New Glenn's Launch Pad Will Never Look the Same Again | This Week in Spaceflight

[00:01] won't recognize it when they're done. the moon. Rocket Lab makes a big purchase, [music] and Zeppelin is making rocket parts for RFA. As always, we've got all that and more coming up this

[00:14] got all that and more coming up this week in Space [music] Flight.

[00:30] program this week, and things are moving fast as the agency takes steps towards start with some new lunar lander contracts awarded this week. NASA previously announced the landers for its first three moon base missions, which

[00:43] sit inside of its commercial lunar payload services program, or CLPS. Those awards went to Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark I lander named Endurance, Astrobotic's Griffin lander, and Intuitive Machines' third Nova-C. This

[00:56] week, NASA handed out four more lander missions across three companies, each worth around $148 million. Astrobotic picked up two more missions using its Peregrine lander. Firefly Aerospace will send one more Blue Ghost

[01:08] lander, and Intuitive Machines will send a fifth Nova-C. These missions are aiming to launch in late 2028, and each one delivers more than just science and payloads to the lunar surface. NASA says the learning and reliability built up

[01:21] through a faster cadence will also bring down risk for when astronauts finally arrive. The biggest surprise announcement was that the agency is seriously considering sending a Mars rover to the moon. NASA administrator

[01:33] Jared Isaacman explained that with excess mass and volume available on the early missions, the agency has been raiding the pantry for other payloads >> So, a little bit of a a Star Wars reference here. I think those that know

[01:45] our our Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance. Well, there is another, and the engineering development unit for it is called Promise. And I'd say we are

[01:57] we are thinking very hard right now about sending promise to the moon. >> The Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In Situ Exploration, or Promise for short, is a full-scale engineering twin of the Mars rover

[02:09] Perseverance that's lived at JPL's Mars Yard since September of 2020. It's been used to test drilling, driving, and sampling maneuvers before the commands are ever transmitted to the real rover on Mars. NASA previously showed images

[02:22] of the rover in the Mars Yard back in 2021 where it shared the garage with Curiosity's twin Maggie or the Mars Automated Giant Gizmo for Integrated Engineering. At the time, NASA referred to the rover by the name Optimism. But,

[02:35] why send an old Mars test rover to the moon? Other robotic vehicles being sent panels for power. This can be a real problem near the lunar South Pole where the sun barely climbs above the horizon and entire craters sit in permanent

[02:49] shadow. Curiosity and Perseverance, however, both run on a radioisotope thermoelectric generator or RTG. This is a nuclear power source that uses heat from radioactive decay to generate electricity. It doesn't care whether the

[03:03] sun's out, so Promise wouldn't have that limitation and the rover could work through the two-week lunar night that most solar-based hardware struggles to survive through. Being able to stay in shadowed craters would also give it a

[03:15] unique set of capabilities even beyond NASA's revived VIPER rover, which will Pole. >> It gives us a lot of options to be regions a lot longer than than VIPER would survive. So, great capability,

[03:29] something that taxpayers already invested into. Um and we outfitted a different instruments on it, and uh and it's going to be a highly capable vehicle for the uh for the South Pole moon, and we can get it there fast.

[03:42] record and have certainly over-delivered. Curiosity landed on Mars in August of 2012 for what was originally only a two-year mission, and it's still driving almost 14 years later. Perseverance touched down in

[03:55] February of 2021 with a primary mission of just one Mars year, which is about 687 Earth days, and it's also still going strong over 5 years later. If Promise inherits even just a fraction of that endurance, it's a serious bonus for

[04:09] all be, NASA is still studying this idea, so it's not a committed mission just yet. As the agency points out, it is in the business of achieving the near make it happen. And speaking of endurance, Blue Origin's hardware is

[04:24] stepping even closer to launch. The company's Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, named shock tests. These simulate the environment when it will separate from its ride aboard New Glenn. With more than 20 accelerometers positioned around

[04:38] components successfully exceeded their survivability requirements. Assembly is the cryogenic propellant yet to be added. The lander will next undergo full

