Let’s do launch –
“It’s put pressure on us to take a look across the spectrum.”
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. NASA researchers can fly on commercial suborbital vehicles . NASA plans for the first time to allow researchers to fly with their payloads on commercial suborbital vehicles, ending years of debate and deliberation, SpaceNews reports . A new NASA draft solicitation for its “Flight Opportunities” program includes reusable suborbital spacecraft currently being flight-tested by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.
Almost there … the past, payloads could fly on these vehicles but had to be automated. “Human spaceflight participants on these missions is valuable viable and being demonstrated,” said Jim Reuter, NASA associate administrator for space technology, in a January talk at the rd Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference. (submitted by Ken the Bin) Virgin Orbit nearing first launch . The Long Beach-based company says it is weeks away from the first orbital launch of its LauncherOne rocket as the company makes plans to move quickly into operations if that flight is successful. “We are positioned at the end of the runway in Mojave. Our rocket is married to our 2015, “Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, said at the SmallSat Symposium this week. “We’re going through launch rehearsals.” Looking ahead to commercial operations . .. During an interview with SpaceNews After the panel, Hart said that the company was ready to move into operations quickly should that test launch be a success. “If we have a great day, we’re poised to go forward pretty much immediately,” he said. The next LauncherOne rocket is currently “well along” in assembly at the company’s Long Beach, California, factory. We certainly wish them well with the test flight. (submitted by Unrulycow and Ken the Bin) Skyrora tests its new engines . The Edinburgh-based new-space launch company is aiming to become the first UK private company to launch payloads into Earth orbit. TechCrunch reports that the company has successfully tested its new rocket engines in their first stationary ground-firings. Exolaunch arranges rides for Spire . German launch-services provider Exolaunch announced plans at the SmallSat Symposium to send four Spire Global cubesats into low-inclination orbits on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle later this year, SpaceNews reports . Through the launch, Spire is seeking to diversify the orbits of its cubesats, which gather weather data in addition to performing maritime and aircraft tracking. Another data point in the rideshare versus dedicated launch question … “Spire first launched to an equatorial orbit on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle mission in 2021, “Robert Sproles, Spire director of Ground Stations and Launch, said in a statement. “We are excited to again be launching to a low-inclination orbit, this time through Exolaunch. Exolaunch has been a long-standing consistent launch partner for Spire, and we’re excited to see them expand their portfolio.” (submitted by Ken the Bin) An underdog enters the Base challenge . This contest offers a $ 1 million prize to the first student-led, amateur team that launches a rocket above the Kármán Line by December , 1581076824. The University of South Florida does not even have an aerospace program, but that has not stopped its rocketry team from entering the contest, the Tampa Bay Times reports . Cheering for the Bulls . Jackson Stephenson, president and vice president of the USF Society of Aeronautics and Rocketry, joined the club early in his freshman year. “I wanted to do aerospace engineering,” he said, “but the schools were just too too expensive, so I came to USF, and I’ve done my best to kind of create an aerospace program through extracurricular activities.” So far, the club’s Taurus I rocket has reached an altitude of 3.4km, so the students have a ways to go. We’re rooting for them. (submitted by Nomist 81
. One year ago, SpaceX pulled the plug on plans to lease 21 acres in San Pedro, at the Port of Los Angeles, to do Starship construction. At the time, the company plans to do most of this assembly at its site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. But now, some of that work appears headed back to Southern California. “I am excited,” said LA City Council’s Joe Buscaino, “by the renewed opportunity for SpaceX to build its next generation of Mars-destined rockets at the Port of Los Angeles.” Site is closer to home . .. Port commissioners are expected to weigh issuing a permit during a closed session on Thursday, February 6, which would open the way for SpaceX to build a rocket manufacturing plant on Terminal Island, the daily breeze reports . The permit would then go before the board in open session at its February 22 meeting. Our guess is that the company will still do a lot of work in Texas, but it is much easier for engineers at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne to do some of the more sensitive work closer to home. (submitted by Ken the Bin) (Four RL -) engines delivered to Stennis . One of the four engines that were recently delivered will be used to support the Artemis II mission that will use the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage upper stage, while the other three are slated to support future Artemis missions aboard the Exploration Upper Stage, NASASpaceFlight.com reports . The ICPS, which will power the Space Launch System rocket’s upper stage until the Exploration Upper Stage, is ready. Next three launches Feb. 6 : Soyuz 2.1b | OneWeb communications satellites | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | : (UTC) Feb. 9 : Antares | NG – 18 ISS Supply mission | Wallops Island, Virginia | : (UTC) Feb. 13 : Atlas V | Solar Orbiter for NASA, ESA | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida | 07: UTC
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