Iran launches another satellite
Discussion
Iran has launched a second satellite into orbit ( http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1106/17iran/ )
Rather galling that an industrialised nation such as ourselves no longer have this capability when Iran does :-(
Rather galling that an industrialised nation such as ourselves no longer have this capability when Iran does :-(
MartG said:
Iran has launched a second satellite into orbit ( http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1106/17iran/ )
Rather galling that an industrialised nation such as ourselves no longer have this capability when Iran does :-(
The UK has a very successful company making and launching satellites, in fact it has 2:Rather galling that an industrialised nation such as ourselves no longer have this capability when Iran does :-(
Surrey Satellites http://www.sstl.co.uk/
Clyde Space http://www.clyde-space.com/
Seeker UK said:
None but who needs to waste money on a launcher when you can buy one or space on one?
Industrial capability is just as much about being smart as well as being big.
Which is what the OP said 'We no longer have this capability'. So we buy it from someone else and the net effect is that we get poorer and lose our skills base while Country X gets richer and gets a better skills base. Any mug can buy stuff in. Industrial capability is just as much about being smart as well as being big.
Simpo Two said:
Seeker UK said:
None but who needs to waste money on a launcher when you can buy one or space on one?
Industrial capability is just as much about being smart as well as being big.
Which is what the OP said 'We no longer have this capability'. So we buy it from someone else and the net effect is that we get poorer and lose our skills base while Country X gets richer and gets a better skills base. Any mug can buy stuff in. Industrial capability is just as much about being smart as well as being big.
If all you want to do it get a payload into orbit, you use one of the commodity launchers. The only reason for going to the expense of brewing your own is if you're a swivel-eyed pariah state, and you want to develop your ballistic missile technology.
Simpo Two said:
Which is what the OP said 'We no longer have this capability'. So we buy it from someone else and the net effect is that we get poorer and lose our skills base while Country X gets richer and gets a better skills base. Any mug can buy stuff in.
Firstly. the OP said we no longer have the capability; not that we no longer have the capability to build.Secondly, to date SSTL has sold ~£600M of satellite systems since they started - that's no mean feat and certainly helping the UK get rich from space technology. How much revenue has Iran space industry made?
That's where the money is, not developing launchers - we got out of that game in 1972 with the failure of ELDO, why spend hods of cash on building something someone else does better and cheaper just to have a launch vehicle with the Union Flag on it?
Go and look at the UK Innovation and Growth Strategy for Space - it lays out 15 steps for the UK to adopt to boost the UK economy from space technology. There's nothing in there about developing a sovereign launch vehicle.
So we don't have a skills base in building big rockets, we have a massive skills base in space tech and it'll get bigger.
Like I say, it's better to work smart.
[edit]
Although we don't "do" rockets, we are looking at developing a reusable sky-plane, Skylon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_%28spacecraft%29)
Edited by Seeker UK on Saturday 18th June 22:41
TheEnd said:
I'm sure the UK could get a satellite into space if they needed to, but they're probably alright for satellites right now.
We have (and have had) a few:Skynet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 constellations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28satellite%29)
Disaster Monitoring Constellation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK-DMC)
TopSat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsat)
TechDemoSat-1 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11560511) (Still to be launched but in progress)
And of course, Prospero is still on orbit.
davepoth said:
We already have ICBMs, why would we want to redevelop them again?
Pedantry but we don't have people developing ICBMs domestically - Trident is built by the US. The closest thing we have at the moment is one company trying to make a single stage to orbit 'spaceplane' which may never see the light of dayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skyl...
There's not much big and clever about building big fireworks; we could build them if it was a necessity, but clearly it isn't. If you were very rich and perverse you could hire all the ex-Saro, DeHavilland and ASM/RR Blue Streak/Black Arrow boffins that aren't dead or gaga and probably knock out a functioning launcher in a couple of years, but what's the point?
Simpo Two said:
OK, we'll agree that the UK has the capability to buy launchers from other countries (as long as we can find the money and the other country is willing to sell them).
Who is "we".The users of launchers are many and varied. Obviously, the UK government will need to use them from time to time - such as for military purposes. However, I would guess that most customers would be copmmercial operators who need satellites for communications or other purposes.
Simpo Two said:
'We' is Britain; who did you think I meant?
By the same logic let's pay somebody else to make the satellites as well. Just write some cheques and stick a flag on it.
Why should Britain expend billions on launcher development when it already has access to a wide range of launchers already paid for and developed by others?By the same logic let's pay somebody else to make the satellites as well. Just write some cheques and stick a flag on it.
The UK got out of the game back in 1971, wrongly, in my opinion - but that was 40 years ago and time has moved on.
British satellites are launched by US rockets, Russian rockets, European rockets, Japanese rockets and even Indian rockets - depending on the requirements of the customer and the mission envisioned for the payload.
What Britain has done very well, as mentioned above, is concentrate on the payload end of space technology. We are one of the world leaders in this field. Let other provide the thrust, we can achieve the actual lucrative mission at the other end.
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