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Rocket Report: SpaceX says no thanks to military launches; Spanish rocket nearly ready
“We believe Canada should be able to reach orbit on its own terms.”
Welcome to Edition 9.16 of the Rocket Report! Lots of SpaceX-related news this week including a couple of Thursday shockers. In one story, the company told the US Space Force thanks, but no thanks after being offered three military launch contracts. Then, on the civil space side of things, SpaceX’s Starship may required up to 22 refuelings to support a lunar landing, a NASA safety panel said.
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 as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Miura 5 getting closer to launch. PLD Space says its Miura 5 rocket, due to undertake its inaugural launch next year, is nearing final integration, Aviation Week reports. The rocket is one of three Miura 5s the company has already manufactured, with the other two designed to qualify key system elements, CEO Raúl Torres said in an October 19 program update. PLD Space now targets a first flight of the small-lift vehicle before mid-2027.
Fully integrated stage … “Manufacturing these three vehicles has allowed our teams to work continuously across different stages of production and integration, applying the lessons learned from each qualification campaign directly to the launch vehicle,” Torres said. One Miura 5 second stage is now fully integrated to kick off system-level testing under representative operating conditions. The second stage is at PLD’s Teruel test facility for its qualification campaign, including wet dress rehearsal and a static hot-fire test.
Reaction Dynamics seeks to raise $350 million. One of three prominent Canadian launch startups, Reaction Dynamics, said it is seeking to raise $350 million to grow its staff from 68 to more than 350 people, spaceQ reports. The company is developing the small-lift Aurora rocket, which Reaction Dynamics hopes will reach orbit in 2028. Reaction Dynamics also announced plans to build a medium-lift rocket, Borealis, for a debut by 2031.
You’ve got the aurora, and the borealis … With a lift capacity of 6 tons to low-Earth orbit, Borealis would carry a little under half of the advertised payload capacity of Rocket Lab’s Neutron vehicle. “We founded Reaction Dynamics because we believe Canada should be able to reach orbit on its own terms,” the company’s founder and chief executive, Bachar Elzein, said. “Aurora is how we get to orbit in 2028. Borealis is how we deliver sovereign access to orbit, at scale, by 2031.” Both of the dates appear to be highly aspirational, but we wish them luck.
Rocket Lab sets next Electron launch date. After 97 launches of Electron, it is not exactly news that Rocket Lab is preparing for its 98th launch of the vehicle. The mission, launching three HAWK satellites for the constellation operator HawkEye 360, is due to launch as early as 07:00 UTC on Friday, October 23.
So why are you writing about it? … Two reasons. First of all, it’s worth noting that Rocket Lab continues to be only the second company to develop and frequently fly a purely commercial rocket. Secondly, we love the name of the mission, “We’re Not Hawking Around.” Kudos to the Rocket Lab team for keeping launch fun and fresh, even after moving through dozens of launches.
SpaceX says no thanks to Space Force launches. The Space Force recently tried to book rides for three future satellite missions, but SpaceX declined to offer its services, Politico reports. No other rocket companies offered to take them either, the publication reported. A top Space Force official, Brig. Gen. Eric Zarybnisky, the acting portfolio acquisition executive, acknowledged growing pains for the government and space industry as demand for rockets increases. “Temporarily, there are some things we’ll need to work through, aga