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Weren't small low-cost launches the original goal of SpaceX? I recall Elon saying there wasn't actually that much demand, which is why they were forced to scale up in the first place. Has the market changed recently for small low-cost launches?
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_(rocket_engine)
> 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. https://youtu.be/WGOohBytKTU
> SpaceX can take far more cargo to space, but Rocket Lab is pitching its nimbleness and low-cost as ways to give new customers access to space and to do so on a more convenient schedule. Weren't small low-cost launches the original goal of SpaceX? I recall Elon saying there wasn't actually that much demand, which is why they were forced to scale up in the first place. Has the market changed recently for small low-co…
[0] http://www.scielo.br/img/revistas/jatm/v9n3//2175-9146-jatm-..., via http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175...
I wish I could put software in one of those shoebox satellites.
I just had a daydream of Satellites as a Service. "give us a docker image extending our base image, no larger than x MB delta, and we will run it on a chosen satellite for a certain time slice for $y" I can see that future. Even if purely as a learning tool for students.
> 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. https://youtu.be/WGOohBytKTU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_shi...
Very cool! Are these reusable?
The most impressive thing about their rockets are the motors they use. All modern liquid rocket motors use turbo pumps to pressurize liquid fuel and drive it into the combustion chamber. All other rockets use some fuel to run a turbine that powers the pumps, with the variations being how that entire system is piped together. The Rocket Lab motor, Rutherford, uses a lithium ion battery and electric motor to power the…
But a turbine is much harder to develop and manufacture. Especially at small scale, the turbine is also inefficient so it has less advantage to a battery there.
It wouldn't make sense to run the Falcon 9 pumps with batteries.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
UDMH. This is why Musk can stand beside a crashed falcon rocket while a crashed russian rocket must be approached in suits.
