Rocket Report: At long last the SLS is ready, Alpha gets a launch date

Welcome to Edition 5.08 of the Rocket Report! This weekend I'll be traveling to the Artemis I launch in Florida on Monday. It's remarkable that launch day is finally here for NASA's big rocket and a big moment for the space agency, which has not launched its own rocket since 2011, and the final flight of the space shuttle. Here's hoping everything goes well with the launch and Orion's flight to the Moon.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and 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.

Firefly sets September 11 launch date. The Texas-based launch company announced this week the launch window for the second flight of its Alpha rocket. The window for the launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California opens at 3 pm local Pacific time (22:00 UTC). Alpha's first test flight, in September 2021, ended in failure 150 seconds into the flight after a problem with one of the rocket's four main Reaver engines.

Some tiny tag-alongs ... For its second demonstration flight, Alpha will attempt to launch multiple satellites to low Earth orbit at an altitude of 300 km. Payloads include a 3U Cubesat for NASA and a 3U Cubesat for Teachers in Space to collect atmospheric data for the education community. The launch will be hosted and streamed by Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Relativity completes 20-second stage test. This week Relativity chief executive Tim Ellis said the company completed a 20-second test firing of its Terran 1 rocket's first stage. In doing so, Ellis said on Twitter that the company remains on track to become the first liquid oxygen-methane rocket to reach orbit. The company completed the test on its launch mount at Launch Complex 16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Print your way to space ... The full video of the test, with sound, is quite excellent, and I recommend watching it. Next up for the company is completing a full-duration hot-fire test of the vehicle, which is the final major step before the rocket's debut launch. Relativity is working in parallel to obtain the necessary licenses to launch the rocket, which is capable of lifting more than 1 metric ton to orbit.

Canadian spaceport completes design review. The spaceport firm Maritime Launch Services has completed the preliminary design review for its proposed Spaceport Nova Scotia, SpaceQ reports. The spaceport, if completed, would be Canada’s first active launch site in decades and its only current orbital launch site. The Nova Scotia site could support a suborbital launch in 2023, followed by an orbital attempt in 2024, on its current timeline.

Construction to begin soon ... Stephen Matier, president and CEO of Maritime Launch Services, said the design review encompasses "the integration facility, processing facility area, the launch pad area, the launch control center, all the aspects of transportation and supply of material propellants... every aspect of the project is wrapped up in the term." An access road has already been completed, with construction expected to start "imminently," Matier said. (submitted by JS)

Scottish air-launch firm reaches propulsion deal. United Kingdom-based horizontal launch company Astraius says it is on track for a first launch in spring 2024 from Prestwick Spaceport in Scotland after signing deals with two key suppliers for its innovative rocket, Spaceflight Now reports. The Astraius rocket, with a payload capability of 800 kg to low Earth orbit, will ignite within seconds of being released via a parachute system on a cargo pallet from the back of the aircraft.

Buying off the shelf ... Northrop Grumman is to supply first and second motors and Exquadrum will provide the upper-stage motor. Northrop Grumman’s Orion solid rocket motors will boost the Astraius launch vehicle after its extraction from an unmodified C-17 carrier aircraft, while Exquadrum’s upper stage will place satellites in precise orbits. "Our strategy is to minimize new development, so, essentially, we have stitched together flight-proven components," Shane Clark, vice president of the firm’s engineering and program division, told the publication. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)

Stoke Space starts testing of second stage. This week the Washington-based launch company tweeted an image of a stand where it is conducting "spin tests and working out some kinks" of the second stage of a small, fully reusable launch vehicle. Founded by Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman, Stoke Space has a goal of delivering satellites "directly to their final orbit using 100 percent reusable rockets designed to fly daily."

Starting with take-off and landing tests ... Now, you may think, that sure sounds ambitious for a small startup with a few dozen employees. But there is some buzz about the company in the aerospace industry, and sources I respect have suggested I take them seriously. Additionally, Stoke also managed to raise $65 million in Series A funding last year, which is being used for development of the second stage.

Astra's stock may be de-listed. The New Space Economy website, which has offered bearish coverage of the launch firm Astra, notes that the company's stock is at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange. "Astra has now lost more than 90 percent of its market value as of August 24, 2022. As Astra’s stock price continues its downward plummet, their stock price has passed below the $1 minimum bid price requirement to be listed on the Nasdaq," the site reports.

