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#1480
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 25 Aug, 2020 00:08
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https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1298048812951298048 A sneak peek at our Maxwell dispensers lined up for a new mission in the coming weeks. These Maxwells will be integrated onto Electron's Kick Stage, and each CubeSat inside will be deployed to a precise and individual orbit. That's the beauty of rideshare on Electron.
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#1481
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 10 Sep, 2020 20:30
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#1482
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 15 Oct, 2020 20:53
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#1483
by
john smith 19
on 29 Oct, 2020 06:15
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Excellent news on the success of RL15.
I think their is still a possibility of doing RL17 and attempting a recovery before 2021, which would be exciting.
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#1484
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 30 Oct, 2020 18:08
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https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1322246909533118464 We just made in-space transportation even easier. After deploying 10 sats to perfect orbits for our customers on the #InFocus mission, the Kick Stage had one more trick up its sleeve. For the first time, we demonstrated a plane change maneuver.
twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1322247642873761797
The ability to change orbital inclinations means more flexibility for our customers, enabling them to position each and every satellite juuuuuust right. It also opens up an even wider range of missions possible from LC-1 and LC-2.
https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1322248030851014656 It’s just the latest capability demo from the Kick Stage. Across 15 missions, the Kick Stage has demonstrated orbit raising & lowering, constellation deployment, engine re-lights, inclination changes, hosted payload support & de-orbit capability.
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#1485
by
TrevorMonty
on 30 Oct, 2020 20:27
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I'd argue that RL Curie kickstage has being doing this for awhile. Either way its good news for cubesat and smallsat operators.
https://spacenews.com/d-orbit-demonstrates-ion/“Many people talk about this upcoming market of in-orbit transportation or last-mile delivery, filling the gap between the drop off condition provided by the launch vehicle and the target orbit relevant for the operational or business purposes of the end users,” Renato Panesi, D-Orbit chief commercial officer, told SpaceNews. “We have been able to fill that gap. We are the first in the world to do that.”
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#1486
by
TrevorMonty
on 30 Oct, 2020 20:32
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The best part? The Kick Stage lets you design your mission your way. Choose Electron and get launch plus space tug in one, or fly a Kick Stage on another launch vehicle and still enjoy tailored in-space transportation to your perfect orbit.
https://t.co/BOWXgjILco
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#1487
by
soltasto
on 02 Nov, 2020 09:20
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The best part? The Kick Stage lets you design your mission your way. Choose Electron and get launch plus space tug in one, or fly a Kick Stage on another launch vehicle and still enjoy tailored in-space transportation to your perfect orbit. https://t.co/BOWXgjILco
Feeling the competition from Momentus?
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#1488
by
TrevorMonty
on 02 Nov, 2020 14:42
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The best part? The Kick Stage lets you design your mission your way. Choose Electron and get launch plus space tug in one, or fly a Kick Stage on another launch vehicle and still enjoy tailored in-space transportation to your perfect orbit. https://t.co/BOWXgjILco
Feeling the competition from Momentus?
While Curie can fly on other LVs, how its sold maybe issue. Customers are ride services companies like Spaceflight that will purchase space on F9 and on sell it to few individual satellite customers. Larger satellite customers like Planet could buy Curie outright then fly on F9. RL could become flight services company and offer rides on F9 using Curie but at cost of Electron launches.
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#1489
by
TrevorMonty
on 02 Aug, 2022 07:29
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Good overview of Electron launch preparation, view from 1:25:00 mark. They do short engine fire at T -6:00:00, this quite few hours before fuelling so must add just enough for test fire. NB Rutherford uses spark igniters.
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#1490
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 08 Aug, 2022 18:29
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/peter-beck-explains-why-electron-may-only-ever-launch-10-15-times-a-year/Peter Beck explains why Electron may only ever launch 10-15 times a year
"Our cadence today is 100 percent driven by market demand."
by Eric Berger - Aug 8, 2022 5:32pm GMT
For a rocket named after a negatively charged particle, the Electron launch vehicle has generated a lot of positive news lately.
