Rocket Report: "Panic" over Transporter availability; Isar to launch from Canada

Why choose a Pegasus booster? … The Swift rescue mission needed to launch into an unusually low-inclination orbit to reach its target. Swift’s orbit is inclined 20.6 degrees to the equator, and the Link satellite would have required a launch on an oversized, more expensive rocket to reach that orbit from a spaceport like Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launching from the equatorial Pacific solved that problem. Over the next several weeks, Katalyst will perform checkout procedures for Link, including assessments of its propulsion, sensor, and navigation systems. Launches could begin in a couple of years … Canada does not have the ability to launch satellites on its own and has relied on the United States to get its satellites into orbit. Ottawa has flagged space launches as a key sovereign capability in its new defense industrial strategy. German rockets launching from Canadian soil may be a bridge to that until Canadian companies can develop their own boosters. The spaceport developer, Maritime Launch CEO Stephen Matier, says Isar plans to spend about $100 million as a tenant to make its launch pad ready. Isar will begin construction this year with plans for space launches by 2028. ArianeGroup and Beyond Gravity extend deal. ArianeGroup and Beyond Gravity have signed a new contract for the operational phase of Ariane 6, the companies said this week in a news release. The agreement covers the supply of 27 payload fairings for flights 16 to 42 of Ariane 6. Depending on the mission, the European heavy-launcher can be equipped with a short (14-meter) or long (20-meter) payload fairing. Moving into operational phase … The new contract for the operational phase starts at the end of 2026 and marks the largest to date in the history of Beyond Gravity’s Swiss launch vehicle business. As part of the contract, Beyond Gravity will produce 20 long and seven short fairings. “We are delighted to actively help shape the ramp-up of the Ariane 6 launch vehicle program by supplying key technologies,” Barbara Frei-Spreiter, chief executive officer of Beyond Gravity, said. Panic setting in over future of Transporter missions? There are growing concerns within the small-satellite industry that SpaceX is winding down its Transporter program, at least using its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, Space News reports. Several customers of those rideshare missions have previously said SpaceX is not accepting Transporter reservations beyond late 2028 or early 2029. Now a competitor, Rocket Lab, says it has heard the same from its customers. SpaceX may focus on its own internal needs … “In the last three to six months, the term I would use to describe customer conversations about access to Falcon 9 would be anxiety. There seems to be a panic setting in,” said Adam Spice, chief financial officer of Rocket Lab, on Tuesday. “There’s not as much conviction that Falcon 9 is going to be available for the merchant market out beyond what they’ve committed to the manifest.” He said he expects SpaceX to focus Falcon 9 more on its own internal customers, including Starlink and its future orbital data center system. ArianeGroup testing more powerful Vinci engine. Details of a previously unannounced test campaign involving an upgraded Ariane 6 rocket engine have emerged in new annual filings, European Spaceflight reports. The corporate filings describe the testing of a 200-kilonewton version of the rocket’s Vinci upper stage engine at DLR’s Lampoldshausen facility in Germany. The upgrade increases the engine’s thrust by around 11 percent, from 180 kilonewtons. The testing was “conducted throughout the year” and included a long-duration test in October that lasted 570 seconds. Part of Block 2 upgrades … The upgraded Vinci engine is being developed under a European Space Agency contract. Evidence from a September 2022 ESA Space Transportation Proposal presentation suggests that the adaptation of the engine was part of a 357.6 million-euro Ariane 6 Product Adaptations Element approved at the agency’s Ministerial Council meeting in 2022. The more powerful upper stage engine is part of a suite of upgrades included in the Ariane 6 Block 2 configuration. This upgrade package also includes the more powerful P160C solid-fuel boosters introduced in June and a lighter upper stage structure. Rack ’em like pancakes … Rocket designers have long engineered their vehicles to match trends in the satellite industry. They designed for their customers’ needs, or at least for what their customers were telling them they needed. But in 2026, a new era of abundant super-heavy-lift launch promises to unlock entirely new applications for satellites and new designs. Notably, one trend is toward flat-packed, stackable satellite architecture. For example, Muon Space, a satellite manufacturing startup, announced earlier this month that it is developing a new high-power satellite design to take advantage of Starship’s payload accommodation. Blue Origin will seek to raise private capital. The rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, is raising private capital, Ars reports. Bezos is seeking a $10 billion investment in the company, valuing it at $130 billion. Founded in 2000, Blue Origin is seeking to become a global leader in spaceflight, developing a line of super heavy lift rockets, lunar landers, and plans for two megaconstellations. It is seeking to compete in the same areas—launch, telecommunications, data centers from space—as SpaceX. Seen as likely to happen … In March, Ars predicted that Bezos would likely take on outside investors in the near future in order to compete financially with SpaceX. Even so, the amount Blue is seeking to raise is dwarfed by the $85 billion that SpaceX raised through its initial public offering process earlier this year, and its valuation of approximately $2 trillion. Blue Origin also needs such a plan to compete with the lucrative stock options offered by SpaceX to its employees. July 10: Long March 10B | Demo mission | Wenchang Space Launch Site, China | 04:10 UTC July 11: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-48 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 02:00 UTC July 12: Gravity 1 | Unknown Payload | Haiyang Oriental Spaceport, China | 02:00 UTC