Very cool. For people running the numbers about launch costs, there's a lot more to it than just $/kg. There are very big constants in the cost of a launch (even though SpaceX can get 13150kg/61M$, I doubt they'll offer 1315kg/6.1M$), and having final say in launch timing and what orbit you get is worth a fair bit. For now, it's relatively cheap to hitch a ride as a secondary to the ISS (or ISS orbit), but 500km sun-synchronous is not nearly as easy to line up.<p>Comparable prices for small sats: Nanoracks quotes 60,000$/1U (usually ~1kg) to the ISS. Interorbital quotes 12,500$/kg at a 310km orbit (or 8,000$ to use their 0.75kg tubesat).
So... are these guys actually going to be able put up a payload and also is there anything really unique about what they're doing? 100kg seems like a pretty small satellite for a $5MM launch, though I must confess my ignorance of such matters for commercial launch systems.
I'm curious, given the stated figures (total thrust, rocket dimensions, payload to certain orbits), is it possible to calculate the specific impulse of this new engine (with the atmo nozzles, I suppose)? I couldn't find it on their page, and I'm not quite well-enough versed in rocketry to even know if there's sufficient information to figure it out.
Does anyone know what SpaceX's target cost per launch is compared to these guys (4.9M)?<p>Also, I'd never heard of Rocketlab before but it turns out that they're back by Khosla Ventures. Pretty cool.
Somehow for a product of rocketry class, a video of its CEO talking about just photo selfies and video streaming/other solved problems seems downright lame.<p>Talk about the capabilities of the rocket instead! The rocket looks cool though.
Unless they make their schematics and blueprints open-source, this isn't worth my time. Space needs to be fundamentally open, driven by visionaries like Musk and Bolden who care far more about the future of humanity than selling product. The hackneyed "open for business" commentator for the video and the seemingly copious patents they've filed for this vehicle don't give me much hope. A far more interesting venture is Copenhagen Suborbitals -- they've lost many key people over the years, but their vision is much more altruistic and deserves much more support than some VC-backed team who decided to apply the startup cash-grab culture to rocketry. (and yes, I do know that's an incredibly loaded thing to say on a web forum run by a VC)