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
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