Smashing the SpaceX monopoly

This week, Elon Musk announced that Starlink will be available to all in emergency cases. The move will likely garner goodwill for SpaceX’s Starlink service, but it likely won’t stop astronomers from warning that Starlink is obstructing important science.

Speaking of SpaceX, the company has held a monopoly in the medium-lift rocket space for several years now. Rocket Lab aims to launch its medium-lift Neutron launch vehicle next year. Could it truly take on the SpaceX monopoly?

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AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SPOTLIGHT

Starlink to provide emergency messages worldwide

This week, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX’s Starlink satellite mega constellation will beam emergency alerts to people’s phones, even if they are in a cellular dead zone. The service will aid public safety and improve emergency communication. 

Over the past eight months, SpaceX has launched roughly 130 direct-to-cellular satellites into orbit. The company has thousands of regular Starlink satellites in orbit, constituting the majority of all satellites in orbit.

While Starlink has faced criticism from astronomers for obscuring their observations, it has also been a force for good for many. Starlink has, for example, connected civilians in wartorn Ukraine. It has also allowed some in other parts of the world to live enviable off-grid lifestyles. The new service seems will likely garner goodwill towards Starlink.

“After thinking it through, SpaceX Starlink will provide emergency services access for mobile phones for people in distress for free,” Elon Musk wrote on social media platform X.

“This applies worldwide, subject to approval by country governments. Can’t have a situation where someone dies because they forgot or were unable to pay for it.”

However, SpaceX’s direct-to-cell service is facing pushback from other companies, including AT&T and Verizon. These companies argue Starlink creates radio interference. They have urged the FCC to deny SpaceX a waiver to operate beyond normal radio frequency parameters.

Still, T-Mobile aims to launch the Starlink service for its customers this fall. If all goes to plan, it will mean that T-Mobile customers won’t lose coverage wherever they are.

AERO BULLETIN

Rocket Lab’s Neutron to take on SpaceX’s Falcon 9

In an interview with Interesting Engineering this week, Rocket Lab CEO Sir Peter Beck said his company aims to “restore balance to the medium-lift category”. In other words, Rocket Lab’s next-generation Neutron rocket will see it take on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 monopoly.

Here are a few ways Rocket Lab is also forging its own path and aiming to break new ground with upcoming missions.

Neutron’s captive ‘Hungry Hippo’ fairing

Typically, rocket fairings detach after the mission payload is deployed. That’s not the case with Neutron’s innovative captive fairing. 

According to Beck, “the second stage of the rocket, which is normally stacked in line with the first stage, is shrouded inside [Neutron]. What that enables us to do is basically open the fairing, or the nose, of the rocket, and spin out the second stage and the payload that goes on top of it.”

That allows the company to keep the fairing attached and land the rocket’s first stage with all of its pieces attached. 

The ESCAPADE Mars mission

The ESCAPADE mission will launch two Rocket Lab spacecraft – based on the company’s Explorer platform – aboard Blue Origin’s first New Glenn rocket launch.

Once they arrive at Mars, the ESCAPADE spacecraft will study the planet’s climate, helping scientists better understand why it is an arid wasteland. 

It took Rocket Lab just three and a half years to prepare the ESCAPADE spacecraft – a fraction of the time it typically takes to develop interplanetary spacecraft.

Searching for life on Venus

Rocket Lab’s Venus Life Finder mission may launch next year. It will fly to Venus, where it will aim to find microbial life in the planet’s upper atmosphere. 

For Venus Life Finder, Rocket Lab is developing a spacecraft similar to the ESCAPADE models. However, this one will have to deploy a small probe while orbiting Venus.

“Once we get to Venus, we’ll have to capture its gravity, and then descend a probe through its atmosphere, which is known to be pretty horrendous,” Beck explained. “Then we will have to find a region of the atmosphere that that may have signs of life. And we get 120 seconds of time to transit through the cloud, as we're re-entering the planet's atmosphere, to take a measurement and then send that measurement all the way back to Earth.”