Rocket Report: SpaceX pushing ahead on Starbase, North Korea launch failure

Welcome to Edition 5.41 of the Rocket Report! Not for the first time this year, the next three launches on the global calendar are all Falcon 9 missions. The cadence of that rocket's ability to launch continues to astound me—as does its reliability record. Read more about that below.

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 and a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

North Korean orbital launch fails. North Korea tried and failed to launch a military spy satellite on Wednesday morning due to a problem with an upper-stage rocket engine, according to DPRK state media, NK News reports. The country's state news agency said North Korea would make another attempt "within the shortest period possible." The new "Chollima-1" rocket was attempting to launch a military reconnaissance satellite. Malligyong, the name of the spy satellite, means "telescope" in Korean, while Chollima is a mythical winged horse often used in North Korean propaganda.

Cause of the failure not entirely clear ... There was some confusion in the aftermath of the launch failure as to its cause. Officially, the North Korean space agency, which (I kid you not) is called the National Aerospace Development Administration, or NADA, said there was an "abnormal" ignition of the second stage. "The cause of the accident appears to be that the new engine system reliability and stability failed and that the fuel used was unstable," NADA said. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Vega C to launch Korean satellite. Arianespace announced Wednesday that it signed a launch contract for the Earth observation satellite Kompsat-6, which will fly into orbit on the European light launcher Vega C. Kompsat-6 will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana as early as December 2024. Kompsat-6 is the second Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging satellite developed by the Korean space agency, KARI.

Another consequence of the Ukraine war ... The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, continues to lose business as a result of the country's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. In this case, Kompsat-6 was supposed to launch on an Angara rocket. Now, the small satellite will go to Europe's main launch corporation, a nice little boost for the continent's rocket industry. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

And another for Vega. Swiss-based in-orbit servicing startup ClearSpace has contracted Arianespace to launch its first debris-removal mission to capture and deorbit a 100 kg piece of space debris, Spaceflight Now reports. Europe’s Vega C will launch the ClearSpace-1 servicer spacecraft to low-Earth orbit from French Guiana in the second half of 2026 as a secondary passenger to a larger payload that has yet to be announced. The spacecraft will be injected into a sun-synchronous orbit, from which it will rendezvous, capture, and deorbit a spent upper stage that was part of the Vega launcher’s second flight in 2013.

What goes up must be brought back down ... “The world is putting objects into space quicker than they are being removed, and we urgently need to bring solutions to this fundamental problem," said Luc Piguet, CEO and co-founder of ClearSpace. "We are looking forward to this European collaboration and the potential for more challenging future missions with multiple captures per flight." (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Minotaur 4 returns for more. Northrop Grumman won a $45.5 million contract to launch a small weather satellite in 2025, Space News reports. The company’s Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a payload called "Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System," a prototype satellite that will demonstrate commercial weather imaging technologies for military use.

Going for lucky number eight ... The launch contract was a task order awarded by the US Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4, a contracting vehicle for acquiring launch services for payloads over 180 kg. The solid-fueled rocket has launched seven times, all successfully, with its most recent mission flying in 2020 with a payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Latitude continues engine tests. After an initial round of tests last winter, French launch startup Latitude is pushing its Navier rocket engine to the limits in a new test campaign. "The goal is to gather as much data as possible on it. To ensure this, we conduct tests every two to three days with several consecutive tests," said Olivier Lebrethon, chief technical officer of Latitude, in a news release.

Working toward a launch attempt ... This first version of the 3D-printed rocket engine will pave the way for a second iteration of Navier, nine of which will power the first stage of the Latitude's rocket, Zephyr. The first launch of Zephyr is scheduled for the end of 2024, possibly from SaxaVord in Scotland or Kourou in French Guiana.

Falcon 9 rocket hits big milestone. With a Starlink launch of the Falcon 9 rocket at the end of May from Vandenberg Space Force Base, SpaceX has now successfully flown the workhorse rocket 200 times in a row. The company's last failure was the Amos-6 mission on September 1, 2016, during a static fire test. The Falcon 9 now holds the record for consecutive successes by a factor of two, Ars reports.

Landings getting in on the record action, too ... The Russian Soyuz-U rocket had a run of 100 successful launches from 1983 to 1986. This happens to be the exact same number of consecutive successes by the Delta II rocket, which was originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas and later flown by Boeing and United Launch Alliance. For what it's worth, SpaceX also now has more consecutive successful Falcon 9 first-stage landings than any other rocket has launches.

