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A powerful new launcher of small satellites failed to gain its wings on its first attempt.
ABL Space Systems’ RS1 rocket launched on its first-ever orbital mission Tuesday, January 10, lifting from a pad at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island in Alaska at 6:27 p.m. EST (2327 GMT 2:27 p.m. local time in Alaska).
The two-stage rocket failed on the first flight, failing to deliver a pair of cubesats to low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned, ABL representatives said.. (The launch was not broadcast live.)
“After takeoff, RS1 encountered an anomaly and terminated prematurely. The team is working on our anomaly response procedures in coordination with the PSCA and FAA,” ABL said via Twitter (opens in a new tab) 23 minutes after takeoff. (Acronyms refer to Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska and the United States Federal Aviation Administration.)
Around midnight EST on Tuesday, ABL provided more information via Twitter. All nine RS1 first-stage engines shut down simultaneously, and the rocket returned to the launch pad and was destroyed, the company explained (opens in a new tab).
“As expected in this scenario, the launch facility is damaged. All personnel are safe and the fires have subsided. We will plan our return to flight once investigations are complete. Thank you to our stakeholders and the space community for Support expressions,” ABL said in another tweet (opens in a new tab).
Tuesday was the second day in a row to feature a launch anomaly. On Monday January 9, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket failed to reach orbit on the company’s first-ever liftoff from the UK, resulting in the loss of nine satellites.
Related: A story of rockets
A growing field
Small satellites have two paths to orbit: They can hitchhike as “rideshare” payloads on big rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, or they can get dedicated rides on vehicles smaller ones that take them precisely where they want to go.
In recent years, Rocket Lab has dominated the dedicated vehicle market with its Electron vehicle, which has more than 30 orbital missions to its credit. But other companies are trying to carve out a place for themselves in the field. Virgin Orbit had made four successful spaceflights in a row before Monday’s failure, for example, and Firefly Aerospace first reached orbit with its Alpha vehicle in October 2022.
(Another company, Astra, first successfully deployed payloads in March 2022 with its Rocket 3, but the company retired that vehicle after several failures and is now working on a larger rocket.)
California-based ABL, founded in 2017, also aims to become a major player in the launch of small satellites with the RS1 and its associated ground system, which the company calls GSO.
The 88-foot-tall (27-meter) RS1 sports nine of ABL’s E2 engines in its first stage and an E2 in its second. Expendable rocket is capable of launching up to 2,975 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of payload to LEO, according to ABL user guide (opens in a new tab).
The company currently charges $12 million per RS1 launch — a relatively low price for this kind of launch power. For comparison, Rocket Lab charges around $7.5 million for an Electron mission, which can deliver around 660 pounds (300 kg) to LEO.
ABL emphasizes a commitment to vertical integration and simplicity of design as key to its envisioned success. Additionally, both the RS1 and GSO are easily transportable and deployable. The floor system, for example, fits into standard shipping containers and can be installed anywhere in the world with a flat pad.
“With RS1 and GSO, we are able to bring the launch to where it is needed,” says ABL’s website. (opens in a new tab).
ABL – which has yet to reveal what that acronym stands for – already has significant customer buy-in for its vision. In 2021, for example, the company signed an agreement with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin (opens in a new tab) up to 58 missions until 2029.
The success of Tuesday’s first mission would have marked a big step towards achieving such ambitious goals. However, failure might not prove to be a big hurdle for ABL in the long run; after all, early rocket flights often don’t go as planned.
The lost cubesats
Although Tuesday’s mission was a test flight, the RS1 carried a functioning spacecraft – the size of a shoebox cubesats called VariSat 1A and VariSat 1B, according to EverydayAstronaut.com (opens in a new tab).
The cubesats, each of which weighs about 24 pounds (11 kg), would have completed a three-satellite network operated by VariSat LLC. VariSat 1C is safely in orbit; it was launched atop a Falcon 9 in May 2022 along with nearly five dozen other satellites.
The main objective of the VariSat 1 mission is “to experiment and gain a flight heritage with a satellite designed to support HF [high frequency] marine data communications,” according to a filing (opens in a new tab) with the United States Federal Communications Commission.
ABL first tried to launch its first mission in mid-November, but was unable to do so, suffering several failures during the one-week window. The company then canceled an attempt on December 8, the second day of the next launch window, after noticing anomalous data from RS1. ABL withdrew until January 9 to address this issue, then delayed takeoff an additional day due to weather conditions.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m. ET on January 11 with more details on the anomaly provided by ABL Space Systems.
Mike Wall is the author of “The low (opens in a new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Or on Facebook (opens in a new tab).
