Rocket Report: SpaceX’s 500th Falcon launch; why did UK’s Reaction Engines fail?

Welcome to the Rocket Report’s Edition 7.47! Hopefully not, but the dispute between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump will go down as “Black Thursday” for the US space program. Two of the most influential Americans exchanged insults and threats on social media as a long-simmering dispute over Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” that was making its way through Congress erupted into the public eye. “Elon’s government contracts and subsidies should be terminated,” Trump proposed. SpaceX will start decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, which was used to deliver crew and cargo to the International Space Station, Musk replied in a post. There are a lot of possible outcomes for this, but it’s unlikely that anything positive will happen.

Blue Origin’s suborbital space shot is flawless. Six individuals were sent to the edge of space by Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, from his ranch in West Texas on Saturday, May 31, according to CBS News. Before starting the descent to land, a crew capsule with the biggest windows of any spaceship in operation was launched by a hydrogen-powered New Shepard booster to a height of almost 65 miles (105 kilometers), which is just above the internationally acknowledged border between space and the observable atmosphere. Three Americans, Paul Jeris, Gretchen Green, and Aymette Medina Jorge, were among the passengers, along with Canadian Jesse Williams, Mark Rocket of New Zealand, and Jaime Alemán, the ambassador of Panama to the United States.

Dot, if you missed it. You would not be by yourself. This was Blue Origin’s 12th human flight and the 32nd flight of their New Shepard rocket. From a technical standpoint, neither rocketry nor human spaceflight are being revolutionized by these flights. Nonetheless, every flight offers a chance for affluent or well-connected travelers to see the planet from a viewpoint that only roughly 700 people have previously experienced. Though it takes a dedicated spaceflight enthusiast to tune in to a New Shepard flight on a summer Saturday morning, that’s really awesome. Most of these launches are no longer noteworthy. This was submitted by EllPeaTea.

Rocket Report by Ars Technica.

Register Me!

Encouragement for Amentum. As the military looks to update outdated infrastructure and increase capacity in the face of a boom in commercial space activity, the US Space Force awarded Jacobs Technology a contract worth up to $4 billion over ten years to provide engineering and technical services at the country’s main space launch ranges, according to Space News. Now, Jacobs Technology is a part of Chantilly, Virginia-based defense contractor Amentum. In September 2024, Amentum and Jacobs merged. Maintenance, sustainment, systems engineering, and integration services for the Eastern and Western ranges are covered under the so-called “Space Force Range Contract” through 2035. Whereas the Western Range is headquartered at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Eastern Range is based at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida.

selecting the menu dot. The agreement marks a substantial change in the financing of space launch infrastructure. Instead of having the government cover the upfront costs, the new arrangement allows commercial launch service providers—which currently handle the majority of launches at both ranges—to request services or upgrades and pay for them directly. This arrangement might speed up modernization and give range operations a more market-driven approach. “These expenses have historically been covered by the government,” Brig. General. In a press release on June 3, Space Launch Delta 45 Commander and Eastern Range Director Kristin Panzenhagen stated. As required by Congress for audit readiness and financial improvement, our commercial partners’ ability to directly fund their own task order will reduce the administrative and financial strain on the government. “.

Impulse Space earns more money. According to Ars, the in-space propulsion company Impulse Space declared this week that it had raised $300 million. The company, which is based in Southern California, raised $150 million in a fundraising round just last year. Particularly for a non-launch company, this is one of the biggest space capital raises in recent memory. Impulse Space, which was founded by Tom Mueller, a former propulsion expert at SpaceX, has conducted two test flights of the Mira orbital maneuvering vehicle in recent years. With the development of Helios, a larger vehicle, the company hopes to significantly increase SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy’s capacity to deliver heavy loads to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System locations.

addressing the market dot. As part of rideshare missions, the Mira vehicle was initially designed to offer “last-mile” services for spacecraft launched. The company’s CEO, Eric Romo, stated, “The market for that is not very good.”. Rather, Impulse Space discovered that the Space Force was interested in using Mira as a flexible platform to carry military equipment and electronic warfare payloads into orbit. The Space Force said, “Hey, we know what that thing’s for,” after we successfully flew Mira. “Mira wasn’t necessarily designed out of the gate for that,” Romo explained. A larger beast, Helios can transport a multi-ton payload from low-Earth orbit to geostationary space in less than a day thanks to an engine that can generate 15,000 pounds of thrust. (Recommended by EllPeaTea).

