Topic: reusable rockets
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ESA's Ariane 6: A Major Upgrade Plan Emerges
Europe has reached a consensus on the need to adopt reusable rocket technology, though the specific path and funding remain under active debate. The European Space Agency is funding various initiatives, including small launchers and landing tests, but progress is fragmented and measured. A new pr...
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China's Second Reusable Rocket Launch in Three Weeks
China successfully launched its second reusable rocket, the Long March 12A, in three weeks, accelerating its development of cost-effective space access, though the reusable booster failed to be recovered as planned. The mission mirrored a similar recent launch by a private firm, demonstrating a c...
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Honda's Surprising Leap Into Reusable Rockets
Honda successfully launched and landed a reusable rocket prototype in Japan, marking a significant expansion beyond its traditional automotive products into space technology. The company's space initiative aims to support mobility and communication networks through satellites, which are essential...
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ESA Awards $50 Million to Design Mini-Starship
The European Space Agency is investing 40 million euros in partnership with Avio to develop a reusable upper stage for rockets, aiming to enable orbital missions, safe Earth return, and reuse. This initiative reflects a broader industry trend of emulating SpaceX's reusable technology, with the pr...
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Europe's Reusable Rocket Program Gains Momentum After Slow Start
Europe is advancing in reusable rocket technology, highlighted by ArianeGroup's Themis prototype now on its launch pad for upcoming low-altitude hop tests to validate landing capabilities. This progress contrasts with Europe's earlier focus on expendable systems like Ariane 6, which caused a lag ...
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SpaceX's Starship Faces Same Critical Flaw That Doomed NASA Shuttles
SpaceX aims to catch returning spacecraft mid-air using mechanical arms to enable rapid reusability, a technique demonstrated with the Super Heavy booster. The primary challenge is perfecting Starship's heat shield to prevent tile loss and damage, requiring extensive testing and design improvemen...
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U.S. Fears China Nearing Reusable Rocket Breakthrough
The United States holds a significant advantage in space launch capability, primarily due to SpaceX's proven and mature reusable Falcon 9 rocket technology, which enables higher launch frequency and lower costs. SpaceX has achieved major milestones in reusability, with hundreds of successful boos...
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Another Chinese Starship Replica Emerges
China's commercial space sector is shifting from copying SpaceX's Falcon 9 to developing fully reusable super-heavy rockets inspired by SpaceX's Starship. Both state-owned and private companies, like Cosmoleap and Astronstone, are pursuing this new architecture, featuring stainless steel construc...
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Stoke Space Bets Big on the Only Launch Problem That Matters
Stoke Space differentiates itself in the competitive spaceflight industry by focusing on a unique approach to reusability, rather than just designing another rocket, as co-founded by experienced aerospace engineers. The company identified that true reusability requires recovering the upper stage,...
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Blue Origin's Stunning Success; Vive Le Baguette One!
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully launched and landed, demonstrating the capabilities of reusable heavy-lift vehicles and advancing affordable orbital access. Galactic Energy's Ceres-1 rocket failed during its mission, resulting in the loss of three satellites due to a premature shutdow...
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SpaceX Builds New Landing Pads During Falcon Heavy Lull
SpaceX is transitioning its original landing zones at Cape Canaveral back to the U.S. Space Force, which will reassign them to other launch companies, and is building new landing pads near its launch facilities. The FAA has approved SpaceX to increase its annual launch limit from SLC-40 to 120 Fa...
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Rocket Report: China Masters Booster Landings as Orbex Bows Out
China's Long March 10 rocket successfully tested a reusable subscale model, marking a key advancement in its reusable launch technology. UK launch firm Orbex entered insolvency after failing to secure funding or a merger, having never produced flight-ready hardware despite years of operation. Fir...
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Varda's Space Manufacturing Breakthrough: The Next Step is Routine
Varda Space Industries is pioneering space-based pharmaceutical manufacturing, using microgravity to produce drug crystals with purities and structures impossible on Earth, such as ritonavir for HIV treatment. The company leverages reusable rockets and commercial satellite infrastructure to make ...
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VCs Invest in Space Without Rocket Science Know-How
Global venture investment in space technology surged to $4.5 billion as of July, reflecting a major shift with non-aerospace investors increasingly funding cosmic innovation. Lower launch costs from pioneers like SpaceX have expanded opportunities beyond rockets to applications like climate monit...
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Soyuz Pad Fix, Ariane 6 Goals: This Week's Rocket Report
The global launch industry saw key debuts in late 2025, including Blue Origin's New Glenn completing its first drone ship landing and China's Zhuque-3 reaching orbit on its first launch. Rocket Lab successfully deployed four experimental DiskSat satellites for the U.S. Space Force and NASA from V...
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Kuiper's Race, New Glenn's Delay: Rocket Report
Global launch demand is surging, driven by satellite mega-constellations and national space ambitions, with SpaceX and China leading a dramatic increase in missions. Astra's CEO Chris Kemp made harsh, unfounded criticisms of competitors, including bizarre claims about SpaceX's location and work c...
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AI's Medical Future & A Fusion Power Breakthrough
The Trump administration is expected to announce a potential link between Tylenol and autism while promoting leucovorin as a therapy, contradicting a major 2023 study that found no connection. A proposed U.S. policy would dramatically increase H-1B visa fees to $100,000, which analysts warn could...
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Starship's Fuel Hurdle: SpaceX's Ingenious Solution
SpaceX must overcome major logistical hurdles to achieve its high-frequency Starship launch goals, including building one Starship per day at its Texas facility and managing two launch pads. Each Starship launch requires over a million gallons of propellant, far exceeding industry norms, and curr...
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Private Equity Deal Signals Decline of U.S. Legacy Rockets
Rocketdyne was a dominant force in American rocketry, powering historic missions like the Saturn V and Space Shuttle for decades. Its innovation slowed after the Cold War, and the company was sold just before the rise of commercial space ventures like SpaceX. The modern aerospace industry's shift...
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4 Tech Bets That Will Reshape the Global Economy by 2026
Artificial intelligence is the central enabling platform, and its convergence with robotics and energy storage is expected to add nearly two percent to annualized real GDP growth this decade. Massive investment in AI infrastructure, including data centers and hardware, is projected to exceed $1.4...
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Solar Flare Delays Jeff Bezos' New Glenn Rocket Launch
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket launch was postponed due to a powerful solar storm, which could interfere with satellite functions and prompted NASA to delay sending its ESCAPADE probes to Mars. NASA, as the mission customer, decided to wait for improved space weather to protect the spacecraft's s...
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Elon Musk's Davos Predictions: What He Foresees
Elon Musk defended his optimistic approach at Davos, arguing it's better to be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right, despite his history of missed predictions on technologies like autonomous vehicles and space travel. He made several bold forecasts, including that Tesla's Optimus robo...
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US Rocket Power Rankings: Major Shifts at the Top and Bottom
SpaceX maintained its industry dominance in 2025 with an unprecedented launch cadence, completing 165 missions and delivering over one million tons of cargo to orbit. The company's Falcon 9 remained a critical asset for NASA, reliably supporting International Space Station crew and cargo missions...
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