(gentle mysterious music)
One of the Sentinel Earth-observing satellites,
they occupy low Earth orbits to take them over the poles.
In similar orbits, the Swarm satellites
monitor changes in the Earth's magnetic field.
In a much higher orbit,
the GOES weather satellite hovers above the United States.
It orbits at the same rate that the Earth revolves.
The New Horizons probe does not orbit anything.
It was launched on a fly-by mission past Pluto,
and it continues into the Kuiper Belt.
Satellites are expensive.
Designed to operate at extreme temperatures
in the vacuum of space, they cannot be maintained.
They must perform faultlessly for years.
Yet, every satellite depends on the brute force
and precision of a launcher to deliver it to an exact orbit.
(announcer speaks in foreign language)
(dramatic music)
(rocket blasting)
Launchers are expensive too.
They have varying capabilities and varying reliability,
but new developments in rocket technology
are changing what can be achieved
and how much it will cost.
(upbeat thoughtful music)
(explosion blasts)
The days of giant state-owned corporations
launching their own satellites are over.
Rocket builders sell their services
to commercial or government clients.
In October 2014, an Antares rocket,
built by Orbital Sciences,
was set to ferry supplies
to the International Space Station.
(rocket rumbling)
(explosion blasts)
The launchers are generally reliable,
but space is difficult.
There is still a 7% failure rate.
This fundamental step of leaving the Earth's surface
relies on a small group of international companies
that build heavy-lift rockets.
(PA system chattering)
The most iconic booster in operation today
is the Russian Soyuz.
It's not the biggest or most powerful launcher,
but its history stretches back
to the earliest days of space exploration.
Variants of the Soyuz launcher
have been in continuous production since 1957,
and they have made more than 1,800 trips to orbit.
(rocket blasting)
Since the demise of the Space Shuttle,
the Soyuz remains the only human-rated launcher in operation
and both ISA and NASA rely on it to ferry people to and from
the International Space Station.
(rocket roaring)
It is a direct descendant of the Vostok launcher
that sent the first man into space.
(radio chattering) (rocket blasting)
On the 12th of April, 1961,
Yuri Gagarin rose to orbit on Vostok 1,
designed by Sergei Korolev.
The design, featuring a central core
surrounded by four strap-on boosters,
was originally conceived as the first nuclear missile.
But as Soviet warheads became lighter,
the launcher was adapted for manned trips
to low Earth orbit.
Today, four variants of the Soyuz launcher are in operation
and they launch from four different sites.
Many of the simple design features in the Soyuz
have contributed to its reliability and low cost.
It was estimated that Russia could launch
20 expendable Soyuz carriers
for the cost of one Space Shuttle launch.
Stop.
Over.
Though the basic layout of the Soyuz
is still recognizable after 60 years, it has evolved.
The design has seen several generations of engine upgrade,
with the guidance system continually being refined.
Final assembly at the launch site
sees the four distinctive boosters
flanking the central core attached first.
In Russian, they're known as carrots.
Each booster and the core have one rocket motor
discharging through four main fixed chambers.
For guidance, the boosters have two additional
small swiveling nozzles on their outer edges,
while the core has four guidance nozzles.
With the boosters and central core united,
the assembly is now lifted
onto its specially adapted railway truck.
At this stage, it weighs just over 20 tonnes.
When it's fueled, it will be more than 250 tonnes.
The four boosters are known as the first stage.
Even though they ignite
at the same time as the central core,
that's known as the second stage.
(machinery whirring)
Then, if the assembly is taking place
in Russia or Kazakhstan,
the third stage and the payload are fitted.
This is the gamma-ray astronomy satellite Mikhailo Lomonosov
being prepared for the first launch
from Russia's new Cosmodrome at Vostochny in Siberia,
The launcher and satellite are all assembled horizontally,
a technique that is straightforward and practical.
At Baikonur, the original Soviet launch site
still leased by Russia from Kazakhstan,
rollout usually happens at dawn.
Baikonur is the only launch site
where the Soyuz can carry a human payload.
All of the Soviet Union's history-making flights
started from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The area's sparse population was one of the main reasons
the Kazakhstan location was chosen.
The rocket is delicately moved towards the firing ring,
where it will be held in place by the four tulip petal arms.
It takes about one hour to bring the launch vehicle
to the vertical.
(machinery whirring)
As the lifting arm withdraws,
the four support arms are joined by fuel
and electrical umbilicals
and two halves of the service gantry.
Ground staff will have access to every part of the launcher
and the cosmonauts will enter their spacecraft
via this gantry.
Technicians will spend the next two days checking the rocket
and preparing it for launch.
When fully loaded with fuel,
its weight will increase by a factor of 15
to 305 metric tonnes.
(PA system chattering)
Soyuz carrier rockets also launch
from the European spaceport at Kourou in Guyana.
