Upcoming New Zealand Space Launch - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 04:35:29 am
content: http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article151784607.htmlWelcome to the club!

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 05:12:08 am
content: Quote from: rstofer on May 21, 2017, 04:35:29 amWe're not quite there yet but soon.Let's hope their first launch is a success and not a kaboom.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 07:15:55 am
content: Quote from: tautech on May 21, 2017, 05:12:08 amIf they scheduled the launch for new years eve and it all went pear shaped then nobody would know any different, that's what I would do anyway just in case.

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:33:01 pm
content: just skip any grandstanding and countdowns - when it's ready just launch it.no point waiting for an earthquake!!

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:41:41 pm
content: What are they sending up a Kiwi?

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:44:23 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on May 21, 2017, 11:41:41 pmWhy would you send fruit to space?

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:48:57 pm
content: Quote from: TwoOfFive on May 21, 2017, 11:44:23 pmWell I wish they would send avocados to space to experiment to find a way to make the seed smaller.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:52:48 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on May 21, 2017, 11:41:41 pmGive a Kiwi wings and there's no holding us back.Homepage:https://www.rocketlabusa.com/(launching from NZ)

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2017, 11:53:13 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on May 21, 2017, 11:41:41 pmQuote from: TwoOfFive on May 21, 2017, 11:44:23 pmI wouldn't, but a normally flightless bird might like it LOL.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 08:12:39 am
content: Oops.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 08:23:32 am
content: Quote from: Muttley Snickers on May 22, 2017, 08:12:39 am

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 09:04:55 am
content: Quote from: Muttley Snickers on May 22, 2017, 08:12:39 amNo way would we do that, they might retaliate and fire one back at Australia.For the love of god, think of the magic dumpsters...

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 09:09:28 am
content: That would be some OOPS!10,000 km of it!

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 10:19:50 am
content: If it does go OOPS! , they won't buy any more guidance systems from Shenzhen based Ebayers with low seller scoresand enough negative feedback to build the worlds most stable amplifier

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 10:32:24 am
content: Quote from: hendorog on May 22, 2017, 09:04:55 amAFAIK they guidance system is soo advanced, it is a surprise to anyone if they manage to hit the correct sea.Imagine, NK headquarters:Annihilate New Zealand! Launch the rockets, all 30 of them.International press:North Korea launched a single rocket which went into the sea of Okhotsk, 800 km north from Japan.NK:This is a big victory for us!

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 10:50:27 am
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on May 22, 2017, 10:32:24 amHaha, yeah I hope that's correct. Right now I don't think they would have the range either.I read an article which (speculated) that the northern tip of Australia was just in range.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 12:24:26 pm
content: Quote from: Muttley Snickers on May 22, 2017, 08:12:39 amOMG!!! What if ... ?

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 12:50:52 pm
content: you shouldnt make fun of NK, after 60+ years of sanctions and various problems caused by the cia they still managed to build, launch and orbit 2 satellites.that's more than most country's have done.maybe it shows that killing corrupt politicans brings results!!!read this:http://journal-neo.org/2017/04/24/just-who-does-pose-the-greater-threat-in-korea/

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 01:05:09 pm
content: Quote from: stj on May 22, 2017, 12:50:52 pmI think that were just failed rocket testing, which managed to miss the Earth completely.

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 01:22:50 pm
content: well if it came down on Saudi-Arabia or Israel we could forgive them.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 03:02:11 pm
content: Of course, if you stick several million people into what's effectively one giant forced labor camp, you're gonna get hard results pretty quickly, as well as the malnutrition, suffering, and torture of all and everybody involved with the exception of kim jong fat over there.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 03:10:01 pm
content: Soo, back to launching space ships.Isnt New Zealand a bad place to actually do this? I mean it requires more energy, isnt it?

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 05:01:15 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on May 22, 2017, 03:10:01 pmCompared to what?Yeah, the closer to the equator the lower the energy needed, with the savings in m/s of deltaV proportional to the cosine of the latitude, up to a maximum of about 460 m/s saved (launching on the equator) out of 7800 m/s orbital velocity plus another 1500 - 2000 m/s lost to air resistance.Northern NZ is 34.5 south, saving 380 m/sRocketLabs site at Mahia NZ is 39s, saving 357 m/sCape Canaveral is 28.5 north, saving 404 m/sBaikonur is at about 46 north, saving 320 m/sSo Mahia is less than 50 m/s worse than Cape Canaveral, out of a total budget needed of 9500+ m/s. No biggie.At one time people (mostly the military) cared about getting the maximum possible performance, regardless of the cost. The biggest bomb they could put on a given rocket, or the smallest possible rocket for a given bomb.Now that's completely unimportant. Now the thing to care about is total launch cost per kg of satellite. That depends on a large number of factors but the size of the rocket, the amount of fuel used, or 50 m/s of deltaV needed are way down in the noise. Construction cost, number of personnel to support the launch, transport costs are much more important. And, in the near future, reusability.The thing I don't get about RocketLab is how they will make money when SpaceX already had and retired the Falcon 1 as uneconomic, when it took considerably more payload for about the same price as RocketLab's Electron.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 06:51:44 pm
content: Thats what I was wondering too.They do have a very good shot to the east. (If you launch east and are near the equator you get a significant boost from the angular momentum of the earth.)Quote from: NANDBlog onTodayat 09:10:01

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 11:14:29 pm
content: Are the last minute diagnostic checks being performed with Fluke meters or Uni-T ?

