Plus: Firefly sees military interest in the moon
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By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Rocket Lab's Neutron attracts strong demand and Pentagon funding, Globalstar wins approvals for new satellites, Firefly sees military interest in the moon and more.
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Top Stories
The Pentagon is providing financing to Rocket Lab to scale up production of Neutron rockets. The Defense Department's Office of Strategic Capital announced Monday a $150 million conditional loan commitment to Rocket Lab intended to help Rocket Lab increase production of rocket engines and composite structures, expand its fleet of maritime recovery vessels and reduce the time needed to prepare Neutron for another launch. The commitment reflects the Pentagon's growing interest in expanding the number of companies capable of launching military satellites as demand increases and SpaceX prepares to shift more of its launch business from Falcon 9 to its larger Starship vehicle. Rocket Lab says it is seeing strong demand for Neutron, having sold eight launches in the third quarter and with a manifest that now extends into the early 2030s. [SpaceNews]
That strong demand is leading Rocket Lab to raise launch prices. The company said in its third-quarter financial results Monday that it has increased the base price of Neutron from $55 million to $70 million, and left the door open for further price increases. Rocket Lab said the strong demand for the rocket validated its decision not to sell initial launches at a discount. The company also expects to raise prices for Electron launches because of demand for the HASTE suborbital variant as well as from smallsat customers looking for replacements for SpaceX rideshare missions. [SpaceNews]
Globalstar won regulatory approval for new direct-to-device satellites. France has cleared Globalstar to launch and operate the 54 next-generation satellites the company plans to start launching next year. France has also authorized the company's proposed C-3 System network, filed with international regulators as AST-NG-C-3, to use global Mobile Satellite Services spectrum for 20 years. Globalstar's constellation has used spectrum licensed by France as well as the United States. MDA Space is building the C-3 satellites, which, like earlier Globalstar satellites, will operate at 1,414 kilometers altitude. [SpaceNews]
Twin NASA smallsats are on their way to Mars after making flybys of the Earth. The two ESCAPADE, or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, spacecraft performed powered flybys of the Earth early Saturday and early Monday, putting them on a trajectory to arrive at Mars next September. The spacecraft launched nearly a year ago on a New Glenn and have loitered around the Earth-sun L-2 Lagrange point, making use of an innovative trajectory that allowed them to launch outside of normal Mars mission windows. Once at Mars, the satellites will go into orbit to study the interaction of the solar wind with the planet's magnetosphere and atmosphere. [SpaceNews]
Firefly Aerospace says there is interest from the military in operating in cislunar space. Speaking at a conference Monday, Firefly CEO Jason Kim said that while NASA and commercial ventures remain the major customers for lunar services, he sees growing military interest in spacecraft capable of surveillance, maneuvering near other objects and operating in constellations between Earth and the moon. The military could eventually account for "maybe 25%" of the market, he said, particularly for monitoring activities in cislunar space. His comments come days after the Department of the Air Force requested information from companies capable of delivering up to five spacecraft for cislunar missions, with an initial launch capability targeted for late 2029. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Chinese launch firm Kuaizhou Aerospace plans to conduct the first launches of new rockets next year. The company, previously known as Expace, started with small solid-fuel rockets but is now moving into larger liquid-propellant vehicles. Kuaizhou-12 is a vehicle with a solid-fuel first stage and boosters but a liquid-propellant second stage that can place up to 10,000 kilograms into LEO. Kuaizhou-6 is a liquid-propellant rocket with a reusable first stage that can place up to 20,000 kilograms into LEO. Both rockets are scheduled to make their debut in 2027. The company also aims to launch the existing Kuaizhou-1A and Kuaizhou-11 solid rockets more than 50 times in total over the next three years. [SpaceNews]
The first launch of Rocket Factory Augsburg's rocket has slipped to 2027. The RFA ONE rocket was expected to launch this year from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, but the company halted launch preparations this summer during vehicle testing. RFA said in a social media post it recently hosted the head of Germany's space agency, who offered a "clear expectation" that RFA ONE will make a successful flight in 2027. The company has not disclosed when in 2027 it now expects to attempt the vehicle's first launch. [European Spaceflight]
European satellite propulsion company Enpulsion is partnering with an American firm on electric propulsion systems. Enpulsion announced Tuesday that it is working with Orbion Space Technology, a subsidiary of York Space Systems, to offer Orbion's Hall-effect thrusters along with Enpulsion's low-power electric thrusters for satellite customers. The effort is part of Enpulsion's "Spacecraft Mobility Backbone" product that includes propulsion along with attitude control and navigation systems for smallsat customers, particularly in Europe. Orbion said that it is considering opening a new production line for its thrusters in Europe to serve those customers. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas for building and launching Starship could also host a data center. The company has filed plans to build a data center and a power plant that uses natural gas. SpaceX says in the filings that the total cost of the project could reach $24 billion. The proposal will be considered by the government of Starbase, Texas, the city incorporated last year with close ties to SpaceX, at a meeting next month. [Bloomberg]
Volcanoes on Mars may merely be dormant, not extinct. Observations from ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter mission detected hydrogen chloride gas being emitted from fissures in a region of Mars home to volcanoes like Olympus Mons, which scientists believed went extinct long ago. The observations add to evidence from imagery and seismic data that suggest Mars had active volcanoes as recently as a few million years ago. Those regions could also be hotspots that support microbial life, scientists added. [Space.com]
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Two Is Enough
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"Oh man, I don't want to build another rocket. I think two is enough for any person."
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– Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck when asked during an earnings call Monday if the company would consider a new launch vehicle larger than its Electron and Neutron rockets.
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