Welcome to Edition 1.38 of the Rocket Report! We've got globe-spanning launch news this week from France, Spain, and even South Africa. But probably the biggest news is the imminent launch of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from Florida early Saturday morning. It's a must-watch for any space enthusiast, even given the 02:49am ET launch time.

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.

Firefly to invest in Florida facilities. Last Friday, Texas-based rocket company Firefly announced it had reached an agreement to develop manufacturing facilities and a launch site at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida. The company said it will invest $52 million into the facilities, and Florida's spaceport development authority, Space Florida, will also provide an additional $18.9 million in infrastructure investments.

These are big investments ... Firefly will build its launch facilities at Space Launch Complex 20, and it will also construct an expansive facility to assemble its Alpha (and eventually the larger Beta) rockets near the large Blue Origin plant in Florida's Exploration Park area. The new facility will support the production of up to 24 Alpha rockets a year, with the ability to scale from there, Ars reports. Now Firefly just has to get its Alpha rocket to the launchpad, which is no small feat.

China to increase capacity of Long March-6. China announced Monday that it is developing the modified version of the Long March-6 rocket to add four solid boosters to increase its carrying capacity, Space Daily reports. The goal is to increase the commercial competitiveness of the rocket, which presently can lift about 1 ton to a Sun-synchronous orbit.

May compete with India's PSLV ... Ding Xiufeng, executive manager of the Long March-6 project, said the vehicle would become more competitive through technical improvements and by providing easier, faster, and more comprehensive services to users at home and abroad. Earlier this year, the China Great Wall Industry Corporation signed an agreement with Satellogic to use the Long March-6 and the Long March-2 rockets to launch 90 satellites for the Argentine company.

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Spaceport America expects Virgin flights this year. Now that Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft has completed two flights above 80km, officials in its New Mexico home for commercial operations are hopeful that it will finally see a payoff for its investment in the company. "If I were betting, I would say this year the chances are very, very high," Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks said of commercial flights from New Mexico, according to KOB4 TV.

Human flights are no longer the big vision ... New Mexico has been waiting about a decade. In that time, the vision has slowly drifted from a space tourism focus to the launch of small satellites. Hicks said: "Realistically and strategically, from an economic growth, [tourism]'s going to be a small percentage, but I think at the time it was needed to get people understanding and excited about space." He's asked New Mexico for an additional $60 million to bolster the facility for smallsat launch capabilities. (We wonder how well that will go over among legislators).

Arizona eyes a spaceport, too. Despite New Mexico's experience, Arizona is considering building a spaceport of its own, AZ Big Media reports. "Arizona is favorably positioned to grow in the industry and establish a unique, world-class launch site of its own," the site states, noting that industry heavyweights such as Boeing, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics all have facilities there.

Two options ... One option for an Arizona launch site is to retrofit an existing airport, while another is building ground-up launch-site development specifically targeting the needs of the rapidly developing smallsat market. We've said this before, but unless a spaceport has a clear link to a prospective launch tenant, we're not sure the build-it-and-they-will-come approach works.

PLD Space opens facilities at Spanish airport. Pedro Duque, Spain's first astronaut, was on hand this week as the Spanish start-up PLD Space unveiled its engine test facilities at an airport in the eastern region of the country, Parabolic Arc reports. "PLD Space is the perfect example of a transfer between science and innovation," Duque, Spain's minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, said. "The enthusiasm of young engineers have made it possible for PLD Space not to be a long-term project, but a reality now."

Serving two purposes ... PLD Space now has two test stands at its facility at the Teruel Airport: one to qualify its Miura-1 rocket engine and a second for a static firing for rockets themselves. The company's Miura-5 rocket, with a capacity of 300kg to orbit, could be ready for a test flight in 2021. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

EXOS plans suborbital launch Saturday. EXOS Aerospace is planning what it calls a "reuse viability test" with its suborbital SARGE rocket on Saturday. If successful, the launch will further solidify the company's plan to use this technology as the design basis of its Jaguar orbital launch vehicle, which is intended to have a reusable first stage capable of carrying 100kg to low Earth orbit, the company said.

