Rocket Report: Artemis III rocket getting ready; SpaceX is now an AI company

Rocket Lab launches “origami” satellite. An Electron rocket on Thursday launched the Japanese space agency’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 mission, which aims to test advanced space tech developed by startups and universities, The Independent reports. Among the payloads was a small 10 cm cube that unfolds to a 2.5-meter array. A lot of unfolding … Rocket Lab’s name for the mission, its second for JAXA, was “Kakushin Rising.” JAXA describes the 10cm cube as “an unprecedentedly lightweight and highly packable deployable array antenna for space, with antenna elements attached to a two-layer deployable membrane that can be folded using origami techniques.” It sounds pretty cool. But where money does that come from? … SpaceX expects more than 90 percent of that market, or $26.5 trillion, to stem from the AI sector. The vast majority of that, $22.7 trillion, could come ​from AI for businesses. The company is moving ahead with an IPO expected this summer targeting a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion and seeking ⁠to raise about $75 billion, which would make it the largest initial public offering in history. “We believe we have identified the largest actionable total addressable market in human ​history,” according to the filing. Falcon boosters have now landed 600 times. SpaceX completed its 600th Falcon booster landing during a Starlink mission Sunday, Spaceflight Now reports. The Starlink 17-22 mission added another 25 broadband Internet satellites into the company’s low Earth orbit constellation that consists of more than 10,200 spacecraft. Don’t forget the hard-working ships … SpaceX used Falcon 9 first stage booster B1097, which was flying for the seventh time. It previously launched Sentinel-6B, Twilight, and five previous batches of Starlink satellites. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1097 landed on the SpaceX drone ship, “Of Course I Still Love You.” It was the 191st landing on this vessel. Another droneship, “Just Read the Instructions,” will now be dedicated to supporting Starship operations. Vulcan issue proves costly to Northrop. Northrop Grumman said Tuesday it had taken a $71 million charge due to an anomaly with a solid rocket booster that grounded the Vulcan Centaur rocket, Space News reports. The problem occurred on a February 12 launch, when one of four GEM 63XL boosters attached to the rocket shed debris about 65 seconds after liftoff. Payloads waiting to go to space … After the mission, which concluded successfully, United Launch Alliance called the incident a “significant performance anomaly” that would need to be investigated prior to Vulcan’s next flight. This was the second time in four Vulcan missions that a solid rocket booster suffered an issue. The problems have delayed the launch of several payloads for the US Space Force. For more on this, read on. Space Force may use Vulcan for lower-risk missions. Amid an ongoing investigation into a solid rocket motor anomaly that grounded United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket for US national security missions, the Space Force is exploring options to use the heavy-lift launch vehicle for less complex missions, Aviation Week reports. Since the issue is restricted to the Northrop Grumman-built solid rocket motor, the service is considering flying Vulcan without those boosters, Col. Eric Zarybnisky, acting program acquisition executive for space access, said. No solids, no problem … The Space Force could launch certain missions without solid rocket boosters that carry lower mass or are bound for lower orbits. For example, the service could launch an upcoming Space Development Agency mission on Vulcan, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, Space Systems Command chief, told reporters in a separate briefing. “Essentially, if it doesn’t rely on a solid, there’s no reason why we can’t launch, and I’m committed to supporting that and keeping that mission going,” he said. The Space Force has switched four GPS III missions from a Vulcan rocket to a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle since December 2024 NASA rolls out Artemis III core stage. NASA said this week it has rolled out the core stage of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the crewed Artemis III mission in 2027. The stage departed from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday for shipment to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Using highly specialized transporters, engineers maneuvered the top four-fifths of the SLS core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt, from inside NASA Michoud to the agency’s Pegasus barge. Launching sometime in 2027 … After the core stage arrives at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams will complete the stage outfitting and vertical integration, and the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will stack the rocket’s components in preparation for launch. Next year’s Artemis III mission will launch astronauts to Earth’s orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft on top of SLS to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land Artemis IV astronauts on the Moon in 2028. April 25: Long March 6 | Unknown payload | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China | 12:15 UTC April 25: Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-34 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 22:21 UTC April 26: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17=16 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 14:00 UTC