Vector Launch (formerly Vector Space Systems)

[ringsider]

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1112718972317765633

"Then there has been the mass of the vehicle itself. The rocket's engines and their novel use of a liquid oxygen and liquid propylene fuel have worked as intended, but the fuel tanks were too heavy."

Seems like they would have known the mass of the tanks when they bought the tanks from their subcontractor, like a year ago? If they did then that may mean they are finding out that the tanks are on spec but the engines are under-powered. That would explain this fundamental change very nicely:-

"Therefore, the company now plans to move directly from the suborbital test launch into a vehicle with larger tanks and more capable LP-1 engines."

Also this is awesome:-

"The company now has 170 workers, and Cantrell said Vector's demand for engineers has exceeded his original estimates. To date, Vector has raised just over $98 million, and it will need another "growth capital" round as it seeks to bring the Vector-R vehicle to the launch pad, and scale the company from development into operations. "

Peter Beck must be laughing himself to sleep.

[Davidthefat]

Lockheed Martin is trolling Vector 

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/vector.html

Lockheed Martin Corp. expanded its business line April 1 with the introduction of Vector, a fragrance designed to capture the aroma of space.

https://spacenews.com/lockheed-martin-fragrance-april-1/

Hilarious.  Now Jimmy has someone else to sue.

Wasn't there a lawsuit regarding Vector because there is another aerospace company also named Vector that has been operating for decades?

https://www.spacevector.com/CMS/customers

Looks they have actual flight hardware that went to space.

[novak]

They probably have around ~40 Mln in the bank still, giving them almost 1 year of runway still.

I won't speculate on how much they've burned through to date, though your estimate seems plausible.  But at ~170 employees, I would guess that they can't get by on much less than $1M/week.  Probably, if they could spend more like 2x that amount, they'd have a clean shot to at least be close to their launch date, optimistic though it is.  Trying to maximize runway by minimizing costs will result in more vendor delays and more work for them- and an even more certain delay of their first launch.

It's unfortunate for Vector but it's exactly what I expected when they continuously failed to deliver "next month."  A pressure-fed launch vehicle has very slim margins so attempting to build it a record pace is the perfect recipe for something that looks good on the ground but can't make orbit. 

[QuantumG]

Guys, I really don't care if he's getting his cashflow from pyramid selling Tupperware in the Florida retirement communities. More rockets please.

[ringsider]

And also, crunchbase disagrees with you in that they list a convertible note event AFTER the Series A that could coincide with the ~20m in notes that show up in the Series B.

Hmm. So I agree that is interesting. But can you find any other reference to that event outside Crunchbase? I can't see it anywhere else, it says announced in March 2018, but I don't see any other reference to it anywhere.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/jamesncantrell/status/1116506840492175360

The Vector-R has landed.  Our 1001 arrived at the @vectorspacesys Arizona Test Site this evening marking a major company milestone.

[gongora]

Vector filed an FCC request for a sub-orbital (<4km altitude) flight from one of 8 launch sites (they'll pick one later) between May and October 
0754-EX-ST-2019

[ringsider]

Vector filed an FCC request for a sub-orbital (<4km altitude) flight

At that altitude they don't need radio - they could shout at it to send commands.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Vector filed an FCC request for a sub-orbital (<4km altitude) flight from one of 8 launch sites (they'll pick one later) between May and October 
0754-EX-ST-2019

This is probably for Vector-R B0.003.

[ringsider]

Back down on Earth (not that we got far off it at 4km), the complaint against Lockheed's satellites follows:-

https://litigationtools.maxval-ip.com/UnifiedPatentViewDocument/home/index?caseid=224029

If I read it correct on P7 they are basically saying that Lockheed is infringing becasue they a) send a program to the sat that changes what the sat does and b) the program is run in one of several VMs that are supervized by effectively a scheduler.

[pippin]

And that’s supposed to be patent worthy? Is there no prior art? Did anybody already file a patent for using screws on a satellite?
Trivial patents are such a PITA these days...

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/jamesncantrell/status/1123157701746278401

Lots of progress the past few weeks @vectorspacesys with our 1001 vehicle shipping out to the Arizona Test Site where it’s undergoing stage level testing.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1126120350037741569

Robert Cleave, Vector: first launch this summer, with a critical test for that in the coming days. #SATShow

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/jamesncantrell/status/1127224611693707264

Image from a tour last week of our stage level testing facility with the 1001 Vector-R first stage on the Vertical Test Stand @vectorspacesys.  A lot of firsts accomplished with cryo loading and de-tanking in preparation for full duration test firing.

https://twitter.com/jamesncantrell/status/1127225184853708800

The Vector-R 1001 vehicle with a full load of liquid oxygen and partial load of cryogenic propylene.  Filled in less than an hour and de-tanked in about 90 minutes.  Flare stack is part of how we create cryogenic propylene and keep it chilled @vectorspacesys

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Interview with Vector’s Robert Cleave, the chief revenue officer (previously at Lockheed)

Pentagon’s ‘on-demand’ space launch challenge presents host of challenges
Small launch startup Vector discusses the inherent difficulties of sending a payload aloft on short notice.
By JACQUELINE KLIMAS 05/17/2019 06:45 AM EDT

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/17/pentagon-space-vector-interview-1329858

Interesting contrast between big/established companies and new ones:

If you look at Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, Raytheon … you test and test and test and test until you’re done. That costs a lot of money. That’s why their stuff is so expensive. I found it ironic and disappointing when I was at Lockheed that people would applaud when SpaceX had a failure. If Lockheed had a failure, do you think people would applaud? No … There’s no way they could have a failure. ULA can not have a failure whatsoever. With SpaceX, it’s no problem. In fact, let’s make a blooper reel out of it. If you really want to get into cutting edge, think about the ‘60s. … They took all kinds of risks and all kinds of failures happened and it was acceptable. So society’s image of what’s acceptable and what’s not, there’s really a different lens for both of those companies.

[PM3]

Interesting contrast between big/established companies and new ones:

I would not take that too serious, also in the light of Lockeed Martin's April prank. 

Here are some contrary statements:

https://twitter.com/OldGoatMan/status/1129384089612632065

https://twitter.com/VAXHeadroom/status/1129358928998010881

[FutureSpaceTourist]

I believe mission 1002 is intended to be the first orbital one?

https://twitter.com/jamesncantrell/status/1135266431141130242

Vector-R vehicle for mission 1002 being assembled vectorlaunch in @BuyTucson @ Tucson, Arizona instagram.com/p/ByOBQnmloZt/…

[FlattestEarth]

Some new videos

[tyrred]

Some new videos

Thanks for posting this. I have a stupid question.

What is up with the downward diagonal orientation of the plume on this video?  Camera artifact?

[Steven Pietrobon]

What is up with the downward diagonal orientation of the plume on this video?  Camera artifact?

Yes. Unfortunately, many modern cameras use a rolling shutter, which causes severe picture distortion when the image changes faster than the capture rate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter