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GSST "Rhea" Makes Orbit on First Attempt
5 April, 2025
John Doe
This article is classed as
ACCURACY
Rhea on its pad at Launch Complex 1 in Rodriguez Key, Florida. Image: Chris_HadfieldCA
Galactic Space Solutions Technology, a relatively new company with ambitions in the community, launched its first rocket from Florida Friday (local) night, successfully demonstrating the capability of the new launch vehicle.
Friday evening’s launch marked a major milestone as Rhea and its GTRAD GWDS-V payload reached orbit for the first time. With a flawless debut flight, Rhea joins the ranks of a rare few to achieve such a feat on its first attempt.
The two stage rocket, called Rhea, is a LOX Kerosene vehicle powered by four GTRAD developed BS-4A engines. These engines provided the thrust needed to power Rhea through its debut flight, performing flawlessly throughout the mission.
GSST's accomplishment is especially important given the fact that this is their first flight. Their rocket performed as intended. This is a very uncommon achievement for inaugural flights, which typically experience delays or failures.
Allan, head of management at the group, said that commentary and bugs will be improved before the second flight. Saying, "Lots of hiccups, and horrible commentating on me but we made it to orbit! We will improve from here, since we did experience a lot bugs that were unknown to us, it did through of off a bit but we will return to flight soon with Rhea. Despite the negatives, we made it work and we will make some adjustments prior to our second flight."
Wider view of Rhea on its island launchpad. Image: Chris_HadfieldCA
"Another wonderful success for GTRADS BS-2A engine. I’d like to congratulate the GSST Team on a job well done getting our payload in orbit" Said Chris_HadfieldCA, an engineer for GSST and the CEO of GTRAD.
The GWDS-V satellite is part of a group of weather data satellites built and operated by GTRAD. The particular payload was an improved replacement for the GWDS-III spacecraft which was lost in orbit.
During the flight, teams encountered several anomalies, including difficulties collecting telemetry data from both stages of the rocket. The countdown also saw a few minor issues, but despite these, the payload was successfully deployed into its intended orbit.
RoSpace Now came to Allanevator, the head of management for GSST, for a statement on the flight, this was his response. "We spent months preparing everything for this launch, we were aware of the issues that we were going to possibly experience but we had built in back ups for the experimental features of Rhea incased they failed before countdown. But, it was an amazing sight to see Rhea take its first flight after almost a year since our first static fire of one of the first stage engines. Our engineer and software team will make the necessary fixes for our next flight in about 4 weeks since we already have another vehicle built."