Welcome to Edition 9.16 of the Rocket Report! Lots of SpaceX-related news this week including a couple of Thursday shockers. In one story, the company told the US Space Force thanks, but no thanks after being offered three military launch contracts. Then, on the civil space side of things, SpaceX’s Starship may required up to 22 refuelings to support a lunar landing, a NASA safety panel said.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and 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.
Miura 5 getting closer to launch. PLD Space says its Miura 5 rocket, due to undertake its inaugural launch next year, is nearing final integration, Aviation Week reports. The rocket is one of three Miura 5s the company has already manufactured, with the other two designed to qualify key system elements, CEO Raúl Torres said in an October 19 program update. PLD Space now targets a first flight of the small-lift vehicle before mid-2027.
Fully integrated stage … “Manufacturing these three vehicles has allowed our teams to work continuously across different stages of production and integration, applying the lessons learned from each qualification campaign directly to the launch vehicle,” Torres said. One Miura 5 second stage is now fully integrated to kick off system-level testing under representative operating conditions. The second stage is at PLD’s Teruel test facility for its qualification campaign, including wet dress rehearsal and a static hot-fire test.
Reaction Dynamics seeks to raise $350 million. One of three prominent Canadian launch startups, Reaction Dynamics, said it is seeking to raise $350 million to grow its staff from 68 to more than 350 people, spaceQ reports. The company is developing the small-lift Aurora rocket, which Reaction Dynamics hopes will reach orbit in 2028. Reaction Dynamics also announced plans to build a medium-lift rocket, Borealis, for a debut by 2031.
