Welcome to Version 7.35 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX’s steamroller continues to be rolling, however for the primary time in a few years, it would not look like it is rolling downhill. After a three-year run of good efficiency—with no launch failures or every other critical malfunctions—SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has suffered a handful of points in current months. In the meantime, SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket is having issues, too. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vp of launch, addressed some (however not all) of those considerations in a post on X this week. Regardless of the problems with the Falcon 9, SpaceX has maintained a exceptional launch cadence. As of Thursday, SpaceX has launched 28 Falcon 9 flights since January 1, forward of final yr’s tempo.
As all the time, we welcome reader submissions. For those who do not need to miss a problem, please subscribe utilizing the field under (the shape is not going to seem on AMP-enabled variations of the positioning). Every report will embrace info on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets in addition to a fast look forward on the subsequent three launches on the calendar.
Alpha rocket preps for weekend launch. Whereas Firefly Aerospace is making headlines for touchdown on the Moon, its Alpha rocket is set to launch again as quickly as Saturday morning from Vandenberg Area Power Base, California. The 2-stage, kerosene-fueled rocket will launch a self-funded expertise demonstration satellite tv for pc for Lockheed Martin. It is the primary of as much as 25 launches Lockheed Martin has booked with Firefly over the subsequent 5 years. This launch would be the sixth flight of an Alpha rocket, which has grow to be a pacesetter within the US industrial launch business for devoted missions with 1 ton-class satellites.
Firefly’s OG … The Alpha rocket was Firefly’s first product, and it has been a central piece of the corporate’s growth since 2014. Like Firefly itself, the Alpha rocket program has gone by means of a number of iterations, together with a wholesale redesign practically a decade in the past. Certain, Firefly cannot declare any revolutionary firsts with the Alpha rocket, as it could possibly with its Blue Ghost lunar lander. However with out Alpha, Firefly would not be the place it’s at present. The Texas-based agency is one in every of solely 4 US corporations with an operational orbital-class rocket. One factor to observe for is how rapidly Firefly can ramp up its Alpha launch cadence. The rocket solely flew as soon as final yr.