Welcome to Edition 2.15 of the Rocket Report! We're back after traveling last week, and the newsletter is packed with information about all manner of rockets. Perhaps the most surprising tidbit this week is the possibility that Stratolaunch may be returning to the skies.

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.

Rocket Lab says Atlantic spaceport progressing. The smallsat rocket company said it has installed the launch platform at its second launch site, Launch Complex 2, which marks one of the final steps in the construction of the new pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. Rocket Lab is preparing for the first Electron launch from US soil in "early 2020."

A year-long project ... "Emplacement of the launch mount is a major milestone on our march toward completion of Launch Complex 2 in less than 12 months," said Dale Nash, CEO and Executive Director of Virginia Space. The new facility will supplement launch availability out of Rocket Lab's existing site, Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. It will likely be used for US Department of Defense payloads. (submitted Ken the Bin)

Stratolaunch is back? A photographer passing the Stratolaunch Systems' hangar in Mojave, California, this week noticed the doors were open, and a test pilot confirmed that the company is seeking to hire within the ranks of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots to fly the world's largest aircraft. Parabolic Arc has the relevant tweets.

Wanted: one affordable rocket ... It is one thing to have the airplane up and flying, but it is quite another to have a financially viable rocket to launch from beneath the aircraft. The Pegasus rocket seems like a non-starter in terms of cost, especially with the rise of other smallsat launchers. All the same, we're interested to see who might be investing in the company and what they might be launching. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

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Relativity signs launch deal with Momentus. At Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week, small-launch-vehicle developer Relativity Space announced a contract with Momentus to carry a set of small satellites to geostationary orbit. The agreement covers one launch of Relativity's Terran 1 rocket in 2021 with an option for up to five additional launches, SpaceNews reports.

Tugging those satellites ... Terms were not announced, but Relativity advertises a $10 million price for its Terran 1 booster. Planned for 2021, the launch will fly Momentus' Vigoride Extended tug, which will transport the satellites from an initial low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit using its water plasma thruster technology. Tim Ellis, chief executive of Relativity, said the tug technology will allow Relativity to address a wider range of potential customers. (submitted by Unrulycow)

Vector relinquishes Air Force launch contract. The Arizona company (which in early August sent its employees home from work due to funding issues) withdrew as the contractor for the Air Force Agile Small Launch Operational Normalizer (ASLON)-45 space lift mission. Shortly thereafter, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center on Monday awarded a $4.9 million contract to space startup Aevum to lift experimental satellites to low Earth orbit, SpaceNews reports.

Air-launched rockets ... "We re-awarded this mission in just 14 days, with no impact to launch or mission" said Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, small-launch and targets division chief at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This will be the first Air Force mission for Aevum, which is developing an air-launch system, and it will be launched from Cecil Air and Space Port in Jacksonville, Florida. (submitted by Tfargo04 and Ken the Bin)

Virgin effort to launch from England gets boost. Cornwall, in southwestern England, appears to be moving ahead with plans to improve a local airport to support Virgin Orbit launch attempts, Parabolic Arc reports. On Wednesday, the Cornwall Council's Cabinet narrowly approved the expenditure of $14.79 million to support airport upgrades that will enable missions by Virgin's Cosmic Girl aircraft and its air-launched LauncherOne rocket.

Full council approval needed ... The United Kingdom Space Agency ($9.68 million) and Virgin Orbit ($3.1 million) are also contributing to the airport improvements. The funds would allow the airport to acquire a spaceport license, make improvements that will allow it to accommodate wide-body aircraft, accelerate progress on its Aerohub Enterprise Zone, and add value to its business park. The 6-4 vote sends the proposal to the full Cornwall Council for a vote at its next meeting on November 26. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Air Force denies pro-ULA bias in contracting. In meetings with defense and intelligence committees on Capitol Hill this week, Air Force leaders defended their plan to select two winners in 2020 for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement. The plan is to pick two companies to split 60/40 all national security missions from 2022 to 2026. Four space launch providers—United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Northrop Grumman—submitted proposals that were due August 12.

A tilted process? ... That award process has been criticized by some as favoring the incumbents, especially longtime Air Force partner United Launch Alliance. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Lt. Gen. John "JT" Thompson said this is not true, according to SpaceNews. "I will categorically state that there is absolutely no bias against the commercial providers in the source selection process," he said. "The foundation of our source-selection process is almost extreme fairness in how we execute our source selections."

Pad fire scrubs H-2B rocket launch in Japan. A fire on the launchpad on September 10 at Tanegashima Space Center scrubbed the launch of a cargo mission to the International Space Station, SpaceNews reports. The rocket's manufacturer, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, said the fire broke out on the platform carrying the H-2B rocket about 3.5 hours before the scheduled launch.

