Rocket Report: Europe joins the commercial launch club; a Ravn X sighting?

Long-forgotten space plane is back? Ars Technica has written precisely one article about Ravn X, an autonomous aircraft and launch vehicle under development by Aevum. This was back in December 2020. We haven’t covered it since, I think it’s safe to say, there is a fair amount of skepticism about whether the project to build the space plane was all that realistic. And time has largely proved us right. The company’s initial target of an orbital mission in 2021 came and went. We largely forgot about the vehicle. Then something mysterious showed up at Long Beach Airport. Don’t get too excited … TWZ reports that a handful of aviation photographers got a surprise eyeful of a very sleek and large aircraft silhouette last week at the airport and later learned that it was likely a mockup of Ravn X. Later on, in posts on X, Aevum founder Jay Skylus said the company “conducted Test 2 of Ravn X SN0 early this morning. Ravn X completed its first fully autonomous taxi. ~37 minutes of autonomy. We’re reviewing the telemetry and test data now and will share more as soon as I can.” We are not expecting any flights imminently. (submitted by Onychomys) Firefly to launch from Sweden. Firefly Aerospace announced on Wednesday a multi-launch agreement with SSC Space for two Alpha rocket launches from Sweden’s Esrange Space Center. Targeted to launch no earlier than 2028, the missions will serve Sweden’s national security customers as well as additional commercial rideshare customers. More to come … Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, said more Alpha launches will follow. “These first two missions are just the start of a long-term, multi-launch partnership with SSC Space that will provide assured access to space for years to come,” he said. SSC Space secured the full payload capacity and can allocate payload space to its government and commercial customers, providing flexible accommodations and launch opportunities for the European satellite market. Avio seeks higher flight rate. Avio is looking to boost the pace of Vega-C rocket flights to six missions per year, roughly double the current level, and potentially go another 50 percent higher, Aviation Week reports. “We are working to increase, as a first step, the cadence of Vega to six per year, and potentially a second step to nine per year,” Giulio Ranzo said Wednesday during the International Space Summit in Paris. Solid production is not so solid … The Vega-C rocket is used heavily by institutions for launch in Europe, where demand is rising. “We will follow what they need, what they ask us, and we will try to adapt to continue providing the service,” Ranzo said. One of the challenges in ramping up is that the Vega-C used the same solid rocket motors employed on Ariane 6, which is also looking to boost output. The combination is creating supply-chain bottlenecks that industry and government are trying to address. Block 2 will rock you … “We have already started development on a larger vehicle, and we felt like now is the time to pour gas on that fire and really start full-force development of the larger vehicle, and so that’s the reason for the timing,” Stoke co-founder and Chief Executive Andy Lapsa said. The Nova Pathfinder vehicle has a diameter of about 12.5 feet, slightly larger than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicle, although it is considerably shorter. The Block 2 version of Nova is intended to have a 15-foot diameter, Lapsa said. Stoke is targeting 2029 for the debut launch of Block 2. Ariane 64 gets with Amazon for some more. Arianespace and Amazon Leo announced Wednesday an agreement at the International Space Summit in Paris for six additional Ariane 64 launches to continue deploying the Amazon Leo constellation into low-Earth orbit. The new order brings the total number of Amazon Leo launches with Arianespace to 24, up from 18, with missions scheduled through 2031 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Arianespace, the on-time provider? … To the surprise of some observers, including your humble correspondent, Arianespace has proven to be a more reliable launch partner to Amazon than the other two providers who inked deals with Amazon in 2022, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin. But Ariane 6 has gotten through its teething pains without major issues, unlike Vulcan and New Glenn. “We committed early because we believed in what Arianespace was building, and they’ve executed mission after mission,” said Chris Weber, vice president of Amazon Leo business and product. “Expanding from 18 to 24 launches reflects our confidence in Ariane 6 and our continued investment in European launch capability.” Nyx will fly on Ariane 6. Arianespace and The Exploration Company announced this week that Nyx, the reusable space capsule developed by The Exploration Company, will launch into orbit on an Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana. The Exploration Company chief executive, Hélène Huby, has said she is targeting late 2028 for the launch of this spacecraft, which is due to fly a cargo mission to the International Space Station. Commercial cargo redux … The launch deal follows the award of a service contract to The Exploration Company by the European Space Agency worth 760 million euros ($880 million) to support the development of Nyx, a demonstration mission, and two operational cargo missions. “We started the development of Nyx with private funding only, and we are now at a technical maturity level where ESA and Member States’ public funding can support us massively, as anchor clients, to help us finalize the vehicle,” Huby said.