“At this point, each stage has individually completed all major pre-flight tests,” O’Hanley said. “Next, we’ll prepare for stage mate to perform final checkouts on the fully stacked vehicle and perform a wet dress rehearsal. Following that, launch.”

ABL Space Systems said May 16 it completed acceptance tests of the second stage of its RS1 vehicle, four months after the original upper stage was destroyed in a test anomaly.

The Air Force Research Laboratory and ABL Space Systems are collaborating to demonstrate how launch systems can be operated rapidly by small teams from nontraditional sites.

ABL Space Systems, which was founded in 2017, has developed a transportable launch system model that can send a rocket to space anywhere there’s a flat patch of concrete. ABL’s rockets, built in-house, and its ground stations can be moved via shipping containers and require only five operators per launch.