And from here, the rocket is erected without its payload.
Because of the equatorial location,
the Earth's spin makes it easier to reach orbit.
A Soyuz launch from Kourou
can lift considerably heavier payloads to orbit
than it could from a Russian launch site.
However, Kourou's tropical location
has 10 times the annual rainfall of Baikonur,
and a mobile gantry that protects the rocket
is necessary.
Like the other European launchers,
the satellite is attached to the Soyuz while it is vertical.
Five hours prior to launch the fuel is gradually introduced.
The liquid oxygen boils at -182 degrees C,
and it is constantly replenished.
(announcer speaks in foreign language)
At 36 seconds,
the first umbilical master retracts
leaving the rocket on internal power.
Soon after, the fuel connection swivels away
and the turbopumps begin feeding fuel
and oxygen to the engines.
(announcer speaks in foreign language)
The engineers are closely monitored
as they are gradually brought up to full thrust.
(announcer speaks in foreign language)
(rocket blasting)
A guidance computer in the third stage
maintains the launcher's attitude via the vernier nozzles
around the first and second stage chambers.
(rocket rumbling)
Near the two-minute mark,
the boosters shut down and are jettisoned.
At 85 kilometers, the payload fairing splits and falls away.
Five minutes after liftoff,
and at a height of 169 kilometers,
the third stage takes over to accelerate the satellite
at its upper stage to escape velocity.
(gentle mysterious music)
Less than 10 minutes after launch,
the upper stage guides the satellite
to its designated orbit,
while the rest of the launcher falls back to Earth.
The American Delta IV Heavy
is designed to orbit massive payloads
or to hurl probes out of Earth orbit at incredible speed.
(gentle pensive music)
When it first flew in 2004,
it had the greatest lifting capability available.
(rocket blasting)
The first and second stages, as well as the two boosters,
are all powered by cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen.
It can lift more than 28 metric tonnes to low Earth orbit.
(rocket rumbling)
The Delta IV Heavy is made by the United Launch Alliance,
a collaboration between Lockheed-Martin and Boeing.
It was designed to meet U.S. military requirements.
It has launched two NASA missions,
but its other eight launches
have been classified reconnaissance satellites.
Services have not been sold to commercial clients.
(gentle mysterious music)
Recently, a Delta IV Heavy was prepared
for perhaps its most significant launch.
It was mated with the Parker Solar Probe
and its Star upper stage.
The Parker Probe will be the first satellite
to fly into the Sun's corona.
And though its launch weight of just 685 kilos
may seem puny for such a large launcher,
Parker must leave the Earth's orbit at near-record speed.
(rocket blasting)
After a brief period in a parking orbit,
the second stage reignited
to break the bonds of Earth's gravity.
The final kick, delivered by the solid-fueled upper stage,
gave the Parker Probe
the second-fastest departure from Earth
and, with the help of the Sun's gravity,
it will reach 668,000 kilometers per hour,
making it the fastest manmade object ever.
(suspenseful music)
In 2001, SpaceX founder Elon Musk
hatched a scheme to establish a greenhouse on Mars
and began trying to buy a Russian launch system.
The space industry laughed,
but they're not laughing now.
Because he couldn't buy a rocket, he built his own.
Musk knew American launches were too expensive,
and a little research convinced him
he could undercut the established aerospace giants.
In design and manufacturer,
SpaceX focused on simplicity and reliability,
with a view to keeping costs down.
Of the Falcon 9 rocket
and the Dragon spacecraft,
packed with science and supplies
for the International Space Station,
humanity's home in low-Earth orbit
In 2012, SpaceX flew the first
commercial resupply mission
to the International Space Station.
(rocket roaring) (dramatic music)
SpaceX designed its own spacecraft, the Dragon,
to carry out these resupply missions.
(mission control radio chattering)
To date, SpaceX has completed
11 successful supply trips to the ISS
with seven more booked.
Unlike all the other cargo ships
that visit the space station,
the Dragon is capable of returning to Earth.
The Falcon 9, the company's workhorse,
was criticized because it has nine separate rocket motors.
Old rocket engineers argued
that there were too many moving parts,
with a higher risk of failure.
The Merlin engine, developed for the original Falcon 1,
continues to be refined,
giving the Falcon 9 a steadily improving lift capacity.
Faster than the speed of sound.
It's now subsonic.
Soon it became clear
what the multiple engines could achieve.
Without its fuel load, the spent first stage
falling back through the atmosphere was very light
and just one engine could enable a soft landing.
If this worked, it meant reusable stages
would drastically cut the cost of launches.
A pinpoint landing on a remotely controlled barge
required so many new techniques,
the space experts were skeptical.
(intense dramatic music)
(explosion blasts)
A landing leg had collapsed and was redesigned.
But soon these return trips were routine.
