Rocket Lab USA gets some unusual business

[meve12]

Not when you're getting it there. If it's 10kg on Earth, at least some of that has to be engine+propellant for Trans-lunar ejection.

[sgt_flyer]

Not when you're getting it there. If it's 10kg on Earth, at least some of that has to be engine+propellant for Trans-lunar ejection.

Well, the Electron rocket is stated to be able to send 110kg to low eart orbit. So if they want to send 10kg to the moon, either the mass difference is enough to do the trans lunar burn with the remaining fuel in the rocket's stage, or they can add a 100kg transfer stage - so the payload will only need fuel for braking in lunar orbit and landing

Still, i'm wondering about the electron's marketability, when other launch providers can have piggyback slots on their launchers for cubesats and such (the Electron's stated price is less than 5M$ for a payload of around 110kg - that's still around 45000$ / Kg of payload. - more than 4 time most concurrents (which can offer piggybacks to orbit) - for a 1 shot science launch towards a specific destination, it sure can be interesting to some, but guess other science universities and cubesats, they'll be more taking piggybacks

Edited October 3, 2015 by sgt_flyer

[Streetwind]

Not when you're getting it there. If it's 10kg on Earth, at least some of that has to be engine+propellant for Trans-lunar ejection.

The ~10 kg we're talking out here is "mass to Lunar surface", i.e what will be left of the payload after it has landed. In LEO the payload will obviously weigh more, since Electron can lift 100 to 150 kg (depending on orbit and launch site). I'm fully expecting that, since the Electron was never designed for long-term coasting and TLI burns, it will simply place a spacecraft into LEO. That spacecraft will then make its way to the Moon and deposit the 10kg MX-1 lander there. How the spacecraft will look, that's anyone's guess right now, although I'm expecting at least two stages (one TLI, one EDL stage).

Still, i'm wondering about the electron's marketability, when other launch providers can have piggyback slots on their launchers for cubesats and such (the Electron's stated price is less than 5M$ for a payload of around 110kg - that's still around 45000$ / Kg of payload. - more than 4 time most concurrents (which can offer piggybacks to orbit) - for a 1 shot science launch towards a specific destination, it sure can be interesting to some, but guess other science universities and cubesats, they'll be more taking piggybacks

It's actually closer to ~$30,000 per kg for the more favorable orbits. Obviously that still doesn't compare very favorably to the ~$5,000/kg that most modern large scale rockets can do, but there's some things to keep in mind:

- The Electron will get cheaper over time as the R&D costs get recouped

- The rockets that Electron is actually competing with (ROKOT et al) have similar, if not worse, cost rates and they still get regular business

- Secondary rideshare payloads on large launchers don't get the favorable rates of main payloads purchasing rockets directly; they're managed through several middlemen and cost a lot more per kg than the main payload does

- Buying a dedicated launher for your payload gives you so much more control over when to go to which orbit that it can simply make business sense to pay a little extra. If your satellite makes $2 million a year profit, and you have the option to launch today for $5 million or two years down the road for $2 million, you will most definitely launch today. Not only because you make a million dollars extra profit, but also because that's two years less for some competitor to one-up your offer and render your business model redundant.

Edited October 4, 2015 by Streetwind