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Rocket Report: NASA dishes on small rockets, Jeff buys a ride on a Falcon 9 - Ars Technica

Rocket Report: NASA dishes on small rockets, Jeff buys a ride on a Falcon 9 - Ars Technica

Jan 15, 2021 2 mins, 54 secs

NASA provides insight into small launch companies.

Recently, NASA awarded Venture Class Launch Services contracts to Astra Space, Firefly Aerospace, and Relativity Space.

For example, Interorbital Systems demonstrated "a lack of understanding of the complexity of a space launch service" with its Neptune rocket, according to the NASA document.

Rocket Lab recovered its Electron rocket's first stage for the first time after a launch in November.

"Electron returned in such good condition that we will attempt to re-qualify and re-fly some components on future missions," company spokeswoman Morgan Bailey said.

She said, overall, the flight was a huge success and Rocket Lab will attempt to recover more first stages later in 2021 as it pushes forward with its Electron reuse plan.

Most recently, the Southern Environmental Law Center said a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to limit its review of the spaceport plan was "unlawful." The issue is whether the FAA can rely on a draft environmental impact statement, completed in 2018, for the spaceport's revised plans, Parabolic Arc reports.

Initially, Spaceport Camden planned to launch "medium" and "large" rockets, but now the site will launch "small" and "medium" rockets, according to its revised plans.

The Maine-based new space startup says it will attempt to launch a single-stage Stardust 1.0 prototype rocket on Friday, January 15, from the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine.

The low-altitude demo launch is the culmination of six years of research and development and more than 200 engine tests, the company said in a news release.

The company says this is the first-ever commercial launch of a rocket powered by bioderived fuel anywhere in the world.

The small company has not yet publicly outlined a plan for developing a suborbital or orbital launch vehicle.

As many as 53 space missions are projected to lift off in 2021 from Florida's Space Coast, the vice commander of the 45th Space Wing said on Tuesday.

A total of 31 space launches were carried out in Florida in 2020, Walton said.

MethaneSAT will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket.

The Environmental Defense Fund said Thursday that its Earth-observing MethaneSAT will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket in October 2022.

NASA said it was moving the four-engine hot fire test of its Space Launch System rocket core stage a day earlier, to Saturday, January 16.

The eight-minute test will take place at Stennis Space Center.

During a pre-briefing with reporters, NASA officials said the nominal time for the space shuttle main engines to ignite is 4pm CST (22:00 UTC), but delays were likely.

This is the final major test of the core stage before it is shipped from the Mississippi test site to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA said the rocket could still make its 2021 launch date, but we're not overly confident about that.

But the company appears to be making progress toward a robust launch system.

The vehicle is already on its launch stand, and Musk and his engineers will now conduct a "readiness" review in advance of what is expected to be another test flight to about 12.5km.

Of the engine, the company said: "The first American-made liquid oxygen/kerosene staged-combustion engine.

AR1 is the ideal engine for many possible solutions; it brings the right thrust level, size, and performance to a wide variety of launch vehicles."

You may recall that the AR1 engine was competing with Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power the Vulcan rocket being developed by United Launch Alliance

17: LauncherOne | Launch Demo-2 mission | Mojave Air and Space Port | 18:00 UTC

18: Falcon 9 | Starlink-16 | Kennedy Space Center, Fla

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