[04:50] New Glenn's anomaly on the pad recently, NASA has been working closely with Blue Origin, which is determined to return to flight before the end of the year. Put a pin in that for later. Plan A is still to fly the lander aboard New Glenn, as

[05:04] >> Some time has gone by since the since the anomaly right now, and Blue Origin's response to the situation is almost beyond impressive. Uh and that's not had, you know, representatives from the DOW Space Force that's out there and

[05:19] seeing the amount of resources they've been able to kind of um you know, muster to the problem, how quickly they've already started cleaning things up, how, you know, the progress they are making on the investigation. So, plan A is very

[05:32] much still to launch the Mark 1's on New Glenn, and we have time. Uh you know, in the business of launching New Glenn before the end of the year. Hardware for making steady progress towards the finish line. Astrobotic's Griffin lander

[05:46] is almost ready to ship to JPL for its own environmental testing. These tests will simulate the vacuum of space and the wild temperature swings of a real structure and systems hold together before it ever leaves the ground. After

[05:59] that, it'll receive its engine and meet its payload, the flip rover, which we've talked about in recent episodes. Last week, Intuitive Machines installed the top deck on its latest Nova-C lander, Trinity, ahead of its IM-3 mission. The

[06:12] integration ahead of its Hotfire campaign. With three more Nova-C landers to deliver and counting, the company is scaling up its manufacturing processes to support high-volume production. And finally, in our lander updates, Firefly

[06:26] Aerospace has acquired a company called SpaceNG this week. This is a small Colorado-based outfit building AI-powered vision navigation, the kind hazards and steer around them during descent. SpaceNG's tech already flew on

[06:40] Firefly's first Blue Ghost mission to the moon's Mare Crisium, helping it to avoid hazardous terrain in real time. Its co-founder, Ethan Rublee, is joining With Firefly ramping up more lunar deliveries, bringing the company's

[06:54] navigation expertise in-house will enable Firefly to sharpen every landing in the future. With momentum on the moon-based program continuing at pace, NASA has promised updates each month. So, we'll bring you more information as

[07:06] it reaches us. The first robotic landings could be touching down before the year is out, so there's a lot to look forward to. I said that Blue is working on repairing its launch pad? Well, this week CEO Dave

[07:19] Limp updated everyone about their progress and future plans, and it seems they'll be flying again by the end of the year. To quickly recap what happened, on May 28th, a static fire test ahead of New Glenn's fourth flight

[07:32] ended in disaster. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the rocket was gone, and it took away most of the pad with it. Blue's still chewing through all the anomaly, but they have already concluded that it happened somewhere in the aft

[07:45] section of the rocket. And that also corresponds with what we saw in our footage. It's where the explosion began, so no surprises there. Blue is now working through a five-step plan to get the pad back into shape. And the first

[07:57] two steps have already been checked off. So, what's the plan? Well, the first have completed. Then, Blue went into site recovery and cleanup, also complete. Phase three is con ops design

[08:09] currently working on. Now, we'll get into this in a bit more detail, but first. The last two phases are systems integration, and finally, flight readiness. Needless to say, they'll need to do some work before they can get into

[08:22] these steps. Now, as mentioned, they are now working on con ops design and major repairs. Con ops is an abbreviation for concept of operations, or how the launch pad and its systems work. Blue's planning to change all of that. They're

[08:35] not building the same launch pad as before. Instead, they're changing how and brought to the launch pad. Previously, the whole rocket was horizontally integrated. Now, they'll only mate the two stages that way. But,

[08:47] unlike previous stacks, they won't use a big transporter erector that puts the Instead, they'll put the rocket on a simpler transporter to roll it to the pad, and then use a crane to lift it vertical and place it on the pad.

