Rocket Report: Starbase Vote and Launches Accelerate
Welcome to Edition 7.42, updated with fresh technical detail, expert commentary, and the latest developments in space launch operations around the globe. From South Texas to French Guiana and Cape Canaveral, rocket developers continue to push performance boundaries — even as communities adapt to their presence. Below, we analyze small-, medium-, and heavy-lift vehicles, upcoming tests, and the implications for both industry and local stakeholders.
Starbase Municipality Vote Approaches
After nearly a decade of incremental growth under makeshift tents, SpaceX’s Starbase campus just north of Boca Chica Beach may formally incorporate as Texas’s newest city. On Saturday, employees and residents will vote on establishing Starbase as a Type C municipality, granting it a commission government—one mayor and two commissioners serving two-year terms. Kathryn Lueders, Starbase manager and former NASA associate administrator, emphasizes that “municipal status will streamline permitting and infrastructure build-out, from water treatment to enhanced broadband, for both residents and launch operations.”
Expert Commentary: Dr. Rebecca Moore, an urban planner at Rice University, points out that incorporation also requires the city to adopt zoning regulations and a municipal budget. “While the process can add layers of bureaucracy, it will also give residents a formal voice in shaping land use around the launch pad,” she says.
Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Seeks Reliability After Another Anomaly
On May 1, Firefly Aerospace’s two-stage Alpha vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Roughly 150 seconds into flight—during first-stage separation—the booster’s pneumatic actuators misaligned the second-stage Lightning engine nozzle, triggering a rapid depressurization and visible cloud of supercold vapor. According to Firefly, the separation system’s pyrotechnic bolt timing was off by 25 milliseconds, causing structural shock that dented the nozzle extension.
Technical Details: The Stage 1 Reaver engines produce 650 kN of thrust each at sea level, while the Stage 2 Lightning engine, with a 3:1 area ratio bell, delivers 81 kN in vacuum. In six flights, Alpha has achieved only two fully successful orbital insertions. CEO Bill Weber says corrective action will include a redesigned interstage umbilical and upgraded separation sensors, targeting a return-to-flight later this year.
US Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) Tests Dark Eagle Boosted Glide
On April 26, the Army fired its LRHW, nicknamed “Dark Eagle,” from a mobile launcher at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The solid-fueled first stage burned for 113 seconds, accelerating the 8-meter-long glide vehicle to Mach 5.5 before staging, then coasted on an unpowered trajectory at 65 km altitude. Pentagon reports note that this system will provide prompt-strike capability at ranges exceeding 2,700 km.
Strategic Context: Russia’s Kinzhal and China’s DF-17 have already seen limited combat deployment, and Army acquisition head Lt. Gen. Anthony Potts states that LRHW will reach initial operational capability by Q4 2025. “Achieving consistent hypersonic accuracy below 10 meters CEP is our top technical challenge,” he told Defense News, citing advances in thermal protection and guidance algorithms.
ESA’s Vega C Launches Biomass in Demonstration of European Sovereignty
A Vega C rocket lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou on April 30, placing the 1,250 kg Biomass Earth-observation satellite into a 665 km sun-synchronous orbit. The 3.4-meter-diameter carbon-fiber composite upper stage burned for 600 seconds, with a restart-capable 15 kN solid-propellant engine derived from Vega’s P80 heritage.
European Perspective: Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël stressed that Vega C and Ariane 6 together guarantee independent access to space. “With four Ariane 6 and two more Vega C missions slated for 2025, we can cover LEO to GEO with high cadence,” he said. ESA’s head of Earth Observation, Prof. Lucia Parolini, added that Biomass’s P-band radar will map global forest biomass to within 10% measurement uncertainty, a key input for carbon-cycle models.
P160C Booster: More Thrust for Ariane 6 and Vega-E
On April 24, ESA completed the first test firing of the new P160C solid rocket motor at Nammo’s test facility in Norway. The 2.6 m diameter motor, holding 167 tonnes of HTPB-based propellant, produced a peak chamber pressure of 105 bar and delivered an average thrust of 5,500 kN over its 126-second burn.
Comparison: The existing P120C strap-on offers 4,800 kN for 110 seconds. The P160C’s 14% higher propellant mass and extended nozzle expansion ratio will enable heavier payloads to GTO or direct-injection trajectories, and it is slated to power the core of the Vega-E and augment Ariane 6 in its 4-booster configuration.
