Rocket Report: Alpha explodes on test stand; Europe wants a mini Starship
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Here's the updated list of space-related abbreviations. Tailored to contain abbreviations that Ars commenters in particular use frequently. Posted in the first Rocket Report of (nearly) every month.
- ASDS∶ autonomous spaceport drone ship, SpaceX's mobile ocean landing platform
- B[x]∶ Booster [x] (e.g. B10 = Booster 10), the first stage of SpaceX's Starship
- BEO∶ beyond earth orbit
- BO∶ Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company
- CC(P)∶ NASA's Commercial Crew program
- CLD∶ Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination, NASA's commercial space station program
- CLPS∶ NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program
- COPV∶ composite overwrapped pressure vessel
- CRS∶ NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program
- DIVH∶ ULA's Delta IV Heavy rocket, now retired
- dV∶ delta-V or ΔV, the velocity change needed to go somewhere in space and thus a measure of the amount of propellant required
- ECLSS∶ environment control and life support system
- EDL∶ entry, descent, landing
- EELV∶ Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, predecessor to the NSSL program
- ET∶ (The Space Shuttle's) external tank
- F9∶ Falcon 9, the SpaceX rocket
- FFSC∶ full flow staged combustion, a very efficient rocket engine design
- FH∶ Falcon Heavy, the SpaceX rocket
- FOD∶ foreign object debris/damage
- FRSC∶ fuel rich staged combustion, a type of rocket engine design
- FTS∶ flight termination system
- GLOW∶ gross lift-off weight, the total weight of a rocket at lift-off, including propellant and payload
- GSE: ground support equipment
- GTO∶ geostationary transfer orbit
- HLS∶ Human Landing System, NASA's program to land people on the moon as part of Artemis
- HSF∶ human space flight
- ISP∶ specific impulse, Isp, a measure of how fuel efficient a rocket motor is
- ISRO∶ Indian Space Research Organisation
- ISRU∶ in situ resource utilization, exploiting resources at the destination to make useful products like fuel
- KSC∶ Kennedy Space Center
- KSP∶ Kerbal Space Program, a video game that puts the fun into orbital mechanics
- LEO / LLO∶ low earth orbit / low lunar orbit
- LM[x]∶ Long March [x] (e.g. LM5 = Long March 5), the series of Chinese rockets
- LOC / LOM / LOV∶ loss of crew / mission / vehicle
- LOX∶ liquid oxygen
- LRE∶ liquid rocket engine
- LV∶ launch vehicle
- MARS∶ Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia
- MECO∶ main engine cut-off, first stage engines switch off
- MLP∶ mobile launch platform
- MLV∶ Medium Launch Vehicle, co-developed by Northrop-Grumman and Firefly
- MSFC∶ Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama
- NET∶ no earlier than
- NG∶ New Glenn, Blue Origin's orbital rocket
- NG∶ Northrop-Grumman
- NRHO∶ near-rectilinear halo orbit, a highly eccentric orbit NASA uses for Artemis
- NS∶ New Shepard, Blue Origin's suborbital rocket
- NSSL∶ The U.S. Air Force's National Security Space Launch program
- OFT∶ orbital flight test
- OLT∶ orbital launch tower
- ORSC∶ oxygen rich staged combustion, a type of rocket engine design
- PAF∶ payload attach fitting
- QD∶ quick disconnect
- RCS∶ reaction control system, used for spacecraft attitude control
- RL∶ Rocket Lab, maker of the Electron and Neutron rockets
- RPOD∶ rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking
- RTG∶ radioisotope thermoelectric generator
- RTLS∶ return to launch site
- RUD∶ rapid unscheduled disassembly, a euphemism for a rocket explosion
- S[x]∶ Ship [x] (e.g. S29 = Ship 29), the upper stage of SpaceX's Starship
- SECO∶ second engine cut-off, second stage engines switch off
- SEP∶ solar electric propulsion
- SH∶ Super-heavy, the first stage of SpaceX's Starship
- SLS∶ Space Launch System, NASA's heavy-lift rocket
- SPMT∶ self propelled modular transporter
- SRB / SRM∶ solid rocket booster / motor
- SS∶ SpaceX's Starship; can refer to just the upper stage or the whole rocket system
- SSLV∶ India's small satellite launch vehicle
- SSME∶ Space Shuttle main engine
- SSO∶ sun-synchronous orbit
- SSTO∶ single stage to orbit
- STS∶ Space Transportation System, the official name of the Space Shuttle
- TLI / TMI∶ trans-lunar injection / trans-martian injection
- TPS∶ thermal protection system
- TRL∶ technical readiness level
- TSTO∶ two stage to orbit
- TVC∶ thrust vector control
- TWR∶ thrust-to-weight ratio, a measure of performance of rocket engines
- ULA∶ United Launch Alliance, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin's joint venture
- VG∶ Virgin Galactic, the part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group focussed on space tourism
- VI∶ vertical integration, attaching the payload while the rocket is vertical
- VSFB∶ Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
- WDR∶ wet dress rehearsal
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I would also include the possibility of seeing CASC's Long March 12A (a methalox variant of the LM 12 kerolox medium-lift rocket), and Landspace's Zhuque-3 (a stainless steel, methalox reusable rocket that basically replicates Falcon 9 capabilities), making their debut this quarter. In the case of Zhuque-3, they supposedly will even attempt a landing (if they're lucky).
