QuoteTanks Have Arrived!Our tanks are in the EXOS shop!You may have heard that a tornado hit the Michoud facility. (We are so grateful that only minor injuries were reported, but you can read the rest of the update, here).Our tanks are manufactured in the Michoud facility. The tornado delayed the tank completion and their delivery, but we are now moving on to the final assembly and final test!We will need to recapture some time to make our projected April launch date, but we are still pressing on to see how close we can get to our projected date.Of course, our safety process and risk mitigation activities will not be compromised to make the April date, but we are pushing within those limits!http://exosaero.com/2017/03/13/tanks-have-arrived/
Tanks Have Arrived!Our tanks are in the EXOS shop!You may have heard that a tornado hit the Michoud facility. (We are so grateful that only minor injuries were reported, but you can read the rest of the update, here).Our tanks are manufactured in the Michoud facility. The tornado delayed the tank completion and their delivery, but we are now moving on to the final assembly and final test!We will need to recapture some time to make our projected April launch date, but we are still pressing on to see how close we can get to our projected date.Of course, our safety process and risk mitigation activities will not be compromised to make the April date, but we are pushing within those limits!
Well since you showed up I will do the courteous thing and ask a few questions:-1) Isn't the market quite crowded now? What will allow you to succeed vs. others?Yes the market is crowded, but who is actually flying suborbital not just talking about it? Blue, Up, and NASA's BB. We feel that we will succeed because of our reusability. Our SARGE rocket is very durable. 2) Do your plans include orbital services?Yes, but thats all I can comment on for now. 3) Are you an all-aluminum shop, or is CFRP on the horizon?All aluminium (AvE reference) 4) What do you think the teenagers over at Relativity Space are up to?I do not know, but I wish them the best
G'day Brett,Thanks for letting us ask you questions. That is much appreciated. I see you have a suborbital launch planned for April. Can you tell us the name of the launch vehicle, what payloads are being carried and the current planned date for the launch? Thanks!Yes, we are scheduled for April, however the FAA is pushing our launch license to May so the April timeframe will probably not happen. The name of the launch vehicle is SARGE. It's an updated and upgraded Stig B. This mission will be called Pathfinder 0.We are carrying various different payloads for universities that are CONUS and one in India. We also will have some FAA projects onboard as well. The next flight gets much more interesting.
1) Isn't the market quite crowded now? What will allow you to succeed vs. others?Yes the market is crowded, but who is actually flying suborbital not just talking about it? Blue, Up, and NASA's BB. We feel that we will succeed because of our reusability. Our SARGE rocket is very durable.
Quote from: EXOSBrett on 03/20/2017 01:08 pm1) Isn't the market quite crowded now? What will allow you to succeed vs. others?Yes the market is crowded, but who is actually flying suborbital not just talking about it? Blue, Up, and NASA's BB. We feel that we will succeed because of our reusability. Our SARGE rocket is very durable. Beautiful ! More flights, less grandiose announcements definitely needed from the industry.This might be too early to ask, but what kind of turnaround time between experiment flights you might be able to aim for ?
Will you launch out of Spaceport America? Will you still use the Wamore parafoil system?
Quote from: Kansan52 on 03/20/2017 02:41 pmWill you launch out of Spaceport America? Will you still use the Wamore parafoil system?Yes and Yes. We did some drop test with the recovery system and everything worked according to plan.
Quote from: EXOSBrett on 03/20/2017 02:56 pmQuote from: Kansan52 on 03/20/2017 02:41 pmWill you launch out of Spaceport America? Will you still use the Wamore parafoil system?Yes and Yes. We did some drop test with the recovery system and everything worked according to plan. Are you sharing a pad with Up with mobile fueling stations? Or did you pour concrete for a brand new pad? To facilitate the projected 2 launches/week, do you have a hanger in Spaceport to support operations there?
I'm so looking forward to this!
Thanks very much for answering my questions Brett. Best of luck for your first launch of SARGE.Can you give us some specs for SARGE? Like propellants used, propellant mass, dry mass, payload mass, thrust, Isp, maximum altitude, length and diameter?Does SARGE stand for anything?Will you be doing a webcast of the launch?
If you have a regulator already, what is gained by switching over to blowdown?
