Family-level launch record combining canonical variants, historical missions, public cadence forecasts, and available payload performance specs.
Historical missions are grouped by actual launch year. Forecast cadence uses family-level launch-rate rows.
| Year | Historical missions | Forecast launches |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | 0 |
Payload capacity by variant and target orbit when structured capacity rows are available.
| Variant | Orbit | Capacity | Altitude | Inclination | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No performance specsNo structured payload capacity rows are linked to this vehicle family. | |||||
Latest launched missions using variants in this family.
| Mission | Variant | Launch |
|---|---|---|
| Launch 2023-F02 | RS1 | Jan 10, 2023 |
Upcoming mission rows with announced launch timing.
| Mission | Variant | Announced |
|---|---|---|
No forecasted missionsNo upcoming announced mission rows are linked to this vehicle family. | ||
Canonical variants rolled up into this launch vehicle family.
| Variant | Stages | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
RS1 | Not stated | 1 | Retired |
Lockheed Martin plans to conduct a UK Pathfinder mission using the RS1 rocket for the UK Space Agency.
The display included a scale model of an ABL Space Systems RS1 rocket featuring the logos of Lockheed Martin and the UK Space Agency.
ABL announced that its second RS1 rocket suffered irrecoverable damage in a fire at its launch pad in Alaska.
ABL Space Systems lost its second RS1 rocket in a fire after a static-fire test at the Pacific Spaceport Complex–Alaska on Kodiak Island on 2023-07-19.
Lockheed Martin is both an investor in ABL Space Systems and a major customer that made a block buy of up to 58 RS1 launches in 2021.
The pre-flight static-fire test on 2024-07-19 produced a residual pad fire that caused irrecoverable damage to RS1.
Lockheed Martin plans to use RS1 for its U.K. Pathfinder launch for the U.K. Space Agency under a contract awarded in 2018.
ABL Space Systems’ RS1 launch vehicle can deploy over 1,000 kg of payload into orbit.
ABL Space Systems will develop a launch site at SLC-15 for its RS1 small launch vehicle.
Last year, ABL Space Systems' RS1 and Relativity Space's Terran 1 failed to reach orbit.
Moving straight to the RS1 Block 2 configuration adds significant design scope to the Flight 2 roadmap while providing a direct path to building flight heritage for the configuration that will carry customer payloads to orbit.
The inaugural RS1 launch lost power about 10 seconds after liftoff and crashed near the launch pad on 2023-01-10.
ABL is moving ahead with a Block 2 version of the RS1 rocket that features increased thrust, more propellant, and design changes intended to improve production.
ABL’s contractual task is to maintain readiness at two separate deployed launch sites and receive an order from the U.S. Space Force to launch RS1 at either one of them.
ABL developed the RS1 small launch vehicle capable of placing up to 1,350 kg into low Earth orbit.
The RS1 vehicle uses a containerized ground system that allows it to launch from sites with minimal fixed infrastructure.
Amazon had initially planned to deploy KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 by late last year using ABL Space Systems’ RS1 rocket, which suffered setbacks.
ABL Space Systems developed the RS1 small launch vehicle capable of placing up to 1,350 kg into low Earth orbit.
Lockheed Martin signed a contract in April 2021 for as many as 58 RS1 launches through the end of the decade.
Lockheed Martin selected the RS1 to perform its U.K. Pathfinder launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands later in 2023.