Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) has revealed new details about their next generation Neutron launch vehicle.

This advanced, 8-ton, payload class Neutron launch vehicle is designed to transform space access by delivering reliable and cost-effective launch services for satellite mega-constellations, deep space missions and human spaceflight. During a live streamed Neutron update, Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck revealed new details about Neutron’s unique design, materials, propulsion, and reusability architecture for the first time.

Neutron will be the world’s first carbon composite large launch vehicle. Rocket Lab pioneered the use of carbon composite for orbital rockets with the Electron rocket, which has been delivering frequent and reliable access to space for government and commercial smallsats since 2018. Neutron’s structure will be comprised of a new, specially formulated carbon composite material that is lightweight, strong and can withstand the immense heat and forces of launch and re-entry again and again to enable frequent re-flight of the first stage. To enable rapid manufacturability, Neutron’s carbon composite structure will be made using an automated fiber placement system which can build meters of carbon rocket shell in minutes. 

Reusability is key to enabling frequent and affordable launch, so the ability to launch, land and lift-off again has been built into every aspect of Neutron’s design from day one. It starts with Neutron’s unique shape, a tapered rocket with a wide base to provide a robust, stable base for landing, eliminating the need for complex mechanisms and landing legs. This balanced structure also removes the need for bulky launch site infrastructure, including strongbacks and launch towers. Neutron will, instead, stand securely on its own legs for lift-off. After reaching space and deploying Neutron’s second stage, the first stage will return to Earth for a propulsive landing at the launch site, eliminating the high costs associated with ocean-based landing platforms and operations.

Neutron will be powered by an entirely new rocket engine, Archimedes. Designed and manufactured in-house by Rocket Lab, Archimedes is a reusable liquid oxygen / methane gas generator cycle engine capable of 1 meganewton thrust and 320 seconds of ISP. Seven Archimedes engines will propel Neutron’s first stage, with a single vacuum optimized Archimedes engine on the second stage. Neutron’s lightweight carbon composite structure means Archimedes does not need the immense performance and complexity typically associated with larger rockets and their propulsion systems. By developing a simple engine with modest performance requirements, the timeline for development and testing can be drastically accelerated. 

What makes Neutron’s design especially unique is the captive ‘Hungry Hippo’ fairing design. This innovative design will see the fairing form part of the first stage structure and remain fixed to the stage. Rather than separating from the stage and falling away to the ocean like traditional fairings, Neutron’s Hungry Hippo fairing jaws will open wide to release the second stage and payload, before closing again ready to return to Earth with the first stage. What lands back on the launch pad is a compete first stage with fairings attached, ready for a new second stage to be integrated and launched. This advanced design can speed up launch frequency, eliminates the high cost, low reliability method of capturing fairings at sea, and enables the second stage to be lightweight and nimble.

Thanks to Neutron’s ‘Hungry Hippo’ fairing design, the entire second stage will be completely enveloped within the Neutron’s first stage structure and fairing during launch. Thanks to this, Neutron’s second stage is designed to be the lightest in history to enable high performance for complex satellite deployments. Typically, a second stage forms part of the launch vehicle’s exterior structure and needs to provide strength to the vehicle from lift-off, exposing it to the harsh environments of the lower atmosphere during launch.

By being housed inside the first stage and ‘Hungry Hippo’ fairing, the requirement for the second stage to withstand the launch environment is eliminated and the second stage can be made significantly lighter enabling higher performance in space. Designed as an expendable upper stage for now, Neutron’s second stage is a six-meter-long carbon composite structure with a single vacuum optimized Archimedes engine.

Rocket Lab is currently working through a competitive process to select launch site, rocket production facility and Archimedes engine test facility on the U.S. East Coast. Rocket Lab expects to create around 250 new jobs to support the Neutron program with many roles open for application now.

“Neutron is not a conventional rocket. It’s a new breed of launch vehicle with reliability, reusability and cost reduction is hard baked into the advanced design from day one. Neutron incorporates the best innovations of the past and marries them with cutting edge technology and materials to deliver a rocket for the future,” said Mr. Beck. “More than 80% of the satellites to be launched in the next decade are expected to be constellations, which have unique deployment needs that Neutron is the first vehicle to address specifically. Like we did with Electron, rather than starting with a traditional rocket design, we focused on our customers’ needs and worked back from there. The result is a rocket that is right-sized for market demand and can launch fast, frequently and affordably.”

