Rocket Report: Baikonur Blunder; Are Engines Essential for Launch?
▼ Summary
– The Rocket Report edition covers recent global launch activity, noting significant stories from Russia, China, and SpaceX’s busy schedule.
– A Russian Sarmat ICBM test on November 28 failed catastrophically, with the missile crashing a short distance from its launch site.
– The Sarmat missile is a next-generation, long-range Russian ICBM designed as a doomsday weapon capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
– Despite a successful first test in 2022, the Sarmat program has suffered consecutive failures, including a silo-destroying explosion last year.
– SpaceX conducted seven launches in the prior two weeks, with six dedicated to deploying more Starlink internet satellites.
The global launch industry remains exceptionally active as the year draws to a close, with a flurry of missions from multiple nations. Over the past two weeks, SpaceX alone conducted seven launches, six of which were dedicated to expanding its Starlink broadband constellation. Looking ahead, industry observers anticipate between fifteen and twenty additional orbital launch attempts worldwide before December ends. This edition of our report covers significant developments from Russia and China, alongside the steady cadence of commercial activity.
Readers are encouraged to submit news tips, and a subscription option is available to ensure you receive every update. Our format continues to provide details on launch vehicles across all classes, small, medium, and heavy, and a preview of the next three scheduled launches.
A major Russian intercontinental ballistic missile test ended in dramatic failure. On November 28, a missile launched from an underground silo on the southern steppe was supposed to send a dummy warhead to a target zone roughly 4,000 miles distant. Instead, the vehicle crashed mere seconds after liftoff, failing to even reach an altitude of 4,000 feet. Official sources have remained quiet, but local reports and social media footage from near the Dombarovsky air base captured the incident. A widely circulated video showed the missile veering violently off course immediately after clearing the silo, tumbling end over end before losing propulsion and impacting the ground close to its launch point.
This event appears to be a test of the RS-28 Sarmat, a next-generation heavy ICBM with a reported range exceeding 11,000 miles. Designed as a cornerstone of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, the Sarmat can carry a formidable payload, including up to ten large nuclear warheads or advanced hypersonic glide vehicles. Analysts describe it as a weapon intended for a worst-case scenario of total nuclear conflict. While an initial full-scale test in 2022 was deemed successful, the program has since encountered serious setbacks. This latest failure follows a particularly disastrous incident last year involving a catastrophic explosion that destroyed one of the missile’s underground launch silos in northern Russia.
(Source: Ars Technica)
