Rocket Report: Firefly enters “hot standby phase”; SpaceX’s superfluity of fairings

Welcome to Edition 6.09 of the Rocket Report! Friday marks the first day of September and the start of the final third of the year. Is it possible that 2023 is already two-thirds of the way over? Well, if you're a space company working toward a 2023 milestone, I'm here to tell you it is. Good luck to everyone out there working on a hard deadline. Journalists may not understand aerospace engineering, but we do understand deadlines.

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 says "hot standby phase" has begun for next Alpha launch. Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Space Systems announced Wednesday they are standing by waiting for orders from the US Space Force to prepare to launch a satellite on short notice, Space News reports. Although this mission has been promoted as a 24-hour call-up, the companies have spent months rehearsing and preparing. The intent of the demonstration is to help the Space Force and the space industry contractors figure out processes to accelerate the planning and execution of national security missions.

Gotta go fast ... Firefly and Millennium are now officially in a six-month “hot standby phase.” At any point during that time, the Space Force can send the companies an alert, kicking off a 60-hour window to transport the payload to Firefly’s launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, conduct fueling operations, and integrate it with the Alpha rocket’s payload adapter. Space Force officials will then issue Firefly a launch notice with the final orbit requirements. Firefly will have 24 hours to update the trajectory and guidance software, encapsulate the payload, transport it to the pad, mate to Alpha, and be ready to launch at the first available window. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

How did Virgin Galactic reach a higher flight cadence? Virgin Galactic has announced that it will conduct its next commercial spaceflight, Galactic 03, as early as September 8. This will be the company's third commercial spaceflight, and it will carry three as-yet-unnamed passengers who bought their tickets on the company's space plane back in the early 2000s. To understand how the company has reached a sustained monthly cadence with its VSS Unity spacecraft, Ars spoke with company president Mike Moses.

Making turnarounds easier ... The full interview touches on upgrades to the spacecraft and carrier aircraft, plans for future automation of some aspects of the vehicles' flight, and why Virgin Galactic has confidence in its forthcoming line of Delta-class spacecraft. "Right now, on Unity, if I need to do some inspections behind the main oxidizer access panel, it's a big giant panel that's got 35 fasteners, which sometimes get stripped and then have to be replaced," Moses explained. "It's very labor-intensive because it wasn't built for this. On an airplane, there would be three quick-turn fasteners. A panel comes off, and it goes right back on again. Delta is going to have that stuff built in."

Rocket Lab seeks to reuse nine engines. The company plans to launch its Electron rocket with only reused engines on a future mission, Payload reports. The company believes the move to reused Electron engine flights will reduce costs, as engines can make up more than half the booster cost. However, it’s unclear how much they could save since engine recovery and refurb costs can also add up.

All about the refurb costs ... Rocket Lab recovers its Electron booster by making a parachute-softened landing in the ocean, followed by an immediate boat recovery to protect the engines from saltwater erosion. The publication estimates that SpaceX, albeit operating on a different scale of size, spends about $2 million to recover its Falcon 9 boosters on a pad at sea, and $1 million to refurbish the vehicle. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Date set for penultimate Vega launch. Arianespace announced this week that its next launch of the small Vega rocket will occur on October 4 at 10:36 pm local time in French Guiana (01:36 UTC) from the European spaceport there. This is the next-to-last launch of the Vega rocket, which is being superseded by the Vega C booster.

Still waiting on Vega C ... The primary payloads for this mission are an Earth-observation satellite for Thailand and a Global Navigation Satellite System for Taiwan. There will also be 10 additional rideshare payloads on the mission. This is expected to be Arianespace's final launch of the year, with the Vega C rocket still under investigation for a recent failure, and the Ariane 6 debut delayed into mid-2024. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Astra's acquisition of engine company was not smooth. Two years ago Astra hailed its acquisition of satellite propulsion startup Apollo Fusion as a strategic move that would round out its launch business and bring expert engineers into the fold. But under Astra leadership, Apollo Fusion quickly disintegrated, with the majority of the original team resigning, leaving few people to staff the one part of the business that had substantial customer demand and the promise of revenue, according to a new report from TechCrunch.

How the turn tables ... Initially, according to a source cited by the publication, “It’s important to remember, with Astra, everything is about the rocket,” this source continued. “[The spacecraft engine business] has always been a stepchild. It only became important last fall when they realized that was going to be where the vast majority of their revenue was going to come from.” Astra recently announced, however, that it would make a “strategic reallocation of its workforce,” reassigning 50 workers from its launch division to work on spacecraft engines, as the engine business offers the most near-term potential revenue. (submitted by colonelpanic and Ken the Bin)

Changing nature of rideshare industry. In a feature-length story, Space News explores the changing landscape of small satellite launch. The story cites two major developments in recent years. These are the rise in popularity of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rideshare opportunities, through the Transporter program; and the lack of competitors who have stepped up with viable offerings aside from Rocket Lab and its Electron vehicle. “SpaceX is the only alternative if we think about recurrent flying,” said Renato Panesi, chief commercial officer of Italian rideshare operator D-Orbit. “This is, I think, an issue for end users because they basically have to develop their business plans based on SpaceX’s offering. They launch only when SpaceX launches.”

