Hi Everyone,I'm Nick Larcombe the Ripple Co-founder and President that Steven spoke too.Happy to answer some questions you all might have. Please don't take our website details as set in stone, they are changing pretty quick these days.
Quote from: Nick_Larcombe on 04/18/2018 02:59 pmHi Everyone,I'm Nick Larcombe the Ripple Co-founder and President that Steven spoke too.Happy to answer some questions you all might have. Please don't take our website details as set in stone, they are changing pretty quick these days.Hey Nick, brave to step into the cynic's den!There are bunch of US-based companies who have raised a lot of money recently. With PLD Space far ahead of the game in Europe, what's your plan to catch up and raise the money needed to fulfil your plans and beat those well-funded companies?
One of the bigger troubles we have atm is while many Non-Space VC's are interested in things they don't have the understanding or technical expertise to feel comfortable leading the round.
We are hoping to focus on operations (oceanic launch and refurbishment) and other rocket systems which are not receiving as much tech dev as engines. We figure the view is better from orbit rather than on the ground waiting for tech or additional resources to fully build in-house from the start.
Quote from: ringsider on 04/25/2018 06:01 pmHey Nick, brave to step into the cynic's den!
Hey Nick, brave to step into the cynic's den!
We are glad for every new launcher we see trying to reach the marketMore rockets mean more space missions. Go, humans!More trained and talented people with industry experience to hireA wider range of parts and suppliers to chose from.
The more rockets out there trying to launch means more people waiting for pads which makes our system shine even more.More rocket companies looking to us to help convert and run their oceanic ops when they get fed with land ops
I heard they went out of business years ago, but two subsidiaries took their place.
More on topic, it will interesting to see an aerospike nozzle operate on this size of launcher (or anysize for that matter :-).
We have been working on the sea serpent family for a little while now, one of the key things that draw us to oceanic rocketry is that it's much easier to scale up or down as needed.
Feel free to PM with any oceanic rocket data you might find.
As we are currently suffering a bad case of not being billionaires, we are able to move things around depending on resources and partners.
Everyone is building engines. While we have the goal of aerospike engine we at this point are looking to either build or buy engines depending on cash and time frames.
It's hard and full of unknowns but we are working towards the future in spite of that.
More questions?
On the engine side of things, I can already think of several possible sources in the US. Ursa Major comes to mind as the clearest option.
Quote from: Nick_Larcombe on 04/26/2018 07:50 amQuote from: ringsider on 04/25/2018 06:01 pmHey Nick, brave to step into the cynic's den!Yes, welcome, and thank you very much for being open to any questions here! It's a refreshing change that sets you apart from most other launch start-ups.Quote from: Nick_Larcombe on 04/26/2018 07:50 amWe are glad for every new launcher we see trying to reach the marketMore rockets mean more space missions. Go, humans!More trained and talented people with industry experience to hireA wider range of parts and suppliers to chose from.Quote from: Nick_Larcombe on 04/26/2018 07:50 amThe more rockets out there trying to launch means more people waiting for pads which makes our system shine even more.More rocket companies looking to us to help convert and run their oceanic ops when they get fed with land opsI have to say, that seems like a contradiction there. I agree with you that more launch companies means more parts and suppliers, which makes it better for all launch companies. But by the same logic lots of companies trying to launch from land should mean more pads get built, which makes it easier, not harder, for companies trying to launch from land.Maybe there's some reason you think that more customers means more suppliers of everything but pads?
I don't think its a contradiction but closer to factors at different rates. I think we can build ballast tanks faster then people can build launch pads and clear new ranges. Each new range will have its own issues while every time we build a ballast launch system we get better ( hopefully).
Where's Ripple?!