Rocket Report: Falcon Heavy is back; Russia's Soyuz-5 finally debuts
Ars Technica • • science
Key Points:
- SpaceX's Starship rocket had a quiet week as the company prepares for a potential test flight in May, with upcoming missions expected to influence NASA's lunar landing plans for 2028.
- The US Space Force announced 12 companies, including SpaceX and Lockheed Martin, developing Space-Based Interceptors for the Golden Dome defense system, though affordability concerns may limit full-scale production.
- Virgin Galactic completed structural assembly of its first Delta-class SpaceShip in Arizona, aiming to resume commercial suborbital flights later this year and currently leads the suborbital human spaceflight market after Blue Origin paused New Shepard flights.
- Russia's new Soyuz-5 rocket had its maiden suborbital flight, serving as a replacement for the Zenit rocket, while Russia faces drone attacks on its Plesetsk Cosmodrome amid increased satellite deployment activity.
- The FAA will begin collecting user fees from commercial space launches in 2026, impacting companies like SpaceX the most, with fees starting at 25 cents per pound of payload and increasing over eight years to fund FAA operations.
