Smallest/Lightest Rocket Capable of Achieving Stable Orbit?

[Yeomans]

This is actually a bit of a thought I've been toying around with recently. What I'm wondering is, what's the smallest and/or lightest rocket capable of achieving orbit? The idea is that a smaller or lighter rocket would be either less costly, or easier to build in a non-commercial environment. I'm not actually planning to build my own orbit capable rocket (for several reasons), but for some reason the idea really piqued my interest.

What do you guys think?

[Foamy]

Well the three smallest/lightest rockets to ever put something in orbit are:

Black Arrow

Lambda 4S

Vanguard

All three were from 1950-1970 so the technology now should be able to offer improvements but I'd be surprised if we've advanced enough to have a big impact there. Interestingly hobbyist's are getting pretty close to this size of rocket, although not weight and capability.

[Enture]

You could also take a look at the Diamant rocket, the first non-US and non-USSR orbit-capable rocket, entirely designed and built by the CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales), the French Space Agency. It put France's first satellite in orbit, in 1965.

It was between 19 and 23m in height, and was launched from Algeria & French Guiana.

EDIT: in modern times, one of the smallest orbit-capable rockets actually exploited must be SpaceX's Falcon-1.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Enture

[Yeomans]

These are pretty cool, I've heard a lot about the Falcon 1. The idea of Civilians or small corporations putting satellites into space is pretty interesting to me, ad Manned Spaceflight even moreso.

One day it'll probably be possible for civilians to send themselves in rockets into space, which I think is pretty cool.

[Foamy]

One day it'll probably be possible for civilians to send themselves in rockets into space, which I think is pretty cool.

Won't be too long to wait at the rate these guys are going: http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/spacecraft_intro.php

[Aescwulf]

Won't be too long to wait at the rate these guys are going: http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/spacecraft_intro.php

Yeah I was looking through and I'm really impressed

[TouhouTorpedo]

Copenhagen Suborbitals have some amazing technical knowledge, facilities, sponsors and project management, but seem to fall over on the systems side. Each component is quite fascinating, then when the whole is put together becomes a disaster. Wrecking the capsule recently is a real disapointment - and to basic rocket stability, no less.

The problem with making smaller rockets, is any volume starts getting a higher area ratio, so walls on thin tanks for instance get heavier for what they hold, and smaller objects tend to have higher drag coeffecients than larger ones, so they also suffer leaving the atmosphere.

[Tommygun]

Interesting stuff. I really like that compact Black Arrow.

That Brahe rocket looks like something a green little Grot should be piloting.

[MaverickSawyer]

What about the NASA Scout rocket?

[Thiel]

For what it's worth, there's no reason to limit yourself to Helium. Hydrogen is significantly cheaper and has better lifting capabilities.

True, there's safety issues, but we're not carrying humans so they should be manageable.