Rocket Lab's small booster has already tied its record for annual launches with six this year, and it recently stepped up its cadence to complete three Electron missions in just five weeks.
Later in the article:
"The reality is that we built everything to be able to launch once a week," Beck said.
Once again, as SpaceX found with F1, Rocket Lab are finding that the (high) market demand for smallsat launch just isn’t there.
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#1491
by
edzieba
on 08 Aug, 2022 22:30
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/peter-beck-explains-why-electron-may-only-ever-launch-10-15-times-a-year/
Peter Beck explains why Electron may only ever launch 10-15 times a year
"Our cadence today is 100 percent driven by market demand."
by Eric Berger - Aug 8, 2022 5:32pm GMT
For a rocket named after a negatively charged particle, the Electron launch vehicle has generated a lot of positive news lately.
Rocket Lab's small booster has already tied its record for annual launches with six this year, and it recently stepped up its cadence to complete three Electron missions in just five weeks.
Later in the article:
"The reality is that we built everything to be able to launch once a week," Beck said.
Once again, as SpaceX found with F1, Rocket Lab are finding that the (high) market demand for smallsat launch just isn’t there.
More like they're learning what SpaceX learnt with Falcon 9: without internal payloads, 10-15 commercial flights per year is a high mark. If you also skip CRS & CC, that would be more commercial launches than Falcanon 9 usually achieves per year.
Which is why Rocketlab are getting into spacecraft manufacture: if the launch market demand you expect to materialise to meet your supply
doesn't, make it yourself.
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#1492
by
M.E.T.
on 09 Aug, 2022 00:00
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/peter-beck-explains-why-electron-may-only-ever-launch-10-15-times-a-year/
Peter Beck explains why Electron may only ever launch 10-15 times a year
"Our cadence today is 100 percent driven by market demand."
by Eric Berger - Aug 8, 2022 5:32pm GMT
For a rocket named after a negatively charged particle, the Electron launch vehicle has generated a lot of positive news lately.
Rocket Lab's small booster has already tied its record for annual launches with six this year, and it recently stepped up its cadence to complete three Electron missions in just five weeks.
Later in the article:
"The reality is that we built everything to be able to launch once a week," Beck said.
Once again, as SpaceX found with F1, Rocket Lab are finding that the (high) market demand for smallsat launch just isn’t there.
More like they're learning what SpaceX learnt with Falcon 9: without internal payloads, 10-15 commercial flights per year is a high mark. If you also skip CRS & CC, that would be more commercial launches than Falcanon 9 usually achieves per year.
Which is why Rocketlab are getting into spacecraft manufacture: if the launch market demand you expect to materialise to meet your supply doesn't, make it yourself.
Not the correct take on this issue. See the 80+ launches just awarded by Kuiper to ULA and others, as just one example. If Electron was the right size, Rocketlab could have had a big share of that pie.
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#1493
by
trimeta
on 09 Aug, 2022 02:14
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/peter-beck-explains-why-electron-may-only-ever-launch-10-15-times-a-year/
Peter Beck explains why Electron may only ever launch 10-15 times a year
"Our cadence today is 100 percent driven by market demand."
by Eric Berger - Aug 8, 2022 5:32pm GMT
For a rocket named after a negatively charged particle, the Electron launch vehicle has generated a lot of positive news lately.
Rocket Lab's small booster has already tied its record for annual launches with six this year, and it recently stepped up its cadence to complete three Electron missions in just five weeks.
Later in the article:
"The reality is that we built everything to be able to launch once a week," Beck said.
Once again, as SpaceX found with F1, Rocket Lab are finding that the (high) market demand for smallsat launch just isn’t there.
More like they're learning what SpaceX learnt with Falcon 9: without internal payloads, 10-15 commercial flights per year is a high mark. If you also skip CRS & CC, that would be more commercial launches than Falcanon 9 usually achieves per year.
