May 29, 2022

UK's SaxaVord Spaceport Makes Regulatory Progress (Source: Ars Technica)
The spaceport in far northern Scotland announced Tuesday that it secured approval for the final two components of its facility. The Scottish government will allow the spaceport to move forward with constructing a Launch and Range Control Center and a new section of road to improve access to the launch site.

Starting to lay those foundations ... SaxaVord CEO Frank Strang said preparations for construction at the launch site are underway, and that the main part of the work will take place this summer. While SaxaVord is still working toward a first launch from the site late this year—likely with ABL Space Systems' RS1 rocket—I would expect that flight to slip into 2023. This would be the first vertical launch to take place in the United Kingdom. (5/27))

China's Orienspace Raises $59.9 Million for Medium-Lift Rocket (Source: Ars Technica)
Funding weight thrown behind Chinese launch vehicle. Chinese launch vehicle developer Orienspace has raised $59.9 million in a Series A funding round. The company says it will use the new funding for a first rocket launch and new engine development, including the first flight of the "Gravity-1" medium-lift launch vehicle, which has a test flight planned for mid-2023. The Gravity-1 rocket has a scrunched appearance, like a height-challenged version of an Ariane V rocket.

Greater gravity on the way ... With the capability to lift around 6,500 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, or 3,700 kilograms to 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, it would be the largest-capacity launcher in China's nascent commercial space sector. The funding will also accelerate the development of a 100-ton-thrust, reusable kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket engine for the Gravity-2 launcher. (5/27)

Will Starship Really Drive a Reduction in Launch Costs? (Source: Ars Technica)
SpaceX's Starship vehicle, if it comes online as advertised, will offer a revolutionary launch capability. And if it is fully and rapidly reusable, as intended, it has the potential to cause launch prices to plummet. But in his Space Dot Biz newsletter, Ian Vorbach explains why he is skeptical that will happen. He notes that SpaceX leaders once talked optimistically about Falcon 9 launch prices dropping below $10 million. So what is a Falcon 9 launch priced at today? $67 million.

So probably not ... "If I were to guess, I think Starship is likely to be priced early on somewhere around $150 million to $250 million per launch. At that price, Starship will still be a great deal for customers at only about 1.5x the price of a Falcon Heavy while carrying much more than 2x mass and volume to LEO than a Falcon Heavy. The cost per kg in that price range would be somewhere around $1,500/kg to $2,500/kg to LEO," Vorbach writes. As he correctly notes, SpaceX already offers the lowest launch prices in the industry. Pricing Starship radically lower would only undercut the company's own business. (5/27)