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I’ve got to think that Rocket Lab’s announcement came earlier than planned because of this announcement by Relativity Space a few days ago: https://www.cnbc.co

I’ve got to think that Rocket Lab’s announcement came earlier than planned because of this announcement by Relativity Space a few days ago: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/relativitys-reusable-terran-rocket-competitor-to-spacexs-falcon-9.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/relativitys-reusable-terran-... Relativity is claiming to be working on a fully reusable, Methalox burning, competitor to the Falcon 9. Of course Relativity has yet to put something into space so Rocket Lab seems better positioned but these companies are all competing for the same funding and launch contracts so they can’t sit back and let another company steal the lime light for long. Really exciting times in the space industry, the US could have four different companies making reusable rockets in the next 5-10 years.

NortySpock 6y ago
Thanks for posting this. I was unaware they had shifted their strategy towards reusability.
- fiftyfifty 6y ago
  I think both Rocket Lab and Relativity Space realize that even with 3d printing they can't compete on price without reusability. If SpaceX is even close to hitting their costs per launch with Starship/Superheavy they can undercut everyone, even to launch small satellites. SpaceX is shooting for $2 million per launch with Starship, that's cheaper than Electron today and Relativity Space's Terran 1 is planned to cost. Heck for small sats SpaceX could probably put them into orbit with just Starship and a kicker stage and not even have to fire up Superheavy.