Up to space from down under — Rocket Report: German launch from Australia; Neutron delayed until 2025 “The planned increase in flight cadence for our mothership Eve is a game changer.”
Eric Berger – May 10, 2024 11:00 am UTC Enlarge / HyImpulse’s single-stage rocket, SR75, lifts off from Australia.HyImpulse reader comments 8
Welcome to Edition 6.43 of the Rocket Report! This week saw the debut of two new rockets, a suborbital lifter from a German startup, and a new variant of the Long March 6 from China’s state-owned launch provider. We also got within two hours of the debut of a crewed launch of Boeing’s Starliner vehicle, but a rocket issue forced a 10-day delay. Soon, hopefully.
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.
Orbital launch tally running ahead of 2023. There were 63 orbital launch attempts worldwide in the first quarter of 2024, which is 10 more than the same time last year, Payload reports. SpaceX accounted for 32 of the 34 US orbital launch attempts in Q1. One ULA Vulcan launch and one Rocket Lab Electron launch out of Wallops rounded out the remaining total. (Rocket Lab flights out of New Zealand are not counted in US launch totals.)
SpaceX accounts for more than half … SpaceX flew 31 Falcon missions and one Starship mission in Q1. The companys launch attempts increased by 11 flights in Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2023. Chinas Q1 launch was flat year over year at 14 flights, with its Long March 2 vehicle leading the way with four missions. Europes planned summer Ariane 6 launch cant come soon enough, as the region saw zero launch attempts in the quarter. Advertisement
Virgin Galactic will lean heavily on mothership. Virgin Galactic says it will fly its existing mothership aircraft more frequently than previously planned with its upcoming Delta-class suborbital spaceplanes, allowing the company to defer development of a new plane, Space News reports. In a May 7 earnings call, Virgin Galactic executives said they expect to fly their VMS Eve aircraft up to 125 times a year once the company starts commercial service of the Delta spaceplanes, the successor to the existing VSS Unity, in 2026.
Asking a lot of Eve … The planned increase in flight cadence for our mothership Eve is a game changer when our first two Delta ships enter commercial service, added Doug Ahrens, chief financial officer of Virgin Galactic. That is a lot to ask of what was originally a developmental aircraft, which started flights in 2008. Eve was never intended to fly this many times, and it seems likely that refurbishment of the plane between launches could become a major bottleneck for Virgin Galactic as it seeks to scale up operations. (submitted by Ken the Bin) The Rocket Report: An Ars newsletter The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger’s space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we’ll collect his stories in your inbox. Sign Me Up!
HyImpulse conducts its first launch. The Germany-based startup launched a suborbital rocket from Southern Launchs Koonibba Test Range in Australia late last week. The SR75 rocket’s “Light this Candle!” mission was the inaugural launch attempt of HyImpulses booster, a pathfinder for an eventual orbital rocket. In a news release, the company characterized the flight as a “success” but did not specify what altitude the vehicle reached. Nominally, it is capable of flying to 250 km.
Literally lighting a candle … “With this successful launch, which also provides us with valuable data for further development, we have validated our technical concept and demonstrated our market readiness,” said Christian Schmierer, co-founder and co-CEO of HyImpulse. The German launch company is developing its rockets with hybrid technology, using solid paraffin (commonly known as candle wax) and liquid oxygen as fuel. HyImpulse aims to learn from this launch as it develops the SL1 multi-stage orbital launch vehicle, which may debut next year. (submitted by Marakai and Joey S-IVB) Page: 1 2 3 Next → reader comments 8 Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars
