Clamp-o-Tron Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Electron is off! Good stage 1 burn. Stage 2 ignition is good, up out of the gravity well Strix-A goes. There’s a really nice shot of the Rutherford vac- I hope someone ports that plume into Waterfall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 (edited) Kick stage separated. I mean I kinda wish that the kick stage have cameras on it, but I suppose a camera is simply too heavy at the mass scales of the kick stage... Edited December 15, 2020 by YNM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clamp-o-Tron Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 2 minutes ago, YNM said: Kick stage separated. I mean I kinda wish that the kick stage have cameras on it, but I suppose a camera is simply too heavy at the mass scales of the kick stage... I mean, how much more could a space-rated camera weigh? Compact cameras I’ve owned weighed less than .25 kilos. My suspicion is that it’s a telemetry bandwith bottleneck where they don’t want to waste their connection on video when other data might be more useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Clamp-o-Tron said: I mean, how much more could a space-rated camera weigh? Compact cameras I’ve owned weighed less than .25 kilos. My suspicion is that it’s a telemetry bandwith bottleneck where they don’t want to waste their connection on video when other data might be more useful. And I suppose the kick stage doesn't necessarily fire immediately after the 2nd stage either, so they'd have to somehow make the camera lasts through that, or make a way for the camera to be turned on after. True that they may be using GoPros etc. though, as the 360 cam from the inside looks really close to the footage of 360 GoPros. Sadly RocketLab hasn't made public the mass ratios and ISP of the kick stage. Plus any camera on the 2nd stage upward is not going to be recovered, so that's some extra hardware and money spent. GoPros are pretty expensive... at least to me. Edited December 15, 2020 by YNM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clamp-o-Tron Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 GoPros are really in the Rocket Lab “gaming headset” ethos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 (edited) Fingers crossed nobody is hurt.... Edit: A Rocket Lab spokesperson said that the crash wasn't related to Rocket Lab operations. Edited December 15, 2020 by RealKerbal3x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanRising Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 (edited) If you’re superstitious, that’s probably a bad omen for the recovery operations. Thankfully I don’t think Rocket Lab is. And yes, I hope to hear everyone's fine over there. EDIT: Ok, the news site updated. Looked like there was only the pilot in the helicopter, and they "sustained moderate injuries," which hopefully means they'll live. But I guess that turns out to be kind of OT. Edited December 17, 2020 by RyanRising Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 Gotta love those names Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 I was wondering why the planned stream was taken down... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Livestream link up : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Live Looks sorta windy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 They've been in a hold for ground winds for a while now. At least they have cool music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 A very norminal launch once again! Well done Rocket Lab! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 6 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said: A very norminal launch once again! Well done Rocket Lab! Gave up waiting and went to bed, glad it went well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 A mid sized Neutron vehicle... interesting. They have at least been launching things, and can be a fast follower of SpaceX if they play their cards right. The smallsat market is overfull of startups, and I honestly think it's a very short term, dead end market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 EAT THAT HAT PETER!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanRising Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 I wonder if they'll be able to make a medium launch vehicle with the appropriate amount of quirky Rocket Lab charm. You lose some of it from not having electric pumps on your engines or being able to strap the rocket to the top of your car for a camping trip, so they'll have to make it up in other areas. I'm sure they'd command interest even in an oversaturated smallsat market on account of their successes, but I can't blame them for wanting to diversify, seeing the wave of optimistic smallsat launchers trying to swim. Everyone and their mother seems to want a piece of that market, likely because a small rocket is easier to pitch than a large one. Kinda feels like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Welp, He Has Eaten The Hat. Twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 From https://www.rocketlabusa.com/rockets/neutron/ Quote Neutron features a reusable first stage designed to land on an ocean platform, enabling a high launch cadence and decreased launch costs for customers. This is getting me really excited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YNM Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 (edited) Clean-slate medium launch vehicle, about the size of an Antares (fairly larger diameter though)... Would they start to stretch it ? Put extra stuff on the side ? A curse of 12 Electrons + 1 Neutron ? 8-ton capsule gross weight sounds fairly lightweight, so I assume only private missions for 'tourism'. Edited March 1, 2021 by YNM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh1pman Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 21 minutes ago, YNM said: 8-ton capsule gross weight sounds fairly lightweight, so I assume only private missions for 'tourism'. Why? Soyuz spacecraft weighs 7.2 tons, and I’ve never heard anyone calling it lightweight. And it was designed as a Moon ship with autonomous flight duration of ~18 days. So, with an 8-ton spacecraft you can do all kinds of missions in LEO, to ISS and other stations, and even assemble a Moon ship by docking with a transfer stage and possibly a lander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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