Deep into development ... The company has not set a new launch date. The problems come as Mitsubishi is deep into development of the H-3 rocket that will offer similar lift capacity to the H-2B vehicle but at a lower price. That booster is scheduled for launch in 2020. The company seeks to broaden its appeal to satellite makers with the new rocket. (submitted by Platykurtic)

Russia will build 11 more Proton rockets. The Khrunichev Center will manufacture 11 more Proton-M carrier rockets before their production is stopped and the project is closed, the center's director, General Alexei Varochko, told TASS on Tuesday. "According to the current plan, the Khrunichev Center is to manufacture 11 rockets, four of them are already in production, seven more will be ready in 2020-2021," he said.

A long history ... Russia said it plans to fly the Proton rocket until 2025, after which time similarly classed payloads will fly on the Angara family of rockets. This is the plan, at least. There are legitimate questions about the development of Angara and whether they can be price competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9 or other new rockets. Either way, the Proton rocket has had a long and storied history, but it has been beset more recently by technical problems.

Boeing pushing NASA for upper-stage funding. During a Congressional hearing this week, comments from the US House appeared to mark an escalation in an intense lobbying battle going on behind the scenes by some contractors—most likely led by Boeing—to kill NASA's proposed Lunar Gateway and instead accelerate funding for the Exploration Upper Stage. In particular, the representatives appeared interested in a plan from Boeing consultant Doug Cooke that asserted the fastest and surest way for NASA to land humans on the Moon is to ignore commercial launchers, bypass the Gateway, and accelerate development of the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS).

NASA pushes back ... In its efforts to land humans on the Moon by 2024, NASA has opted for a "mixed fleet" of commercial and government rockets to build up systems in lunar orbit over the next five years. "A big driver is flexibility. We want to have multiple options. We don't want to rely on just one system. We would like to have other systems," Ken Bowersox, NASA's acting head of human spaceflight, said during the hearing. This battle increases the stakes around the FY 2020 budget for the space agency, obviously.

Northrop Grumman completes Omega investigation. At the end of a first-stage test in May, the Omega rocket's first stage lost the exit cone of its engine nozzle. The company told Florida Today that its investigation of this failure has finished. "The nozzle exit cone break-up that occurred at motor shutdown was caused by a ground-test phenomenon that would not have occurred in flight," the company said in a statement. "We have worked closely with the Air Force to study the issue, and we are confident the Omega rocket will perform in flight as expected."

Terrible timing ... A similar test for the second stage was scheduled for this fall but has been pushed to early next year to "incorporate the lessons learned from the first-stage test," a spokesperson said. The test anomaly came just as the Air Force was soliciting bids for launch contracts from 2022 to 2026; and it is widely believed that if Northrop doesn't receive a share of the contracts the company will end development of the Omega rocket. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Blue Origin moving ahead with New Glenn launch complex. In 2015, Blue Origin leased Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. New satellite imagery shows that the company is making good progress on building a launch site for the New Glenn rocket, NASASpaceFlight.com reports. The company also leased the adjacent LC-11 for use as a test site for their methane-powered BE-4 engines.

Post-hurricane imagery ... Blue Origin chose to build their own, clean-sheet launchpad for New Glenn. Like with many of their projects, the company has been quiet about the pad's construction progress. However, post-Hurricane Dorian photos reveal that the company has started foundation work for the Horizontal Integration Facility at the complex. The foundation of the service structure is also visible, along with those of the lightning mast and water tower. Tank farms are also in the process of being installed. These are all good signs that New Glenn will eventually launch. (submitted by Platykurtic and Ken the Bin)

Starship customer sells $2.3 billion stake in company. Yusaku Maezawa, a key investor in SpaceX's Starship vehicle, plans to sell a 30% stake in his online fashion-retail company, Zozo, to Yahoo Japan, Business Insider reports. Maezawa has said he will now spend much of his time preparing for a Starship flight around the Moon as early as 2023. "Training to go into space will take up much of my time," he said.

Progress accelerating ... Neither SpaceX nor Maezawa has revealed how much the Japanese billionaire has invested in Starship. However, since his announcement in September 2018, the company has clearly begun accelerating development of the vehicle at sites in Texas and Florida. SpaceX founder Elon Musk will offer an update on Starship's development on September 28. Ars will be on hand to provide full coverage of the event. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Next three launches

Sept. 25: Soyuz | Soyuz MS-15 crew mission | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 13:57 UTC

Sept. 30: Proton | Eutelsat 5 West B & MEV 1 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 10:26 UTC

Oct. 10: Pegasus XL | ICON | Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | 01:30 UTC