Note: All imagery is courtesy of Rocket Lab.

Kymeta and OneWeb have entered a joint development agreement (JDA) to develop an innovative, flat panel, electronically steered, user terminal that is compatible with the OneWeb network to support land fixed applications and leading the way to various mobility applications such as land mobile, maritime, and other mobility needs of the future.

The Kymeta u8 flat panel antenna technology provides an innovative solution to interoperate with the OneWeb LEO satellite constellation that supports Communication on the Pause (COTP) and future Communications on the Move (COTM) for military, government, first responder, maritime, enterprise and other commercial customers. The Kymeta u8 based terminal will provide the benefits of interoperability between GEO and OneWeb LEO services to strengthen the reach of the terminal solutions.

Under the new JDA, engineering teams from both OneWeb and Kymeta will collaborate to ensure the terminal meets the technical specifications required for compatibility with the OneWeb network.

The announcement comes just months after Kymeta and OneWeb previously collaborated on a pilot program to successfully test and demonstrate a LEO-GEO capable land flat panel user terminal in Toulouse, France, which generated a great deal of interest from customers. The two companies aim to launch their new solution into the market for purchase by the third quarter of 2022.

“This JDA formalized our collaborative efforts and commitment to bring to market an innovative electronically-steered antenna that is turnkey and compatible with OneWeb’s rapidly expanding LEO network,” said Neville Meijers, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Kymeta. “We look forward to this joint endeavor for the benefit of our mutual customers.”

“Kymeta’s pioneering u8 does not require mechanical components to steer toward a satellite and when paired with our LEO network will provide governments, businesses, and communities with high-throughput and low-latency communication services at competitive prices,” said OneWeb Chief of Delivery and Operations, Michele Franci. “This partnership is a welcome addition to our overall product strategy, offering another great choice for OneWeb’s customers and contributes to strengthening our vision to provide seamless, resilient mobile connectivity where and when its needed most.”

Telesat (NASDAQ and TSX: TSAT) and SatixFy have agreed to deploy the latter’s baseband modem equipment for Telesat Lightspeed gateway Earth stations throughout the world.

The SatixFy advanced Sx3099 landing station modems will be capable of processing up to 1.6 GHz of bandwidth in each direction, supporting 10 wideband carriers, uplink power control (UPC) and adaptive coding and modulation (ACM), and network data processing. Each landing station antenna will be capable of transmitting approximately 12 Gbps on the forward link and receiving approximately 6 Gbps on the return link.

This manufacturing agreement follows a previously announced early access program to validate and qualify the Sx3099 modem ASIC for use in the Telesat Lightspeed ground infrastructure. Capabilities validated during the early access program include simultaneous high throughput transmit and receive performance, and passing end-to-end traffic between the Sx3099 Ethernet ports and the RF interface using multicarrier operations over the DVB-S2X air interface.

“Packaged in a small, lightweight outdoor enclosure, SatixFy’s innovative technology and equipment delivers a powerful value proposition for our gateway earth station network,” said Aneesh Dalvi, Telesat’s Director of LEO Landing Stations and User Terminals. “With SatixFy’s solution, we have further optimized our landing station size and capacity while reducing deployment and operating costs.”

“We are honored to be awarded the first significant terrestrial equipment program for the Telesat Lightspeed LEO network,” said Yoel Gat, SatixFy’s CEO. “We are confident that the high performance of the Sx3099 modem will serve as a solid basis for the advanced global Telesat Lightspeed network.”

On Thursday, December 2, at 6:12 p.m., EST, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 48 Starlink satellites and two BlackSky spacecraft to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the ninth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and now six Starlink missions.

Crux CFO Advisors (“Crux”) served as the exclusive financial advisor to Planetary Systems Corporation (“PSC”) in its recently completed sale to Rocket Lab.

PSC was founded in 1998 to provide high-quality, affordable mechanical systems to the aerospace industry and brings to Rocket Lab unparalleled leadership in separation systems and satellite dispensers. This, combined with their flight-proven, cost-effective, and lightweight hardware, has streamlined the process of attaching satellites to rockets and releasing them in space while ensuring they’re protected during the journey to orbit.