H2A launch delayed until after August. Japanese officials are continuing to investigate the failure of the new H3 rocket in March, NHK reports. During its debut flight, the second-stage engine failed to ignite, and the rocket dropped into the ocean. The challenge for Japan's space agency is that there is a commonality between the second-stage engine used in that flight and the country's mainstay H2A rocket.

From summer to fall ... Last week, at a meeting of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japanese space agency officials reported that they have narrowed down the possible causes of the failure but cannot yet rule out some mechanisms that the H3 rocket has in common with the H2A. As a result, the next launch of the H2A has been delayed until at least September. (submitted by pseudonymous)

Roscosmos to launch offensives instead of rockets? Take this with a grain of salt, as there can be a fair amount of misinformation during wartime. However, the Institute for the Study of War reports that the Russian space corporation Roscosmos is recruiting its own employees to form a volunteer battalion. Russian and social media sources amplified an advertisement for the “Uran” volunteer battalion that reportedly appeared on the internal Roscosmos website, which ostensibly only Roscosmos employees can access.

From orbital boosters to ICBMS ... The possible recruitment of highly educated and likely limited specialists in the Russian aerospace field suggests that Russian officials may be prioritizing immediate force generation requirements over long-term human capital needs. There is already a huge brain drain in terms of Russian rocket specialists, so this seems like a terrible decision. But then again, invading Ukraine for conquest purposes was a terrible decision, too. If this happens, expect a further deterioration in the quality control of Russian spaceflight vehicles. (submitted by Frank OBrien)

NASA targeting June three for cargo launch. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 12:35 pm ET (16:35 UTC) on Saturday, June 3, to launch the company’s 28th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Arrival at the station is scheduled for 5:36 am on Monday, June 5.

More juice for the station ... Dragon will deliver new science investigations, food, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including the next pair of Roll Out Solar Arrays. The solar panels, which roll out using stored kinetic energy, will expand the energy-production capabilities of the space station. This will be the fifth and sixth of these new solar arrays launching in a SpaceX Dragon’s trunk. Each new solar array will produce more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, and once all are installed, they will enable a 30 percent increase in power production over the station’s current arrays. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

SLS program spends a lot on propulsion. An independent report published last week contained troubling findings about the money spent by the agency on propulsion for the Space Launch System rocket. Moreover, the report by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin warns that if these costs are not controlled, it could jeopardize plans to return to the Moon, Ars reports. The report found that efforts to refurbish RS-25 engines, manufacture new ones, and produce solid rocket boosters for the initial Artemis missions have resulted in about $6 billion in cost increases and more than six years in schedule delays compared to NASA's original projections.

Cost-plus is to blame ... To put this into perspective, Martin is talking about the cost increases, not the total cost of the engines and boosters. This means that overruns for the propulsion system of the SLS rocket alone are costing the space agency about as much as it will spend on developing two reusable lunar landers—SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The principal difference is the contracting method, and Martin uses—albeit in bureaucratic terms—harsh language for NASA's choice of cost-plus contracting.

SpaceX pushing forward hard on Starbase. The Orbital Index newsletter has a good roundup of activities happening at the Starbase facility in South Texas a little more than a month after Starship's debut flight. Work on the launch site has included the addition of a water-cooled steel flame plate, repairs needed to fill in the crater dug by Booster 7’s launch, and upgrades to the orbital launch mount and propellant tanks. The company also recently confirmed that Booster 9 and Ship 25 are the test articles intended for the next launch. The launch site and rocket will probably be ready to go in about two months.

The bigger issues are regulatory ... The hardware is only one side of the coin, of course. Approval to launch still relies on a few factors outside the direct control of SpaceX, including a lawsuit in which environmental groups are suing the FAA for what they claim was a cursory environmental review of the launch site’s impact on the surrounding wildlife areas. SpaceX has joined the case as a defendant since it feels that the impact on Starship’s development timeline will hugely affect the company’s financial future. The FAA is also looking into the delayed action by Starship's flight termination system. So fall, maybe?

Next three launches

June 3: Falcon 9 | CRS-28 supply mission | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. | 16:35 UTC

June 4: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-4 | Cape Canaveral, Fla. | 09:48 UTC

June 8: Falcon 9 | Transporter 8 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | TBD