Meanwhile, there remains a lack of competitors ...  The last year has been filled with delays, failures, and bankruptcies of small launch providers. The first launches of ABL Space Systems’ RS1 and Relativity Space’s Terran 1 both failed earlier this year, with Relativity subsequently deciding to retire the Terran 1 to focus on the much larger Terran R. Astra retired the failure-prone Rocket 3.3 to work on the larger Rocket 4. Launcher halted plans to develop its own launch vehicle after being acquired by space station developer Vast. And, most spectacularly, Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, three months after a launch failure, with its assets auctioned off in May. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Crew-7 successfully launches on Falcon 9. SpaceX launched a Dragon spacecraft into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast early Saturday, carrying a multinational crew from the United States, Denmark, Japan, and Russia on a flight to the International Space Station, Ars reports. This was the first flight of a new Falcon 9 booster, joining more than 15 reusable boosters in SpaceX's rotation, an inventory that has helped enable an average of one launch every four days this year.

And then there were 11 human launches ... The Crew-7 team will replace the Crew-6 mission, which has been living and working on the space station since March. Upon arrival of the new crew, the Crew-6 team will pack up their Dragon capsule for return to Earth in early September. Saturday morning's flight was the 11th SpaceX launch to carry people into space, and SpaceX's seventh operational crew rotation for NASA to the space station.

Atlas V launch delayed by Hurricane Idalia. The launch of an Atlas V rocket with the Silent Barker mission has been postponed from Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Idalia, Ars reports. "Out of an abundance of caution for personnel safety, a critical national security payload, and the approaching Tropical Storm Idalia, the team made the decision to return the rocket and payload to the vertical integration facility," ULA said. The launch of the Silent Barker mission for the National Reconnaissance Office marks the first flight of an Atlas V rocket in nearly 10 months, the longest gap between Atlas V missions in 20 years.

A closed-mouth agency opens up, a bit ... The National Reconnaissance Office doesn't typically talk about any of its missions, but in an unusual break with precedent, the button-down spy satellite agency spoke with reporters ahead of the launch. "We’re trying to be more transparent and share more information," said Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, in a roundtable. As more countries and companies launch missions into space, Scolese said the space environment is becoming more congested, contested, and competitive. "It’s also becoming easier and easier to see what’s going up there," Scolese said. "We want to let people know, to some extent, what our capabilities are."

Ariane 6 short hot fire test delayed. ESA announced Wednesday that a short hot fire test of the Ariane 6 core stage, equipped with its Vulcain 2.1 engine, has been delayed, European Spaceflight reports. The test was due to take place on August 29 on the new Ariane 6 launchpad at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. In a short announcement on the ESA Space Transport Twitter account, the agency explained that the postponement was "due to a technical issue affecting the control bench."

A longer hot fire test in later September ... This bench manages the launcher’s propellant loading and automated countdown. According to the statement, specialists are working on the problem. The agency is presently targeting a new test date of September 5. A longer test firing of the Ariane 6 core stage is currently scheduled for September 26. This is the second time the short hot fire test has been rescheduled. The agency had planned to complete the test after a wet dress rehearsal on 18 July. However, in an update published in late July, ESA explained that it had run out of time to complete the test. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)

Here's why SpaceX gave up on catching fairings. Several years ago, SpaceX founder Elon Musk challenged his employees to go catch the Falcon 9 rocket's payload fairings. "You have six million bucks falling from the sky," Musk famously said. But how to do it? Originally, the company's engineering team reasoned that they had to catch them with a net before hitting the ocean, said Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch at SpaceX, Ars reports. Dontchev spoke about the fairing-recovery effort during the "Summit At Sea" program earlier this year.

A low catch rate ... The concern among the engineers was that exposing the fairing and its delicate electronics to seawater would cause significant corrosion. This would render the fairing halves unusable, they believed. Ultimately they caught some fairings, but the rate was less than 50 percent, primarily due to uncertain seas. "What we found out is that fairings float pretty well," Dontchev said. "Like a sailboat, they're composite. It's really just a big boat. Well, do we really need to catch them? We challenged that requirement. We moved some of the sensitive parts to the higher part of the fairing." SpaceX now has as many fairings as it needs.

SpaceX completes Super Heavy hot fire test. SpaceX conducted a second hot fire test of its Super Heavy booster last Friday, likely taking a key step toward the next launch of its massive new rocket, Ars reports. SpaceX later confirmed that all 33 Raptor engines ignited during the test and that all but two ran for the full six-second duration. This Super Heavy booster, the largest and most powerful rocket to ever fly, serves as the first stage of SpaceX's mega-rocket, which pushes the Starship upper stage into orbit.

Maybe a launch during the second half of September ... A static fire test like the one completed Friday is typically the final rehearsal for a rocket before it takes flight. The ground systems and propellant handling are all operated like a normal launch, following test-like-you-fly procedures. It's an opportunity to ensure that the rocket and ground systems perform as intended. Given the apparent success of the test, the final significant hurdle standing between SpaceX and the second test flight of the Starship rocket is regulatory. The company must receive a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been reviewing a "mishap investigation report" submitted by SpaceX following the April test flight.

Next three launches

August 31: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-13 | Cape Canaveral, Florida | 23:52 UTC

September 1: Falcon 9 | Transport & Tracking Layer satellites | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 14:26 UTC

September 2: PSLV-XL | Aditya L1 | Satish Dhawan Space Center, India | 06:20 UTC