of random people to sing with me on camera. A lot of people have said no, some have said no initially but changed their minds to yes, and some have said yes right away. I ask these people to sing with one purpose: to create a way for them to experience a sense of happiness and freedom they did not feel before. And much of the time, this actually works (and that makes ME happy).

Hat tip Diane Zimmerman

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Commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellations limiting Gaza imagery to the public

9:16 am

Once Israel’s ground campaign into Gaza started the new American private commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellation companies began restricting access to their imagery.

Planet, a San Francisco-based company launched in 2010 by former NASA scientists, has in recent days heavily restricted and obscured parts of images over the Gaza Strip for many users, including news organizations. Last week, some images of Gaza were removed from Planet’s web application for downloading imagery, and some have been distributed to interested media outlets through a Google Drive folder. The satellite company told some subscribers that during active conflicts, it may modify pictures published to the archive.

…Some commercial satellite companies appear to be releasing their detailed images — but with a time delay. Planet and a competitor, Maxar Technologies, have released images shared with the New York Times, Washington Post, and other news outlets on a significant time delay. Starting on Nov. 3, both papers shared exclusive images taken by Planet on Nov. 1. Airbus, another major commercial satellite image provider, has not shared images of Gaza.

It appears the companies have done so for two reasons: First, it appears these companies have actually decided they do not wish to reveal any information that might hurt Israel’s ground campaign. This approach differs significantly from the leftist mainstream American press, which either doesn’t care what harm it does, or is eager to sabotage Israel’s effort.

Second, it appears the companies have been reminded of a 1997 federal law, called the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, that forbids the release of “imagery of Israel that’s at a higher resolution than what’s distributed by non-US companies.”

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Astra defaults on debt agreement

10:25 am

The rocket startup Astra revealed on Friday that it was unable to meet the requirements of one of its investors that it maintain at least $10.5 million in cash reserves, and thus defaulted on that debt agreement.

Astra twice last month failed to meet minimum cash reserve requirements associated with a $12.5 million note issuance to New Jersey investment group High Trail Capital.

The debt raise first required that Astra have “at least $15.0 million of cash and cash equivalents” on hand. That liquidity requirement was adjusted after Astra failed to prove compliance a first time, to require “at least $10.5 million of unrestricted, unencumbered cash and cash equivalents.” Having fallen out of compliance a second time, Astra now owes $8 million on the aggregate principal investment.

Sadly, it appears the end for this company is coming.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink with a 1st stage flying for a record-setting 18th time

5:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched 23 Starlink, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and using a first stage flying for a record-setting 18th time.

The first stage landed successfully on its drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

79 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 91 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 91 to 79. SpaceX by itself is once again tied the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 79 to 79.

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Sierra Space: Tenacity is complete and ready for ground testing

9:50 am

Sierra Space announced yesterday that its reuseable Tenacity cargo freighter, the first of its Dream Chaser mini-shuttles, is now complete and ready shipment to NASA’s test facilities in Ohio for ground testing.

The spacecraft hopefully will fly next year. Though this is four years behind schedule, it signals an important milestone for the company, and suggests its operational pace will pick up afterward. Though its arrival comes very late in ISS’s lifespan, the coming arrival of many private space stations, including Sierra’s own, will likely provide it many customers.

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Musk: Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow”

9:45 am

In a tweet yesterday, Elon Musk revealed that Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow,” adding that “Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year.”

This means that SpaceX achieved this goal using only its Falcon 9 rocket. Originally the company thought it had to have Starship to get enough satellites into orbit to operate the constellation. Because of delays in developing Starship (right now mostly caused by red tape in the federal government), the company ramped up the launch pace using just Falcon 9, and apparently got the job done.

The profits from Starlink can now be used to further develop Starship and Superheavy, assuming the federal government ever gets out of the way.

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Norway inaugurates its Andoya spaceport

9:39 am

Map of Norway showing Andoya

Norway yesterday announced the opening its new Andoya spaceport in the far north of the country, where it hopes will become a hub for the emerging new commercial launch industry.

The location is indicated by the map to the right, in the Arctic and farther north than any other planned spaceport, making it excellent for satellites going into polar orbit.

The launch base, which eventually will have several launch pads, was built by Norwegian public company Andoya Space, on a site which until now has only been used for firing suborbital scientific experiment rockets.

Spectrum, a two-stage craft capable of carrying up to one tonne and developed by the German start-up Isar Aerospace, is scheduled to be the first rocket to be launched from island which is located near the idyllic Lofoten archipelago.

If Norway’s government works better than Great Britain’s in issuing launch permits, this spaceport will steal all business from the UK’s own two spaceports being built in Scotland.

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Iceland signs Artemis Accords

9:29 am

Though no press announcement was ever released, it appears that Iceland signed the Artemis Accords sometime in October, according to small mention in the the press release announcing the signing of the Netherlands.

The mention was so small I missed it. In fact, so apparently did NASA, as Iceland did not issue its own press release. The U.S. likely found out about the signing through private diplomatic communications.

This brings the total number of nations now part of this American space alliance to thirty-one, as follows: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

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Space Force awards SpaceX and ULA new launch contracts worth $2.5 billion

8:37 am

Space Force yesterday awarded both SpaceX and ULA new launch contracts worth $2.5 billion and totaling 21 launches over the next two to three years.

The final batch of assignments were split almost evenly, according to Col. Doug Pentecost, the deputy program executive officer of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. ULA received 11 missions, valued at $1.3 billion, and SpaceX received 10 missions, valued at $1.23 billion.

