A new class of heavy-lift rockets is getting ready to launch from the US in the coming year, including the largest rocket the world has ever seen. These behemoths will be able to easily loft huge satellites into orbit, and even fly to the moon and beyond.
The smallest of the giants, at nearly 62 metres tall, is the Vulcan Centaur developed by the United Launch Alliance. Its first flight, scheduled for early 2023, will go straight to the moon, launching a lunar lander built by US firm Astrobotic. Primarily, though, this rocket was designed to launch satellites related to national security for the US government.
These types of satellites, while shrouded in secrecy, are often particularly large, requiring a similarly hefty launch vehicle to reach orbit. NASA also has plans to assess the rocket so it can launch crewed craft into space.
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Next in size is Blue Origin鈥檚 New Glenn, which stands 98 metres tall and is due to launch for the first time in late 2023. Unlike Vulcan,聽 its first stage 鈥� the part of the rocket that blasts it off Earth and then falls away 鈥� is designed to be reusable for at least 25 launches, similar to Blue Origin鈥檚 smaller, suborbital New Shepard rocket.
New Glenn is intended to eventually bring astronauts into space, but Blue Origin will initially focus on satellites and already has an extensive list of clients booked in. The rocket can carry more satellites than any other commercial vehicle currently operating, so it will surely be a workhorse in the space industry.
At a towering 120 metres tall, the largest and most ambitious of the new rockets is SpaceX鈥檚 Starship, which is also the only one of the three to have public contracts to fly humans into space. SpaceX鈥檚 unique iterative design process means it has already tested several prototypes of its Starship vehicle, resulting in three successful 鈥渉ops鈥� of up to 10 kilometres in altitude, as well as four malfunctions.
The first orbital flight of Starship is due to take place in 2023. If all goes well, its first crewed flight will also take place in the same year, carrying crew members and space tourists into orbit. A second crewed flight in 2023 aims to take tourists on a wide loop around the moon.
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