Small Space News Story Roundup 65

This time from Ars Technica's Rocket Report, Space.com and DefenseNews. 

Rocket Lab unveils Neutron launch complex

As Rocket Lab proceeds with design, prototype build and testing of their Neutron rocket, work has also been progressing on having its first launch facility ready, which is on Wallops Island, Virginia, DefenseNews reports. 

The novel booster, called Neutron, is Rocket Lab's newest and the company's first purpose-built reusable rocket to tap into the medium-size satellite launch market. The first flight is expected by the end of 2025 from the company's new pad, Launch Complex 3, which Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck officially opened for business on Thursday (Aug. 28). 

We've been talking about Neutron since Peter Beck first announced the rocket in 2021 and there's lots here if you want to go back and read some older posts.  While he acknowledges it's a big hurdle and there's not a nanosecond worth of slack in the schedule, Beck says they plan to launch the first Neutron mission before the end of this year.  "Nobody’s waving the white flag here until the last hour of the last day." 

Rocket Lab's new launch complex at Wallops Island is part of the company's growing footprint in Virginia. (Image credit: Rocket Lab) The launch mount is that large dark-colored hexagon with red trim, center of the image.

Cargo Dragon mission CRS-33 demonstrates lifting the ISS' orbit

As talked about here on Monday, August 25th, the cargo dragon used for mission CRS-33 carried a prototype of system that will be used to turn a Dragon craft into the US Deorbit Vehicle (USDV).  You may recall that the contract for the USDV was awarded to SpaceX in June of '24.  The basic problem is that due to various factors, the atmospheric drag on the ISS varies over time which then lowers the orbit.  Various systems have been used to raise the ISS orbit regularly; first the Russian Progress cargo vehicle, then Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus vehicle, launched by their launch vehicle and then their Cygnus capsules lifted into space by SpaceX.  

SpaceX’s first such test happened on Nov. 8, 2024.

And on Wednesday, Dragon's efforts got the station to an orbit of 260.9 by 256.3 miles (419.9 by 412 km), according to NASA. 

"The new boost kit in Dragon will help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude through a series of longer burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025," agency officials added in the statement.

(I sure wish they'd given us before and after numbers for that 260.9 by 256.3 mile orbit.  We just know it was supposed to be a low power model of the eventual system.) 

The CRS-33 Dragon is expected to stay at the ISS until late December or early January, at which point it will head back to Earth loaded with experimental data and some discarded items from the ISS. The splashdown zone will be near coastal California.