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Relativity Space Wins US Military Launch Services Contract

March 30, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sandra Erwin March 15, 2021 (spacenews.com)

• Space Force’s ‘Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise’ (SMSCLE) was looking for a third launch services provider to carry payloads into low Earth orbit for the DoD Space Test Program’s ‘Rapid Agile Launch Initiative’ (RALI) in 2023. A SMSCLE subdivision, the ‘Defense Innovation Unit’ (DIU), is tasked with finding suitable providers in the private sector.

• DIU’s space portfolio director, Steve Butow, said the military is looking for “low-cost, responsive launch services that not only improve our access to space, but it also enable small satellites to be placed precisely in their mission designed orbits with little if no delay.” The DIU previously hired two launch services companies for RALI, Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit.

• On March 9th, CEO Tim Ellis announced that his company, Relativity Space, had been selected by the DIU to become the third launch provider for the RALI program since its inception in 2017.

• Relativity Space will launch relatively small military payloads to lower inclination orbits utilizing its new Terran 1 rocket, which will see its first test flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida later this year. Relativity Space builds its rockets with 3D-printed components at its factory in Long Beach, California. The company recently announced plans to develop a larger Terran R reusable launch vehicle to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

WASHINGTON — Relativity Space was selected to launch a small U.S. military payload to orbit in 2023 using a 3D-printed rocket.
The company in a statement March 15 said it received its first Defense Department contract to launch a DoD Space Test Program mission. The award was first announced March 9 by Relativity’s CEO Tim Ellis in an interview with CNBC.

The Defense Innovation Unit — an organization that works with commercial companies and startups — picked Relativity to become a launch services provider for the DoD Space Test Program’s Rapid Agile Launch Initiative. RALI is a program managed by the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise to identify viable commercial launch systems with capacity between 450 to 1,200 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

Both Relativity and DIU declined to disclose the value of the contract.

Relativity builds its rockets with 3D-printed components at its factory in Long Beach, California. For the DoD mission it will use the Terran 1 small satellite launcher that is expected to fly for the first time later this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida. DoD is the ninth announced launch customer for Terran 1 and the second U.S. government deal following a NASA Venture Class Launch Services contract.

Relativity is the third launch provider selected by DIU for the RALI program since it started in 2017. The other two are Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit.

Steve Butow, DIU’s space portfolio director, said the military is looking for “low-cost, responsive launch services that not only improve our access to space, but it also enable small satellites to be placed precisely in their mission designed orbits with little if no delay.”

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London Stock Market Pressured to Invest in British Space Industry

March 25, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Aleksandra Serebriakova March 13, 2021 (sputniknews.com)

• Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment into British defense with an aim to create Britain’s own ‘Space Force’ space command. Johnson hopes to send British spaceships into space as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defense sector.

• Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites, but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil. “Space is the key to the world’s future,” said Will Whitehorn, chairman of UKSpace trade association. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

• UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry. Whitehorn compared how Wall Street space firms were raising “billions” for American space initiatives, but nothing like that has happened in the UK. “I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” said Whitehorn.

• Meanwhile, the ‘UK Space Agency’ – Britain’s civil space authority (like NASA) – announced in October 2020 that America’s aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will develop UK launch operations from Shetland Islands, Scotland. And Scottish firm Orbex plans to launch its innovative Prime rocket from the Sutherland, Scotland spaceport in 2022.

• Virgin Orbit also plans to release a group of satellites from Spaceport Cornwall in southwestern England for the first time in spring 2020. The spaceport supports so-called “horizontal” launches, where modified aircraft such as the Boeing 747 will carry a rocket under its wings to send small satellites into orbit.

• The UK Space Agency’s plan is to control 10% of the world’s space economy by the end of this decade.

Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment

into British defence with an aim to create Britain’s own Trump-like ‘Space Force’. The country is planning to send its first rocket into space from British soil next year.

The trade association UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry.

“I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” Will Whitehorn, the president of UKSpace, told Express.co.uk.

