The trajectory of the first stage seems very vertical compared to other launches; anyone have any explanations?
New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
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Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#62Is there any startup currently investigating cheaper alternatives to reuseable fireworks?
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#63Earlier 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.
I'm hoping to move to NZ with my girlfriend in 2019, to settle down. I finally got 3 years of work experience for a memory card manufacturing company in Taiwan, which means I should be eligible for the Skilled Migrant Category visa.
If you'd like to talk about making those plans a reality, please get in touch! I think that the SMC visa requires me to only work for certain companies that are allowed to sponsor immigrants, though, and that would prevent me from working for an exciting startup like Rocket Lab.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure it will get plenty of coverage here tonight. I think the news channels are over the PM getting pregnant and there are no rugby matches on :-)
Careful where you go for that news as talkback radio will be (more) deadly for the next year or two. Overheard at a grey power cuppa yesterday, ‘She was pregnant when negotiating to be Prime Minister did you know? It’s unbelieveable’.
This is the go to conspiracy theory - and that the only reason Winston agreed to the coalition was so that he could be gasp acting Prime Minister when she went on maternity leave. For six whole weeks.
I'm not entirely sure what they expect Winnie to get up to in six weeks.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#65Earlier 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?
I'm pretty sure they recently restructured by creating Rocket Lab US and making the existing Rocket Lab NZ a subsidiary to get more flexibility regarding some arms restrictions.
Yep, and our government passed laws around "What happens if a rocket crashes" (no-one can take photos) to fit in with US regulations.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Beyond not having nuclear weapons to put on a rocket - we're quite disinterested in having anything to do with them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_nuclear-free_zone
Disinterested with a touch of virulent hatred for them.
There's an element in New Zealand that has a blindly hysterical anti-nuclear stance. Then there are others who understand that nuclear energy is one of the cleanest and safest forms of energy, and that refusing to admit American naval vessels into our waters is just a pointless diplomatic affront to our strongest ally.
There's an excellent reason to not have nuclear energy in New Zealand, which is that we don't need it. We already have 80% renewable electricity production, and we could realistically bridge that gap with cheaper methods than a nuclear power plant. However, just being "anti-nuclear" for the sake of being "anti-nuclear" isn't one of them.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#67The trajectory of the first stage seems very vertical compared to other launches; anyone have any explanations?
I think they were launching due south, directly away from the camera
Also most launches are essentially go straight up to get out of the atmospheric drag asap, then hang a turn into orbit - the optimal parameters for when you make that turn is going to be a trade off of a bunch of things - drag, the orbit you want, air pressure that day, .....
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#68It'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…
With SpaceX, I find it hard to fault them for this.
Public interest in spacetech is inevitably tied to futurism, idealism, idealism, big ideas and such.
SpaceX is building the biggest ever rockets, declaring mars as a goal, landing rockets on rafts like a sci-fi flick... Build the future stuff. They also launch geostationary satelites and supply the ICC, in fact that's what they do as a business.
Whether you want to call this PR, vision, culture or whatever... SpaceX calls satelites and ICC transport "routine" work. It's how they do what they do, not what they do. What they do is the stuff that sounds like breakthroughs, breaking through the limitations keeping us stuck on earth.
It's hard to rate psace companies on a coolness scale. Any space company is already way up on the scale. SpaceX... is like the hollywood version.
In any case, huge congratulations toRocket Lab. A rocket company with weekly scheduled flights on a shoestring is a feat.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disinterested with a touch of virulent hatred for them.
There's an element in New Zealand that has a blindly hysterical anti-nuclear stance. Then there are others who understand that nuclear energy is one of the cleanest and safest forms of energy, and that refusing to admit American naval vessels into our waters is just a pointless diplomatic affront to our strongest ally. There's an excellent reason to not have nuclear energy in New Zealand, which is that we don't need…
New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance has nothing to do with nuclear power. The reason we don't allow American warships into our waters is because we disapprove of nuclear weapons, whether powered by or as a payload.
Re: New Zealand startup successfully launches rocket
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 come…
> This is the first new power cycle invented since the Full Flow Staged Combustion Cycle in the 1960s Yes, battery pump engines aware new for this scale of a rocket. No, it’s not the first new cycle since the 1960s.
Ok, I'm curious. What rocket engine power cycle was invented between the Full Flow Staged Combustion Cycle (1962) and the Electric Pump-Fed Cycle (2010)?