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No it’s just a really insulting and irrelevant thing to say.
India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
21–30 of 230 posts
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#22And with $160MM in funding at a $1.1B valuation? I don't know about their debt, but to get to LEO in 8 years on that little money is extremely impressive.
If you do all the work in India, you have low materials costs and low labour costs.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The mil have had solid propulsion for a while https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni-VI
Right, but see the details for estimated range and the map. Not that India has any foreseeable need to nuke Argentina but it's not in range. It's entirely possible the public data is wrong and the Agni VI has a global range. But by definition if you can put something into a 350x350 km low earth orbit (something like 7800m/s total delta V) you could also deliver a re-entering payload from your launch site to any other…
I was under the impression long range missiles aren't much use in global warfare anymore, because they are easy targets for missile defence systems.
Even if your target doesn't have missile defence systems, any ally of theirs along the route can intercept too.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#24The first, second and third stages all being solid rockets also means India now has a global-range ICBM, with only a little bit of modification needed to make it storable in a silo. Privately developed, but I would be astonished if the Indian military isn't well aware of this new capability.
India has had the ability to reach LEO and beyond for a while now. So bringing down a nuke anywhere on the planet wouldn't be that difficult for them. That goes for any country that has LEO launch capabilities. Of course miniaturization of the nuclear payload is another matter.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#254 stages feels like a lot of added complexity for your first launch. I assume it gives you more performance margin to drop weight/stages more often?
4 stages is certainly a lot more than most rockets, but most rockets don’t use solid rocket stages. Solid rocket motors are generally much more reliable/ simpler than liquid fueled stages, but they can’t be throttled or turned off early which makes it hard to achieve precise orbits. My guess is the extra stages allow for better control by carefully choosing when to light the next stage. The scout family of rockets ar…
Don't you need at least a little thrust ~40 mins later to circularize the orbit?
Obviously solid rockets can't be relit.
Could that be the use of the 4th stage?
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#264 stages feels like a lot of added complexity for your first launch. I assume it gives you more performance margin to drop weight/stages more often?
A partially empty stage wastes mass on propellant tanks sized for the full load. The mathematical ideal would be an infinite number of infinitesimally small stages.
Except you pay the weight for the nozzles on each stage.
That makes there be a mathematically optimal number.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
The mil have had solid propulsion for a while https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni-VI
Right, but see the details for estimated range and the map. Not that India has any foreseeable need to nuke Argentina but it's not in range. It's entirely possible the public data is wrong and the Agni VI has a global range. But by definition if you can put something into a 350x350 km low earth orbit (something like 7800m/s total delta V) you could also deliver a re-entering payload from your launch site to any other…
Multiple sources think that the real range is an ICBM level. And the Indian government purposely limits it's range. No strategic reason to communicate a larger range than needed and why have an headline that reads, "India develops capability to nuke Europe or US"?
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#28And with $160MM in funding at a $1.1B valuation? I don't know about their debt, but to get to LEO in 8 years on that little money is extremely impressive.
> And with $160MM in funding at a $1.1B valuation? I don't know about their debt, but to get to LEO in 8 years on that little money is extremely impressive.
Interestingly that's $5 million less than the the movie Interstellar cost to make.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#29Congratulations!
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#30The first, second and third stages all being solid rockets also means India now has a global-range ICBM, with only a little bit of modification needed to make it storable in a silo. Privately developed, but I would be astonished if the Indian military isn't well aware of this new capability.
India has had the ability to reach LEO and beyond for a while now. So bringing down a nuke anywhere on the planet wouldn't be that difficult for them. That goes for any country that has LEO launch capabilities. Of course miniaturization of the nuclear payload is another matter.
Liquid fueled launch vehicles aren't storable/able to be made ready at a moment's notice, unlike solids. Liquid fueled historical artifact:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-65_Atlas
There's a reason all modern silo based (and submarine) ICBMs are solids.