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In this issue:
SpaceX launched a fully stacked Starship for the first time on Thursday morning, with the vehicle passing through Max Q and flying for around three minutes. Let me be clear: This was a remarkable result for a first flight test, especially given that this is the biggest and most powerful rocket human beings have ever built. To fixate on the conclusion of the launch — the fairly spectacular explosion after the rocket’s upper stage failed to separate from the booster — is to miss the significant success story of the Starship testing program so far.
The flight test likely yielded a ton of useful data to inform subsequent Starship tests — data that the company wouldn’t be able to get through further ground testing. Sometimes you just need to fly the damn rocket.
“Rocket Lab is adding a new offering to its suite of services: hypersonic suborbital launches. The new service will be available starting sometime in the first half of this year, when the company will fly its first mission for a “confidential customer” who contracted use of the new suborbital rocket.
Rocket Lab’s suborbital vehicle is derived from its successful Electron orbital launch vehicle, but gets a new name by way of the backronym “HASTE” (hypersonic accelerator suborbital test electron). The first of these is already being prepared for launch at Rocket Lab’s U.S. launch facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.” – Darrell Etherington
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Source @TechCrunch
