4 ms·

Good on RocketLab for finally doing reuse. It's such an obvious path for improving flightrate and reducing cost for a high flightrate rocket that I'm super surp

Good on RocketLab for finally doing reuse. It's such an obvious path for improving flightrate and reducing cost for a high flightrate rocket that I'm super surprised that it has been mostly poo-pooed by the smallsat launcher startups (even though they all seem to be shooting for high flight rate). There are also a bunch of different recovery options available to smaller rockets that aren't available to large rockets. (And Rocketlab has shown an ability to execute and enter operational service that makes me fairly confident they'll succeed.) By the way, this is nearly identical (minus the helicopter) to the method that John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace (now Exos Aerospace https://exosaero.com/ https://exosaero.com/) used for recovering their Stig reusable sounding rocket back in 2011/2012. I'm a little sad that none of the media reports are mentioning that, as it's clearly a direct forerunner and Exos Aerospace is still doing flights. Here is the ballute: https://www.universetoday.com/93281/armadillo-launches-a-stig-a-rocket-captures-awesome-image-of-ballute/ https://www.universetoday.com/93281/armadillo-launches-a-sti... Here is the guided parachute return: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV7zL07Tof8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV7zL07Tof8 And here is an Exos Aerospace flight earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9dJ3IQQVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9dJ3IQQVk

amayne 7y ago
The key difference is velocity. Exos/Armadillo have never launched an orbital class vehicle, which comes down a lot faster and hotter. I love Carmack and rooted for Armadillo. But ballutes are 50 year old tech (Gemini’s escape system had them.) Armadillo’s real innovations were in other areas and doing things faster and cheaper. Carmack would have been an interesting fit at SpaceX if he hadn’t gone to Oculus.
- Robotbeat 7y ago
  Of course it's harder and faster. But the recovery mode is the same, and that is notable. Recovery of rockets that have been to space, even just suborbitally, is not trivial.
ohitsdom 7y ago
> Good on RocketLab for finally doing reuse. "finally" seems a little harsh since their first commercial launch was less than a year ago. Seems like they've been working on it for some time and as mentioned in the presentation, RocketLab is usually pretty careful about what they announce. They seem really smart with the strategic moves they've been making so I'm excited to see this play out.
- Robotbeat 7y ago
  Peter Beck is kind of famous for poo-pooing reusability in launch. That's what I'm referring to. In part of the reuse presentation, he said, "this is a cap I'm about to eat because I've said publicly a few times the various things that rocket lab would never do so [i.e. reuse] unfortunately I find myself in the position of eating my hat." Here: https://youtu.be/joONWIGtcdY?t=501 https://youtu.be/joONWIGtcdY?t=501 Rocketlab has been able to execute very effectively, which is why I appreciate them. It had long bothered me that they didn't put their obviously impressive engineering prowess to bear on the reuse problem, and I'm very glad that they've come around.
  - Taniwha 7y ago
    They seem to prefer to quietly do stuff then announce it (their kick stage for example, the silly sparkly thing), given that I suspect they now have enough data to be really sure they can pull it off

amayne 7y ago

The key difference is velocity. Exos/Armadillo have never launched an orbital class vehicle, which comes down a lot faster and hotter. I love Carmack and rooted for Armadillo. But ballutes are 50 year old tech (Gemini’s escape system had them.) Armadillo’s real innovations were in other areas and doing things faster and cheaper. Carmack would have been an interesting fit at SpaceX if he hadn’t gone to Oculus.

Robotbeat 7y ago
Of course it's harder and faster. But the recovery mode is the same, and that is notable. Recovery of rockets that have been to space, even just suborbitally, is not trivial.

ohitsdom 7y ago

> Good on RocketLab for finally doing reuse. "finally" seems a little harsh since their first commercial launch was less than a year ago. Seems like they've been working on it for some time and as mentioned in the presentation, RocketLab is usually pretty careful about what they announce. They seem really smart with the strategic moves they've been making so I'm excited to see this play out.

Robotbeat 7y ago
Peter Beck is kind of famous for poo-pooing reusability in launch. That's what I'm referring to. In part of the reuse presentation, he said, "this is a cap I'm about to eat because I've said publicly a few times the various things that rocket lab would never do so [i.e. reuse] unfortunately I find myself in the position of eating my hat." Here: https://youtu.be/joONWIGtcdY?t=501 https://youtu.be/joONWIGtcdY?t=501 Rocketlab has been able to execute very effectively, which is why I appreciate them. It had long bothered me that they didn't put their obviously impressive engineering prowess to bear on the reuse problem, and I'm very glad that they've come around.
- Taniwha 7y ago
  They seem to prefer to quietly do stuff then announce it (their kick stage for example, the silly sparkly thing), given that I suspect they now have enough data to be really sure they can pull it off