More than 500 flights have been made by Falcon rockets. For a midweek flight from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, SpaceX was back at the launch pad. The company’s 500th attempt at orbital launch using a Falcon rocket, including Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, was this specific flight, which was designated Starlink 11-22, according to Spaceflight Now. This significant occasion fell on June 4, 2010, the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch. With the launch of the 500th Falcon rocket the previous day, SpaceX has now tested the abort system of the Dragon spacecraft on one suborbital flight in 2020. The 68th Falcon 9 launch of the year took place from California on Wednesday.

tracking the Atlas dot. With 684 launches to date—from Atlas ICBMs during the Cold War to the Atlas V rocket currently in flight—the soon-to-be retired Atlas rocket holds the record for the most space launchers flown in the United States. Apart from their names, the Atlas V and the Atlas ICBM actually have very little in common. A revised booster stage, new engines, and more advanced computers marked the end of the Atlas V’s line of pressure-stabilized “balloon tanks,” which were launched on Atlas rockets from 1957 to 2005. More heritage is shared by the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, all of which use SpaceX’s Merlin engine. SpaceX’s Falcon family is expected to reach 684 flights before the end of 2026, if you take the Atlas rocket as the US record holder for the most space launches.

Once again, SpaceX delivers on GPS. According to Defense News, the Space Force proved that it could prepare and launch a military spacecraft on short notice when it successfully launched its most recent GPS III satellite into orbit on Friday, May 30. From Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, the satellite was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The most recent iteration of the navigation and timing system, GPS III, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and is intended to offer enhanced anti-jamming capabilities. More military and civilian signals will be broadcast by it.

Additional anti-jamming capability dot. The Space Force is testing its ability to swiftly launch valuable satellites in response to national security requirements with this launch, the second in a series of Rapid Response Trailblazer missions. Reducing a procedure that could take two years to a few months is the aim. By flying in December, the first mission cut the time between launch notification and liftoff to about five months. The May 30 mission cut it even shorter, to about ninety days. Space Force officials were encouraged to switch this satellite from United Launch Alliance’s long-delayed Vulcan rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in order to add more technology to the GPS constellation to counter jamming and spoofing, in addition to proving the launch could be completed on an expedited timeline. This was submitted by EllPeaTea.

Reaction Engine autopsy. An account of the bankruptcy of Reaction Engines, a British company that worked for 35 years to create a ground-breaking air-breathing rocket engine, was released by the BBC this week. The company’s executives believed that the new engine, SABRE, could have propelled hypersonic vehicles in the atmosphere or a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane. An era of spaceplanes that can take off and land horizontally on a runway rather than vertically like a rocket could begin if an engine like SABRE is ever perfected.

This . is a bit too quixotic. However, Reaction Engines couldn’t persuade enough venture capital investors that the concept could rival SpaceX and got off the ground too soon for actual commercial spaceflight. Rather, it obtained a few investments from major aerospace firms such as Rolls-Royce, Boeing, and BAE Systems. With the help of this funding, Reaction Engines was able to hire about 200 people and stay afloat until last October, when it entered administration and laid off its staff. “A few people were in tears,” the company’s chief engineer, Richard Varvill, told the BBC. Many of them were taken aback and distressed because they had hoped that we would succeed all the way through. “We were turning it around with an improved engine, so it was galling for Varvill.”. We failed just as we were about to succeed. It is a characteristic that is exclusive to Britain. ShuggyCoUk submitted this information.

disastrous effects on Trump’s budget. According to Ars, new information about the Trump administration’s plans for NASA was made public on Friday, May 30. It showed that the White House wanted to stop working on an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that might have opened up new avenues for Solar System exploration. Although Trump’s plan would cut NASA’s space technology budget in half, the effects of the budget proposal on space science and human spaceflight have been extensively covered. The first nuclear thermal rocket engine to be developed and tested in space, DRACO, would be one of the victims.

