Some major news this week from the state of Louisiana, previously associated with space due to NASA’s aging Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Now the state has a chance to become the epicenter of SpaceX’s Starship program as the company plans to invest up to $100 billion to construct factories and multiple launch pads for the super heavy lift rocket. It would utterly transform coastal Louisiana.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. ESA announces big launch challenge contracts.
The European Space Agency said Thursday it signed contracts with a handful of European launch startups to help them continue development of their vehicles. For some of these firms, the funding will provide a key lifeline. And the winners are … Rocket Factory Augsburg, based in Germany and developing the RFA One rocket, received 186.9 million euros and is mainly funded by Germany, with a contribution by the United Kingdom.
PLD Space, based in Spain and developing the Miura 5 rocket, received 158.9 million euros and is mainly funded by Spain with a contribution by Germany. Isar Aerospace, based in Germany and developing the Spectrum launcher, received 197.8 million euros and is mainly funded by Germany, with contributions by Austria and Norway. Another contract award process with MaiaSpace is nearing completion, the agency said.
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