From suborbital to orbital ... EXOS' 36-foot-tall, 20-inch-wide SARGE rocket is designed for reusability and suborbital flight. What is novel about EXOS is that it seeks to apply reusability to such small launch vehicles. If the Texas-based company is successful, it could further lower the cost of small-satellite launch, which is one reason to follow Saturday's attempt with interest. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

South African test launch fails. Early in February, Graduate students at the University of Natal in South Africa attempted to launch a Phoenix-1B sounding rocket to 15km at twice the speed of sound. However, the rocket failed to ignite properly, ITWeb reports, and was lost. The problem was caused by a faulty valve between the propellant tank and rocket motor.

A learning opportunity ... "It is part of the game where launching rockets is concerned. Hopefully, we will learn a lot more when we investigate what could have caused this," a university official told the publication. Eventually, with this project, the university hopes to create an indigenous series of sounding rockets to serve the needs of the South African and African scientific research communities. We wish them well. (submitted by Ochre_face)

First commercial crew flight set for Saturday. After SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft passed their flight readiness review, NASA cleared them for a 2:48am ET (07:48 UTC) launch on Saturday from Kennedy Space Center. This demonstration mission will test the flight-worthiness of SpaceX's launch system in safely delivering crew to the station, and it will carry one suited and instrumented mannequin.

Almost there ... Crewed spaceflight has almost returned to the United States. For the upcoming test, this Demo-1 mission must launch successfully, dock with the International Space Station about 24 hours later, and then return to Earth a few days later under parachutes in lighted conditions. Provided this test goes well (and after SpaceX conducts an in-flight test of the capsule's escape system), the first crewed mission into orbit could launch from Florida later this year.

Soyuz rocket launches first six OneWeb satellites. On Wednesday, a Soyuz rocket launched the first six satellites in a constellation that could one day number close to 2,000. Fortunately, all went well. Soyuz rockets have experienced four anomalies in 19 months, SpaceNews reports, so OneWeb changed the number of satellites from 10 to six, opting to hold some back in the event of an issue with the rocket.

Other rockets eyed ... The launch and the completion of in-orbit testing paves the way for an additional 20 Soyuz launches, each carrying up to 36 spacecraft. However, OneWeb said some satellites will also fly on Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne, and Arianespace also announced after the launch that OneWeb will fly satellites on the inaugural flight of its Ariane 6 booster. This could occur in 2020. (submitted by Unrulycow and Ken the Bin)

Europe's reusable rocket plans look familiar. The European rocket maker Ariane Group and the French space agency CNES announced the creation of an "acceleration platform" to speed development of future launch vehicles, Ars reports. As part of the announcement, the new Ariane Works organization released a promotional video for the group's first step, a so-called Themis demonstrator. The goal of this project is to build a multiple-engine first-stage rocket that launches vertically and lands near the launch site.

It looks strikingly like a Falcon 9 ... The rocket has four landing legs, and the first-stage performance appears nearly identical to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. "The Chinese are also building a similar prototype—I have no problem saying we didn't invent anything," one European official said as Ariane Works develops a Grasshopper-like lander to test vertical landing capabilities. Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. (submitted by platykurtic)

SpaceX complained of European subsidies. As part of trade negotiations in 2018, US companies were asked what grievances they had concerning current barriers to free trade with the European Union. Among the companies that replied was SpaceX, which asserted, "The largest constraint to the expansion of SpaceX launch services to European governments and companies is the continued government subsidization of the European launch-vehicle programs."

Even playing field desired ... SpaceX sought fair competition, which it said wasn't possible because European governments support Arianespace's development and operations. Until recently, it had primarily been the Europeans complaining about unfair price subsidies the US government has given SpaceX. Overall, while Europe does heavily subsidize its launch industry, it does so to avoid being beholden to non-European countries to get its assets into space.

Test stand completed for Ariane 6 upper stage. On Tuesday, the German space agency announced the completion of a new test stand in the countryside near Stuttgart to support the new Ariane 6 rocket's upper stage. The test stand is for the Vinci engine, one of which powers the second stage. This new engine, with 40,000 pounds of thrust, has not flown in space before.

A tight schedule ... According to the European Space Agency, the test stand will undergo checks until mid-2019 to verify its performance. A complete Ariane 6 upper stage will arrive at Lampoldshausen facility at the end of 2019, and simulations will begin in the first quarter of 2020. These are key tests that must happen early next year if the Ariane 6 rocket is to make its first spaceflight in 2020.

Next three launches

March 2: Falcon 9 | Demo-1 commercial crew | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. | 07:49 UTC

March 9: Long March 3B | Chinasat 6C | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China | 16:30 UTC

March 13: Delta IV | Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft | Cape Canaveral, Fla. | 23:40 UTC