By Mike Gruss
Troy Meink, the Secretary of the Air Force, delivered a direct message at Space Symposium: “Execute, execute, execute.”
The phrase is noteworthy for two reasons:
First, it matches the construction of one of the more notable lines from the new space movie “Project Hail Mary,” which was “Amaze, amaze, amaze.” NASA’s mission control used the line during the Artemis 2 mission as well.
Second, it provided a clear and slightly different direction from the common refrain of “speed, speed, speed.”
Rhetorical devices aside, all of this execution, whether it’s for national security purposes or not, requires rockets that launch and successfully place satellites into orbit. Despite the optimism that permeated the exhibition floor at Space Symposium, there was also an underlying concern of an ever-growing list of customers in the not too distant future, tapping their fingers as they waited for a ride to orbit. Pentagon leaders have called on the industry to ramp up their production in anticipation of a strong demand signal. But a constant emphasis on speed means little if it merely leads to a form of hurry-up-and-wait.
One solution to assuage the concern is an uptick in cadence from Blue Origin or United Launch Alliance.
Both face issues in doing so, which is partially why they were among our most read stories this week.
On April 19, Blue Origin’s New Glenn suffered a malfunction of its second stage on the rocket’s third flight. As a result, it stranded the satellite AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite in an unrecoverable “off-nominal” orbit. The move dealt the company a setback as it seeks to increase its flight rate.
Second, a top U.S. Space Force acquisition official said the service is exploring whether it can resume flights of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket without using the solid rocket boosters. That rocket is now under investigation and this workaround could allow some missions to proceed even as the vehicle remains grounded for national security launches.
In addition, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 continues to launch regularly but a date for the next version of Starship, which promises greater payload capacity, has been delayed several times.
The hard part in this decade-long discussion on speed is not speed in and of itself. Plenty of companies can go fast. The challenge has always been getting the entire space industry to move faster. Without that, there are bottlenecks.
The same goes for Meink’s comments. His call to execute, execute, execute is noteworthy, but the results are only significant if they happen throughout the entire enterprise.
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