Work is underway on a new launch pad at Cape Canaveral. The military unit that runs Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is exploring the possible construction of Space Launch Delta 45, a Navy armament test unit and a new rocket launch complex for U.S. Army missions, Florida Today reports. The new location, known as Launch Complex 51, will be located about 2 miles north of Port Canaveral, making it the closest pad to the spaceport for public areas. LC-51 will be spread over an area of approximately 50 acres.
Better real estate… The new pad will replace Launch Complex 46, which is located in the explosive clear zone of Blue Origin’s nearby Launch Complex 36. Blue Origin’s new Glenn rocket exploded on that launch pad during preflight testing last month. The proximity of the LC-46 to the LC-36 means that the two pads cannot work together without interference. LC-46 has hosted a handful of small satellite launches and hypersonic missile tests in recent years.
Change in attitude with latitude. French launch startup Latitude has removed all mention of the Zephyr name from its website, now referring to its rocket simply as “our launcher,” European Spaceflight reports. The rocket, previously known as Zephyr, is a two-stage launch vehicle that will be 19 meters (62 ft) long and is designed to deliver up to 200 kilograms (440 lb) of payload into low Earth orbit. The company is currently targeting the second half of 2027 for the rocket’s inaugural flight.
Due diligence… Latitude did not explain the reason for the change, but one possible explanation is trademark risk. The Zephyr name is already trademarked in the aerospace sector by Airbus’ subsidiary AALTO, whose solar-powered High Altitude Platform Station aircraft bears this name. The Zephyr trademark filing, granted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office in 2005, covers unmanned aerial vehicles, satellites, parts and fittings and “launching apparatus for the aforesaid goods.”
China’s Zhuke-2E breaks up in orbit. The upper stage of a commercial Chinese rocket launched last week has broken up in space, spreading debris across a heavily trafficked part of low-Earth orbit for the International Space Station and a critical portion of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, Ars reports. The breakup occurred shortly after reaching orbit on June 9 with the Zhuke-2E rocket providing direct-to-cell communication with the two satellites, probably around the time when the upper stage was expected to perform a disposal burn. The U.S. Space Force confirmed the breakup incident in a post on space-track.org, a website used by the military to distribute orbit data to the public.
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