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  • Rocket Report: New delay for Europe’s reusable rocket; SpaceX moves in at SLC-37

    Welcome to Edition 7.48 of the Rocket Report! The shock of last week’s public spat between President Donald Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has worn off, and Musk expressed regret for some of his comments going after Trump on social media. Musk also backtracked from his threat to begin decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, currently the only way for the US government to send people to the International Space Station. Nevertheless, there are many people who think Musk’s attachment to Trump could end up putting the US space program at risk, and I’m not convinced that danger has passed.

    As always, we welcome reader submissions. 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.

    Rocket Report: New delay for Europe’s reusable rocket; SpaceX moves in at SLC-37

    Quebec invests in small launch company. The government of Quebec will invest $10 million Canadian dollars ($7.3 million) into a Montreal-area company that is developing a system to launch small satellites into space, The Canadian Press reports. Quebec premier François Legault announced the investment into Reaction Dynamics at the company’s facility in Longueuil, a Montreal suburb. The province’s economy minister, Christine Fréchette, said the investment will allow the company to begin launching microsatellites into orbit from Canada as early as 2027.

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  • We finally know a little more about Amazon’s super-secret satellites

    The first production satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband network launched earlier this week, but if you tuned in to the mission’s official livestream, the truncated coverage had the feel of a spy satellite launch.

    This changed with a video Amazon posted on social media Friday, giving space enthusiasts and prospective Kuiper customers their first look at the real satellites. The 40-second clip shows the Kuiper satellites separating from their launch vehicle in the blackness of space following liftoff Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

    Since Amazon unveiled Project Kuiper in 2019, officials at the retail giant have been shy about showing even the most basic imagery of their satellites. Images released by Amazon previously provided glimpses inside the company’s satellite factory near Seattle, along with views of the shipping containers Amazon uses to transport spacecraft from Washington their launch base in Florida.

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  • A rocket launch Monday night may finally jump-start Amazon’s answer to Starlink

    The first 27 operational satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband network lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast on Monday evening, the opening salvo in a challenge to SpaceX’s dominant Starlink global Internet service.

    Amazon’s Project Kuiper, costing up to $20 billion, will beam high-speed, low-latency broadband signals to consumers around the world. Monday’s milestone launch kicks off a test campaign in low-Earth orbit to verify the functionality and performance of Amazon’s satellites. In a statement earlier this month, Amazon said it planned to begin providing service to customers later this year.

    These initial services are likely to have limited reach. Amazon needs more than 80 launches to complete the first-generation Kuiper network, and this will probably take several years.

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  • Rocket Report: The pitfalls of rideshare; China launches next Tiangong crew

    Welcome to Edition 7.41 of the Rocket Report! NASA and its contractors at Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue building a new mobile launch tower for the Space Launch System Block 1B rocket, a taller, upgraded version of the SLS rocket being used for the agency’s initial Artemis lunar missions. Workers stacked another segment of the tower a couple of weeks ago, and the structure is inching closer to its full height of 355 feet (108 meters). But this is just the start. Once the tower is fully assembled, it must be outfitted with miles of cabling, tubing, and piping, then tested before it can support an SLS launch campaign. Last year, NASA’s inspector general projected the tower won’t be ready for a launch until the spring of 2029 and its costs could reach $2.7 billion. The good news, if you can call it that, is there probably won’t be an SLS Block 1B rocket that needs to use it in 2029, whether it’s due to delays or cancellation.

    As always, we welcome reader submissions. 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.

    Rocket Report: The pitfalls of rideshare; China launches next Tiangong crew

    Fresh details on Astra’s strategic pivot. Astra, the once high-flying rocket startup that crashed back to Earth with investors before going private last year, has unveiled new details about its $44 million contract with the Department of Defense, Space News reports. The DOD contract announced last year supports the development of Rocket 4, a two-stage, mobile launch vehicle with ambitions to deliver cargo across the globe in under an hour. While Astra’s ill-fated Rocket 3 focused on launching small satellites to low-Earth orbit, Astra wants to make Rocket 4 a military utility vehicle. Rocket 4 will still be able to loft conventional satellites, but Astra’s most lucrative contract for the new launch vehicle involves using the rocket for precise point-to-point delivery of up to 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms) of supplies from orbit via specialized reentry vehicles. The military has shown interest in developing a rocket-based rapid global cargo delivery system for several years, and has a contract with SpaceX to study how the much larger Starship rocket could do a similar job.

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  • Reusable rockets are here, so why is NASA paying more to launch stuff to space?

    In an era of reusable rockets and near-daily access to space, NASA is still paying more than it did 30 years ago to launch missions into orbit, according to a study soon to be published in the scientific journal Acta Astronautica.

    Launch is becoming more routine. Every few days, SpaceX is sending another batch of Starlink Internet satellites to orbit, and other kinds of missions fill up the rest of SpaceX’s launch schedule. SpaceX, alone, has ample capacity to launch the handful of science missions NASA puts into space each year. If supply outpaces demand, shouldn’t prices go down?

    It’s not so simple. NASA is one of many customers jockeying for a slot on SpaceX’s launch manifest. The US military is launching more missions than ever before, and SpaceX is about to become the Pentagon’s top launch provider. SpaceX already launches more missions for NASA than any other rocket company.

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  • Amazon reveals new date for debut Project Kuiper launch

    Amazon’s inaugural launch of its Project Kuiper internet satellites on April 9 turned out to be nothing of the sort when poor weather conditions prompted the mission team to postpone liftoff.

