https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/11/meet-launcher-a-company-building-a-rocket-engine-with-eight-employees/QuoteMeet Launcher, the rocket engine builder with just eight employeesThe company is making progress, completing a series of component tests in October.by Eric Berger - Nov 9, 2020 2:40pm GMTMax Haot is not your typical rocket scientist, and Launcher is not your typical rocket company.
Meet Launcher, the rocket engine builder with just eight employeesThe company is making progress, completing a series of component tests in October.by Eric Berger - Nov 9, 2020 2:40pm GMTMax Haot is not your typical rocket scientist, and Launcher is not your typical rocket company.
In 2019, the company built and tested a small prototype engine, "E-1." This was largely successful, so last month, the company took the first components of its E-2 engine to a test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. During the first two series of tests, Launcher proved that the test stand and its fuel injector, which mixes liquid oxygen and kerosene, performed well. The third test was to assess performance of the engine's 3D printed combustion chamber, where the fuels burn. This test did not go as well because three of the regenerative cooling channels were clogged and the chamber overheated.
Launcher E-2 test fire #3 on Oct. 23, 2020 at @NASAStennis (3D printed in Copper alloy, 22k-lbf thrust LOX/RP1 liquid 🚀 engine). Featuring a full scale engine nozzle for flight (First stage). Made possible with support from @DoDSpaceForce @AF_SBIR_STTR @AFWERX SBIR award.
Up next at Launcher: E-2 LOX pump and turbine unit test (being developed in parallel).
Our new Launcher E-2 liquid 🚀 engine test stand at @NASAStennis. A key facility and milestone for Launcher in 2020. We can’t wait to resume testing in early 2021 with E-2 combustion chamber SN2 and SN3 on hand.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 11/09/2020 03:32 pmhttps://arstechnica.com/science/2020/11/meet-launcher-a-company-building-a-rocket-engine-with-eight-employees/QuoteMeet Launcher, the rocket engine builder with just eight employeesThe company is making progress, completing a series of component tests in October.by Eric Berger - Nov 9, 2020 2:40pm GMTMax Haot is not your typical rocket scientist, and Launcher is not your typical rocket company.Something I didn't realize from that article back in November, and that I don't see acknowledged here, is that at the end Eric seems to say that Launcher Light will be their first rocket, not Rocket-1. There's even a render.Launcher Light is a concept we first saw on their LV calculator last summer. It uses 1x E-2 engine on the first stage instead of 4, for 149 kg to orbit.
Our first vehicle tank aluminum panel. Launcher is an engine first company - however, now is the time to start in parallel our structures design and manufacturing process development. 🚀
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1372618087036416002QuoteOur first vehicle tank aluminum panel. Launcher is an engine first company - however, now is the time to start in parallel our structures design and manufacturing process development. 🚀
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 03/18/2021 08:05 pmhttps://twitter.com/launcher/status/1372618087036416002QuoteOur first vehicle tank aluminum panel. Launcher is an engine first company - however, now is the time to start in parallel our structures design and manufacturing process development. 🚀Orthogrid, rather than hoop-and-stringer? Bold move -- ULA is doing that on Vulcan because it's the absolute highest performance and lowest weight, but it's also quite expensive and hand-crafted: even if the structure itself is CNCed, apparently bending the pieces is a labor-intensive manual process. Doesn't seem like a great choice for a company that wants to reduce the cost of access to space, or which is using a high-performance staged combustion engine to maybe not require everything else be maximally optimized too.
But it's very much in line with the perhaps the core principle of their design philosophy which is, to quote the biggest text on screen when you first enter their site, "Performance will in the small rocket race". Their belief is that a well managed company operating the highest performance and most efficient rocket is going to beat out competitors. I don't know what brought them to that conclusion, but that's their whole thing.
