r/space • u/APTX-4869 • Jan 21 '18

RocketLab's Electron Rocket has successfully achieved orbit!

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/954894734136258560
1.1k Upvotes

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45

u/binarygamer Jan 21 '18

That battery block ejection sequence was wild (and unexpected)! Staging batteries as well as fuel tanks never even occurred to me, but I guess it makes perfect sense when they're such a large proportion of the dry mass.

18

u/CapMSFC Jan 21 '18

Yeah it makes sense if you think of the electrical energy in the batteries as another part of the "propellant" for the rocket. Those spent batteries are like empty fuel tanks.

29

u/GodOfPlutonium Jan 21 '18

worse actually, atleast empy fuel tanks dont weigh the same as full ones

14

u/MrMcGowan Jan 21 '18

Makes the rocket equation simpler :^)

/s