    Up until Thursday, we’d heard nothing from Amazon and United Launch Alliance (ULA) — the operator of the Atlas V rocket carrying the satellites to orbit — about a new target launch date. But on Friday, they finally revealed a schedule.

    “Kuiper 1, the launch of a ULA Atlas V 551 rocket carrying the first production satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, is now planned for April 28,” ULA said in a post on social media.

    It continued: “The launch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at the opening of a two-hour window, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida,” adding: “This launch begins a new chapter in the commercial launch industry as Amazon partners with ULA to deliver the first batch of their advanced satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO).”

    With Project Kuiper, one of Amazon’s goals is to take on SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, which started in 2019 and now provides broadband connectivity to individuals and businesses via a growing constellation of small satellites. 

    Amazon’s April 28 mission will deploy 27 Project Kuiper satellites to orbit — the maximum number of Kuiper satellites that ULA’s Atlas V rocket can carry in a single deployment. 

    For subsequent missions, Amazon will also use ULA’s newer Vulcan rocket, which can carry as many as 45 Kuiper satellites in one flight, as well as the New Glenn, a new heavy-lift rocket operated by Blue Origin.

    Amazon is planning to build a constellation of around 3,200 Project Kuiper satellites by 2029. This will be enough to offer global broadband coverage, giving it a chance to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. 

    In a letter to shareholders in 2023, Amazon chief Andy Jassy said that Kuiper is our low-Earth orbit “aims to provide broadband connectivity to the 400-500 million households who don’t have it today (as well as governments and enterprises seeking better connectivity and performance in more remote areas),” describing it as “a very large revenue opportunity for Amazon.”

    If you’re interested to watch the the inaugural launch toward the end of April, Digital Trends has everything you need to know.

  • There’s a secret reason the Space Force is delaying the next Atlas V launch

    There’s a secret reason the Space Force is delaying the next Atlas V launch
    Pushed by trackmobile railcar movers, the Atlas V rocket rolled to the launch pad last week with a full load of 27 satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper internet megaconstellation.
    Credit:
    United Launch Alliance

    Last week, the first operational satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband network were minutes from launch at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

    These spacecraft, buttoned up on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, are the first of more than 3,200 mass-produced satellites Amazon plans to launch over the rest of the decade to deploy the first direct US competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink internet network.

    However, as is often the case on Florida’s Space Coast, bad weather prevented the satellites from launching April 9. No big deal, right? Anyone who pays close attention to the launch industry knows delays are part of the business. A broken component on the rocket, a summertime thunderstorm, or high winds can thwart a launch attempt. Launch companies know this, and the answer is usually to try again the next day.

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  • Rocket Report: “No man’s land” in rocket wars; Isaacman lukewarm on SLS

    Welcome to Edition 7.39 of the Rocket Report! Not getting your launch fix? Buckle up. We’re on the cusp of a boom in rocket launches as three new megaconstellations have either just begun or will soon begin deploying thousands of satellites to enable broadband connectivity from space. If the megaconstellations come to fruition, this will require more than a thousand launches in the next few years, on top of SpaceX’s blistering Starlink launch cadence. We discuss the topic of megaconstellations in this week’s Rocket Report.

    As always, we welcome reader submissions. 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.

    Rocket Report: “No man’s land” in rocket wars; Isaacman lukewarm on SLS

    So, what is SpinLaunch doing now? Ars Technica has mentioned SpinLaunch, the company that literally wants to yeet satellites into space, in previous Rocket Report newsletters. This company enjoyed some success in raising money for its so-crazy-it-just-might-work idea of catapulting rockets and satellites into the sky, a concept SpinLaunch calls “kinetic launch.” But SpinLaunch is now making a hard pivot into small satellites, a move that, on its face, seems puzzling after going all-in on kinetic launch, and even performing several impressive hardware tests, throwing a projectile to altitudes of up to 30,000 feet. Ars got the scoop, with the company’s CEO detailing why and how it plans to build a low-Earth orbit telecommunications constellation with 280 satellites.

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  • Here are the reasons SpaceX won nearly all recent military launch contracts

    In the last week, the US Space Force awarded SpaceX a $5.9 billion deal to make Elon Musk’s space company the Pentagon’s leading launch provider, and then it assigned the vast majority of this year’s most lucrative launch contracts to SpaceX.

    On top of these actions, the Space Force reassigned the launch of a GPS navigation satellite from United Launch Alliance’s long-delayed Vulcan rocket to fly on SpaceX’s Falcon 9. ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is SpaceX’s chief US rival in the market for military satellite launches.

    Given the close relationship between Musk and President Donald Trump, it’s not out of bounds to ask why SpaceX is racking up so many wins. Some plans floated by the Trump administration involving SpaceX in recent months have raised concerns over conflicts of interest.

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  • A military satellite waiting to launch with ULA will now fly with SpaceX

    For the second time in six months, SpaceX will deploy a US military satellite that was sitting in storage, waiting for a slot on United Launch Alliance’s launch schedule.

    Space Systems Command, which oversees the military’s launch program, announced Monday that it is reassigning the launch of a Global Positioning System satellite from ULA’s Vulcan rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. This satellite, designated GPS III SV-08 (Space Vehicle-08), will join the Space Force’s fleet of navigation satellites beaming positioning and timing signals for military and civilian users around the world.

    The Space Force booked the Vulcan rocket to launch this spacecraft in 2023, when ULA hoped to begin flying military satellites on its new rocket by mid-2024. The Vulcan rocket is now scheduled to launch its first national security mission around the middle of this year, following the Space Force’s certification of ULA’s new launcher last month.

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