Quote from: JEF_300 on 03/18/2021 09:11 pmBut it's very much in line with the perhaps the core principle of their design philosophy which is, to quote the biggest text on screen when you first enter their site, "Performance will in the small rocket race". Their belief is that a well managed company operating the highest performance and most efficient rocket is going to beat out competitors. I don't know what brought them to that conclusion, but that's their whole thing.It's funny actually, a common thought about "how should you compete against SpaceX?" is "forget short-term profitability, forget about matching where SpaceX is today, build a vehicle which can compete with what SpaceX will have in a decade, and hope that when they get there, you'll have leapfrogged them." In a sense, this is Launcher's philosophy: don't match what the market has now, arrange such that even with years of iterative improvement, your competitors will all be bogged down by their early design decisions that didn't have a proper upgrade path, while you designed for the best version from the get-go.I'm somewhat skeptical that you can get to that ideal, optimal vehicle without years of flying a less-optimized version to truly understand what needs improvement, but it just might be crazy enough to work.
It spins! Launcher E-2 3D printed staged combustion LOX pump is fully assembled and ready to be mated to our turbine for testing at @nasastennis in April.
Specs: 25 kg/s driven by 1MW power, 275 Bar outlet pressure, 30,000 RPM. We have not yet seen anyone in the small launch community attempting a pump spec close to that.
Those fasteners look shiny enough to be 300 series stainless steel. If they are the yield strength is only 30ksi
Not stainless steel - a high-strength alloy is required.
BIG NEWS: We’ve moved to Los Angeles (Hawthorne) and are opening our HQ & Factory
Launcher opens California facility to develop small launch vehicleby Jeff Foust — March 26, 2021WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle company Launcher has moved across the country to California as it takes its next steps in the development of its rocket.Launcher, which had been based in New York City, is in the process of moving into a 24,000-square-foot building it is leasing in Hawthorne, California, a few blocks from the sprawling headquarters of SpaceX.
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1375454244673753089QuoteBIG NEWS: We’ve moved to Los Angeles (Hawthorne) and are opening our HQ & Factoryhttps://spacenews.com/launcher-opens-california-facility-to-develop-small-launch-vehicle/Quote Launcher opens California facility to develop small launch vehicleby Jeff Foust — March 26, 2021WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle company Launcher has moved across the country to California as it takes its next steps in the development of its rocket.Launcher, which had been based in New York City, is in the process of moving into a 24,000-square-foot building it is leasing in Hawthorne, California, a few blocks from the sprawling headquarters of SpaceX.
https://spacenews.com/launcher-opens-california-facility-to-develop-small-launch-vehicle/Quote from Spacenews article" Launcher, though, is sticking to a schedule that calls for beginning test launches in 2024 and moving into commercial service in 2026, several years after many of its competitors. Haot said he believe the market for small launch vehicles will remain strong for the foreseeable future, and that Launcher will be competitive based on the high efficiency of its E-2 engine."I wish them good luck but think they have uphill battle. By time they enter market in mid 20s the competition will be well established and in lot cases flying RLVs.
Quote from: TrevorMonty on 03/26/2021 07:05 pmhttps://spacenews.com/launcher-opens-california-facility-to-develop-small-launch-vehicle/Quote from Spacenews article" Launcher, though, is sticking to a schedule that calls for beginning test launches in 2024 and moving into commercial service in 2026, several years after many of its competitors. Haot said he believe the market for small launch vehicles will remain strong for the foreseeable future, and that Launcher will be competitive based on the high efficiency of its E-2 engine."I wish them good luck but think they have uphill battle. By time they enter market in mid 20s the competition will be well established and in lot cases flying RLVs.Their one advantage is extremely low headcount -- at present, just 20 people, 10 of whom are in Ukraine. So maybe they can survive long enough to actually reach launch purely on the virtue of "not running out of money." Although, in this article their CEO described their recent Series A round as "not enough to get us to orbit," so not spending too much money will apparently need to be coupled with "bringing in more money." If there's a "winnowing" of the launch market between now and 2024, that might become increasingly difficult.Side-note: is their "Launcher Light" vehicle going to have one E-2 engine on its first stage and also one E-2 engine on its second stage? That would be a very unusual architecture, to my knowledge; I thought having a second stage with 11% or less the thrust of the first stage was much more common.
One E-2 on the first stage, and pressure fed engines on the upper stages. Apparently, it will be a 3 stage rocket, which I suppose could make sense if you're going super tiny and expendable.