Which is why Rocketlab are getting into spacecraft manufacture: if the launch market demand you expect to materialise to meet your supply doesn't, make it yourself.
Not the correct take on this issue. See the 80+ launches just awarded by Kuiper to ULA and others, as just one example. If Electron was the right size, Rocketlab could have had a big share of that pie.
83 launches divided by five years is 16.6 launches per year. Considering those launches are distributed across three different providers (Vulcan, Ariane 6, New Glenn), "10-15 commercial flights per year" seems exactly right. Even if they
were all for one provider, that would be close enough to call the 10-15 estimate reasonably correct.
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#1494
by
M.E.T.
on 09 Aug, 2022 02:26
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/peter-beck-explains-why-electron-may-only-ever-launch-10-15-times-a-year/
Peter Beck explains why Electron may only ever launch 10-15 times a year
"Our cadence today is 100 percent driven by market demand."
by Eric Berger - Aug 8, 2022 5:32pm GMT
For a rocket named after a negatively charged particle, the Electron launch vehicle has generated a lot of positive news lately.
Rocket Lab's small booster has already tied its record for annual launches with six this year, and it recently stepped up its cadence to complete three Electron missions in just five weeks.
Later in the article:
"The reality is that we built everything to be able to launch once a week," Beck said.
Once again, as SpaceX found with F1, Rocket Lab are finding that the (high) market demand for smallsat launch just isn’t there.
More like they're learning what SpaceX learnt with Falcon 9: without internal payloads, 10-15 commercial flights per year is a high mark. If you also skip CRS & CC, that would be more commercial launches than Falcanon 9 usually achieves per year.
Which is why Rocketlab are getting into spacecraft manufacture: if the launch market demand you expect to materialise to meet your supply doesn't, make it yourself.
Not the correct take on this issue. See the 80+ launches just awarded by Kuiper to ULA and others, as just one example. If Electron was the right size, Rocketlab could have had a big share of that pie.
83 launches divided by five years is 16.6 launches per year. Considering those launches are distributed across three different providers (Vulcan, Ariane 6, New Glenn), "10-15 commercial flights per year" seems exactly right. Even if they were all for one provider, that would be close enough to call the 10-15 estimate reasonably correct.
A quick count over on the SpaceX manifest thread gives me around 35 non-Starlink launches for SpaceX in 2022. And that’s WITHOUT any of the 83 Kuiper launches.
So why is SpaceX able to hit 35 external launches a year but any other rocket is “limited to 10-15”?
Clearly it’s not about the market, but about having the right rocket at the right price.
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#1495
by
trimeta
on 09 Aug, 2022 03:25
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A quick count over on the SpaceX manifest thread gives me around 35 non-Starlink launches for SpaceX in 2022. And that’s WITHOUT any of the 83 Kuiper launches.
So why is SpaceX able to hit 35 external launches a year but any other rocket is “limited to 10-15”?
Clearly it’s not about the market, but about having the right rocket at the right price.
35 external-payload launches in a year would be very unusual, given that SpaceX launched six such missions in 2021 (not counting the two Transporter missions, three Crew Dragon missions, two Cargo Dragon missions, and two Starlink missions which had rideshares, all of which fall into "SpaceX making their own missions"). I suspect this is largely due to the sudden unavailability of Soyuz, and doesn't represent a general pattern of Falcon 9's ability to capture market share in a world where literally any other rocket is available.
In other words, it's having the right rocket at the right price
at the right time, specifically a time when you have total market monopoly. It's understandable that no one else is counting on that happening for them.
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#1496
by
M.E.T.
on 09 Aug, 2022 03:40
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A quick count over on the SpaceX manifest thread gives me around 35 non-Starlink launches for SpaceX in 2022. And that’s WITHOUT any of the 83 Kuiper launches.
So why is SpaceX able to hit 35 external launches a year but any other rocket is “limited to 10-15”?
Clearly it’s not about the market, but about having the right rocket at the right price.