But hold on, there’s one more dot. Along with terminating DRACO, the budget proposal eliminates funding for all of NASA’s nuclear propulsion initiatives. Nuclear propulsion proponents assert that it has a number of significant benefits for transporting people and heavy goods to deep space locations like Mars. “This budget provides no funding for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion and Nuclear Electric Propulsion projects,” the NASA budget request stated. “These initiatives are expensive, would require years to develop, and have not yet been chosen as the deep space mission’s propulsion mode. The nuclear propulsion projects have been canceled in order to save money and because there are other, more immediate options for Mars transit propulsion. Trump has not finalized his budget request. The budget for NASA will be drafted by the Republican-controlled houses of Congress and then sent to the White House for President Trump’s signature after being reconciled.

The CEO of Blue Origin says the government shouldn’t be involved in the launch process. Dave Limp, who left his position as vice president at Amazon to become CEO of Blue Origin, has some ideas about how private businesses and governmental organizations like NASA should collaborate to explore the Solar System. He made this decision eighteen months ago. First, private industry should be allowed to launch objects into space instead of the government. “I believe business people can be concerned about the infrastructure,” he stated. “We are able to launch. With satellite buses that don’t cost billions of dollars, we can construct them much more frequently. We can subtract one zero from that, and eventually, perhaps two zeros. Governments around the world can free up a lot more resources for things like science, national prestige, and other things if they leave that to the commercial sector. “.”.

Take the exotic route. The proverbial bus should be driven into the Solar System by commercial companies, but NASA should return to its roots in exploration and research, Limp stated. “I would say—and this may sound a little provocative—let’s have those bright minds consider the cutting edge of science, the forward-thinking kinds of things, organizing the really exotic missions, and figuring out how to get to and stay on planetary bodies that we haven’t visited before. However, Limp emphasized that he believes the Moon is one area that requires government investment. He stated that the government should keep supporting those efforts because there is currently no viable commercial case for sending humans to the moon.

There will be obstacles for Rocket Cargo. Less than 900 miles from Hawaiʻi Island, the Center for Biological Diversity is suing the military to obtain information about a plan to construct a rocket test site in a remote wildlife refuge, according to Hawaiʻi Public Radio. In March, the Air Force declared its intention to conduct an environmental evaluation for the establishment and functioning of two landing pads on Johnston Atoll in order to determine whether using rockets to transport military supplies is feasible. Despite not being mentioned in the announcement, SpaceX has a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a Starship rocket that can deliver cargo anywhere in the world in less than an hour. With Johnston serving as a crucial habitat for birds and marine life, a number of conservationists have now voiced their opposition to the plan.

The . of scarred territory. Johnston Atoll has been used for almost a century as both a base for US military activities and a wildlife refuge. From 1958 to 1963, it was used as a nuclear test site. The Air Force stated in March that it expected to make an environmental assessment of its plans on Johnston Atoll public in early April. It hasn’t been released yet. A Freedom of Information Act request regarding the project was submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity. They claim that a decision regarding their request was expected by May 19, but they have yet to hear back. In order to force the military to grant their request and provide information about the project, the center filed a lawsuit last week.

In the middle of things at Starbase. At Starbase, SpaceX’s rockets create a lot of noise, but the planning for Texas’ newest city is also underway. On May 29, following months of preparation, SpaceX officially opened the city of Starbase. The first public meeting was held at the company’s building, The Hub, and was presided over by Mayor Robert Peden and the City Commission, according to ValleyCentral.com. Over the course of the roughly 80-minute meeting, they established a committee to direct the community’s long-term development, hired a city administrator, and approved standard regulations for new construction. On May 3, the establishment of Starbase, which includes the area surrounding SpaceX’s remote rocket factory and launch site close to the US-Mexico border, was approved by voters. The majority of Starbase’s land is owned by SpaceX, which also employs almost everyone in the small community, including the mayor.

Zoning and property rights are related. “The leaders of the new city have informed landowners that they intend to implement land use regulations that may cause changes for certain inhabitants,” according to KUT. Kent Myers, the first city administrator of Starbase, issued a letter alerting local landowners to the possibility that the city’s new zoning plan would force them to give up their property’s current use. The letter, dated May 21, states, “Our goal is to ensure that the zoning plan reflects the City’s vision for balanced growth, protecting critical economic drivers, ensuring public safety, and preserving green spaces.”. A new city is required by state law to notify landowners, the majority of whom are SpaceX or its employees, of potential zoning changes so they can ask questions in public. This is a standard procedure when a city creates new zoning rules. On June 23, a public meeting will be held to discuss the Starbase zoning ordinance.