Original subtitles

Launching payloads into space is no straightforward matter.

Historically, rocket launches have been used as a proverbial

"swords into ploughshares".

Missiles designed to carry atomic warheads

now send satellites and probes into the solar system.

Ironically, it's one of the few exploits mankind undertakes

that doesn't occur in nature.

♪♪

Rocket science is all it's cracked up to be,

bringing together the mathematical, engineering and mechanical skills

required to design, build, test

and successfully launch a rocket into space is a mammoth technical undertaking.

So many countries and corporations have the capacity

for launches now a days that they appear commonplace.

Zero...

Only the keenest science geeks seem to watch them these days,

unless, of course, something goes wrong.

And then everyone is hooked.

Space launchers fall within several categories,

based on their payload or cargo weight and where it needs to get to.

The unsung heroes are the commercial satellite delivery systems,

providing light and medium lift capability

to low Earth, polar, or geo-synchronous orbit.

Many countries such as Argentina, Iran, North Korea, and Ukraine,

boast their own homegrown systems.

Even New Zealand, in a joint venture with the U.S.,

is developing a budget 'Cube Sat' launcher called Electron.

The Soviet Union, first to harness its ballistic missiles,

has several work horses like the Proton rocket family, the Rokot, Zenit,

Dnepr, and sea launched Volna systems.

Ukraine in its current form inherited some of these rocket systems

after the Soviet breakup.

Like the Proton, these systems use highly toxic fuels.

They will be phased out by 2030 and replaced by the Angara rocket system,

which is both environmentally friendly and modular in construction

to save launch costs.

The Angara rockets are designed to put

payloads ranging from 3,800 and 24,500 kilograms

into low Earth orbit.

The Russian Soyuz rocket, designed in the 1950's,

has proved to be the most reliable rocket system ever flown.

Upgraded to version two, it will continue to operate alongside Angara.

The Russians are also looking to develop a replacement for their aging

Soyuz-TMA spacecraft with several designs already on the drawing board.

Japan has its Epsilon satellite launcher which can lift 1.2 tons into orbit.

Their H-II continues to evolve the B variant, delivering cargo missions

to the ISS.

Ignition...

...and lift-off. Lift-off of the HTV on a journey

to the international space station.

India's I.S.R.O. space organization has developed

a range of vehicles for delivering satellites,

either to Polar orbit with a PSLV

or geo-synchronous with the GSLV Mk II.

India has big plans for space development, one of which is to build

a man rated capsule.

The Chinese Long March series of rockets has made steady progress

and powers China's manned space program.

Even they are even becoming environmentally conscious as well.

The Long March 5 heavy-thrust cluster rocket with a loading capacity

up to 25 tons is by far the largest carrier rocket China has.

Compared with previous rockets,

the biggest difference is the non-toxic propellant in hydrogen-oxygen engines

and LOX-kerosene engines that will not pollute to the environment.

And we applied serialization, unitization and modularization

to design and manufacture.

Another major player in launch capability

is the European space agency ESA, with it's facility

at Kourou in French Guiana.

The Vega launcher developed by ESA and the Italian Space Agency

continues to operate for light payloads.

The real European success story, however, is the Ariane 5 heavy lifter,

the workhorse for ESA and the CNES.

But it too will shortly be replaced by Ariane 6.

Currently under development,

it will use components in common with the new Vega C rocket.

Ariane 6 will reduce the cost of the launchers by 50%

compared to today.

So you have to realize that in just 4 years we are reducing

the cost of a launcher within Europe, is 50%.

And that is, of course, a major step.

And if you think of Ariane 6 in a double launch configuration

we are able to offer a price which is really, really attractive

also in comparison with the competition.

So the situation that we will have with Ariane 6 and Vega C will be exactly

the same in terms of what we can launch as we have today

with Vega, Ariane 5 and Soyuz.

We can launch every satellite with these two launchers in the future.

It is very clear that the international competition

is getting more and more intensive.

It is very clear, especially from the American side,

we can see that there is a systematic, let me say,

aggressive approach of the market to gain market share

by American suppliers of launch services.

When NASA, intent on pursuing the Orion and SLS deep space system,

relegated low Earth orbit to the private sector,

the commercial floodgates were opened.

The United Launch Alliance took over the existing NASA hardware and services

and now operates the venerable Atlas V,

along with the Delta II and Heavy Lift Delta IV systems.

It's now developing the Vulcan Rocket for future expansion.

Five... four... we have main engine ignition...

two... one...

and lift off.

Lift off of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket

here at the NROL 37 mission.

The Vulcan Centaur vehicle

will be a high performance, lower cost, best value vehicle.

We're going to maintain our mission success

history that we've had with Atlas and Delta.

So we've got two main engine suppliers Blue Origin with the DB-4,

which is a natural gas powered engine,

and we've got the AR-1 from Aerojet Rocketdyne,

that is the RP-1 configuration.

Both of those teams are making good progress.

We've been through CDR with the Blue Origin engine,

and we've been through PDR.

They're both on a plan to get to engine testing this year

and they're both on a path to support our late 2019 launch date.

With that mission now opened up to commercial ventures,

many companies are rushing to build better, safer,

and most importantly, cheaper rockets.

Two private service suppliers for NASA are Orbital ATK and SpaceX.

These are the first two contracted by NASA for current ISS re-supply payloads

and planned manned transfer missions.

Orbital uses Minotaur rockets which are in reality the MX Peacekeeper ICBM,

which was never fully deployed as a result of disarmament treaties. Orbital has modified these rockets to carry scientific payloads.