PSC’s expertise is complementary to Rocket Lab’s vertically-integrated Space Systems division and its own in-house manufactured and operated Photon spacecraft line, Maxwell satellite dispensers, satellite components, and mission flight software by Advanced Solutions, Inc.

Both organizations have combined for more than 200 missions. Rocket Lab’s acquisition of PSC brings together two experienced space organizations that further strengthens Rocket Lab’s end-to-end space offering across the full launch and satellite spectrum.

As reported at the time of acquisition, the deal enables PSC to make use of Rocket Lab’s resources and manufacturing capability to grow their already-strong commercial hardware trade and continue serving their existing satellite customers launching spacecraft on other launch vehicles. PSC’s team of 25 people will continue to be led by the company’s President and CEO Mike Whalen in Maryland, with founder Walter Holemans also remaining in his role of Chief Engineer.

This is Crux’s second space industry sell-side M&A deal in less than a year. Crux was previously the CFO advisor to Blue Canyon Technologies, which was sold to Raytheon in December 2020 for $432 million.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing our complementary strengths together to move the industry forward,” said Whalen. “Crux was instrumental in helping us find the right partner to ensure strategic and technological growth during a time of increased industry competition. Crux’s CFO leadership and insights were invaluable in preparing our company for this transaction and leading the transaction process to a successful outcome for our shareholders.”

Sam Francis, CEO and founder of Crux CFO Advisors, said, “The Planetary Systems team has spent over 20 years building the leading separation systems technology to capitalize on the rapid growth in the space industry. It has been an incredible opportunity to partner with the team to facilitate the merger process with Rocket Lab.”

Crux CFO Advisors are space industry transaction experts. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the Crux team has deep expertise in preparing companies for sale and facilitating the sale process. For more information, visit cruxcfo.com.

NASA has expanded the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program (CSDAP) to include Airbus as the first radar data provider to NASA’s community of researchers and scientists for evaluation to determine the utility for advancing NASA’s science and application goals. Airbus will provide them with a comprehensive catalog of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth observation data products to help address various research challenges.

The CSDAP strives to identify, evaluate and acquire data from commercial sources that support NASA’s Earth science research and application activities. The Radar Constellation will offer unmatched geometric accuracy, with high temporal and spatial resolution to provide precise information on any point on Earth – independent of cloud cover and weather conditions.

“We are honored to provide our unique radar datasets and services to the NASA research community to support their activities”, said François Lombard, Head of Intelligence business at Airbus Defence and Space. “We are looking forward to seeing how this will support the research work of some of the top-minded scientists in the world.”

Radar data provides unique value to various applications such as: monitoring drift ice in regions without daylight, detecting surface movement information in oil and gas fields, monitoring ship traffic, and providing detection and identification of objects. 

The Radar Constellation consists of three commercially available radar sensors (the German TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X satellite formation and the Spanish PAZ satellite, owned and managed by Hisdesat) that can provide resolution from 25cm to 40m with six imaging modes and an up to 12-hour revisit time.

Skykraft and SpaceX have agreed to a follow-on to the Transporter-5 launch for Skykraft’s Air Traffic Management constellation.

The second tranche of Air Traffic Management satellites will fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 launch in October of 2022 under a recently signed contract.

This repeat launch is part of Skykraft’s rapid progress toward the roll-out of the full constellation of more than 200 satellites in 2023.

Skykraft’s Space-based Air Traffic Management constellation will improve the safety and efficiency of global air travel by providing global surveillance and communication for all air traffic.

Skykraft is also pleased to be flying demonstration payloads for Australian National University (ANU), CSIRO, Valiant, University of Melbourne, and Swinbourne as part of the Skyride rapid space access program. These organizations are on track to have space-demonstrated payloads on the June 2022 Transporter-5 launch.

Dr. Doug Griffin, Chief Engineer of Skykraft, said, “By choosing SpaceX as our launch provider, we get regular and reliable flights to run an aggressive spiral development program and supercharge the services we can provide from space. SpaceX’s launch capability is transforming humanity’s relationship with space.”

