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Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

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Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#81

Post by wolf550e »

curuinor wrote: post #61
peatmoss wrote: post #2

The years I spent in New Zealand painted a vivid picture of a society of doers. I think there’s something to the idea that this comes in part from being a landmass the size of Colorado, with not much more than 4 million people, with the freedom and requirements to maintain the infrastructure of being a sovereign nation. Seeing a NZ rocket launch condures an image of a small group of doers dreaming big. Way to go NZ!

Wait, isn't Rocket Lab an american company, and they're just locating the rocket in NZ? Founders were Kiwis but HQ is in California...

It's more of a New Zealand company with enough presence in the US to be legal for ITAR purposes.

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#82

Post by secfirstmd »

peatmoss wrote: post #2

The years I spent in New Zealand painted a vivid picture of a society of doers. I think there’s something to the idea that this comes in part from being a landmass the size of Colorado, with not much more than 4 million people, with the freedom and requirements to maintain the infrastructure of being a sovereign nation. Seeing a NZ rocket launch condures an image of a small group of doers dreaming big. Way to go NZ!

I really wish Ireland could embrace the same attitude of NZ.

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#83

Post by jamsch »

discoball wrote: post #64
tambourine_man wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that, I had a good laugh. I’m still amazed there are videos of something you’ve never heard of with 35 million views.

I remember Flight of the Conchords was a huge hit in the Bay area in 2007-2009 amongst the hipster-ish and nerdy crowd. We used to torrent it =) along with HyperDrive (British comedy set in space) and the super popular IT Crowds. All great shows. I think HBO allows you to watch it for free now: https://www.hbo.com/flight-of-the-conchords

Not in New Zealand apparently :(

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#84

Post by wepple »

gok wrote: post #55

Very cool, but is there really a future for tiny expendable rockets in a world of big reusable ones?

Yeah, RL are hoping to have weekly cadence. I suspect larger launch vehicles won’t be able to match that kind of regularity or response time for smaller payloads

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#85

Post by starik36 »

cheyne_nz wrote: post #65
curuinor wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, isn't Rocket Lab an american company, and they're just locating the rocket in NZ? Founders were Kiwis but HQ is in California...

Mission Control was in Auckland.They used to be an NZ company but incorporated in the US to get a launch license as it was apparently much easier as a US company. Most of their work and staff is still in NZ

As mentioned yesterday in the live cast, design and manufacturing is happening in Huntington Beach, California, then it is shipped to New Zealand.

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#86

Post by T-A »

InTheArena wrote: post #38
sandworm101 wrote: post #27

Earlier 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.)

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.

It's been worse...

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/disaster-at-xi...

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#87

Post by syntaxing »

2trill2spill wrote: post #52

My favorite thing about Rocket Lab is the rocket engine they use[1]. By replacing the turbopump with a electric motor they were able to remove one of the single most complicated and expensive parts of a rocket engine. As battery densities keep increasing we should see electrically fed engines being used on bigger and bigger rockets. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_(rocket_engine)

Super interesting! I wonder if there is an orbital limit to this technology. From what I remember, Rocket labs is mainly focusing on low orbital launches. As great as batteries are, they are no where near the energy density of the propellants out there. Though the advancement of electrical pumps for rockets is super exciting!

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#88

Post by [deleted] »

umichguy wrote: post #30
peatmoss wrote: post #2

The years I spent in New Zealand painted a vivid picture of a society of doers. I think there’s something to the idea that this comes in part from being a landmass the size of Colorado, with not much more than 4 million people, with the freedom and requirements to maintain the infrastructure of being a sovereign nation. Seeing a NZ rocket launch condures an image of a small group of doers dreaming big. Way to go NZ!

Sweet as!

[deleted]

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#89

Post by unknown_apostle »

peatmoss wrote: post #2

The years I spent in New Zealand painted a vivid picture of a society of doers. I think there’s something to the idea that this comes in part from being a landmass the size of Colorado, with not much more than 4 million people, with the freedom and requirements to maintain the infrastructure of being a sovereign nation. Seeing a NZ rocket launch condures an image of a small group of doers dreaming big. Way to go NZ!

So why did you leave? (Asking because I have an opportunity to move there.)

Re: Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access

#90

Post by neaanopri »

2trill2spill wrote: post #52

My favorite thing about Rocket Lab is the rocket engine they use[1]. By replacing the turbopump with a electric motor they were able to remove one of the single most complicated and expensive parts of a rocket engine. As battery densities keep increasing we should see electrically fed engines being used on bigger and bigger rockets. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_(rocket_engine)

Electric turbopumps are an answer to the question: "how small can you make a commercially viable orbital rocket?"

Atmospheric drag effects rocket performance less and less the larger a rocket gets (square-cube law), so that a rocket like the Space Shuttle can effectively ignore the atmosphere. Conversely, the smaller a rocket gets, the harder and harder launch gets. This is the problem Rocket Lab has decided to attack.

A decade ago, SpaceX launched the very similar Falcon 1. Falcon 1 was designed a decade ago, and you can see a large amount of the tech advancements in the last decade in Rocket Lab's design:

1. Cheap, lightweight Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries.

2. Cheap and performant brushless motor controllers.

3. Additive manufacturing for cheaply making complex parts without significant labor costs.

4. Advances in composites to enable the first orbital-class composite-bodied rocket.

Without any one of these advances, Rocket Lab would not be viable. It still may end up not being viable. Rocket Lab can never compete on bulk orbital cargo pricing. However, Rocket Lab's vision of applying recent tech advancements to bring down the smallest possible launcher size is extremely commendable.

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