Spaceflight 🚀Jul 6, 2023
#Forbes 📆 Jun 23, 2023 "#Amazon says half of the 3,236 #satellites 🛰️ will be up above us by 📆 2026" - but who will #launch 🚀 them ? 🤔 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2023/06/23/project-kuiper-how-amazon-will-drape-the-world-in-satellites/

• #BlueOrigin / #NewGlenn : no news / tests yet
• #Ariane 6 is years late (again)
• #ULA's #Vulcan is late, dependent on #BE4 engines
All three will be operative until 2025
7.4%
Microlaunchers
2.9%
SpaceX
36.8%
They need a miracle
52.9%
Poll ended at .
Project Kuiper: How Amazon Will Drape The World In Satellites

Amazon is moving into the low-earth orbit satellite business, and those satellites will be coming thick and fast. Here’s what the company has to say about the project.

Forbes
Show threadLuna chan
@spaceflight
I think Vulcan will be flying by then the first stage has passed the tests and the anomaly in Centaur IV has been identified these are the same people who made Atlas V and Delta IV.
Ariane 6 will fly by then too Ariane 5 had a rough start but became one of the most reliable rockets ever.
I think small launchers will play a part they allow single failed sats to be replaced for low cost.
Jul 8, 2023 at 4:26amWeb
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Jul 8, 2023
@Luna Vulcan depends on BE4 engines, so what about the launch cadence ? https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/ula-disappointed-in-be-4-delay-but-still-aiming-for-2022-vulcan-launch. Ariane 6 still didn't fly and is 50% more expensive than the (reliable) Falcon 9 https://techhub.social/@spaceflight/109625314033526191. Small launchers will certainly not deliver mega constellations. India might also offer a heavy launcher, they already delivered #OneWeb satellites 🤔
With further delays to BE-4 rocket engine, Vulcan may not make 2022 debut

"These are really big, heavy, complicated pieces of machinery."

Ars Technica
Show threadLuna chanJul 8, 2023
@spaceflight
They finally got the BE-4 sorted out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uGe2Gor9dA
Production of Blue Origin’s BE-4 Engine Is Ramping Up

YouTube
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Jul 8, 2023
@Luna this is "sorted out" : "after key senior #management #departed the company, SpaceX personnel looked deeper into issues surrounding Raptor production and found them to “be far more severe than was #reported.” https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/30/22809720/elon-musk-spacex-raptor-engine-crisis-bankruptcy-starship
Elon Musk says Raptor engine production is a ‘disaster’ that puts SpaceX at risk of bankruptcy

On November 26th, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent an email to his employees, urging them to come in over the weekend to work on Raptor engine production, calling it a “crisis” that is putting SpaceX at “risk of bankruptcy.”

The Verge