Rocket Report NASA validates new engine design; Chinese firm tests mini Starship

News Summary

  • For years, the Electron rocket and the company behind it had been stuck in limbo at the Virginia launch site, waiting on various approvals—for regulatory agencies to share enough paperwork with each other to convince everyone that the launch was safe.
  • This has been a really fun week for US rockets: Electron made a smashing debut in a launch from Virginia, Vulcan went vertical in Florida, and Starship passed a key test en route to its first orbital launch.
  • Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced Friday that the federal government would develop the regulatory requirements, safety standards, and licensing conditions necessary to authorize commercial satellite space launches from Canada within the next three years, CBC reports.
  • The space agency said this week it completed testing at Marshall Space Flight Center of an advanced rocket engine design that could significantly change how future propulsion systems are built.
  • Alghabra said he was confident that the first Canadian orbital launch would take place within the next three years.
  • I'm looking forward to more great leaps in launch later this year.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).
Enlarge/ United Launch Alliance hoists its Vulcan Cert1 booster into the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral.0 with 0 posters participatingWelcome to Edition 5.23 of the Rocket Repor [+4268 chars]