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A 160km altitude cubesat would require a minimum 7.8km/s of delta-v. Anything less than that and it will burn up in the atmosphere after a few orbits. GoFast Ro

A 160km altitude cubesat would require a minimum 7.8km/s of delta-v. Anything less than that and it will burn up in the atmosphere after a few orbits. GoFast Rocket achieved a top speed of 1.6 km/s (3580 mph). It needs to go 4 times faster, and no, a 20% larger rocket won't cut it. 20000% larger by mass would be more like it. It also needs a 2nd stage burning liquid propellant with high specific impulse which is way, way harder to build than a dumb solid propellant rocket. Noone (not even governments) has been able to send a single stage rocket to orbit.

dogma1138 11y ago
Israel and India use 3 stage HTPB solid rockets for space launches you don't need to have a 2nd stage liquid fuel rocket to get to orbit. Also 20000% larger by mass? want to be a bit more serious? if you scale this rocket by 35-40% you get to about the size of the first stage of the Shavit solid fuel space launcher which is a commercial space launcher. You do understand how scaling works on 3 dimensional objects right?
- fivesigma 11y ago
  10000% by mass is a more accurate figure and since you like dimensional scaling, that's 364% scaling. The GoFast Rocket weighs 350kg. Scaling it by 35% (1.35 ^ 3) would make it weigh 861kg. The rocket you mentioned weighs between 30 and 70 _tons_. I'm not sure you understand how anything works.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    > I'm not sure you understand how anything works. Based on my previous conversations with this guy, this seems to be a recurring pattern. I do hope that he's using these conversations to recognize and fill in the holes in his knowledge. :)
- mikeash 11y ago
  What good does it do to scale something up to the size of the first stage of a four stage rocket? Those other three stages are pretty important to that whole putting-stuff-in-orbit business. Edit: I see Shavit can also launch in a three stage configuration. My overall point remains.

dogma1138 11y ago

Israel and India use 3 stage HTPB solid rockets for space launches you don't need to have a 2nd stage liquid fuel rocket to get to orbit. Also 20000% larger by mass? want to be a bit more serious? if you scale this rocket by 35-40% you get to about the size of the first stage of the Shavit solid fuel space launcher which is a commercial space launcher. You do understand how scaling works on 3 dimensional objects right?

fivesigma 11y ago
10000% by mass is a more accurate figure and since you like dimensional scaling, that's 364% scaling. The GoFast Rocket weighs 350kg. Scaling it by 35% (1.35 ^ 3) would make it weigh 861kg. The rocket you mentioned weighs between 30 and 70 _tons_. I'm not sure you understand how anything works.
- simoncion 11y ago
  > I'm not sure you understand how anything works. Based on my previous conversations with this guy, this seems to be a recurring pattern. I do hope that he's using these conversations to recognize and fill in the holes in his knowledge. :)
mikeash 11y ago
What good does it do to scale something up to the size of the first stage of a four stage rocket? Those other three stages are pretty important to that whole putting-stuff-in-orbit business. Edit: I see Shavit can also launch in a three stage configuration. My overall point remains.