Rocket Report: Europe splashes some cash on launch startups; Pallas-1 nears debut

Skyroot is great, but India needs more. Jatan Mehta writes some of the most insightful articles about India’s space program, and we wanted to highlight his six-part series on what he calls “India’s launch vehicle crisis.” Part six of this series was published on Sunday, and it explains why, despite the recent success of Skyroot and its Vikram-1 rocket, India’s growing gap in orbital launch capacity will remain unresolved. “Even if we hope and assume that the thousand-plus people of Skyroot bag a commendable place in the small-lift launch market, that does not in itself solve India’s space access crisis,” Mehta writes.

India’s government needs to be proactive … He notes that the country faces major constraints in spaceports, suppliers, and especially medium- and heavy-lift rockets. “Skyroot’s success with the first flight of Vikram-1 is only the least worst case scenario for India’s launch vehicle crisis,” Mehta says. “It’s not at the peak alongside people’s emotions but at the bare minimum level to cater to but a fraction of India’s needs in space.”

Japanese startup wins launch contract. A Japanese radar-imaging startup has signed an agreement to launch its first demonstration satellite on Space One’s Kairos rocket, Space News reports. Space One and Sarmony announced on August 25 that they signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the launch of Sarmony’s first SAR DiskSat spacecraft on a Kairos rocket in 2028.

A bold choice … Kairos has launched three times to date, in each case failing to reach orbit. On the most recent launch in March, the vehicle broke apart a little more than a minute after liftoff. A Space One representative said the company is completing the investigation into the failure and plans to release more details soon. The company has not announced a schedule for the next Kairos launch.

Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida end. It’s the end of an era in Florida, Ars reports. A Falcon 9 launch early Tuesday was the last planned Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral until SpaceX begins flying Starship missions from Florida, according to Kiko Dontchev, the company’s vice president of launch. “From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship,” Dontchev said. “The West Coast team will continue regularly launching Starlink from Vandenberg.”