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And this is why Blue Origin will ultimately come out ahead in the private launch race. This, for the most part, is technology that once shown possibly, is possi
by keepper 9y ago
And this is why Blue Origin will ultimately come out ahead in the private launch race. This, for the most part, is technology that once shown possibly, is possible to replicate.
But what it takes is money, lots and lots of money. Bezos has that....
- m3kw9 9y agoThat’s probably the same game rules Elon is playing, make the best tech, get competitors licking their chops, they make it main stream and bring down prices of essential parts down. The market is so big even if they come out ahead, he still wins
- btilly 9y agoSpaceX has consistently developed technology for a small fraction of what it costs anyone else. As a case in point, Blue Origin started before SpaceX. They have put more money into development than SpaceX. But they have yet to launch a single rocket into orbit. And yet, Blue Origin is not bad. They appear to be in the same ballpark of costs as NASA originally estimated for development on the Falcon 1. They are just failing to rewrite the rules the way that SpaceX has consistently done. That said, if SpaceX ever fails as a business because Elon takes one risk too many, I'm sure that Blue Origin will happily buy the technology...
- timthelion 9y agoWell, Blue Origin is in a certain dimension re-writing rules. They are using a new more efficient engine design. SpaceX has been pretty conservative with engines if I'm not mistaken.
- letlambda 9y agoThe Raptor engine(under development) is comparable to the BE-4.
- DiThi 9y agoThe Raptor engine in development is also very efficient (full flow staged combustion of methalox). And while the Merlin series has been conservative in most aspects, Merlin 1D has a few unique characteristics, like the pintle injector (previously used in the Apollo LM), phased-shutoff (or whatever the spelling is, from Tom Mueller's interview from half a year ago), use of subchilled propellants and a very tightly manufacture process that makes it very cheap to produce. On top of that it's now the engine with highest thrust-to-weight ratio in history that has flown, despite being open cycle (gas generator). And not a single M1D failed so far.
- peter303 9y agoSpaceX is wisely recycled NASA and Russia Tech too. Why reinvent all the wheels? SpaceX lured away some of the best industry engineers by promising projects that actually get launched. Accomplishment is as important as money to some of us techies.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoAlso, Mars. There aren't many companies that can dangle a meaningful mission in front of you and make it feel they actually mean it.
- Already__Taken 9y agoYeh what's that story of the engineer saying they need a heat shield solution. So spacex just bought the company that made what he recommended they look into.
- Gustomaximus 9y agoIn this community of anywhere we should believe that intelligence, tenacity and passion can go a long way to overcoming financial limitation. Generally I dont feel money always wins these things. It can certainly help but its only one of many variables to success.
- exabrial 9y agoBlue Origin launches bottle rockets... SpaceX has been to orbit.