Would be nice if China livestreamed these things... I won't hold my breath, but will keep my
on ice just in case.edit: there's also a chance of iSpace's Hyperbola-3 (medium-lift methalox reusable) flying for the first time this year - though no landing will be attempted until a later flight, presumably next year.
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It abutted the recently renamed country of America, located just to the south of the United States...The Gulf of Mexico? Never heard of it
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To put that in context, the active New Shepard fleet comprises rockets NS4 and NS5 (15 and five flights, respectively) and capsules RSS First Step and Kármán Line (14 and 3 flights). The retired fleet comprises rockets NS1, NS2 and NS3 (one, five and nine flights), and capsules RSS H. G. Wells and Jules Verne (12 and nine flights). (Next Spaceflight has a handy "Reuse" page to track launchers and capsules.)
Of late, BO has been alternating launches between NS4 and NS5, so each has a turnaround of about two months. NS5 has alternated between Kármán Line and H. G. Wells, but NS4 has (almost)always carried First Step. Following that pattern, the NS-36 launch will probably be NS4 with First Step (flights 16 and 15, respectively). Vehicle details are TBA but the crew was announced on Wednesday: six humans, including one repeat passenger and one undisclosed.
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Today's Starlink launch is slipping through the window - now scheduled for 1359 UTC (that's about 7am local time)
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Does it really make sense to try to design the ground infrastructure (at least beyond "it will need LOX, LN2, and liquid methane supply") before you have firmed up the design at least a bit? Not even counting the number of tower redesigns (and even a rebuild) SpaceX has gone through, they've done several iterations of just the GSE connection arm. And that's building to fit actual hardware in production, much less a far more nebulous target design.
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I'm shocked there's any kind of demand to support that. I had no idea they'd even flown as many times as Lexomatic lists; NS flights hardly get any publicity anymore. I just don't see enough rich thrill-seekers left willing to spend that kind of money for a few minutes of zero-g to fill bi-weekly flights in 2027.
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Just wanted to say thanks for another great Rocket Report. It’s one of the highlights of my week; concise, well-curated, and packed with updates I’d never catch anywhere else. Really appreciate the consistent effort you put into tracking such a wide range of launch activity. Keep ‘em coming!
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Speakertoanimals
Ars Praefectus
It should also be known as the Gulf of Cuba, about 10% of the time.The Gulf of Mexico? Never heard of it
Edit: Grammers and speeling.
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it was renamed, like MonkeypoxThe Gulf of Mexico? Never heard of it
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The topic line for the Alpha story indicates it blew up on the pad, while the RR headline and the first line of the actual article correctly say test stand. I’d assume damage to the pad would be more impactful than damage to a test stand.
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Off topic space question, why has the fact that NASA is going to launch a mission to boost the orbit one of their telescopes gone unreported on Ars, seems like that would be of interest?
https://www.katalystspace.com/post/nasa-telescope-is-about-to-fall-out-of-the-sky
https://www.katalystspace.com/post/nasa-telescope-is-about-to-fall-out-of-the-sky
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ESA development programs seem to proceed like OldSpace US programs - lots and lots of preliminaries, planning, detailed proposals, etc., all as separate activities before any actual design work is done. That approach was par for the course 20 years ago, but more recently the commercial entrants have shown that faster approaches work better, and even NASA (aside from SLS and some other parts of Artemis) and the DoD (or should that be DoW) have largely adapted. ESA may be constrained by its structure, which is not just political, but very political, with many different stakeholders having a say. It seems that they’ll need a way to manage that if they hope to be a significant factor going forward (for anything other than activities that have no permitted option).
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Probably because no one sent in the story (RR is mostly a recap of Ars rocket/space stories from the previous week plus stories readers sent in). I’m guessing that this mission is viewed as a long shot by NASA, given the short timeframe and need to deal with a satellite not designed for it, but is certainly interesting.