Coming off flawless back-to-back launches, the Virgin Orbit team has settled into a steady flight preparation rhythm with LauncherOne. The fully assembled rocket that will carry our next customers’ satellites to space left our rocket factory in Long Beach and headed up to the bare concrete pad at the Mojave Air and Space Port that serves as all the spaceport we need. Already, the rocket has been mated to the customized 747 that serves as our flying launch pad, mobile mission control and fully re-usable first stage all at once.

With our pre-launch preparation now officially underway, we’re delighted to tell you more about our next mission, which is on track to launch later this year. On the heels of our flawless Tubular Bells, Part One mission in June, which sounded our new era of routine commercial flights to orbit, we’re happy some of our Tubular Bells customers have now become our first repeat clients. We’re working with some old friends, but headed to some new places.

We invite you to turn your attention skyward, to a mission we have dubbed Above the Clouds.

Mission Manifest:

The U.S. Department of Defense, which is launching several Research and Development (R&D) satellites from multiple government agencies that are experiments in space-based communications and in-space navigation, as well as a university payload sponsored by NASA. This launch, also known as STP-27VPB, was awarded to Virgin Orbit’s subsidiary VOX Space by the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) as part of the DoD Space Test Program’s (STP) Rapid Agile Launch (RALI) Initiative. DIU is an organization working to accelerate the adoption of commercial technology into the U.S. military to strengthen national security.

Polish company SatRevolution, which is launching two smallsats: STORK-3 and SteamSat-2. STORK-3 join the STORK-4 and STORK-5 Marta satellites placed in orbit on our June 2021 mission as part of the SatRevolution’s EO capabilities, with a focus on serving customers in the agricultural sector to take medium-resolution photos. SteamSat-2 is a technology demonstrated for SteamJet Space System (UK)’s innovative water-fueled thrusters for in-space propulsion.

Launch Site: Our fully mobile LauncherOne system will conduct the flight from what is currently a bare concrete pad at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California

Target Orbit: mid-inclination Low Earth Orbit

Launch Timing: Q4 2021

Launch Coverage: Real time updates to be provided via social media and a public livestream

Mission Name: Above the Clouds

Outpost has launched as a sustainable space firm that is working to redefine what it means to be a space company with sustainability at its core. The company is starting by first solving one of the biggest problems — creating reusable satellites and enabling precision Earth Return of orbital payloads — and designing and manufacturing reusable satellites.

Today, much of the work in space is inefficient, wasteful and expensive. Outpost is radically reducing the cost and time of working in space, which unlocks an iterative, sustainable space economy for the future.

The company believes the future of space (and Earth) requires a focus on sustainability and it’s important that this industry develop from the start with sustainability at its core. All space companies must ultimately become sustainable space companies.

Outpost’s future in space must be built with sustainability at its core — efficient, precise Earth Return is essential for the development of new industries in space and the improvement of life on Earth. Outpost allows companies to iterate on technical developments in space and ensure mission success.

The company’s platform is able to deliver payloads to space and Outpost has two-stage re-entry to bring satellites home. The platform is a 200 kg. spacecraft and, to the best of the company’s knowledge, no spacecraft of that small size has attained orbit and then returned home. Importantly, this also allows for more precise deployment of satellites rather than them having to be dropped off at the same port.

Outpost can provide local delivery to where satellites need to be the platform enables local delivery of orbital payloads and their return to Earth with pinpoint landing accuracy. The immediate opportunity for Outpost is helping rethink how satellites are deployed and used, and re-usable satellites will unlock many new opportunities for research and sustainability. Even being able to return damaged satellites so they can be repaired and reflown will be a major advancement in the industry.

Outpost was founded in 2021 by Jason Dunn, Michael Vergalla, and Aaron Kemmer. Jason and Aaron were both previously founders of Made In Space, which was acquired in 2020 by Redwire. Michael (CTO) is an engineer, environmentalist, and adventurer. He has previously held positions at Moon Express, SpinLaunch and Airbus A3. He is also the founder of Free Flight Research Lab (FFRL) is a Non-Profit Research Institute developed to create positive global impact through applications of technology for advancing weather science & forecasting; conservation & resource preservation; and aerospace science, human factors and free flight safety.