

Kiwi rocket company ready to blast off - 69_years_and
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/60372738/kiwi-rocket-company-ready-to-blast-off.html

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syedkarim
$50,000 per kilogram might sound pricey, especially when compared to what
SpaceX works out to, but considering that it's a dedicated launch, versus a
rideshare, and they can go up at will--it's the best deal out there. It's a
little more expensive than Dneppr, but they only have rideshares once a year.
RocketLab's biggest competition, right now, is The Indian PSLV. They don't
have set pricing, but I've heard that half of the stated RocketLab price is
possible. But again, there is no regularity with PSLV.

There are a few other dedicated smallsat/cubesat launchers on the horizon, but
that's also a three year horizon. For the time being, the Kiwis will have a
monopoly. Unless, of course, Elon wants to being back the Falcon 1. I believe
that rocket had a greater payload, but also was a bit more expensive. Lockheed
is bringing back the Athena, but I doubt they will be cost-competitive with
RocketLab.

These guys aren't exaggerating: This rocket is a huge deal for the advancement
of the new space industry.

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mkl
I don't understand the "at will" thing. Why can't other rockets launch at
will? I'm assuming "at will" means "whenever you want"?

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syedkarim
You make a good point. Falcon 9 pretty much launches at will; they go up
almost monthly. In that case, it's just a matter of someone coughing up the
$80M to schedule a launch. I imagine there is much more lead time necessary to
build a Falcon 9 than there is to build an Electron. Dneppr could go up more
frequently, since they have a stockpile of about 150 ICBMs to convert into
launch vehicles, but for whatever reason, they don't go up more often. Maybe
the $30M price tag? PSLV is much more about advancing the Indian space
agency's interests than than pure commercialization, so that's why they don't
go up more often. But your point still stands, if someone had the cash, they
could commission anything to launch--though manufacturing lead time also plays
an important part.

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rplnt
> they go up almost monthly

Not even close really. Ten launches in four years, constant delays, ...

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syedkarim
You're right. What I meant to say is that their launch schedule for the next
two years has a lot more regularity. Whether it actually plays out the way
it's posted is a different story.

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cconcepts
I saw this talk from Elon Musk a long time ago and he addresses some of the
rocket technology being offered by other initiatives:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Q14cRsMs0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Q14cRsMs0)

He seemed to give a very balanced perspective - I'd love to hear what his
thoughts are on Rocket Lab's Electron, simply because he's in the know and
seems to at least try and be objective in his commentary.

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timClicks
He looks pretty grumpy, but Peter Beck is actually a very smart, warm and
engaging guy in person.

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powertry
Are they pushing stuff to geo-synch orbit? Thats where the big business seems
to lie. I thought the article was really vague and surprised it did not talk
about Space X and other competitors.

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swatkat
They're targeting 500km LEO. Here are some specs from their homepage[0]:

    
    
      Paylod: 110kg
      Orbit: 500km, Sun synchronous
      Stages: 3
             1st stage: 9x "Rutherford"[1] RP/LOX engine
             2nd stage: 1x "Rutherford" RP/LOX engine
             3rd stage: Solid engine)
      Cost: $4.9M
    

[0] [http://www.rocketlabusa.com/](http://www.rocketlabusa.com/)

[1] [http://www.rocketlabusa.com/about-
us/propulsion/rutherford/](http://www.rocketlabusa.com/about-
us/propulsion/rutherford/)

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kephra
Unfortunate they provide even less information to calculate the plausibility
of claimed payloads and orbits then SpaceX. And we all know that SpaceX
changed its specs and claims several times, and that none of those specs
provide a plausible rocket, if you recalculate it.

I hope Rocket Lab will do better. I just asked them for the missing specs like
empty and loaded mass of each stage, maximum and minimum ISP of each stage,
maximum and minimum thrust of each stage, burn time of each stage, inclination
of launch site, payload, inclination, apogaeum and perigaeum of or proposed
orbits.