35 external-payload launches in a year would be very unusual, given that SpaceX launched six such missions in 2021 (not counting the two Transporter missions, three Crew Dragon missions, two Cargo Dragon missions, and two Starlink missions which had rideshares, all of which fall into "SpaceX making their own missions"). I suspect this is largely due to the sudden unavailability of Soyuz, and doesn't represent a general pattern of Falcon 9's ability to capture market share in a world where literally any other rocket is available.
In other words, it's having the right rocket at the right price at the right time, specifically a time when you have total market monopoly. It's understandable that no one else is counting on that happening for them.
Tim Ellis seems to be very bullish on the addressable market.
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#1497
by
trimeta
on 09 Aug, 2022 03:45
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A quick count over on the SpaceX manifest thread gives me around 35 non-Starlink launches for SpaceX in 2022. And that’s WITHOUT any of the 83 Kuiper launches.
So why is SpaceX able to hit 35 external launches a year but any other rocket is “limited to 10-15”?
Clearly it’s not about the market, but about having the right rocket at the right price.
35 external-payload launches in a year would be very unusual, given that SpaceX launched six such missions in 2021 (not counting the two Transporter missions, three Crew Dragon missions, two Cargo Dragon missions, and two Starlink missions which had rideshares, all of which fall into "SpaceX making their own missions"). I suspect this is largely due to the sudden unavailability of Soyuz, and doesn't represent a general pattern of Falcon 9's ability to capture market share in a world where literally any other rocket is available.
In other words, it's having the right rocket at the right price at the right time, specifically a time when you have total market monopoly. It's understandable that no one else is counting on that happening for them.
Tim Ellis seems to be very bullish on the addressable market.
"Very bullish" doesn't necessarily mean "more than 10-15 flights per year for a single provider." Especially considering that by the time Terran-R is coming online, there will be Falcon 9/Heavy, Starship, Vulcan, Ariane 6, H3, New Glenn, and possibly Neutron, Antares 330, and Firefly Beta. If the business case for any of those requires >30 commercially-procured launches per year for a single provider, that provider is going to fail.
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#1498
by
M.E.T.
on 09 Aug, 2022 03:56
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A quick count over on the SpaceX manifest thread gives me around 35 non-Starlink launches for SpaceX in 2022. And that’s WITHOUT any of the 83 Kuiper launches.
So why is SpaceX able to hit 35 external launches a year but any other rocket is “limited to 10-15”?
Clearly it’s not about the market, but about having the right rocket at the right price.
35 external-payload launches in a year would be very unusual, given that SpaceX launched six such missions in 2021 (not counting the two Transporter missions, three Crew Dragon missions, two Cargo Dragon missions, and two Starlink missions which had rideshares, all of which fall into "SpaceX making their own missions"). I suspect this is largely due to the sudden unavailability of Soyuz, and doesn't represent a general pattern of Falcon 9's ability to capture market share in a world where literally any other rocket is available.
In other words, it's having the right rocket at the right price at the right time, specifically a time when you have total market monopoly. It's understandable that no one else is counting on that happening for them.
Tim Ellis seems to be very bullish on the addressable market.
"Very bullish" doesn't necessarily mean "more than 10-15 flights per year for a single provider." Especially considering that by the time Terran-R is coming online, there will be Falcon 9/Heavy, Starship, Vulcan, Ariane 6, H3, New Glenn, and possibly Neutron, Antares 330, and Firefly Beta. If the business case for any of those requires >30 commercially-procured launches per year for a single provider, that provider is going to fail.
Almost certainly he was projecting a MUCH higher flight rate than 15 a year. Else the development of Terran R is simply not warranted.
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#1499
by
JayWee
on 09 Aug, 2022 05:24
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... Tim Ellis Terran-R flightrate ...
Almost certainly he was projecting a MUCH higher flight rate than 15 a year. Else the development of Terran R is simply not warranted.
Hypothetically - Oneweb V2 competitor to Starlink V2 ?
As Kuiper2 will most likely go to Blue (or maybe that could get spread too?).