Stock in need of a pop ... If Astra’s stock price trades below $1 for 30 consecutive business days, the company will be notified that it is non-compliant with Nasdaq listing requirements. It will be given 180 calendar days to become compliant. If, after 180 days, the company is still not compliant, it will be notified that its company will be delisted. The company may be allowed another 180 calendar days under specific circumstances. With no commercial launches this year or probably next, it's difficult to see what might make Astra's stock increase in value in the coming months, outside of a large outside investment, or significant sales of its in-space thruster. (submitted by brianrhurley)

NASA moves Crew-5 launch date. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 12:45 pm ET (16:45 UTC) on Monday, October 3, for the launch of the agency’s Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station. The slippage of a few days allows for extra separation with spacecraft traffic coming to and from the space station, the agency said.

Spasiba for flying SpaceX ... Crew-5 will carry two NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Nicole Mann and Pilot Josh Cassada, along with JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who will serve as mission specialists. Kikina will become the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle. This mission was previously delayed due to an accident while transporting the rocket's Falcon 9 first stage through Texas. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

SpaceX readies refurbished Falcon 9 booster. SpaceX rolled a Falcon 9 rocket to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral and test-fired its engines Thursday, prepping for liftoff Saturday night carrying another group of Starlink Internet satellites into orbit, Spaceflight Now reports. The Falcon 9 booster has undergone repairs, including some engine replacements. Known as B1069, the booster was damaged during recovery on a drone ship December 21 after launching its first mission, sending a Dragon cargo ship toward the International Space Station.

As good as new? ... The rough recovery damaged the rocket’s engines and landing legs, causing the rocket to tilt on its return aboard the drone ship to Port Canaveral. The damage forced SpaceX and NASA to switch to a backup Falcon 9 booster for the Crew-4 mission to the space station in April. That launch was originally supposed to use B1069, which has been refurbished with new engines and other components.

NASA water survey satellite launch slips. NASA, the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales, and SpaceX are now targeting Monday, December 5, to launch the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite. The mission to survey water on Earth will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the space agency said.

Water, water everywhere ... Previously, the mission had been scheduled for November 15. The SWOT project team determined a shift of the launch date was needed to complete all the necessary tasks in the lead-up to launch, including transporting the satellite from Cannes, France, to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

At long last, the SLS rocket will soon launch. After a dozen years and more than $20 billion, the Space Launch System rocket has been cleared for launch by NASA's Flight Readiness Review process. This week I wrote a feature about the rocket's history, my history with it, and where I think it is taking the space program. In the end, I have decidedly mixed feelings about the launch. I most definitely want it to succeed, but I also cannot let go of the fact that its production was in some ways responsible for a lost decade of US space exploration.

So it's bad, but also it may be good ... Between the rocket, its ground systems, and the Orion spacecraft launching on top of the stack, NASA has spent tens of billions of dollars. But I would argue that the opportunity costs are higher. For a decade, Congress pushed NASA's exploration focus toward an Apollo-like program, with a massive launch vehicle that is utterly expended, using 1970s technology in its engines, tanks, and boosters. The good news is that, in building Congress' favorite rocket, NASA has recently been able to wrangle money from Congress for an actual deep space exploration program—Artemis. I'm not sure that happens without SLS.

First Starship to the Moon may be a "skeleton" version. A SpaceX Starship that will land on the Moon during an uncrewed test flight may only be a “skeleton” of the version that will carry people on the Artemis III mission, Space News reports. At NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meeting on Tuesday, Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager of the Human Landing System program, said the Starship that performs that uncrewed landing demo mission won’t necessarily be identical to the vehicle that is used to transport astronauts to and from the surface of the moon on Artemis III as soon as 2025.

Is this a valid concern? ... "For the uncrewed demo, the goal is to have a safe landing,” Watson-Morgan said. “The uncrewed demo is not necessarily planned to be the same Starship that you see for the crewed demo. It’s going to be a skeleton because it just has to land. It does not have to take back off. Clearly we want it to,” she added. This story seems to be something of a tempest in a teapot. NASA wrote the requirements of this demonstration mission and did not require an ascent quite possibly because the other two HLS bidders—Blue Origin's National Team and Dynetics—did not plan ascent portions of their demo landings. The bottom line is that I would be shocked if SpaceX does not demonstrate an uncrewed ascent from the Moon before astronauts land there inside a Starship. (submitted by JohnCarter17)

Next three launches

August 28: Falcon 9 | Starlink 4-23 | Cape Canaveral, Fla. | 02:22 UTC

August 29: Space Launch System | Artemis I | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. | 12:33 UTC

August 31: Falcon 9 | Starlink 3-4 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 05:30 UTC

Rocket Report: At long last the SLS is ready, Alpha gets a launch date