[09:00] Similar to what they do after recovering a booster, but in reverse. And for the second stage attached, then the tower will extend a pair of access platforms, and the payload and capsule and its fairing will be placed on top. Speaking

[09:12] of the tower, it will need some modifications. First, there's the access platforms that I just mentioned. But, the upgraded tower will also host all ahead of launch and contain all the propellant lines and the electrical

[09:25] off the ground without them. Blue's videos show that New Glenn will be rotated by 90° compared to the previous pad design, which is most likely to make these connections easier. From the video and renderings, it also looks like they

[09:39] plan to attach more stuff to the tower, but we're not sure what it's used for. And considering that some generative AI seems to have been involved in the creation of these images, not all of that may actually serve a purpose. We'll

[09:51] have to wait for the real deal, I guess. And work is already on its way. Max D and Julia had a look at Launch Complex 36 from above this week. And blue has turned into a forest of cranes, all helping with the cleanup and rebuild. At

[10:04] cranes was attached to the top of the tower. Just after our team landed, our Space Coast Live cameras were able to spot this module being removed. Earlier, Dave Limp tweeted that they'll start pulling down the tower segment by

[10:17] segment and modify the pieces before putting it all back together again. It process now. Hopefully, it'll all be smooth sailing from here on out, and they'll manage to get to phase five of their plan before the end of the year.

[10:29] Now, there is a lot more to see in our aerial footage other than just cranes, but don't worry, we've got an entire Space Coast update coming up next week, analyzing everything that's going on at the Cape in detail. So, the subscribe

[10:41] button may come in handy to stay on top of all of that. And if you want well, first off, there's much more space news left in this episode. But when analysis of Dave Limp's announcement over on our Breaking Space channel.

[10:56] Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck put on his big announcement jacket this week for a major company update. Yep, they made a whole video bursting at the seams with spaceflight channel, so let's focus on the actual announcement, huh? Rocket Lab

[11:10] is buying satellite communications provider Iridium for the equivalent of $8 billion in stock and cash. If you're a regular viewer, you'll know that acquisitions. The rocket builder has bought up so many spaceflight companies

[11:23] that they're now active in pretty much every area of spaceflight. So, why is Iridium such a big deal? Well, for a For a time, Peter Beck has hinted that he wants Rocket Lab to develop its own satellite constellation and enter the

[11:36] space applications market. Now, they're taking a shortcut to do exactly that, and it kind of makes sense. SpaceX has all but disrupted the satellite which is now a bit of a cash cow for the company. And with other mega

[11:49] constellations like Amazon Leo coming online, there seems to be enough space in the market for multiple players. Now, of course, Iridium already has its own constellation up in space, but with only 66 active satellites and 14 spares in

[12:02] orbit, there's nothing mega about it. That doesn't seem to be a problem, interested in the satellites. After all, they are a satellite builder already. things out of the deal. First, Iridium

[12:16] operating a profitable business. No need to sink money into a constellation that has yet to find a customer base. And second, Iridium has spectrum, or the rights to use certain radio frequencies.

[12:28] This is perhaps even more valuable than anything else that Iridium has to offer. For instance, just last year, SpaceX handed over $17 billion to EchoStar to Starlink. Iridium's existing

[12:41] They've already done the hard work to get it designed and operational, so they don't want to keep it at that. Once the transaction completes next year, Rocket Lab plans to build upon the constellation to grow the business even

[12:55] what that future will look like, but a quick look at Rocket Lab's own product lineup might give us some hints. Last year, they unveiled a satellite platform optimized for mega constellations called Flattellite, in an odd to its stackable

[13:09] design. Once the company finally gets Neutron off the ground, they'll have all the technology and expertise in-house to grow out a much larger constellation with capabilities far beyond Iridium's current network. Although, Neutron isn't

[13:22] a a We wouldn't mind an update about that, Now, we'll take a look at some other stories across space, starting with NASA opening applications for a Moon and Mars exploration mission, except the crew

[13:37] Johnson Space Center. For the last few years, NASA's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analogue, or CHAPEA program, has simulated life on learn how astronauts cope, both physically and mentally, with the

[13:52] isolation, confined space, and communication delays of a real Mars mission before anyone actually goes. Four volunteers at a time have spent a year inside Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D printed habitat housed inside a hangar

[14:05] at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. A second CHAPEA crew is in there right now and will complete their mission on October 31st. This new program builds on that, but it adds something CHAPEA had never had before, a simulated journey to