Space Systems Command said the missions are scheduled to launch over the next two to three years. ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will use its soon-to-debut Vulcan rocket for the 11 missions, while SpaceX will fly seven missions with its Falcon 9 rocket and three missions with its Falcon Heavy rocket.

For SpaceX this award is no surprise. The ULA contract is more puzzling. Supposedly the Space Force was not going to award any launch contracts for ULA’s new Vulcan rocket until it successfully launched twice and was certified by the military as operational. Yet, it has now awarded ULA this contract for Vulcan launches. Has the military awarded the contract on a contingency basis? What happens if Vulcan has a failure on one of its first two launches?

The Space Force’s present arrangement limits bidding for launches to just these two companies. If Vulcan fails will it open bidding to other companies, or will it transfer launches to SpaceX?

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The Netherlands signs Artemis Accords

8:26 am

Confirming what it announced in early October, the Netherlands yesterday officially signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the thirtieth nations to join.

The full list of signatories to the Artemis Accords is now as follows: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

We now have the rough outline of the national alliances that will compete with each other in space. On one hand are the nations above, generally from the west with a larger focus on private enterprise and ownership. On the other hand are the authoritarian nations, led by China and Russia with a few failed communist nations like Venezuela.

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SpaceX successfully launches another 22 Starlink satellites

9:27 am

SpaceX early this morning successfully launched another 22 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its seventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The company has another Starlink launch scheduled for later today, taking off from Cape Canaveral. UPDATE: Aborted at T-30 seconds for a technical issue, and rescheduled for October 30, 2023.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

77 SpaceX
48 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 89 to 48 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 89 to 77. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 77 to 77.

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Intuitive Machines delays launch of its Nova-C lunar lander two months

10:04 am

South Pole of Moon with landing sites

Intuitive Machines yesterday announced that it has decided to delay the launch of its Nova-C lunar lander from in November launch window to a new window beginning on January 12, 2023.

The company did not elaborate on the reasons for the delay. However, executives warned at a media event Oct. 3 that “pad congestion” at LC-39A could delay their launch. The mission has to launch from that pad, rather than nearby Space Launch Complex 40, because only LC-39A is equipped to fuel the lander with methane and liquid oxygen propellants on the pad shortly before liftoff.

That pad is used for Falcon 9 crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station as well as Falcon Heavy launches. The pad is scheduled to host the Falcon 9 launch of the CRS-29 cargo mission Nov. 5 followed by a Falcon Heavy mission for the Space Force in late November. Converting the pad between Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches can take up to three weeks.

The landing site is indicated by the green dot on the map of the south pole to the right. Note that this landing will be the closest to the south pole yet, though not at the south pole. It will also be the first to land next to a crater that has a permanently shadowed interior, though Nova-C will not be able to enter it because it carries no rover and is only designed to last through the first lunar day.

Based on the present launch schedule, Astrobotic now gets the first chance to successfully land a privately built lunar lander. It is scheduled to launch on December 24, 2023 on a Vulcan rocket. The Japanese company Ispace attempted and failed to land its Hakuto-R1 spacecraft in April.

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Giant airship gets clearance for test flights

10:45 am

A giant rigid-frame balloon airship, dubbed Pathfinder-1 and reminiscent of the airships from the early 20th century, has gotten clearance to begin flight tests at Moffett Field in California.

At 407 ft (124 m) long and 66 ft (20 m) in diameter, it’s considerably longer than the “flying buttocks” of the Airlander 10, although less than half of its width. It might not qualify as the world’s largest aircraft, but it’s still absolutely enormous, approaching twice the length of an Airbus A380.

…Currently housed in a monstrous hangar in Mountain View, California, Pathfinder 1 has already flown indoors earlier this year. According to IEEE Spectrum, the company has now been awarded the special airworthiness certificate required to fly this beast outdoors – at less than 1,500 ft (460 m) of altitude, and within the boundaries of Moffett Field and the neighboring Palo Alto Airport’s airspace.

Because of the lightweight materials being used, Pathfinder-1 will use helium, not hydrogen, to lift it. The hope is that this airship can be used to transport cargo. The project is financed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

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UK awards German launch startup Rocket Factory Augsburg $4.3 million for first launch

10:32 am

The United Kingdom has given a $4.3 development grant to the German launch startup Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) to pay for launch preparations at the Saxavord spaceport in the Shetland Islands.

The real news from this article however is the continuing delays for anyone to launch from Great Britain. Previously the two Scottish spaceports, one in Shetland and the other in Sutherland, had anticipated the first launches in 2023, from the three companies RFA, Orbex, and ABL. Now it appears that those launches could be delayed into the middle of 2024.

RFA currently expects to launch its three-stage, 30-meter-tall RFA One rocket at some point during the three months to the end of June, recently delayed from the end of this year.

…ABL had planned to conduct its SaxaVord Spaceport launch in 2023, but has yet to announce a date for its next launch attempt anywhere after its inaugural mission from Alaska failed to reach orbit Jan. 10.

ABL is gearing up for its second launch attempt, hopefully before the end of this year, but it will do it from the Kodiak spaceport in Alaska.

One can’t help wondering if these delays are connected the red tape from UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which delayed issuing a launch licence to Virgin Orbit so long it literally helped bankrupt the company. For example, Orbex applied for its launch license from Sutherland in January 2022, and 22 months later it apparently has still not gotten an approval from the CAA.

This grant from the UK government might be that government’s effort to keep RFA — faced with CAA delays — from switching its launch site out of Great Britain.

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