Author Topic: Lockheed Martin proposing launcher for 150kg from Scotland  (Read 8887 times)

Offline ringsider

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 714
  • Liked: 506
  • Likes Given: 97
Lockheed Martin consortium backs a site in Sutherland as Britain’s first base for launching rockets into orbit

A remote peninsula on Scotland’s north coast could be the launchpad for Britain’s space ambitions after plans emerged for a rocket base in Sutherland.

A consortium that includes Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace firm, believes that the A’Mhoine peninsula, between Dounreay and Cape Wrath, is the best location in Britain for a facility from which satellites can be cata- pulted into orbit on the back of 20m rockets.
.
.
.
"Up to eight rocket launches could be made a year, with each capable of carrying a 150kg payload*. This could include many as 12 small cube satellites that could be dropped into a 575-mile orbit above Earth.

--

* Which rocket would this be if not Rocket Lab Electron, in which LM has an equity stake?

Athena I / II has a bigger payload.
« Last Edit: 07/10/2017 07:11 am by ringsider »

Offline AnalogMan

  • Member
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3431
  • Cambridge, UK
  • Liked: 1602
  • Likes Given: 50

Offline Lars-J

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6809
  • California
  • Liked: 8485
  • Likes Given: 5384
Which rocket would this be if not Rocket Lab Electron, in which LM has an equity stake?

It is indeed the RL Electron.

Offline Asteroza

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2836
  • Liked: 1084
  • Likes Given: 33
So for launch from Scotland, I wonder if it is cheaper/easier to use Surrey Space Labs as the sat builder/integrator...

Offline AncientU

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6257
  • Liked: 4164
  • Likes Given: 6078
Lockheed Martin consortium backs a site in Sutherland as Britain’s first base for launching rockets into orbit

A remote peninsula on Scotland’s north coast could be the launchpad for Britain’s space ambitions after plans emerged for a rocket base in Sutherland.

A consortium that includes Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace firm, believes that the A’Mhoine peninsula, between Dounreay and Cape Wrath, is the best location in Britain for a facility from which satellites can be cata- pulted into orbit on the back of 20m rockets.
.
.
.
"Up to eight rocket launches could be made a year, with each capable of carrying a 150kg payload*. This could include many as 12 small cube satellites that could be dropped into a 575-mile orbit above Earth.

--

* Which rocket would this be if not Rocket Lab Electron, in which LM has an equity stake?

Athena I / II has a bigger payload.

Ahtena has been dropped by LM AFAIK.
Would it be worth building a launch facility in a remote region for 1.2t/yr. to orbit?
"If we shared everything [we are working on] people would think we are insane!"
-- SpaceX friend of mlindner

Offline speedevil

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4406
  • Fife
  • Liked: 2762
  • Likes Given: 3369
Ahtena has been dropped by LM AFAIK.
Would it be worth building a launch facility in a remote region for 1.2t/yr. to orbit?

Looking at the scale of the pad infrastructure in the past launches, it looks doable with a guy with a wheelbarrow and a cement mixer in a couple of days.



You could fairly easily make the erector portable in a small number of standard truck loads,
Or even a completely unimproved site with a portable launcher.

Security might almost be more of a headache than base infrastructure.

Offline GraniteHound92

  • Member
  • Posts: 67
  • Liked: 33
  • Likes Given: 63
It rains something like 200 days out of the year in that part of Scotland. That could severely limit launch windows.

https://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Cape_Wrath/statistics.html

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0