Weekly Dose of Space (25/8-31/8)

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week had five launches above the Kármán line worldwide. News this week had Firefly Aerospace bring a new Chief Executive Officer onboard, and ABL Space Systems sharing an update into its recent static fire anomaly. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide launch schedule might look like next week.

SpaceX

This week at Starbase began on the 27th when Ship 31 was spotted still undergoing work to replace its thousands of thermal protection tiles. Work on replacing these tiles is believed to be nearing completion. The same day crews were also spotted working inside of Ship 30's payload bay, it's unknown what they were working on inside.

On the 28th teams working on the second launch tower were seen installing a stop for the towers 'chopsticks' to prevent it from moving too far down once installed. The 28th also had workers removing some of the scaffolding needed to work on Ship 31 thermal protection tiles, indicating that work on the tiles will be finished soon.

A couple of days later on the 30th teams were once again seen moving into Ship 30's payload bay. Workers were also seen working underneath Starhopper, possibly ahead of moving it into SpaceX's new office building at Starbase.

Launches This Week

August 28th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 8-6

SpaceX launched a batch of twenty-one Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida. The booster for this mission, B1062, was flying for the twenty-third time but was lost shortly after touching down on the drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' downrange.

August 29th - Ceres-1S for 'How Far I'll Go'

Galactic Energy's fourth Ceres-1 of 2024 launched from a sea launch platform in the Yellow Sea carrying six satellites to a sun-synchronus orbit. The six satellites were Yunyao-1 15 (云遥一号15), Yunyao-1 16 (云遥一号16), Yunyao-1 17 (云遥一号17), Jitianxing A-03 (吉天星A-03), Suxing-1 01 (苏星一号01), and Tianfu Gaofen-2 (天辅高分二号).

August 29th - New Shepard with NS-26

Blue Origin flew another sub-orbital space tourism mission from their launch site in West Texas. The passengers for this flight were Ephraim Rabin, Nicolina Elrick, Eugene Grin, Rob Ferl, Karsen Kitchen, and Eiman Jahangir.

August 31st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 8-10

Another Falcon 9 carried twenty-one Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40. The booster for this mission was B1069 flying for the eighteenth time and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions'.

August 31st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-5

Yet another batch of twenty-one Starlink satellites were sent into low Earth orbit atop of Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E. The booster for this mission was B1081 on its ninth flight, and landed on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.

In Other Space News

Jason Kim to become CEO of Firefly

Firefly announced on August 29th that Jason Kim would become the Chief Executive Officer of the company, effective October 1st 2024.

Jason Kim has previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Space Systems as well as in leadership roles at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, and the U.S. Air Force.

In the company's press release, Jason Kim said the following:

“I have long admired Firefly’s relentless drive and innovative spirit, particularly during our collaboration on the VICTUS NOX mission for the U.S. Space Force,” – “I am honored to join this unstoppable team and look forward to building on Firefly’s success and leading the company into a new era of category-defining achievements in the industry.”

In the same press release, Firefly Aerospace's Chairman of the Board, Kirk Konert, said the following about the company's new Chief Executive Officer:

“Jason Kim’s deep industry expertise, coupled with his proven ability to lead high-performing teams and execute on strategic growth initiatives, makes him the ideal leader for Firefly Aerospace,” – “We are confident that under his leadership, Firefly will continue to achieve major milestones across our launch, lunar, and on-orbit programs.”

ABL reveals Flight 2 lost in fire

ABL Space Systems shared an update on its investigation into the loss of its Flight 2 RS1 vehicle on August 26th. Initially, the company stated that the vehicle was lost during a static fire.

ABL believes that all eleven engines on RS1's first-stage ignited successfully for 0.5 seconds before shutting down due to a low-pressure reading in one of the engines. After shutdown, a fire is believed to have started, which was then sustained by fuel leaks from two engines. ABL states that offloading of the rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants began at T+4:20 and T+9:20 respectively.

At T+11:30 ABL believes that water used in the launchpad's fire suppression system ran out, leading to the loss of propellant offloading followed by first-stage telemetry. By T+23:24 RS1's structural thermal limits are believed to have been exceeded, causing the vehicle to collapse on the launchpad.

ABL's current leading theory is that differences between propellant feed systems between Flight 1 and 2 led to a high-energy startup, causing combustion instability in two out of the eleven engines. The anomaly investigation is still ongoing currently, as such ABL may discover additional causes for the failure.

A few days after the press release about Flight 2, ABL Space Systems Chief Executive Officer, Harry O'Hanley, announced on LinkedIn that the company was laying off an unspecified number of employees.

What to Expect Next Week

Starbase

Once again, the fifth test flight of SpaceX's Starship-Super Heavy vehicle is still awaiting regulatory approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. This latest flight test requires a change in the flight plan, notably a potential landing of Booster 12 back at the launch site on the launch towers 'chopsticks'.

Despite this, both vehicles for flight five, Booster 12 and Ship 30, are ready for flight pending a possible wet dress rehearsal.

September 3rd - Long March 4B with a to-be-announced payload

A Long March 4B is believed to be targeting launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The payload onboard the rocket is currently unknown.

September 4th - Vega with Sentinel-2C

The final Vega launch vehicle is expected to launch to sun-synchronous orbit carrying the Sentinel-2C Earth observation satellite, for use with land surveying services. Vega is planned to be replaced with Vega-C.

September 4th - Falcon 9 with Polaris Dawn

The Polaris Dawn mission is expected to launch from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida, on a Falcon 9 carrying it to low Earth orbit with four crew onboard. In addition to conducting medical research, the mission would test extravehicular spacesuits made by SpaceX and laser-based Starlink communications on Crew Dragon.

The crew for Polaris Dawn is Commander Jared Isaacman, Pilot Scott Poteet, Mission Specialist Anna Menon, and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis.

September 4th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 8-11

SpaceX is expecting to launch another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 atop of Falcon 9.

September 5th - Long March 6 with a to-be-announced payload

A Long March 6 is believed to be targeting launch from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The payloads are currently unknown.