By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Rocket Lab wins Neutron contracts even as its first flight slips, H3 successfully launches a Japanese navigation satellite, a retired Space Force general joins the board of a lunar rover developer and more.
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Top Stories
A Chinese rocket exploded shortly after liftoff on Monday. The Long March 7A lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport at about 8 a.m. Eastern, but video of the launch showed the rocket exploding about 85 seconds into flight. The rocket was carrying Zhongxing-4B, thought to be a military communications satellite. Chinese officials have disclosed few details about the failure, including its potential cause. The Long March 7A uses the same engines as the larger Long March 5, which is scheduled to launch the Chang'e-7 lunar lander mission later this month. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab warned the first launch of its Neutron rocket might be delayed to next year. In an earnings call Monday, the company said it is working to get the first Neutron on the pad in the fourth quarter of this year, but acknowledged a "narrowing" window this year for the launch itself. Rocket Lab announced in 2021 it would develop Neutron, a medium-lift reusable rocket, with a goal then of a first launch in 2024, but that first flight has gradually slipped. Rocket Lab said it continues to see strong demand for Neutron despite development delays, including a contract announced Monday with Kepler Communications to launch a set of optical relay satellites on that rocket no earlier than 2028. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab also announced Monday it is developing a portable spaceport for its smaller Electron and HASTE rockets. The Global Hypersonic and Orbital Spaceport Technology, or GHOST, system packages the equipment needed to support a launch, including ground-support hardware and range-control systems, into standard shipping containers that can be transported and installed at new sites. The first GHOST installation will be at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island, where Rocket Lab plans to establish two pads under a new Launch Complex 4. GHOST stemmed from a "request from a customer," Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said, citing strong demand for HASTE and a need "to be able to be a little bit more mobile than we are." [SpaceNews]
Earth imaging company BlackSky has won a multi-year contract with an undisclosed international customer . The contract, announced Tuesday, is a "seven-figure" deal to provide the customer with persistent space-based monitoring and on-demand satellite tasking. BlackSky operates a constellation of Gen-2 and Gen-3 imaging satellites, the latter offering higher resolution. In an earnings call last week, BlackSky cited "exceptional performance" of the Gen-3 satellites for helping it attract new business, particularly from international customers. Revenues from BlackSky's international customers grew 200% year-over-year in the second quarter. The company expects to have eight Gen-3 satellites in orbit by the end of the year and plans to expand the constellation to 12 to 15 satellites. [SpaceNews]
A former Space Force general has joined the board of a lunar rover company. Lunar Outpost announced Tuesday that John Shaw has joined its board of directors. He will represent Industrious Ventures, the venture capital fund that led Lunar Outpost's $30 million Series B round in May. The company develops lunar rovers and won a $220 million NASA contract in May to develop a rover for use by astronauts on future Artemis missions. Shaw retired from the Space Force in 2023 as a lieutenant general, spending his last three years as deputy commander of U.S. Space Command. Shaw, an adviser at Industrious Ventures, also serves on the board of several other space companies, such as SES, Sierra Space and Stoke Space. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Japan launched a navigation satellite on an H3 rocket on Monday. The H3 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 3:23 p.m. Eastern and deployed the Michibiki 7 satellite into its planned transfer orbit 29 minutes later. The satellite is part of Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), which provides navigation services to augment other satellite navigation systems. This launch was intended to complete the expansion of QZSS from four to seven satellites, using a mix of geostationary and inclined geosynchronous orbits, but one satellite was lost on an H3 launch failure last December. This was the second H3 launch this year after the vehicle's return to flight in June on a test flight. [SpaceNews]
New Mexico's Spaceport America says it is facing a funding shortfall after Virgin Galactic cut monthly payments. At a legislative committee hearing on Monday, spaceport officials said the company exercised a provision in its lease agreement to sharply reduce payments while it is not flying from the spaceport. Virgin, which had been paying nearly $190,000 a month in user fees when it was flying from the spaceport, is now paying just $50,000 a month. The spaceport, though, is still providing services for the company, including support for aircraft test flights there. Virgin Galactic is continuing to develop its new suborbital spaceplane and is expected to provide an update on that work during an earnings call Wednesday. [Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal]
The Indian government is proposing to commercialize a spaceport that is still under construction. IN-SPACe, the agency that both regulates and promotes India's space industry, has started the process to transfer operations of the Small Satellite Launch Complex to the private sector. The Indian space agency ISRO has been developing the spaceport, located in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, for use by the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. It could also be used by other small launchers, such as those being developed by Indian startups like Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos. [The Times of India]
A Vietnamese company has signed a contract to launch with SpaceX. VinSpace Joint Stock Company said Tuesday it will launch satellites on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission in 2027. The company did not disclose how many satellites will be on the launch but said those satellites will test technologies intended for future, unspecified commercial missions. The contract shows there is still some space available on Transporter missions despite reports of a constrained supply of such flights and expectations that SpaceX will stop offering rideshare launches on its Falcon 9 in the next few years. [Bloomberg]
The Italian government has, as expected, appointed an "extraordinary commissioner" for its space agency. The space agency ASI said Monday that Mario Cospito will serve as extraordinary commissioner, or acting head, of the agency after the death in July of its president, Teodoro Valente. Cospito's career started an Italian diplomat who was ambassador to Romania and Sweden. He later served as director of institutional relations for Avio and then an adviser on aerospace policies for Italy's industry minister. [European Spaceflight]
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Emphasis on "Really"
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"Stage testing is always the thing that gets your adrenaline running because you have fully fueled vehicles on the pad, and you're igniting the engines for the first time. And I think you can also see for another space company that, when that doesn't go well, it really doesn't go well."
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– Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck discussing in the company's earnings call Monday preparations for the first flight of his company's Neutron rocket, including a static-fire test of the rocket on the pad.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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