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"Developed by Civilians" meaning students and hobbyists? Last time I checked SpaceX is a private company, as are Boeing and other big aerospace companies. Sure,
by Manuel_D 4y ago
"Developed by Civilians" meaning students and hobbyists? Last time I checked SpaceX is a private company, as are Boeing and other big aerospace companies. Sure, dual-use technology often have government and defense customers, but civilian-built launches for comms satellites are far from uncommon.
- ummonk 4y agoYeah I think they meant hobbyist or non-commercial.
- mr_toad 4y agoNASA is also a civilian organisation.
- kube-system 4y agoTo give them the benefit of the doubt, “civilian” can be used as a synonym for “non government” rather than the more narrow “non military”. Though many frown on this usage.
- Taniwha 4y agoOr it could just be a press release for Canadian consumption
- GauntletWizard 4y agoI would also classify Robert Goddard as a civilian.
- Fatnino 4y agoHis stuff didn't even break 10,000 feet.
- p_l 4y agoNone of the rockets from the big defence contractors were built without DoD money paying for R&D, though. Even Artemis uses portions of STS which was developed with DoD money. So "not taking military money" could be a viable categorisation for it being first "civilian" rocket.
- sokoloff 4y agoBlue Origin? Virgin Galactic?
- ben_w 4y agoAnsari X Prize, I think. Is Arianespace purely civilian, or partially funded by military? Also, TIL about the Civilian Space eXploration Team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Space_eXploration_Team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Space_eXploration_Tea...
- rsynnott 4y ago> Is Arianespace purely civilian, or partially funded by military? Depends what you mean by _funded_, but certainly a lot of its customers are military or military-adjacent. Also, these days (it's had a _really_ complex ownership history), it's owned by a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, both of which are, amongst other things, defence contractors. Realistically, _any_ large aerospace venture is going to involve, at a minimum, working with defence contractors; that's just how the industry is.
- Karellen 4y agoPretty sure the Falcon 1 was developed and built without any DoD R&D money, and flights 4 and 5 achieved orbit. Not sure why that wouldn't count as a civilian launch?
- p_l 4y agoFirst two launches of Falcon 1 were paid by military, third one was mix of military / NASA / private civilian funding.