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I really hope this one works out and scales. The only rocket company besides SpaceX that’s really developing something novel, at least that I’m aware of.
by idontwantthis 2y ago
I really hope this one works out and scales. The only rocket company besides SpaceX that’s really developing something novel, at least that I’m aware of.
- bobetomi 2y agoRocket Lab and Relativity Space are also doing pretty cool work. Rocket Lab is the only other company to successfully reach orbit, they're the first to make an electric-pump fed rocket engine, and their upcoming Neutron rocket is supposed to be mostly reusable and does several things better than the Falcon 9. Relativity is using 3D printing to manufacture most of the rocket. RFA (Rocket Factory Augsburg) is also interesting, they're not doing anything novel AFAIK but they're using cheap parts from the automotive industry to bring down prices.
- sebzim4500 2y agoFirefly and Astra have both reached orbit IIRC
- erikrothoff 2y agoAstra is barely holding on by a thread though. Their main hope of survival is their hall-effect propulsion engines.
- vhodges 2y agoNot developing a launcher but Gravitics https://www.gravitics.com/ https://www.gravitics.com/ is another company doing something in different way (Gary Hudson, if you know the name, is on the team)
- cubefox 2y agoI would say the Stoke Space rocket is in some sense more novel than Starship, apart from its size. We have never seen anything like the Stoke upper stage before. Which might be a financial problem, as developing such an ambitious design is likely expensive, and as a startup their funds are limited. A partly reusable design like Neutron (Rocket Lab) or Terran R (Relativity Space) is more conventional and probably cheaper to develop.