Launch Vehicles

SpinLaunch has released on-board footage from its eighth suborbital flight test, giving us a unique opportunity to imagine what it'd be like to be hurled skyward out of a centrifugal accelerator at more than a thousand miles per hour.

Green Launch says it can fire a space vehicle skywards three times faster than SpinLaunch's kinetic launch system. Its huge hydrogen gas cannon can produce hypersonic launch velocities upwards of Mach 17, enabling orbital altitudes up to 1,000 km.

NASA has signed up to test SpinLaunch's extraordinary whirl 'n' hurl space launch technology, which accelerates a launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using an electric centrifuge arm instead of a rocket, hurling it skyward like a space discus.

A new company has entered the commercial space race. Startup Radian Aerospace has emerged from stealth to announce it has secured US$27.5 million in seed funding to develop a single-stage to orbit (SSTO) spaceplane designed to lift and land horizontally.

Hypersonix Launch Systems is looking to make the delivery of satellites into orbit cheaper, more accessible, and greener by developing a reusable launch system powered by green hydrogen – and is eyeing off hypersonic airliners further down the line.

Rocket Lab has unveiled its concept for a new reusable launch vehicle called Neutron. Looking like something a Bond villain would deploy, it carries its second stage inside a permanently attached captive “Hungry Hippo” fairing design.

The new technologies Honda plans to pursue in the coming decades include an eVTOL for inter-city transport, a robot that will act as an avatar for users to perform tasks remotely, and a renewable energy system for the Moon.

Startup Rocket Lab is pressing ahead with its ambitions to turn its Electron booster into a reusable orbital launch vehicle for small satellites, with plans this weekend to recover the rocket's first stage that will have an upgraded heat shield.

Rocket Lab has made a name for itself in short space of time by focusing on highly frequent launches of small satellites, but now the space startup believes it has bigger fish to fry, introducing a larger rocket named Neutron.

Looking to make its mark in the world of space launches is US-based firm Aevum, which has just unveiled a massive drone called the Ravn X that is designed to act as an autonomous, airborne launch system for small satellites.

Virgin Orbit is preparing its pilots, Cosmic Girl mothership and LauncherOne rocket for a second attempt at orbital flight, today announcing that its Launch Demo 2 mission will take place a week before Christmas.

Rocket Lab is set to take an important step forward in its mission to reuse parts of its Electron booster, announcing that it will make its first attempt to recover the rocket’s first stage during a mission scheduled for later this month.