Whitehorn has compared how Wall Street Space firms were raising “billions” for American space

initiatives, but “nothing” like that has happened in the UK, he says, signalling that this had to change, albeit with the government’s support.

“Space is the key to the world’s future, key to battling climate change and could be a key to our future prosperity,” the trade association’s chairman went on. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil.

PM Boris Johnson hopes that this could happen as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defence sector. He announced in November 2020 that the UK will create a new Space Command in a similar fashion to former US President Donald Trump with his much-debated US Space Force.

The prime minister expects that the first rocket will go into orbit from Scotland, as two large space ports are currently underway in the country: Space Hub Sutherland and Shetland Space Centre.

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Virgin Orbit Rocket Reaches Earth Orbit in Commercial Space Race

February 10, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Christian Davenport January 17, 2021 (washingtonpost.com)

• On January 17th, Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit achieved the first successful trip into space of its ‘LauncherOne’ rocket (pictured above), a test flight over the Pacific Ocean that marks the introduction of a new method for low-cost satellite launches and the likely shake-up of the aerospace industry. “According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!” the company tweeted at about 2:50 pm Eastern. “Everyone on the team who is not in mission control right now is going absolutely bonkers.”

• The flight marked a triumph for the British billionaire who now has two companies that have reached space successfully with two different vehicles. Said Branson, “This magnificent flight is the culmination of many years of hard work and will also unleash a whole new generation of innovators on the path to orbit.”

• The company hopes to be a disruptive force in the launch market by offering a small, 70-foot long, two-stage rocket suited to take advantage of a revolution in satellite technology that is shrinking their size and lowering their costs. LauncherOne would be able to hoist payloads of satellites ranging “from the size of a very big refrigerator to the size of a toaster oven,” said Will Pomerantz, Virgin Orbit’s vice president of special projects.

• Instead of launching vertically from a pad on the ground, the LauncherOne is tethered under the wing of a modified 747, which carries the rocket to an altitude of about 35,000 feet when the rocket is released, fires its engine, and heads into space. The “air launch” technique means the rocket is already above much of the Earth’s atmosphere and traveling just under Mach 1, or the speed of sound. Instead of requiring a lot of ground infrastructure, the company can be flexible, essentially taking off from any runway that can accommodate a 747.

• A test flight of the LauncherOne on Memorial Day in 2020 failed due to a technical malfunction. Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit’s president and CEO, said that the company had fixed the problem and has done “an enormous amount of testing since then”.

• Sunday’s mission carried ten satellites into orbit, in cooperation with a NASA program that allows universities and others to launch small satellites for Earth observation, weather prediction and other science and research projects. The company confirmed that all the satellites “successfully deployed into our target orbit.”

• Virgin Orbit is entering a crowded market of companies that want to capitalize on launching small satellites. Rocket Lab, a company that launches from New Zealand, has already sent several payloads into orbit for commercial and government customers. Rocket Lab plans to soon begin launches from Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The companies are following in the footsteps of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which upended the launch market by offering discount launch prices with its reusable Falcon 9 rocket.

• Virgin Orbit said it thinks the market for small satellites will grow. Ultimately, it hopes to expand its business to include commercial companies as well as satellites for the Space Force and US intelligence agencies that need to be able to respond rapidly to potential threats. After the launch, Space Force’s chief of space operations Gen. Jay Raymond Tweeted: “Congratulations to the Virgin Orbit Team!”

• Virgin Orbit is the sister company of Branson’s Virgin Galactic, a venture that vows to become the “world’s first commercial spaceline” by flying tourists to the edge of space and back. It has twice flown people on suborbital trips to the edge of space and is gearing up to fly paying passengers as soon as this year.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit flew a rocket into orbit on Sunday in a test flight that marks the introduction of a new method for low-cost

**Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore**

satellite launches and the likely shake-up of the aerospace industry.