[14:18] get there. Four new volunteers will first live inside the habitat that NASA Exploration Research Analogue, or HERA transit spacecraft, after which they'll move into the CHAPEA surface habitat for

[14:32] the simulated planetary stay. All in, that's about 12 months across both habitats, plus two months of training beforehand. Unlike CHAPEA, this mission is explicitly designed to inform both Mars planning and NASA's Moon Base

[14:45] validate hardware and technologies, protocols, and other systems that are critical to long-duration missions. The mission is targeted to begin no earlier than August of next year, and NASA's already accepting applications. So, if

[14:59] some confinement, NASA wants to hear NASA has tested a crucial part to enable on-orbit refueling. In space, you can't just drop a hose in a tank and start pumping. Several factors make it a lot

[15:12] is the propellant temperature. Many spacecraft nowadays use cryogenic propellant combinations like liquid hydrogen or a methane paired with liquid oxygen. This stuff needs to stay at frigid cryogenic temperatures to stay

[15:26] liquid. And at those temperatures, the hardware and seals to contain them temperature. So, Aerojet Rocketdyne developed a special coupler to connect the lines between a tanker and the spacecraft in need of a top-up. The

[15:39] company was awarded the NASA contract in April of 2023 before it was absorbed into L3 Harris. Recently, NASA and L3 Harris joined forces to test the coupler But, they didn't just flow liquid nitrogen through the part to test it at

[15:53] cryogenic temperatures. They also tried to push the system to its limit, including coupling the device after a misaligned docking, which it's designed still a lot of work to be done before this device can be used in space, but

[16:06] it's great to see NASA and its partners work on these challenges that will one day become as mundane as filling up your car. Rocket Factory Augsburg has yet to fly its RFA 1 rocket, but the German company

[16:18] is already building the next one. RFA 1 is currently being prepared at Saxa Vord Spaceport in Scotland. It has a UK launch license and is working towards a maiden launch in the third quarter of this year. Standing 36 m tall, nine 3D

[16:32] first stage of the rocket, which can carry around 500 kg to low Earth orbit. building the rocket's Block 2 configuration, and this week the company showed off a major piece of it. This is the first stage propellant tank built by

[16:47] supplier Zeppelin. Yes, the airship company. They're still around building airships and apparently rocket parts, too. It's bigger and it needs to be. Block 2 will stand another 9 m taller at 45 m with increased propellant tanks.

[17:01] It'll fly with upgraded Helix 2 staged combustion engines, each delivering roughly double the thrust of the current design. The improved rocket will carry up to three times the payload mass to low Earth orbit, around 1.5 tons in

[17:13] expendable format. Wait, expendable? Unlike Block 1, the first stage is planned to be reusable. RFA says that this tank marks its first concrete step toward recovering and reusing that first stage. And this isn't just an

[17:26] engineering flex. RFA stands to receive up to 169 million euros through the European Space Agency's Launcher Challenge with some demanding milestones. Block 1 needs a successful flight by the end of 2027 with Block 2

[17:40] meantime, we'll keep our eye on coming months as RFA moves towards the first vertical orbital launch from UK soil. This week, Firefly Aerospace and SSC

[17:54] Europe's first orbital rocket launch from mainland Europe's Arctic Space Port. The Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden has been operating since 1966, launching hundreds of sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons over

[18:08] the years. To date, its rocket flights have all been suborbital. Despite cutting the ribbon on an orbital launchpad back in 2023, plans for South Korea's Perigee Aerospace to launch its Blue Whale 1 from the site have slipped.

