Welcome to Edition 8.37 of the Rocket Report! NASA is still climbing down from the high of the Artemis II mission, the first flight by humans to the Moon since 1972. What a mission it was! Now, attention turns to completing development of a lander to get astronauts down to the Moon’s surface. Among other things, we chronicle the latest progress of NASA’s two lunar lander contractors, SpaceX and Blue Origin, in this week’s Rocket Report.
As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Moonshot from the last frontier. Israel-based space launch company Moonshot Space will site its first electromagnetic accelerator in Fairbanks, Alaska, under a memorandum of understanding signed at Space Symposium with spaceport operator Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC), Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. Moonshot, which emerged from stealth mode in December with $12 million in fundraising, is developing a high-power electromagnetic launcher system to propel payloads and enable cargo deliveries into space at hypersonic speed using electricity rather than chemical fuels, The Times of Israel reports.
Favoring the bold... “This agreement reflects AAC’s commitment to pioneer innovation in the Last Frontier,” said John Oberst, AAC’s CEO. “We are working to align infrastructure, partnerships, and regulatory pathways to support next-generation space access with visionary companies like Moonshot Space.” Moonshot’s chief operating officer and co-founder, Shahar Bahiri, admits the company’s vision is “extremely brave” and having a spaceport operator embrace it “is not taken for granted.” Moonshot’s approach is, indeed, unusual. Even if the company gets the technology to work, the kinetic launch approach comes with the downside of extreme accelerations, which could damage or destroy normal satellites. Instead, Moonshot envisions shooting raw materials in orbit for in-space manufacturing.