The flight was the company’s first successful trip into space, launching a small rocket from the wing of a 747 airplane flying over the Pacific Ocean. And it marked a triumph for Branson, the starry-eyed British billionaire who now has two companies that have reached space successfully with two different vehicles.

In tweets, the company chronicled the flight of its LauncherOne rocket, celebrating each milestone, from engine ignition to second-stage separation. “According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!” the company tweeted at about 2:50 p.m. Eastern. “Everyone on the team who is not in mission control right now is going absolutely bonkers.”

In a statement, Branson said, “this magnificent flight is the culmination of many years of hard work and will also unleash a whole new generation of innovators on the path to orbit.”

The company hopes to be a disruptive force in the launch market by offering a small, 70-foot long, two-stage rocket suited to take advantage of a revolution in satellite technology that is shrinking their size and lowering their costs. LauncherOne would be able to hoist payloads of up to a few hundred pounds — satellites that would range “from the size of a very big refrigerator to the size of a toaster oven,” Will Pomerantz, Virgin Orbit’s vice president of special projects, said in a call with reporters before the test flight.

Instead of launching vertically from a pad on the ground, the company tethers LauncherOne under the wing of a modified 747,

which carries the rocket to an altitude of about 35,000 feet. The rocket is then released, fires its engine and heads into space.

The “air launch” technique means the rocket is already above much of the atmosphere and traveling just under Mach 1, or the speed of sound, when it fires its engines. And instead of requiring a lot of ground infrastructure, the company can be flexible, essentially taking off from any runway that can accommodate a 747.

The company attempted its first launch on Memorial Day last year. The rocket dropped, but its engine cut off shortly after ignition. After an investigation, the company said there was a “breach in the high-pressure line” that carried liquid oxygen to the first-stage combustion chamber. Without the oxidizer, “that engine soon stopped providing thrust, ending our powered flight and ultimately the test itself.”

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Britain’s New Space Command

November 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by James Bickerton November 22, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• Will Whitehorn, president of UK space industry trade association UKSpace, argues: “If we’re going to put billions and billions of pounds of assets into space, which secure the future of this country, then we’re going to have to defend those assets.” It’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.” Whitehorn even predicted that “… there will come a time when we will have a Royal Space Force…”.

• On November 18th, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernization” of Britain’s armed forces, with massive funding in military research and development, new warfare technologies, and space and cyber capabilities, and the official launch in 2021 of the UK Space Command.

• A Space Command Center, likely based at RAF High Wycombe (which currently houses Headquarters Air Command), will be rededicated to the new RAF space command, artificial intelligence, launching British satellites, and to“further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”. The Space Command plans to launch its first rocket from Scotland in 2022.

• UKSpace’s Will Whitehorn commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space. An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall. We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

• There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands on the short list. A new spaceport in Newquay, Cornwall is also under development with the support of Virgin Orbit. The plan is for ‘Cosmic Girl’, a Virgin Orbit Boeing 747, to take off from Newquay airport then launch an attached rocket which will carry satellites into space.

• The UK Government wants Britain to account for 10 percent of the global space economy by 2030.

On Wednesday Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernisation” of Britain’s armed forces with an additional £16.5bn in funding over the next four years. This money will be invested in space and cyber capabilities as well as conventional forces.

As part of this programme a UK Space Command will be launched next year, potentially based at RAF High Wycombe.

The move was welcomed by UKSpace, an umbrella group which represents the British space industry.

The body said it will “further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”.

Will Whitehorn, president of UKSpace, argued it’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.

He commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster

the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space.

“An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall.

“We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

Mr Johnson also said plans are in place for a British rocket to be launched into space from Scotland in 2022.

There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands being considered.

These will launch satellites, and potentially one day people, into space from British soil.

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Tag: Virgin Orbit

Relativity Space Wins US Military Launch Services Contract

London Stock Market Pressured to Invest in British Space Industry

Virgin Orbit Rocket Reaches Earth Orbit in Commercial Space Race

Britain’s New Space Command