Rocket Lab announce Neutron

[MartG]

Rocket Lab are going big - Neutron is an '8 tonne class' reusable launch vehicle which will be man-rated. First launch targeted for 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agqxJw5ISdk

[Quisling]

mmmm hat flavour

[Beati Dogu]

An interesting development from them. 40 meters high in total, so a bit shorter than a Falcon 9 booster. it looks a little wider than a Falcon 9 though. The fairing doesn’t flare out, so it appears to be 4.5 meters in diameter all the way. The Falcon 9 is 3.7 meters in diameter.

It’ll also have fold out legs and will land out on a sea platform like a Falcon 9. They plan to operate it from Wallops in Virginia, USA.

[eharding]

Beati Dogu said:

An interesting development from them. 40 meters high in total, so a bit shorter than a Falcon 9 booster. it looks a little wider than a Falcon 9 though. The fairing doesn’t flare out, so it appears to be 4.5 meters in diameter all the way. The Falcon 9 is 3.7 meters in diameter.

It’ll also have fold out legs and will land out on a sea platform like a Falcon 9. They plan to operate it from Wallops in Virginia, USA.

Scott Manley has some interesting speculation that they might be bidding to replace the expendable part-Russian Antares with a 100% made-in-merka reusable alternative.

[Beati Dogu]

Yes I saw that. It’s a good point.

[GTO-3R]

Wow, this is going to be pretty special if it works like in the video with full recovery and non-detaching fairings. Love what Rocket Lab do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0thW57QeDM

[dukeboy749r]

Defo a swipe or three at a certain Mr. E Musk.

I wish them every success.

Pragmatic, forward-thinking and yet realistic (i.e. achievable with today's technology).

All power to them.

[Beati Dogu]

It's an interesting and clever concept. A skeletal upper stage protected by the clam shell fairings. Good luck to them.

[anonymous-user]

I love this concept. A totally different way of solving a problem and I can't wait to see it develop. The fairing is extremely cool and I hope they might look at recovering hubble once it's out of use (I know this would be very, very difficult to secure it)!

I am not an Elon megafan, but I thought the swipes at stainless were maybe a bit unfair considering the very different vehicles Neutron and Starship are.

Edited by F20CN16 on Friday 3rd December 14:35

[annodomini2]

[annodomini2]

F20CN16 said:

I love this concept. A totally different way of solving a problem and I can't wait to see it develop. The fairing is extremely cool and I hope they might look at recoving hubble once it's out of use (I know this would be very, very difficult to secure it)!

I am not an Elon megafan, but I thought the swipes at stainless were a maybe a bit unfair considering the very different vehicles Neutron and Starship are.

It's spin as always, when you're build only a few material costs are insignificant compared to development costs.

If Elon achieves his goal of building a 1000 or more of them, then material costs are more significant.

Also composites need a lot more tooling, which is counterproductive to SpaceX's rapid iteration approach, whether or not you believe that is the right approach is debatable.

[dukeboy749r]

annodomini2 said:

F20CN16 said:

I love this concept. A totally different way of solving a problem and I can't wait to see it develop. The fairing is extremely cool and I hope they might look at recoving hubble once it's out of use (I know this would be very, very difficult to secure it)!

I am not an Elon megafan, but I thought the swipes at stainless were a maybe a bit unfair considering the very different vehicles Neutron and Starship are.

It's spin as always, when you're build only a few material costs are insignificant compared to development costs.

If Elon achieves his goal of building a 1000 or more of them, then material costs are more significant.

Also composites need a lot more tooling, which is counterproductive to SpaceX's rapid iteration approach, whether or not you believe that is the right approach is debatable.

I would have thought that a) |elon will also have to adopt composites, going forward and that b) it isn't a rapid iteration of the design that is driving Elon, it is the failure of engines and software and as such, the material he uses is, (forgive me) immaterial.

[annodomini2]

dukeboy749r said:

annodomini2 said:

F20CN16 said:

I love this concept. A totally different way of solving a problem and I can't wait to see it develop. The fairing is extremely cool and I hope they might look at recoving hubble once it's out of use (I know this would be very, very difficult to secure it)!

I am not an Elon megafan, but I thought the swipes at stainless were a maybe a bit unfair considering the very different vehicles Neutron and Starship are.

It's spin as always, when you're build only a few material costs are insignificant compared to development costs.

If Elon achieves his goal of building a 1000 or more of them, then material costs are more significant.

Also composites need a lot more tooling, which is counterproductive to SpaceX's rapid iteration approach, whether or not you believe that is the right approach is debatable.

I would have thought that a) |elon will also have to adopt composites, going forward and that b) it isn't a rapid iteration of the design that is driving Elon, it is the failure of engines and software and as such, the material he uses is, (forgive me) immaterial.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.space.com/amp/431...

[Ian974]

This does look like a great concept, and will be excellent to see it up and running.
A very different beast to how starship is developing, but they're boing going in the direction things should be.
It's remarkable that after such a short time a non recoverable first stage has gone from being the norm to almost seeming archaic.