Do these nano satellites turn into some form of space junk, when will the orbit deteriorate / will they burn up?
Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
31–40 of 203 posts
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#32I'm really excited about space flight and wish we could make it to Mars already, build space colonies etc. At the same time I'm also very excited about electric vehicle and hope we can replace all combustion engines with clean, sustainable, electric drives. Of course this goes had in hand with green energy sources.
So at times I try to consolidate these views and struggle with it. What's going to be the carbon impact of ordinary people going to space? Or worse what's the carbon impact of following Musk's vision of using BFR for super quick international travel? I can only imagine it to be catastrophic.
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
TBF Baikonur is known to be a fairly bad location from an efficiency perspective if you're trying for GTO/GEO: using pretty much the same rocket, you can send 6~7t to GTO from Baikonur while you can send 10 from Kourou (on 5N). That's why as time went on, China kept building their new launch facilities more and more southernly (Jiuquan was built on 40N in the 50s, the recently opened Wenchang sits on 19N).
It gets worse than that. The russian site also has to not fly over chinese territory, further increasing their minimum inclination. Chinese dont want thier stinking rockets falling on china. (Literally. Russian rockets use some nasty stuff that groups like SpaceX have stayed far away from.)
> Russian rockets use some nasty stuff
Do you have a source for that? What sort of "stuff"?
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#34I'm still chuckling that they called the rocket "It's Business Time". I'm guessing partly a hat tip to SpaceX and the naming of their drone ships, but more so named after a song by the Flight of the Conchords.
For the those wondering why he chuckles, here's the song in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU
Thank you for that! How have I not come across that gem before? :)
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#35As launching satellites into space becomes cheaper, I'd imagine we will get increasing issues of satellite collisions and interference. Do we need a regulatory framework to address this? I understand space is becoming increasingly militarized. I wonder what a war will of shooting at satellites will look like. What would happen if all the satellites were taken out?
There is the Space Liability Convention[1], but it's not a solution, just a 'we promise not to harm the space environment intentionally and be cooperative' kind of thing.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#36Very cool! Are these reusable?
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#37Look up JAXAs SS-520-5. 10m height, 0.5m diam, got a cubesat to orbit year ago. Smallest orbital rocket by far.
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
TBF Baikonur is known to be a fairly bad location from an efficiency perspective if you're trying for GTO/GEO: using pretty much the same rocket, you can send 6~7t to GTO from Baikonur while you can send 10 from Kourou (on 5N). That's why as time went on, China kept building their new launch facilities more and more southernly (Jiuquan was built on 40N in the 50s, the recently opened Wenchang sits on 19N).
It gets worse than that. The russian site also has to not fly over chinese territory, further increasing their minimum inclination. Chinese dont want thier stinking rockets falling on china. (Literally. Russian rockets use some nasty stuff that groups like SpaceX have stayed far away from.)
Only the Chinese get to drop rockets on their towns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJRZ-eyncVk
The Red Plume you see is Hypergolic fuels - the aforementioned "bad stuff". Highly toxic and carcinogenic.
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#39> The rocket dubbed “It’s Business Time” took off just before 5 p.m.
We've advanced to the point of giving jokey pop culture names to space vehicles. And if they wanted to promote New Zealand's prominence in the world, they couldn't have made a better choice.
Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
It gets worse than that. The russian site also has to not fly over chinese territory, further increasing their minimum inclination. Chinese dont want thier stinking rockets falling on china. (Literally. Russian rockets use some nasty stuff that groups like SpaceX have stayed far away from.)
> Russian rockets use some nasty stuff Do you have a source for that? What sort of "stuff"?
They probably mean hydrazine. The Russian Proton rocket uses it, though it’s being discontinued. This isn’t a uniquely Russian oddity, by the way; the European Ariane IV and US Titan IV were still in use into the last decade.