Enlarge / Four kerosene-fueled Reaver engines power Firefly's Alpha rocket off the pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. (credit: Firefly Aerospace )

Welcome to Edition 7.01 of the Rocket Report! We're compiling this week's report a day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday. Ars is beginning its seventh year publishing this weekly roundup of rocket news, and there's a lot of it this week despite the holiday here in the United States. Worldwide, there were 122 launches that flew into Earth orbit or beyond in the first half of 2024, up from 91 in the same period last year.

As always, we welcome reader submissions , and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Firefly launches its fifth Alpha flight. Firefly Aerospace placed eight CubeSats into orbit on a mission funded by NASA on the first flight of the company’s Alpha rocket since an upper stage malfunction more than half a year ago, Space News reports . The two-stage Alpha rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California late Wednesday, two days after an issue with ground equipment aborted liftoff just before engine ignition. The eight CubeSats come from NASA centers and universities for a range of educational, research, and technology demonstration missions. This was the fifth flight of Firefly's Alpha rocket, capable of placing about a metric ton of payload into low-Earth orbit.

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Ministry will discuss investigation into claims that European producers are selling goods below market rates

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China has ramped up its anti-dumping investigation into European brandy imports in what appears to be a retaliatory move as the EU imposed higher tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles from Friday.

The commerce ministry in Beijing said it would hold a hearing on 18 July to discuss an investigation into claimsthat European brandy producers are selling products in China below market rates.

Property glut holds down prices despite government attempts to revive market

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House prices in China slumped at the fastest rate in almost 10 years in May as a glut of properties on the market hit demand, despite renewed efforts by the government to prop up the sector.

The price of new homes in 70 cities, excluding subsidised housing, fell by 0.7% from April. This was the steepest drop since October 2014, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures posted on Monday. Values of existing homes fell by 1%, the steepest drop since China started using its current data collection method in 2011.

States are on course to spend $100bn a year, driven by a sharp increase in US defence budgets

Global spending on nuclear weapons is estimated to have increased by 13% to a record $91.4bn during 2023, according to calculations from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) pressure group.

The new total , which is up $10.7bn from the previous year, is driven largely by sharply increased defence budgets in the US, at a time of wider geopolitical uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.

Britain may be chilly, but from Greece to India, people are dying due to record temperatures. The death toll will grow without urgent action

While Britons don jumpers and complain about the unseasonable cold, much of the world has been reeling due to excessive temperatures. India has been in the grip of its longest heatwave in recorded history, with thermometers hitting 50C in some places. Greece closed the Acropolis in the afternoon last week as temperatures hit 43C; never has it seen a heatwave so early in the year. Soaring temperatures in the Sahel and western Africa saw mortuaries in Mali reportedly running short of space this spring , while swathes of Asia suffered in May .

Mexico and the south-west of the US have also endured blistering conditions; it was particularly shocking to hear Donald Trump pledge again to “drill, baby, drill” at a rally that saw supporters taken to hospital with heat exhaustion. These bouts of extreme weather are increasing as the climate crisis worsens . Although the El Niño weather pattern contributed to heatwaves over the last 12 months, they are becoming more frequent, extreme and prolonged thanks to global heating. By 2040, almost half the world’s inhabitants are likely to experience major heatwaves , 12 times more than the historic average.

Li’s four-day visit, the first by a Chinese premier since 2017, is expected to feature panda diplomacy, Indo-Pacific security discussions and trade talks

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China’s premier, Li Qiang, will arrive in Australia on Saturday for a four-day visit that will include stops in Adelaide, Canberra and Perth.

It is the first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier since 2017, and marks the latest step in “stabilising” a relationship that hit rock bottom in 2020.

Concerns set out over supply of materials with military applications, and impact of subsidies on global market

China’s role in providing assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine, and its “harmful overcapacity” in the production of cheap goods, have been targeted by G7 leaders despite misgivings from Germany.

On the second day of the annual summit, being held in Puglia under the Italian chair, the US drove home a 36-page communique that condemned Chinese subsidies for products such as solar panels and electric cars which it said were leading to “global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity … undermining our workers, industries, and economic resilience and security”.

• Hassan Sunny denied Thailand to aid China in World Cup
• Sunny’s food stall receives business in person and online

Singapore national team goalkeeper Hassan Sunny has urged Chinese football fans to stop sending him money after his saves in Singapore’s 3-1 defeat to Thailand helped China reach the next round of World Cup qualifiers.

The 40-year-old made 11 saves on Tuesday as Thailand fell agonisingly short of a spot in the draw for the next round on 27 June, despite their 3-1 victory.

Sophia Huang Xueqin, who reported on #MeToo movement and Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, sentenced along with labour activist Wang Jianbing

A Chinese court has sentenced prominent #MeToo journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin to five years in jail and labour activist Wang Jianbing to three and a half years, almost 1,000 days after they were detained on allegations of inciting state subversion, according to supporters.

On Friday, supporters of the pair said the court had found them guilty and delivered Huang the maximum sentence. A copy of the verdict seen by Reuters corroborated their claim. Huang told the court she intended to appeal, the supporters said.