[18:21] And Esrange has yet to send anything to orbit. But Firefly and SSC are working to change that, and this week the two companies confirmed that construction is entering its final phase at Launch Complex 3C. Key infrastructure includes

[18:34] a launch control center, payload processing, and vehicle integration buildings. The work is backed by a new regulatory agreement between the Swedish Space Agency and the US Federal Aviation Administration. This builds technology

[18:46] safeguards deal allowing American rockets to fly from Swedish soil with the first launch planned for 2028. The rocket taking that first flight will be Firefly's two-stage Alpha. The vehicle last flew back in March testing and

[18:59] validating components of its new Block 2 configuration during the Stairway to Seven mission. Alpha's next launch in the full Block 2 design could be as early as this September when we'll see the taller and more capable version take

[19:11] will be the first of at least four missions for the Open Cosmos broadband constellation in low Earth orbit. As for Ange may not be ready for orbital look at how some of the world's other active launch pads were used in this

[19:26] week's space traffic report from Next Spaceflight. SpaceX launched three times Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral to carry the SXM-11 for satellite radio company Sirius XM. Falcon delivered the spacecraft into a

[19:40] geostationary transfer orbit. The other two Falcon 9 missions of the week used Vandenberg Space Force Base. Both missions carried a batch of Starlinks, adding a total of 48 satellites to the constellation. Another batch of internet

[19:53] satellites started their journey to space. Atlas 5 carried 29 Amazon Leo final launch for the rocket's most powerful 551 configuration. The 551 designation refers to five solid boosters, a 5-m fairing, and a single

[20:08] RL10 upper stage engine. Now, there are a few more Atlas 5s left, but they're all reserved for Boeing's Starliner capsule. When or even if these will fly is anyone's guess considering the state of Starliner. Over in China, a Chang

[20:21] Zheng 4B lifted off from Jiuquan to loft the Haiyang-2E satellite. From this sun-synchronous orbit, the spacecraft will study the oceans, measure marine winds, and surface temperature to help improve forecast for the prevention of

[20:33] went for a walk outside the International Space Station this week. NASA's Chris Williams and Jessica Meir donned their space suits on June 30th During this 7-hour and 20-minute extravehicular activity, the pair

[20:48] replaced a wrist joint on the station's Canadarm 2 robotic arm, which broke during operations on May 27th. Teams on the ground will inspect the faulty joint and potentially refurbish it for future use in space. This was William's second

[21:01] spacewalk and Meir's fifth, and the 280th total conducted for the ISS. And that's a wrap on the first half of 2026. In total, we've had 154 launches so far this year with six failures. Continuing at this current pace, we should end with

[21:15] around 308 launches this year, slightly behind last year's 324. June added 28 launches to these numbers with 14 from Falcon 9 alone and 10 from China's had another potential final flight. After a few scrubs for weather and

[21:31] vehicle issues, the air-launched Pegasus XL finally launched carrying Catalyst up in space with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to boost it back to its original 600 km orbit to save the

[21:44] spacecraft from its imminent demise. While not confirmed that this will be the final Pegasus XL launch, the rocket is the last one manufactured and there hasn't been a lot of demand for the rocket recently, so it seems unlikely

[21:56] that Northrop Grumman will ever have to make another one. A rocket we will see many more launches of is, of course, Falcon 9, for which SpaceX has three missions lifting off from Vandenberg will launch 81 payloads for the

[22:10] program. The other two missions will loft more Starlink satellites from SpaceX's launchpad at the Cape. The second of these, set for July 9th, is scheduled to use booster B1067 on a record-setting 36th flight, pushing

[22:24] Falcon 9's reuse even further. Up in space, Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission is set to fly past asteroid Torafune on July 5th. The spacecraft, which collected delivered it into the hands of scientists by late 2020, is now on an

[22:39] extended mission to explore more asteroids. This week, that mission will bring the spacecraft about a kilometer from Torafune while traveling at 5 km per second. Talk about a flash visit. We may also see some launches from China

[22:52] next week with a Chang Zheng 6A scheduled from Taiwan and a Chang Zheng 8A from Wenchang. We might even see the first flight of the Chang Zheng 10B lifting off from Wenchang later in the week. This is the reusable cargo

[23:04] China's moon program. Details for these missions are still up in the air though, make sure that you won't miss it. And that's your weekly update of spaceflight news. I'm Alicia Seal for NSF and we'll see you all again next week to recap

[23:19] see you all again next week to recap this week in spaceflight.