Failure to launch (9/22/23)

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Today’s newsletter:
⚡ Chinese launch failure
📻 Spectrum rules for launch
💫 Payload’s picks

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Down goes Galactic Energy

First Rocket Lab, now Galactic Energy.

The Chinese rocket startup suffered a launch failure yesterday after its Ceres-1 vehicle lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The midair failure destroyed a Chang Guang Jilin-1 Gaofen-04 B satellite.

The failure comes days after Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket met a similar fate after launching a comparable-sized vehicle out of New Zealand.

This is the first failed launch for the Ceres-1 vehicle. The company is gathering information to determine the cause of the accident.

Ceres-1 101: Ceres-1 first took flight in November 2020 and has successfully launched 10 times. Earlier this month, Galactic Energy nailed a launch from a mobile sea platform, becoming China's first commercial rocket to achieve the feat.

• The four-stage rocket is 19 m tall and 1.4 m wide.

• The vehicle is designed to transport 400 kg to LEO, using solid propellant in its first three stages and liquid fuel in its fourth stage.

Its customer, Chang Guang, is building China’s largest remote sensing commercial satellite constellation, with 105+ out of a planned 300-bird constellation already deployed.

The upshot: The launch setback occured during a broader surge in successful commercial Chinese launches. Alongside Galactic Energy, the market features Landspace, i-Space, OneSpace, Space Pioneer, and LinkSpace. Even though there is still substantial oversight over these entities, Beijing’s encouragement of launch startups stands out in a nation that typically favors nationalizing its security-related industries.

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FCC Opens Spectrum For Commercial Launch

The FCC adopted a new rule on Thursday that will ensure commercial launchers have access to the spectrum they need to communicate with the rocket during and after liftoff.

The successful vote to approve the rule represents the conclusion of a multi-year push to set aside specific spectrum bands for commercial launch after FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel introduced final rule language in July.

The fine print: The rule allocates two bands of spectrum to be used by launch companies.

• The 2025 to 2110 MHz band will be used for ground-to-launch vehicle communications.

• The 2200 to 2290 MHz band will be used to transmit launch telemetry data back to Earth.

The latter band was previously reserved for the government, but was used by commercial operators who applied for a special license.

“Establishing this spectrum allocation and licensing framework will provide regulatory certainty and improved efficiency for these operations while protecting federal incumbents that also use the spectrum,” according to an FCC press release.

The FCC left the door open for additional changes, including the possibility of setting aside more spectrum bands for commercial launch operations.

Ramp up: The rapidly increasing pace of launch makes the need for additional spectrum allocations even more urgent, according to the FCC. The commercial launch industry has grown from nine launches in 2015 to 79 in 2022, and is on pace to exceed 100 launches this year.

“Each of these launches requires the use of radio spectrum to download data from the rocket as well as to send control signaling during the launch,” the press release said.  

In Other News

• Ariane 6 is delayed further, as the launch vehicle experienced a thrust vector control hydraulics anomaly during a recent static fire.

• RFA unveiled a cargo resupply spacecraft.

• The Artemis II crew performed a launch dress rehearsal at KSC.

• NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is not possible in its current form and budget, a government independent review board determined.

• Iridium ($IRDM) CEO Matt Desch projected annual service revenue will top $1B by 2030.

The View from New Jersey

The Payload team agrees that team building is better at the beach.