Is there no adverse environmental impact from dumping battery packs into the atmosphere to burn up?
New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
31–40 of 104 posts
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#32Planet Money recently did a series on the satellite market. Rocket Lab was one of the companies they interviewed. Pretty fascinating stuff.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/12/01/567267573/plan...
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't Rocket Lab a US start-up, funded almost entirely by US money, operated by US executives, with headquarters in Huntington Beach CA and a New Zealand subsidiary?
American money paying for New Zealand operations. Source: Me; I was almost a customer.
It’s a little more complex than that. But that’s not a bad summary.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#34It's interesting seeing the difference between the publicity that SpaceX gets, and the publicity of other rocket companies like RocketLab get. It shows how effective the PR machine for SpaceX is. RocketLabs launch is pretty significant, considering it's the first orbital launch of a rocket designed and built in a small nation. This has barely hit the news. I guess part of the reason is that it's not in the USA, and t…
Isn't Rocket Lab a US start-up, funded almost entirely by US money, operated by US executives, with headquarters in Huntington Beach CA and a New Zealand subsidiary?
It was started in New Zealand, and got its initial investment from New Zealand, but the majority of funding now comes from America and the majority of ownership is American.
However, most of the R&D, operations, and manufacturing are done in New Zealand. I almost applied for a job there, but it would've required relocating to Auckland, which I wasn't willing to do.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The weight is an issue here too. It's something like 200kg of battery in the first stage. The second stage is designed to use its batteries one by one, and them drop them as they're expended.
That seems... Really bad for the environment? Nobody said launching rockets was environmentally friendly but that sounds particularly egregious.
>The batteries had a low auto-ignition temperature of 150 degrees Celsius, which meant they were highly likely to burn up in the atmosphere before reaching Earth's surface, MfE said. The batteries contained no lead, acid, mercury, cadmium, or other toxic heavy metals.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/83804825/360kg-motor-assem...
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't Rocket Lab a US start-up, funded almost entirely by US money, operated by US executives, with headquarters in Huntington Beach CA and a New Zealand subsidiary?
It was started in New Zealand, and got its initial investment from New Zealand, but the majority of funding now comes from America and the majority of ownership is American. However, most of the R&D, operations, and manufacturing are done in New Zealand. I almost applied for a job there, but it would've required relocating to Auckland, which I wasn't willing to do.
Come on over - life is amazing here in Auckland.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#37It's interesting seeing the difference between the publicity that SpaceX gets, and the publicity of other rocket companies like RocketLab get. It shows how effective the PR machine for SpaceX is. RocketLabs launch is pretty significant, considering it's the first orbital launch of a rocket designed and built in a small nation. This has barely hit the news. I guess part of the reason is that it's not in the USA, and t…
You don’t generally make the news for doing things others have done before you. Don’t get me wrong, this company is cool and their success is super exciting, but I see no reason for them to get any press coverage outside of specialty media. SpaceX was pretty quiet too when they were first starting out, and when they’re all over the news now it’s generally because they’re doing something new. I doubt nukes have anythi…
RocketLab's doing incredibly innovative things. They're using an entirely new kind of rocket engine power cycle. This is the first new power cycle invented since the Full Flow Staged Combustion Cycle in the 1960s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_pump-fed_engine
They're using entirely 3d printed rocket engines and also full carbon composite rocket bodies - another first for a rocket of this scale.
Where it comes to "doing things others haven't done before you" they're doing an amazing job. SpaceX is doing great but nothing close to this.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#38I was surprised at how weird it felt to have AU/NZ accents on the mission control (or whatever you call it) channel in the video at the end of that page.
I say this as an Australian.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was started in New Zealand, and got its initial investment from New Zealand, but the majority of funding now comes from America and the majority of ownership is American. However, most of the R&D, operations, and manufacturing are done in New Zealand. I almost applied for a job there, but it would've required relocating to Auckland, which I wasn't willing to do.
Come on over - life is amazing here in Auckland.
Unless you'd like to buy a house there or drive anywhere ;)
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#40What they’ve accomplished is amazing engineering. I’m sort of scratching my head at the economics though. Their cost to orbit is about $15,000/kg. That’s more expensive than the Space Shuttle was. And the CEO has said they’re not working on reusability. Their goal of rapid manufacturing and frequent launches seems laudable in an expendable launch vehicle world. I’m not sure how they plan to survive when SpaceX and Bl…
Their differentiation is the ticket price: $5M, for now. A SpaceX F9 is $60M. The cost per kg may be an order of magnitude greater, but so is the ticket price.
This is only really useful if you want to put a tiny satellite in an unusual orbit. For frequently trafficked orbits, you can just hitch a ride on a larger launch.
Could be a successful business niche, but it doesn’t seem likely to revolutionize anything.