ULA’s Atlas V Maiden Kuiper Flight
United Launch Alliance launched 27 of Amazon Kuiper’s broadband satellites on May 4 aboard an Atlas V 551, marking the heaviest payload in Atlas V history at 4,200 kg. The five GEM-63XL strap-ons provided 1.6 MN of sea-level thrust each, while the RD-180 core delivered 3.83 MN.
Program Status: ULA engineers report that the Centaur upper stage’s RL10C-2 engine—operating at a 481:1 expansion ratio—performed a triple-coast burn sequence, inserting satellites into a circular 590 km orbit. Amazon expects service trials to begin in late 2025, with over 1,600 satellites planned for full constellation deployment by 2029.
SpaceX’s 50th Falcon 9 Launch of 2025
On May 3 and again on May 4, SpaceX conducted back-to-back Falcon 9 missions, the second representing launch #50 of the calendar year. The reusable first stage, B1076.12, touched down on Landing Zone 1 with 5% residual propellant, while the second stage delivered 54 Starlink satellites into a 350 km orbital shell.
Cadence Analysis: At this pace, SpaceX projects ~150 Falcon-family flights for 2025. “Our telemetry shows the Merlin 1D+ engines operating at 185 bar chamber pressure with 271 sec Isp in vacuum,” noted a company spokesperson. This operational tempo is underpinned by in-house propellant loading robots and serial manufacturing of single-piece cast SuperDraco valves.
NASA Replaces SLS Core Stage RS-25 Engine
During routine testing at Kennedy Space Center, ground crews detected a hydraulic fluid leak in the main oxidizer valve actuator of one RS-25 engine on the Artemis II core stage. The actuator, driven by a closed-loop electrohydraulic servo system, exhibited pressure fluctuations beyond the 0.5 bar tolerance. The engine was swapped for a spare from NASA’s inventory, and the replacement passed a 4-minute A-1 hot-fire acceptance test at Stennis in under one week.
Technical Note: Each RS-25 produces 2 MN thrust at full throttle, and operates with a mixture ratio of 6:1 LOX to RP-1. The engine’s channel-wall nozzle uses Haynes 230 alloy liners and regenerative cooling via liquid hydrogen.
China’s Stainless-Steel Tank Development for Long March 9
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) has molded and welded a 10.6 m diameter, 9 m tall 316L stainless steel tank for its next-generation Long March 9 heavy-lift launcher. The tank, complete with integrated baffles and coaxial viewports for propellant management, echoes SpaceX’s Starship Raptor tank techniques but uses electron-beam welding and ultrasonic inspection to meet aerospace QA standards.
Mission Implications: Long March 9 is targeted to lift 150 tonnes to LEO in reusable mode and up to 200 tonnes expendable. CALT engineers are experimenting with sub-zero tempering cycles to achieve a yield strength of 350 MPa and improve cryo-fatigue life.
Infrastructure and Community Impact at Starbase
Beyond the municipal vote, Starbase faces infrastructure challenges: hurricane-proof power distribution, desalination units for fresh water, and fiber-optic broadband to support real-time telemetry streams. SpaceX’s in-house civil-engineering team is deploying prefabricated reinforced concrete modules for rapid road expansion. Local environmental groups have raised concerns over staging debris; SpaceX counters with a proposed real-time debris tracking network using optical LIDAR at 10 Hz sampling.
Comparative Analysis of Launch System Architectures
Reusable vs. expendable remains a hot debate. Falcon 9’s booster reuse delivers cost-per-launch savings of 30–40%, while Vega C’s expendable stages avoid refurbishment cycles. Expert Dr. Colin Stevens of the International Space University argues that systems should be chosen by mission profile: “For high-tempo constellations, reusability pays off; for bespoke exploration missions, expendable vehicles offer simpler certification and higher performance margins.”
Next Three Launches
- May 10: Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 16-5 | Vandenberg SFB | 21:42 UTC
- May 12: Long March 3B | Beidou Navigation Satellite | Xichang | 03:18 UTC
- May 15: Ariane 6 Flight VV01 | Test Payload | Kourou | 09:50 UTC