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A couple of suggested additions:
CCSFS - Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
LM - Lockheed Martin
SX - SpaceX (which technically is also an abbreviation, but…)
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I will assume BO is competent enough to know their market for this service. The segment "rich thrill-seekers" probably isn't deciding based on publicity as we know it, any more than penthouse suites in hotels or yacht charters are widely advertised. I'm guessing word of mouth (among the nouveau riche) and under-the-radar recruitment (for the sci-engineer demographic) are more important. And possibly the price is falling with experience -- the booking page shows a $150k deposit, but not a full price. (By comparison, a passenger flight with Zero-Gravity Corporation is $8.9k.)
Three of the last 11 launches carried sounding rocket-style experiments, not passengers. There may be a pent-up demand for that, i.e., NS has created a "cheaper than longer microgravity durations, and longer than cheaper launches" niche. There's a page with payload physical specs (size, mass, electric power, data) but no price, and a Payload User's Guide is available on request.
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And you're apparently wrong. Lots of folks have the money in hand to take the flight, not even counting the flights given out to those Bezos thinks worthy of reaching space (Shatner and Funk come to mind) and remember too that New Shepard also often flies missions uncrewed but packed with scientific experiments.
Yes, a reusable sounding rocket is a valuable thing to have in the space industry.
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Narrower, but much more densely populated. Northern Mexico is extremely sparsely populated (~2-3 people per sq km) so long as you avoid a couple large cities. Southern and Central Mexico are more filled in.
They are probably banking to avoid flying over the Reynosa/McAllen metro area. Those cities have 1.7 million people in the path of a western approach to Starbase, but the areas to the north or south are very sparsely populated, especially north (~1 person per square km). I expect they will fly east across the King ranch area, which is effectively unpopulated, then over the gulf south to Starbase.
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I got to visit KSC last week, for the first time since I was a child. The next day, we got to see the Falcon 9 launch of IMAP in person. I ran into multiple engineers and researchers from the IMAP program whose payloads were on the rocket, randomly on Playlinda beach and around Merritt Island, just by virtue of visiting.
Better yet, the 13 year-old boy and 10 year-old girl in our group felt that visiting NASA and watching the rocket launch were the best part of the FL trip, better than the Disney parks. She wanted to get up at 5AM to see the launch instead of going to Universal!
After following all the reporting, articles, webcasts and videos for years, it was incredible to see it first-hand. You almost forget that all this actually exists in reality, in that beautiful, and crazy hot & humid corner of the country.
With all the awful backward steps we're experiencing, I was glad to see that progress and science still get to happen, and hope (with trepidation) that they continue too.
Better yet, the 13 year-old boy and 10 year-old girl in our group felt that visiting NASA and watching the rocket launch were the best part of the FL trip, better than the Disney parks. She wanted to get up at 5AM to see the launch instead of going to Universal!
After following all the reporting, articles, webcasts and videos for years, it was incredible to see it first-hand. You almost forget that all this actually exists in reality, in that beautiful, and crazy hot & humid corner of the country.
With all the awful backward steps we're experiencing, I was glad to see that progress and science still get to happen, and hope (with trepidation) that they continue too.
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What are the odds BO can successfully land New Glen on the next flight? I kind of feel like the odds are zero, but sometimes I'm a pessimist.
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If the post is about BO, NG might stand for New Glenn. That one actually tripped me up a few times. But in general, thank you for your service.
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Not zero, but definitely long, in my estimation. If they can do it, they deserve all the accolades, I will say that.
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I'm sure a lot of people working on it believe that they can pull it off, but the odds are IMO not high. Maybe not zero, but I will be quite surprised (and in fairness, quite impressed and excited) if they manage it.
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New Glenn is included too. It's the entry just before Northrop Grumman.If the post is about BO, NG might stand for New Glenn. That one actually tripped me up a few times. But in general, thank you for your service.
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Mostly Ignorant
Ars Centurion
In reality, none of us have any idea. Heck, their engineers are likely only guessing with a bit of insight.
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Mostly Ignorant
Ars Centurion
The ESA will never lead space development with the political and organizational structure they have. They can follow market leaders at a very expensive clip and many years after, but they simply are not structured (nor funded) to innovate at the pace necessary to be a first-to-market organization. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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It's there now, but I would have sworn it wasn't there before, and I would like to think that I'd have noticed while composing my reply.
That being said, the post doesn't indicate that it has been edited, so I guess I don't know.
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