btw recently discovered this neat website that shows ALL upcoming rocket launches
India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
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Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Do you need to be able to strike at a moment's notice?
For a proper MAD-based nuclear deterrence, yes, you want to be able to launch a massive retaliation while your enemies' missiles are still in the air. Submarine-launched missiles also require stable storage. But having first-strike capabilities, the ability to wipe out any city in the world in return for a few weeks' planning, seems like something militaries would find valuable.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#73Does anyone know what they're using for telemetry? Over the launch pad you have a UHF link, but that offers infrequent availability after launch.
If I were launching my first orbital vehicle and I didn't have a hyper developed space program already, I would want to equip it with something like Starlink so I would be able to communicate with it even when it wasn't in range of my ground station(s).
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#74And 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.
I wonder what their cost-per-launch will end up being? Can they compete with reusable American rockets for $/kg by just building disposable but very cheap rockets? After all, plenty of other disposable things have outcompeted non disposable versions... Diapers... Pens... Lighters... Vapes...
They are charging around $14-15k per kg (~$5M per launch with a max payload of 350kg) but are also offering an additional 30% discount to make them cost competitive against ISRO.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
as opposed to New Zealand?
Rocket Lab is a US company, they would not have been able to build what they did without full ITAR and MTCR compliance.
Maybe you need to let them know.
They were founded in NZ by a NZer, they launch from NZ, their employees are NZers. Calling them a US company is equivalent to saying Google is Irish.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#76There is just so much that can go wrong with rocket launches if you do cursory reading about these things. A few random examples: The lowest stage cant just be "turned down" or modulated because they work by burning an inner solid rubber lining that's like an annular cylinder. The first three stages are roughly doing the job sequence: `lift off the ground -> reach target altitude -> reach target orbital velocity` and…
Spontaneous rapid disassembly is common in this field.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#77Regarding Indian private space sector, In addition to skyroot solid rocket, following are noteworthy Agnikul is planning to launch semi-cryo kerosene rocket pretty soon. Their engine is 3d printed and use electric pump fed 25kN small engine. Planning to launch 4 clustered engines as first stage and already did suborbital test, with some parachute splash down reusability claims. Astrobase is recent entrant. With decen…
Also, Pixxel, Skyroot, and Agnikul are targeting orbital data center launches this year for defense applications (which is what the entire ODC story is about). The US NRO already uses India's Pixxel [0] along with Finland's ICEYE (which is now co-manufacturing synthetic aperture sats in India with Agnikul [1]) for hyperspectral scanning. Edit: can't reply > But.. why? Missile Defense and C4ISR [2]. Seconds matter, so…
Mein Gott, you're not just making this up ( https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/neevcloud-and-agn... ).
But.. why?
Musk bandwagon-hopping? Investor bamboozlery? (Same diff?)
Is my borderline childish understanding of basic physics THAT off because I cannot see the value or utility (beyond a small smear of niche edge cases) of space-based compute?
- ed, disclosure: You seem to have edited your response whilst I was typing mine, adding in valuable links. Thanks!
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#78It's so sad that the Modi clique controls India. If India could become a real democracy, it could be competitive in the long run against China, because assuming similar quality and costs, people in democracies would much rather support a democracy than sinomarxist China or crazy-oligarch orange king country. But with Modi in charge, none of that is possible. Old men really need to leave politics, they just cause too many problems in general.
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rocket Lab is a US company, they would not have been able to build what they did without full ITAR and MTCR compliance.
Maybe you need to let them know. They were founded in NZ by a NZer, they launch from NZ, their employees are NZers. Calling them a US company is equivalent to saying Google is Irish.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18427351
Design and manufacturing is in the los angeles region aerospace industry cluster.
It's been a US company for the last 13 years.
https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-makes-its-defen...
Re: India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch
#80There is just so much that can go wrong with rocket launches if you do cursory reading about these things. A few random examples: The lowest stage cant just be "turned down" or modulated because they work by burning an inner solid rubber lining that's like an annular cylinder. The first three stages are roughly doing the job sequence: `lift off the ground -> reach target altitude -> reach target orbital velocity` and…
- you seem to know what you are talking about
- is there a place that you recommend where they teach you how rockets work, what is involved in building one, the math and physics behind it, materials required etc etc?