Rockets of Today

This section may include some projects with more hype than hope. Small startups continue to work on new innovative launchers: the RFA from Germany, the Bloostar and Miura from Spain, the Haas from Romania, the Prime from Britain, the New Line and Nebula from China, the Hapith from Taiwan, the Blue Whale from South Korea, and the RS1 and Terran from the USA. India’s space agency is also working on a small solid-fueled launcher. Argentina and Brazil hope to join the orbital club as well, as does Turkey. Among larger rockets, Blue Origin’s forthcoming New Glenn looms like a colossus, and Britain’s Skylon has the potential to make orbital costs fall through the floor. The traditional aerospace giants struggle to keep up with the pace of innovation, with plans such as the Phantom Express and the Omega falling by the wayside, and only the Vulcan still moving toward deployment. And SpaceX wows us all again as we watch them build the incredible Starship, which if it really flies will be both the most powerful and the most revolutionary rocket of all time, capable of opening up the whole solar system. Meanwhile, Congress has pumped billions and billions through NASA into the bloated SLS program, which has no reusability and no chance of commercial application.