Their heavy payload launcher is the Antares 230 and 232

which can lift 8,000 Kilograms into low Earth orbit,

including the Cygnus Spacecraft.

With the Falcon 9, Elon Musk's SpaceX company

is working on the principal of recycling or reusing launch systems

to make launches cost effective.

They can now return the main launch stage back to Earth and land it safely,

to be refurbished and readied to launch again.

They are now working on their heavy lift Falcon

which will be able to lift 54,000 kilos into orbit,

or 13,600 kilograms towards Mars,

and then return to the launch site for reuse.

Even the Falcon Heavy, however, will be dwarfed by the upcoming

NASA Space Launch System.

It will tower over everything previously seen

with a capacity to put 130,700 kilograms into orbit

or send 52 metric tons into deep space.

It's first task will be to fly the Orion crew capsule

and a Probe to the Galilean moon Europa.

♪♪

Sending humans into orbit is another matter altogether.

Here, launchers have to be incredibly reliable,

and able to lift very heavy payloads safely.

In other words, they have to be man-rated.

The only two man-rated capsules at present are the Chinese Shenzhou

and the Russian Soyuz TMA.

Unsurprisingly, they look very alike.

The Russians, however, are looking to the future and a crowded commercial market.

Their Soyuz has successfully flown over 120 missions,

but a new cheaper capsule called "Federation" is underway.

It will carry up to six cosmonauts and will be competing against NASA's

Commercial Crew Development program which has Boeing and SpaceX delivering cargo,

and soon, astronauts to low Earth orbit.

Aerospace giant Boeing's space capsule, the CST-100 Starliner,

is to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Starliner is go.

When you're sitting in the capsule on top of a rocket

and the final moments of the countdown are happening,

it's exciting.

It's like being on the top of that roller coaster

when you're a little bit scared, but you're really pumped,

because this is what you've been working for all your life,

taking that next step into exploration.

One kilometer, drogue deploy.

Drogues look good.

California-based SpaceX is developing its Dragon capsule

to carry crew to low Earth orbit and beyond.

The crewed version of Dragon

would carry up to seven astronauts to the orbiting lab.

Blue Origin is a strong competitor to both contractors,

but its sights are on the tourist sub orbit segment.

They too have designed their rocket to return to launch for reuse,

and their capsule, The Blue Shepherd, can hold six paying customers.

..and liftoff.

Blue Shepherd has cleared the tower.

There you have it. As-- There it is.

70,000 pounds of thrust pushing that crew capsule...

The B-3 engine remains on the booster, continues to space.

The drogues are out on the crew capsule.

There go the mains...

...and touchdown of the new Shepherd crew capsule.

From what we can tell that was a nominal in-flight test of their escape system.

And, again, all astronauts onboard would have had a pretty exhilarating ride.

There you go...

Beautiful. Wow.

There it is! Touchdown!

What an extraordinary test

and a tremendous final flight for both craft.

Their main rival will probably be Virgin Galactic or Vulcan Aerospace

with their air launched systems.

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser is a small space plane designed to carry seven.

The spacecraft is based on a NASA concept vehicle from the 1980s called the HL 20.

Having failed to secure a NASA contract, Sierra Nevada has teamed up with Vulcan

and European interests to further develop a version of the Dream Chaser.

Advances in aeronautical engine design have led to the SABRE.

We're actually at reaction engines test site at the ninth.

What is very significant about this is that we are in the process

of testing a very important development in aerospace propulsion,

which is a pre-cooler,

a device for cooling the air entering the high-speed engine

so that the engine can continue to operate pretty much as normal.

This means that we're going to be able to fly at speeds

of mach 5 pretty easily in the future.

It is, in effect, a rocket engine burning hydrogen and oxygen.

That in itself is not unusual,

but whilst in the atmosphere the oxygen is taken from the air,

cooled to liquid temperatures and fed directly into the combustion chamber,

once outside the atmosphere

the engine resorts to the liquid oxygen carried onboard,

like a conventional rocket engine.

Skylon will be powered by two Sabre engines

and operate like a conventional aircraft, capable of flying directly into orbit,

transporting 15 tons of cargo into space

and returning for a runway landing.

We're looking at a revolution in transportation

equivalent to the jet engine.

And, access to space,

access to anywhere in the world within four hours is on the cards.

Once you've got access to space on that basis that's the stepping stone

to anywhere in the universe.

A very exciting future for the human race.

Although Government contracts are lucrative for these private companies,

many firmly believe tourism is the way to fund future space development.

For those cashed-up civilian tourists Space Adventure's team has designed

a circumlunar mission using a unique combination of existing

and flight-tested Russian technology.

The combination of the Soyuz spacecraft and the Lunar Module

will provide ample living space for your approximately six day journey,

and the fuel required for you to leave low Earth orbit.

Perhaps the most ambitious is Elon Musk's SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System,

helping make humanity a multi-planet species.

The initial design objective of the vehicle is to launch

a variety of missions to Mars and other destinations

in the beyond-Earth-orbit portion of the Solar System.

The large payload capacity of the launch vehicle,

with the ability to place 300 tons into low Earth orbit,

places it into the super-heavy lift class.

The ITS launch vehicle's first stage is designed to be reusable,

following a return to the launch site and vertical landing after each launch.

What's new on this vehicle is full reusability of even the second-stage

and the spacecraft as well.

Cheap, safe space travel for all is just around the corner.