Small Space News Story Roundup 70

New Glenn nearly ready for rollout to the pad

As the November 9 launch window opening for NASA's ESCAPADE ("Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers") satellites to Mars is approaching, it's starting to look like we might get the necessary steps completed to launch the next New Glenn and the mission to Mars.

Dave Limp, Blue Origin’s CEO, posted a video this week of the company’s second New Glenn rocket undergoing launch preparations inside a hangar at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket’s first and second stages are now mated together and installed on the transporter erector that will carry them from the hangar to the launch pad. “We will spend the next days on final checkouts and connecting the umbilicals. Stay tuned for rollout and hotfire!” Limp wrote. 

I've seen mentions of this as a launch window that opens on Nov. 9 with no detail on how long the window is open, and I've seen it listed as it opens on Nov. 9 and runs until Nov. 11. On the typical Mars science missions we've watched for decades, the optimum launch window comes around once every two years, but it doesn't last only two days. I'm not sure there's not some reason that it must be two days, but I'd find that surprising. Considering how badly Blue Origin needs to show that New Glenn is worth paying attention to and not just some sort of "billionaire's toy," I'm hoping to see it flying in just over two weeks. 

Honestly, though, if the ship just plain works, there's no worry. It'll launch on Nov. 9 and there's no reason to think of anything else. It's just that they don't have much of a track record of things just plain working.

Chinese Startup LandSpace inches closer to a reusable rocket

Launch startup LandSpace is in the final stages of preparations for the first flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket and a potentially landmark mission for China, Space News reports (that's a nag-o-matic site that insists you pay to read the article, so for justification only).

The Zhuque-3 is the largest commercial rocket developed to date in China, nearly matching the size and performance of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with nine first stage engines and a single upper stage engine. One key difference is that the Zhuque-3 burns methane fuel, while Falcon 9’s engines consume kerosene. Most notably, LandSpace will attempt to land the rocket’s first stage booster at a location downrange from the launch site, similar to the way SpaceX lands Falcon 9 boosters on drone ships at sea. Zhuque-3’s first stage will aim for a land-based site in an experiment that could pave the way for LandSpace to reuse rockets in the future.

LandSpace has been conducting extensive testing on this prototype, including a propellant loading demonstration and a static fire test of the rocket’s first stage engines. Earlier this week, they integrated the payload fairing on the rocket. The company said it will return the rocket to a nearby facility “for inspection and maintenance in preparation for its upcoming orbital launch and first stage recovery.”

They say launch of the test vehicle could occur as soon as November, but nobody has said if they mean Nov. 1st, 9th (like New Glenn) or just before the end of the month.

A static fire test of the Zhuque-3 at Jiuquan spaceport. Credit: LandSpace

Yes, it does resemble the Falcon 9.