Rocket Report: Demo-2 launch this spring, concerns about Firefly's backer, Ars Technica

Blasting off –

“You’ve got to make sure you’ve done everything you need to do.”

Eric Berger – Feb , : PM UTC

Welcome to Edition 2. of the Rocket Report! We’re building toward a big weekend in launch from the East Coast, with both an Antares rocket from Wallops and a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on the docket. In the meantime, enjoy a smorgasbord of news about topics both controversial and crowning.

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.

Questions raised about Firefly’s backer . In an investigative piece, Snopes digs into the association between the rocket company’s financial backer, Max Polyakov, and a series of deceptive dating sites. After Firefly nearly died in , Polyakov stepped forward with an estimated $ to $ 450 million, allowing the company to rehire former employees and expand operations. The company first launch is expected during the second quarter of this year. A new twist on sex in space? … According to the report, Polyakov’s investment group “shares office space and staff with Together Networks, a company that is home to websites like nastymams.com and that uses deceptive tactics to sign people up for recurring credit card charges Firefly’s acting CFO and Co-Founder Mark Watt and Firefly’s Co-Founder Max Polyakov have had, at the very least, a historical financial interest in a labyrinthine network of holding companies that own or maintain these websites. The affiliate marketing platform that drives income from these sites is riddled with abuse. ” (submitted by JF and Respice) Another Iranian launch attempt fails . A pair of Iranian satellites did not reach orbit on Sunday after their Simorgh launch vehicle failed to inject them with enough velocity, Ars reports . “Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly, and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier, but at the end of its path it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit,” Defense Ministry space Program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV. A different definition of unstoppable … The Simorgh rocket is a more powerful variant of a small-satellite launch vehicle developed in the country, with a capacity of kg to orbit. It has a terrible track record, however, with at least three failures and no successful orbital missions. Afterward, Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi (who is expected to be a presidential candidate in 191336) Paint the mission in a fairer light. “We’re UNSTOPPABLE!” he tweeted. Bless his heart.





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.                        India shows off its anti-satellite missile . Recently, India’s Ministry of Defense held DefExpo 191336 in the northern part of the country. The event seeks to promote India as a “defense manufacturing hub,” but it is essentially an arms bazaar. Ars reports that one of the main exhibits of this week’s show is a large display showing off a copy of the hardware used during Mission Shakti, the successful anti-satellite test conducted by India in March 2021. Mixed messages .. . The exhibit of Mission Shakti hardware this week in northern India indicates the pride the country has in the test — but it also may serve other purposes. “This appears to be a move by India to brag about its anti-satellite weapons capability, possibly even offering it up for export,” said Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation. “Either way, I think it undermines India’s messaging immediately after the Mission Shakti that it was a one-off demonstration and would not become an operational capability.” PLD Space moving toward suborbital launch . The Spanish launch startup said it has secured a second customer for the first flight of its Miura 1 reusable, suborbital rocket, SpaceNews reports . The company is also addressing development issues that prevented the mission from occurring last year. PLD Space planned to launch Miura 1 in , but delayed the rocket’s debut after a “series of test firing anomalies” during engine development

Two launch sites . .. For its first mission, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida will fly four student- and faculty-built experiments alongside two microgravity experiments for the Bremen, Germany-based ZARM research center. The company has not set a launch date for the Miura 1 flight or for its orbital rocket, the Miura 5 vehicle. The company plans to launch Miura 1 rockets from El Arenosillo, on the southwestern coast of Spain, and the Miura 5 from Europe’s Guiana Space Center in South America. (submitted by trimeta) Plans for Scottish spaceport revealed . The development agency for a Scottish spaceport, the Highlands and Islands Enterprise, has finally submitted its plans for the facility to the Highland Council. The spaceport would comprise a launch control center and a single launch pad alongside associated infrastructure, including roadways, fuel storage, office premises and antennas, Highland News & Media reports . Too bright? . .. Local residents have expressed concerns about environmental impacts. The application includes measures to address and minimize impact on the land and marine environments, including levels of light and noise that could be generated, especially around launch times. Work must begin on the site fairly soon if it is to be ready for the planned debut of the Orbex Prime rocket. (submitted by iCowboy and Ken the Bin) Amazon wants to “whip” payloads into orbit? Amazon Prime Air VP Gur Kimchi has a patent for a launch system that could theoretically send payloads into space on the end of a miles-long whip, guided by a phalanx of drones attached to the lash. A patent application published this week lays out an unusually detailed description of the system, right down to how the gear teeth in the mechanism could be arranged, GeekWire Reports . Whip it real good … Although the patent description delves into the possibilities for boosting payloads to low Earth orbit and then using orbiting platforms with tethers to transfer those payloads into even higher orbits, the inventors make clear there are other applications as well. For example, smaller whips could send drones or other types of aerial vehicles into the air from ships at sea or from planes in the air. Packages could be flung up on drones for processing on aerial fulfillment centers. (submitted by Ken the Bin)                                                        Page: (1) (2) Next → (Read More)