Rocket Report: Alpha Vehicle Failure & European Reusable Rocket Ambitions
A Fireball at Mojave: Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket suffered a catastrophic failure during a static fire test on October 18th, destroying the vehicle and delaying planned launches. The incident, occurring at the company’s test facility in Mojave, California, represents a significant setback for the Texas-based launch provider. Simultaneously, Europe is actively pursuing development of a smaller, reusable launch system inspired by SpaceX’s starship, aiming to secure self-reliant access to space.
The Alpha vehicle, designed to deliver small payloads to low-Earth orbit, had experienced a accomplished flight in 2022 and 2023 following a debut launch failure in October 2021. A planned November launch would have marked the rocket’s first mission in two and a half years. Meanwhile, China’s Galactic Energy secured $336 million in Series D funding – the largest disclosed round for a Chinese launch startup – to advance development of its Pallas series of reusable liquid propellant launchers and the Ceres-2 solid rocket.
Beijing-based Galactic Energy,founded in February 2018,has demonstrated reliability with its Ceres-1 solid rocket and previously raised $154 million in late 2023 for its Pallas-1 plans. Pallas-1, a kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket, is designed to carry 7 metric tons to a 200-km low-Earth orbit. Future plans for Pallas-2 envision a 20,000 to 58,000 kg payload capacity, with a target debut launch in 2026.
Across the Atlantic,Blue Origin is focused on recovering and reusing the first stage booster from its upcoming second New Glenn launch. success is critical not only for the NASA science mission to Mars-carrying two satellites to study the planet’s atmospheric evolution-but also for the company’s plans to launch its first robotic Moon lander early next year. The booster recovery is essential to meet that timeline.
