Rocket Report: Avio becomes top European launch provider; New Glenn set for early launch.

/ "We are making it simpler for new competitors to get consistent access to the spectrum they need."

This is Edition 7.25 of the Rocket Report! Happy New Year! This week’s weekly news briefs is not as long because most companies (excepting Blue Origin, this holiday season) have been more subdued over the last ten days. But then, the Christmas holidays are over and we are back in the saddle for a new year and curious where new year brings us in the world of launch.

As always, we look forward to submissions from readers and to subscribe to the publication, please fill in the box below (the form will not be available on the AMP version of the site). Each report will provide details on the small, medium, and heavy lift rockets and a glance at the next three flights in the year.

Avio takes pole position when it comes to European launch industry. You would guess it might not have been the best year for European rocket companies when the highest-ranking on the continent is Avio, which orbited two rockets in 2024. The Italian rocket firm received this status from European Spaceflight after it ceased the last flight of the Vega rocket in September, then resumed the Vega C rocket in December. Three European launches in 2024 … The other firm on the list to launch a rocket was Ariane Sas on which had only one launch last year. Yes, it was a critical flight, the first one for the Ariane 6 rocket that needs to deliver for its European builders and their customers. Yet another German new-space entrant, Isar Aerospace, was in third place, and a company that I was not familiar with, Bayern-Chemie of Germany, was in second place. They construct solid-fuel stages of upper stages for sounding rockets, and recent years has been increasing the construction of liquid-fuel upper stages of sounding rockets. There is not much to argue with on the list, and it definitely shows that Europe could do with more firms trying to send rockets up, rather than just talking about it.

India to start space docking demonstration mission. The Indian Space Research Organization put into orbit a space docking experiment on a PSLV rocket during the last days of the year, according to NASASpaceflight.com. This SpaDeX mission—yes, SpaDeX is now a little bit confusing —is intended to illustrate an ability to take on station, dock, and undock on orbit. This technology is significant for the next missions into space and the issued dedicated to the further exploration of space through the use of human spaceflight in relation to the country and the Moon.

Target and chaser ... The SpaDeX experiment will be performed approximately 10 days after launch as both satellites the SDX01 “Chaser” and the SDX02 “Target” will be deployed with some relative velocity. The two will, thereafter, move away for approximately a day or until they are about 10-15 km away from each other. Once this is accomplished Target will use it propulsive system to reduce the relative velocity between Target and Chaser.

Hot-fire testing is proposed to HyPrSpace. HyPrSpace, a French launch services startup has performed the first hot fire test in its second hot fire test campaign of subscale Terminator stage demonstrator , according to the European Spaceflight. HyPrSpace is already working on the two-booster launch vehicle dubbed the Orbital Baguette One or OB-1 designed for the capacity of transporting as much as 250 kg payload to LEO. Like a finely baked bread ... Earlier this year in July, the company released the first set of hot fire test results relating to its Terminator, an eight-tonne demonstrator of a hybrid rocket stage. During the first test campaign, the HyPrSpace has made four hot fire tests in total. HyPrSpace CEO Alexandre Mangeot reported that during the latest test, the company managed an average of 94 percent engine efficiency. Mangeot also aicded that this was the “propulsive performance that will be required for our orbital launcher.”

A new orbital launch record for the year. The world recorded another record in orbital launches in 2024 in a rising trend of launch activities that is largely being led by SpaceX, according to Space News. In 2024, there were 259 orbital launch attempts, which set a record higher by 17 percent the previous record of 221 orbital launch attempts in 2023. It does not include suborbital ones, say four SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy tests or two HASTE suborbital variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron. SpaceX v. world ... That total new launch capability is in line with the increase by SpaceX alone, which executed 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions in 2024 configurations from 96 in 2023. Its put up a record higher orbital launches than the rest of the world’s combined figure for the year. China launched 68 satellites into orbit in 2024, setting new record of 67 satellite launches in the year 2023. Ukraine made 17 launches, while Japan conducted 7, India 5, Iran 4, Europe 3, and North Korea only 1.

She said that the Russian family of rockets has reached another milestone of 2,000th launch. Russian Space Agency achieved a key landmark in past two weeks during holidays with the 2000th launch of a carrier rocket from the R-7 family of boosters . The first happened within the Christmas period when an R-7 rocket was launched with a foreign remote sensing satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, based on Ars. This family of rockets has a fantastic history counting up to almost six decades. The first R-7 vehicle was the creation of the outstanding Soviet rocket designer Sergei Korolev. It flew in 1957 and became the first intercontinental ballistic missile of the world.

Good and bad news ... While the expiration of 50 years and the launching of R-7 should be considered pretty noteworthy, the longevity of the fleet is by no means utterly romantic. In many ways, the Russian space program still floats on the inertia created by Korolev, and the space accomplishments of the Soviet Union in the fifties and sixties. That Russia has not developed a more cost-competitive and efficient booster in nearly six decades reveals the truth about its space program: It still doesn’t push the boundaries of possibility when the rest of the space industry is running at the speed of light towards reuseable rockets.

Chinese Launch Planner for 2025. New LM variants to debut in 2025; additional solid boosters for flight in 2024 A larger first-stage engine for the new Long March rockets is expected to be utilized and gain first flight in 2025, alongside other new LM variants and commercially developed launch vehicles, according to Space News. The launchers will compete for contracts to launch satellites for the Thousand Sails and Guowang megaconstellations and space station cargo missions and other commercial and other contracts to increase China’s overall access to space and launch rate in the coming years.

A great many chatting heads new to the lauch pad … For the coming year, there is much anticipation on Long March 8A, a new model of Long March 8 that has a bigger and more powerful second stage, making the payload capability reach 7,000 kg to a 700-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit from prior 5,000 kg. It is likely to be a workhorse for the future megaconstellation launches. This means that the Long March 12A rocket could carry out vertical testing of both takeoff and landing. And there was the Zhuque 3 rocket independently developed by private business and could perform its maiden launch to orbit this year.

Further, to handle many more launches, FCC increases spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission has formally granted more spectrum for launch applications, meeting a provision in a bill passed earlier this year, says Space News. The FCC issued on December 31 a report and order in which it assigned the frequency of between 2360 and 2395 megahertz for use in communication to and from commercial launch and reentry vehicles only on an ancillary basis. That particular band has its primary application in aircraft and missile testing communication. Make rockets to keep on communicating with the ground … FCC and the launch companies have justified the additional spectrum as being required to meet future growth in launch activities. “With more bandwidth allocated to important links for launch vehicles, it is easier making it easier for new entrants to get stable access to the spectrum they require,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in her December statement of willingness to approve the then proposed Report and Order.

A static fire test has been carried out by New Glenn. On Friday, December 27, Blue Origin test fired the seven main engines on the New Glenn rocket marking a significant realization, Ars notes. Blue Origin said it ignited the engines of the craft for a period of twenty-four seconds. For 13 of those seconds they fired at full thrust. On the same day, several hours prior to the test firing, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it had approved a launch license for the rocket.

New Glenn wen? ... TThese two milestones paved way for another awaited launch of New Glenn rocket in January. Although the company has yet to announce a date publicly, sources indicate that Blue Origin is working toward a launch time of no earlier than 1 am ET (06:Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than 1:05 PM Eastern Time (or 5:05 PM UTC) on Monday, January 6, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, but may change by a few days. If all goes well with the initial flight of the vehicle, Blue Origin will also attempt to land the first stage of the rocket on a drone ship out at sea in the Atlantic Ocean.