First launch of Stoke Space’s Nova launch vehicle. Asteroid mining technologies company AstroForge will fly a spacecraft on this launch. Planned reusability of the 2 stages is TBD.
Stoke Space’s Nova launch vehicle is a planned fully reusable 2-stage rocket. The 1st stage uses 7 Zenith Full-flow staged-combustion (FFSC) engines using Liquified natural gas/liquid oxygen (LNG/LOX) as fuel, with restartable capability and landing legs for landing. The 2nd stage is unconventionally designed around a 24-thrust chamber liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) expander cycle rocket engine that surrounds a regeneratively cooled heat shield, thus enabling the upper stage to return to Earth from orbit without thermal tiles. The nozzle accommodates deep throttle operation even in the presence of atmospheric pressure and serves as an actively cooled metallic heat shield during atmospheric reentry. There is also a center passive bleed that aims to create an aerospike engine-like effect for improved efficiency.
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Stoke Space completed proto-qualification of the first stage of its Nova rocket at its testing… The post Stoke Space completes Nova Stage 1 structural verification appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.
2 Chinese classified satellites claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL-3 (Tian Lian 3) satellites are the 3rd generation…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink sa…
Share-ride of 5 commercial Earth observation and technology demonstration satellites to SSO, including SpaceTY's TY-48. Details TBD.
Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL 2 (Tian Lian 2) satellites represent the second g…
Carried 9 satellites on a share-ride to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.
The Northrop Grumman/SpaceLogistics MRV-1 is a mission extension payload including a mission robotic vehicle (MRV) and multiple mission extension pod…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.