The US further tightened its hold on global launch in Q1, while Europe showed signs of shaking off the rocket rust with its first fully successful Ariane 6 launch and its first commercial orbital launch on the continent.
There were 69 global launch attempts in the past three months, including two long-awaited maiden launches: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which nailed its first launch, and Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket, which failed shortly after lifting off.
SpaceX led the way again this quarter, launching 38 orbital flight attempts (36 Falcon missions and two Starship launches). The Falcon total includes 25 Starlink-dedicated missions, five commercial rides, four launches carrying government satellites, one crew launch, and one rideshare flight.
Hip, hip Kaboom: Despite SpaceX’s continued launch dominance, the previous quarter will be defined more by its blowups than its bullseyes.
- On Jan. 16, Starship Flight 7 ended in streaks of debris over the Caribbean after its second stage failed.
- On March 2, a returning Falcon 9 booster tipped over on its drone ship, which resulted in a week-long Falcon launch pause.
- On March 6, Starship Flight 8 ended in a similar fashion to Flight 7—fireworks over the Caribbean.
SpaceX is targeting 170 Falcon launches in 2025. The company flew 134 Falcon missions last year.
Blue Origin: Blue Origin launched New Glenn on a near-flawless maiden launch in January. The only asterisk was that the company was unable to land its booster after its engines failed to relight as expected. The company said it plans to launch New Glenn again in late spring.
Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab launched five Electron rockets in Q1, a record for the company. All of the flights were out of New Zealand.
Europe launch:
- Ariane 6 completed its second flight (and first commercial mission) in March. The rocket’s inaugural launch in July suffered a partial failure when its upper stage did not relight for deorbit.
- Isar launched its Spectrum rocket, capable of lugging 1,000 kg to LEO, this past week. The launch ended with midair gymnastics and a fiery splash down in cold Norwegian waters.
China’s mega satcom: China launched a batch of satellites for the Guowang satcom constellation and two batches for the Thousand Sails network in Q1. Both constellations aim to offer a broadband service similar to Starlink.
