Stoke Space - a new aerospace company out of Washington

[GuessingEveryDay]

They have built engines, and part of the second stage, which will have an annular aerospike. Color me interested.

Dem some nice diamonds.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by GuessingEveryDay
Video still won't embed.

[NFUN]

I'm stoked

[GuessingEveryDay]

@tater Looks like we gotta add this to the database.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Wen hop? 

[wumpus]

"second stage, which will have an annular aerospike"  Any idea why?  Presumably the first stage (assuming they build one, it might not make sense to compete in that area) would also be an aerospike, but traditionally it makes no sense in vacuum.

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, wumpus said:

"second stage, which will have an annular aerospike"  Any idea why?  Presumably the first stage (assuming they build one, it might not make sense to compete in that area) would also be an aerospike, but traditionally it makes no sense in vacuum.

I assume they want to land the second stage.

[Beccab]

1 hour ago, wumpus said:

"second stage, which will have an annular aerospike"  Any idea why?  Presumably the first stage (assuming they build one, it might not make sense to compete in that area) would also be an aerospike, but traditionally it makes no sense in vacuum.

 

2 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

I assume they want to land the second stage.

Yep that's for sure given how the fairing opens. Though what are the advantages? Landing takes very little propellant compared to the rest, so I assume they believe that the engine doubling as a heat shield must be a big enough advantage to be worth the additional complexity and (presumably) high development cost and time

[magnemoe]

1 hour ago, Beccab said:

 

Yep that's for sure given how the fairing opens. Though what are the advantages? Landing takes very little propellant compared to the rest, so I assume they believe that the engine doubling as a heat shield must be a big enough advantage to be worth the additional complexity and (presumably) high development cost and time

Agree also the landing legs on second stage, now an aerospike might be easier to cover up than an traditional vacuum engine because its short and it can be used for landing feeding just some chambers. 
I like this, you have to be prepared not only for first stage but also second stage recovery to be in the rocket launch business in 20 years, probably shorter. 

Now this does not apply to second tire nations who want an launch capability for national security reasons like Israel or Brazil.

[Beccab]

16 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Agree also the landing legs on second stage, now an aerospike might be easier to cover up than an traditional vacuum engine because its short and it can be used for landing feeding just some chambers. 
I like this, you have to be prepared not only for first stage but also second stage recovery to be in the rocket launch business in 20 years, probably shorter. 

With an aerospike it can also be more easily used for p2p transportation, which isn't a bad thing to have considering the air force showing interest in that