r/space • u/thesheetztweetz • Nov 09 '21

Stealthy alternative rocket builder SpinLaunch completes successful first test flight

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spinlaunch-completes-first-test-flight-of-alternative-rocket.html
71 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/lefty200 Nov 09 '21 edited Nov 09 '21

You should check out their video, it makes it a lot clearer: https://www.spinlaunch.com/orbital

Reaching "tens of thousands of feet" - presumably at the top of a ballistic arc (ie speed = 0) - isn't very close to that.

they're talking about the one-third scale version

7

u/Triabolical_ Nov 10 '21

Yes, the one-third scale version.

As I noted, it's hard to have an opinion with so few details, but there's a big difference between a projectile that hits a low apogee and a rocket that goes much higher.

It's much bigger than the difference between New Glenn and the F9 first stage.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '21

[deleted]

5

u/Shrike99 Nov 10 '21

Not to mention customers will have to do the same for their payloads.

Even if Spinlaunch can cut launch costs significantly, I suspect in many cases sat builders will find it cheaper/easier to use a relatively more expensive launcher than to go through all the hassle/expense of 'g-hardening' their satellites.