Rocket Report: Launch Insights and Poland’s Suborbital Success

Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine Takes Flight

On May 14, US-based Venus Aerospace conducted the first high-thrust flight test of a rotating detonation engine (RDE) at Spaceport America, New Mexico. The 2,000-lbf (8.9 kN) RDE uses continuous detonation waves within an annular combustion chamber, driving combustion frequencies above 10 kHz and raising theoretical specific impulse by 10–20 percent compared to conventional rocket engines. The test vehicle, launched from a 15 m rail, flew for 30 seconds, validating detonation stability across varying mass flow rates. Thermal sensors recorded chamber temperatures exceeding 3,000 K, while high-speed Schlieren imaging confirmed uniform detonation wave propagation. According to Dr. Elena Ramirez, propulsion lead at Venus, “This milestone demonstrates robust in-flight detonation management, paving the way for hypersonic cruise vehicles.” Applications include next-generation missile boosters and SSTO stages, with DARPA and the US Navy exploring adaptive RDE throttling for sea-based launch systems.

Gilmour Space’s Eris Fairing Mishap Delays Launch

Australian startup Gilmour Space, preparing its three-stage Eris vehicle at Arnhem Space Centre, experienced an unplanned payload fairing deployment during final ground operations. The carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) fairing, actuated by pyrotechnic shearing bolts and hydraulic pistons, prematurely jettisoned due to a firmware bug in the separation sequencer. Telemetry logs indicate a spurious 3.3 V signal triggered the fairing control unit. CTO Adam Gilmour commented, “We’re integrating redundant signal validation and refining our pyro charge diagnostics to prevent false positives.” The replacement fairing, currently in fabrication, will incorporate an inertial measurement unit (IMU) feedback loop for cross-checking deployment commands against ground station telemetry.

Argentinian TLON Space’s Aventura 1: Orbital Aspirations Unclear

TLON Space’s Aventura 1, a small-lift rocket designed to deliver 25 kg to LEO, remains grounded at Malacara Spaceport. The two-stage vehicle, burning LOX/RP-1 in pintle injector engines producing 15 kN each, completed a suborbital hop two years ago. Video evidence shows a stable first-stage burnout at 55 km altitude but a subsequent roll anomaly. Local reports via Urgente24 hint at a renewed launch campaign, though no NOTAMs or range safety approvals are public. Industry analysts suggest TLON may be requalifying its avionics suite—powered by flight-hardened ARM Cortex-R microcontrollers—to meet ISO 14620 vibration standards before an orbital attempt.

Poland’s Suborbital Rocket Demonstrator Hits the Mark

On May 15, the Polish Ministry of Defense and the Military Institute of Armament Technology successfully launched the Trójstopniowa Rakieta Suborbitalna (TRS) demonstrator from Ustka. The solid-fuel HTPB/AP composite motor generated 50 kN thrust, propelling the single-stage vehicle to 30 km altitude in a 60-second burn. Ground-based radar tracked the flight, confirming apex parameters within 2 percent of predicted trajectory. The 10 kg payload section housed microgravity experiments on protein crystallization. Next steps include integrating a second stage for 100 km reach and testing separable fore- and aft-sections to refine staging dynamics.

China’s Three-Body AI Computing Constellation

China launched twelve ADA Space/Zhejiang Lab satellites on a Long March 2D on May 14, constituting the inaugural “Three-Body Computing Constellation.” Each 200 kg bus features NVIDIA Ampere-class GPUs, Xilinx Versal FPGA co-processors, and 512 GB of DDR4 RAM, achieving 20 TFLOPS of in-orbit compute. Onboard AI algorithms will preprocess Earth imagery for rapid change detection, reducing downlink volume by 70 percent. Professor Li Wei of Zhejiang Lab notes, “This edge computing network is a paradigm shift, enabling real-time analytics for disaster monitoring.” The Star-Compute Program aims for 2,800 nodes by 2030, pushing the frontier of distributed on-orbit data processing.

SpaceX’s Reusable Era: B1067 and Starship Updates

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster B1067 completed its 28th mission on May 13, launching Starlink 15-5 before landing on ASDS Just Read the Instructions. Utilizing enhanced grid-fin actuators and optimized entry burn algorithms, the booster achieved propellant margins as low as 3 percent. Meanwhile, Starship SN-29 conducted a full-duration static fire of six Raptor 2 engines, each delivering 2 MN thrust at sea level. Engineers are refining the autogenous pressurization system and the Stage Separation Control System (SSCS) to mitigate helium flow instabilities observed in prior flights. The next orbital test is tentatively slated for late May, with a 120-second upper-stage vacuum burn planned before a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Expert Analysis: Hypersonic Potential of RDE Technology

Dr. Marcus Lee, aerospace propulsion specialist at the University of Michigan, explains that RDEs offer enhanced combustion efficiency due to detonation’s near-CJ (Chapman–Jouguet) conditions, translating to higher chamber pressures (up to 50 bar) in compact volumes. Challenges remain in thermal fatigue of chamber linings and achieving stable detonation at flight Mach numbers. Ongoing research funded by NASA’s STMD Hypersonic Technology Project is focusing on additive-manufactured refractory alloys to withstand cyclic detonation loads exceeding 10⁷ cycles without crack propagation.

Next Three Launches

• May 16: Falcon 9 | Starlink 15-5 | Vandenberg SFB, CA | 13:43 UTC
• May 17: Electron | The Sea God Sees | Māhia Peninsula, NZ | 08:15 UTC
• May 18: PSLV-XL | RISAT-1B | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India | 00:29 UTC