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2017, 11:29:48 pm
content: Quote from: Electro Detective on May 22, 2017, 11:14:29 pmLaunch pad wind testing instrument:https://twitter.com/RocketLabUSA/status/866200524634247168

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2017, 01:17:56 am
content: Quote from: Electro Detective on May 22, 2017, 11:14:29 pmfor patriotic reasons, it should be done with something from Dick Smith

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 23, 2017, 02:43:32 am
content: Their first launch to space.I like the reaction when Peter Beck goes outside the hut for "visual confirmation".....

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2017, 08:45:33 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on May 22, 2017, 05:01:15 pmOK. Never really did the calculations or looked it up. That is indeed a small difference in cost. Thanks for the info.

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 06:00:46 am
content: Winner winner chicken dinner!http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11862250https://twitter.com/RocketLabUSA/status/867619797021859840

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 08:07:57 am
content: Appears not to have made it to orbit.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 08:13:17 am
content: It seemed like it was textbook stuff - except they didn't make orbit. That would have been sooooooo close to a perfect result.Considering it was their first attempt, you have to give them full credit for such a fantastic result.Tonight will be celebrations ... and tomorrow will start the analysis.Can't wait for their next launch.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 08:26:56 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on May 25, 2017, 08:07:57 amYeah, hmmmm.Wondered if they entered Muttley's coordinates for NK instead ?

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 08:36:53 am
content: Who pays for all this stuff and what's the point?It's been done already, how can they HOPE to compete at any level with the established players anyway?We need multimeters launched and separated from tool bagswhich survive a 600 foot drop on to concrete,that's R+D worth watching

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 09:02:06 am
content: Quote from: Electro Detective on May 25, 2017, 08:36:53 amThe investors now, and the customers later?Quote from: Electro Detective on May 25, 2017, 08:36:53 amBecause the established players (other than SpaceX about which people were saying the same things ten years ago) are huge slow-moving dinosaurs sucking on the government teat happy with their cost-plus (i.e. guaranteed X% profit margin) contracts to launch barely upgraded 1960s ICBMs that were never designed for either reusability or for low cost manufacture or operations.Anyone using modern technology, design for manufacture, and lean operations will easily beat BoeiLockMartAriaRoscosmos, if they can actually make their stuff work.

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 09:08:55 am
content: Quote from: Electro Detective on May 25, 2017, 08:36:53 amThats the $64k question isn't it...On the plus side:They have developed some novel tech for building low cost rockets.It also looks like they are building everything targeting a particular weight payload - instead of 'over-engineering' now with a view to upsizing in the future.They are also talking about having the ability to make more launches per year due to the remote location.There are plenty of bookings already - viewable on their website.It's an emerging market - perhaps they don't need to compete at all as demand exceeds supply?

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 10:22:54 am
content: Wouldn't it be more practical and profitable to invest in cargo planes nowrather than blow cash on one way disposable rockets?The missile makers have been on top of this game for decades,what's to stop them from moving in on this 'lucrative' industry any time they see a fast buck on the horizon?Someone needs to word these guys up before they're forced to sleep on park benches and front up to soup kitchens for a feed

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 10:25:00 am
content: Quote from: hendorog on May 25, 2017, 09:08:55 amURL? I couldn't find it.Google "spacex launch manifest" finds first hithttp://www.spacex.com/missions"rocketlab launch manifest" is not helpful, and neither was 10 minutes of browsing around on their very pretty but annoying site.

author: hendorog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 07:09:16 pm
content: Quote from: brucehoult on May 25, 2017, 10:25:00 amIts under the book my launch button then rideshare then cubesathttps://www.rocketlabusa.com/book-my-launch/

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2018, 07:58:19 pm
content: Some update.....A couple of weeks back NZ finally got into space.Rocket Lab has successfully reached orbit with the test flight of its second Electron orbital launch vehicle, Still Testing. Electron lifted-off at 14:43 NZDT from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.Following successful first and second stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and 31 seconds after lift-off.https://www.rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/rocket-lab-successfully-reaches-orbit-and-deploys-payloads-january-21-2018/

author: Paul Moir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2018, 04:13:17 am
content: Yes, and for the next 9 months you might get a chance to see the disco ball they snuck up along with a successful 3rd stage test.https://www.thehumanitystar.com/This rocket's engines use batteries and electric motors to power the propellant pumps, which I think us unique. The advantage is that it greatly simplifies the pump at the cost of the weight of the batteries. This is offset though by the mass of the fuel that would have to go into the gas generator in a conventional propellant turbopump.

author: llkiwi2006
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2018, 05:16:21 am
content: They also had a third stage using a "green" monopropellant, instead of the horribly toxic hydrazine. AFAIK this is the first of its kind to be used on a rocket, although there has been test satellites before using "green" propellants. The advantage is that it's really simple to use by being a monopropellant like hydrazine, but its much safer to handle than hydrazine (workers need full body protective gear to handle hydrazine).On an related note, Falcon heavy is scheduled to launch in a few days. If the launch is successful, it would be the largest rocket currently in operation.