Though landing capability
reduced the maximum payload by 30%,
it also drastically reduced launch fees.
(gentle thoughtful music)
Next, came the Falcon Heavy,
essentially three Falcon 9 strapped together.
In 16 years, SpaceX had gone from laughingstock
to builder the world's most powerful launch vehicle.
This first flight was to be a pure demonstration.
Its dummy payload was Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster.
The car would go into orbit around the Sun.
(rocket blasting)
The plan called for the two boosters
to land back at Cape Canaveral.
The central core would return to a barge at sea.
(rocket roaring)
Potential customers were watching the demonstration closely,
and crowds who gather along the Florida coast
to see a launch now wait to watch boosters returning.
(rockets blasting)
The car, rigged with cameras, went into a solar orbit.
But in the mission's one failure,
the central core missed its barge.
The U.S. Air Force will be the Falcon Heavy's
first paying customer.
(rocket blasting)
The entry into the launch market of a company
aggressively trying to reduce the cost of access to space
is changing the space business.
Today, SpaceX remains the only launch provider
that openly publishes the cost of its services.
The Ariane 5 is the European Space Agency's
heavy-lift rocket.
It features a liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen first stage,
flanked by two solid-fuel boosters.
(rocket blasting)
Though the Ariane 5 is not the most powerful launcher,
it holds the record for heaviest payload
to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The equatorial launch site in Guyana
makes orbits of low inclination easier to achieve
and is an attractive feature for paying clients.
The Ariane 5 ECA is the fifth
and final version of the 5 series,
which will soon be replaced by the Ariane 6.
A new version of the Vulcain rocket engine
is being developed for Ariane 6,
which will be cheaper to build and to launch.
New facilities are being constructed for the Ariane 6
at the Kourou spaceport,
including a new vehicle assembly building,
which will see a change from vertical
to horizontal integration.
But the Ariane 5 still has much to do.
18 launches are scheduled
before its replacement begins flight testing.
The stages are fabricated in Europe
and cross the Atlantic by ship.
At the launch site,
the central stage is raised to the vertical.
Slightly more than 30 meters long,
the core stage is essentially a fuel tank
divided into two compartments
with a rocket engine at its base.
Each solid fuel booster arrives on its table
in an upright position and preloaded with propellant.
The upper stage, that will, on this mission,
deliver full Galileo navigation satellites
to their target orbits, is fitted.
The satellites, clustered about a central dispenser,
are then attached to the upper stage
before the fairing that protects them
during the trip up through the atmosphere
is lowered into place.
(machinery whirring)
The Ariane, on top of the launch platform,
begins its journey at a snail's pace.
The Ariane 5 is operated by Arianespace,
who have launched more than half
the commercial satellites in operation today.
(train engine whirring)
Russia's heavy-lift Proton launcher
started its life in 1965.
It was originally designed to carry
a 100 megaton thermonuclear weapon to targets in the U.S.
It was never deployed as a missile,
instead evolving into a successful heavy launcher.
It delivered several modules
to the International Space Station.
And one of its recent high-profile successes
was the launch of the first ExoMars probe.
But the Proton has not been without its problems.
Developed during the Soviet era,
its manufacturer Khrunichev
was reliant on the Ukraine for key components.
And when launched from Baikonur,
the Kazakh government was not keen
on the extremely toxic hypergolic fuel it used.
There are claims that acid rain falls after some launches
and that parts of Russia and Kazakhstan are being poisoned
by the unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine
that powers the Proton.
At Baikonur, in July 2013, a Proton-M was set to launch
three Russian GLONASS navigation satellites.
(rocket rumbling)
(explosion blasts)
An investigation found that the rate gyro package
had been installed upside down.
It was not the only recent Proton failure,
and questions about quality control were being asked.
Though the Proton still has launched commitments
for several years, it will be phased out.
(rocket rumbling)
(gentle music)
Startup company Space Lab
is poised for its first commercial launch.
Their rocket, called the Electron,
can deliver light satellites to low Earth orbit
at prices that completely undercut the rest of the market.
The launcher makes extensive use of carbon fiber
in the construction of the tanks,
and Space Lab has developed an engine
with a radically new fuel cycle.
Named after physicist Ernest Rutherford,
the engine is largely constructed
with 3D printing techniques.
(rocket whooshing)
The liquid oxygen RP-1 fueled unit
uses brushless electric motors to operate its turbopumps,
instead of pre-burning fuel for the same purpose.
The batteries powering the process add weight,
but they save on fuel
and give engineers finer control when throttling the engine.
The launch site or New Zealand's
North Island Mahia Peninsula
is perfect for the busy schedule that Rocket Lab envisions.
(rocket blasting)
With the advent of microsatellites,
smaller carriers like the Electron
are becoming an attractive launcher
for a new area of the launch market.
(majestic orchestral music)