For Stoke Space “nothing else matters” but full and rapid rocket reuse
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Wonderful article; really excited to see where this company can take their design and see what they can do. Seems a very innovative design if they can pull it off.
Also, there's a typo on the hop test picture notes. Says "Stoke Space’s Hopper 2 takes to the skies in September 2003 in Moses Lake, Washington." The article section that follows has the correct year (2023).
Also, there's a typo on the hop test picture notes. Says "Stoke Space’s Hopper 2 takes to the skies in September 2003 in Moses Lake, Washington." The article section that follows has the correct year (2023).
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Damn. I just woke up and my mind read 'Stoke' as 'Pythom' and now I'm sad; I needed a giggle.
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Surely you have a type here
"raising $9.1 million"
I can't believe they conducted a 2 year environmental assessment and rebuilt an entire launch complex on $9M.
"raising $9.1 million"
I can't believe they conducted a 2 year environmental assessment and rebuilt an entire launch complex on $9M.
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So what do people think?
Did Stoke justify we indeed do need a 151st space company?
I think the article ends with a "No. Not yet."
I guess that is kind of an answer, isn't it?
Did Stoke justify we indeed do need a 151st space company?
I think the article ends with a "No. Not yet."
I guess that is kind of an answer, isn't it?
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After reading the Stoke website, I'm still confused: does the upper stage return from GTO or TLI?
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They initially raised $9.1 million. Then they did subsequent raises from there.
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Albino_Boo
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
I'm far from convinced that there's enough capital around in the current economic climate for there to be another successful player in the market. The cost of capital is going up because the returns at lower risk is available from government bonds. The AI boom isn’t affecting the real economy and globally theres warning signs flashing red of a recession.
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Well, head over to the latest Rocket Report for your morning rocket-related humor!
Pythom just got $10 million in new capital from Saab, of all people.
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Succinctly: if you are not an ars subscriber: and you read an article this well prepared, well researched, and don't go subscribe. I mean.. really: what would it take?
Thanks to Eric and the rest of the team for keeping content like this flowing.
Thanks to Eric and the rest of the team for keeping content like this flowing.
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I read the article as saying, yes, Stoke is a survivor and is well positioned to make a major contribution. The field has narrowed to less than 10 serious players, including Stoke! Wow. But the most challenging part of their journey is starting now.
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I'd say yes, they did justify it. They have a working FFSC engine (can't emphasize enough how impressive that is), and they're the only company besides SpaceX that's putting significant effort into full reuse. Plus their approach is novel, and might avoid some of the issues SpaceX has to deal with on reentry.
If there was some imaginary max limit on the number of allowed rocket companies, there are many I'd give the boot before Stoke.
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I think a deep-dive back story of Jonathan Lund with the launch site design/construction and the inherent problems would be a fascinating read.
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Speaking of small launch companies, whatever happened with those guys who were planning to put a rocket on a centrifuge and get it up to like 10k rpms and then have it shoot up halfway to space just from the rotational energy? Stoke might have some fun new engine types but those weirdos were trying something way more fun.
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I was briefly all excited when I read
until I realized this is a metaphor, and not the Oort Cloud.
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Pretty sure that's gravel from the ground in front of the test cell being carried along with the air entrained by the exhaust plume.
There's no evidence of it in the photo taken inside the test cell (with a concrete floor)
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Why not use the high water table to their advantage, letting it partially fill the flame diverter and using that additional water to absorb the energy before it's blown out of the trench? This could make water deluge systems smaller and simpler.
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At a guess, because it would be brackish swamp water with lots of dissolved limestone and all of those contaminants would be sprayed onto your rocket and ground service equipment
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It's not just a matter of having a puddle of water at the bottom. You need to feed in a constant flow to replace the water that boils/flies away under the heat and pressure of the rocket exhaust. That requires a complex plumbing setup, which you don't want sitting in a pool of salty water.
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Great article, I’m only tangentially interested in the subject and read all the way through. ARS rules.
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I don’t know the right answer, but I imagine environmental concerns as well as contaminants (e.g. salt)
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Second stage re-use without a tile-based heatshield, that doesn't require massive GSE like Starship (so could theoretically land on a concrete slab of sufficient heat resistance anywhere on earth)?
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They are pursuing a different approach to second stage reusability. Instead of insulating tiles, they will be using hydrogen to actively cool a metallic heatshield. Their upper stage engine uses an expander cycle, so they can push hydrogen through the heatshield using the same pump (in this case, the heat for the expansion comes from the heatshield, rather than the combustion chamber).
This video from Everyday Astronaut has a good explainer (this is from 2 years ago).
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Bill Swallow
Ars Centurion
Footage of their tests should really be soundtracked with the 'Monty Python' theme.
"Fetchez le Vache!"
"MOOOO!!!"
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Stoke's solution may not scale to the sizes SpaceX want. As their upper stage gets bigger they start to run into the square-cube problem - the mass of the stage goes up faster than the width of the heat-shield, which means the shield performance has to increase to match. And eventually you won't be able to pump enough hydrogen through the shield to cool it down enough.
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- 1981 - NASA Space Shuttle achieves orbit and lands its second stage
- 2015 - SpaceX Falcon9 is the first rocket to achieve orbit and land its first stage on a drone ship
- 2025 - Blue Origin New Glenn, second design to land a first stage, again on a drone ship
- 2025? - Landspace Zhuque-3E will try to launch some time in the next few weeks
- 2026? - Rocket Lab Neutron - re-use the second-stage fairing and land at launch point
- 2026? - Stoke Space Nova - launch from Florida and recover both the first and second stages
- 2026? - SpaceX Starship - launch from Texas, achieve orbit, and recover both stages.
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Here is a link to Stoke’s site. Granted a cgi video does not make it real, but I really like Stoke’s approach. Some good info on the company and the strategies they are trying to implement in their designs.
Also, the second stage they have designed alleviates the need for a separate hot staging ‘throw away ring’ (sorry, I forget the actual name of the “ring”) since the 2nd stage engines don’t have the huge bell nozzles and are ‘outboard’ of the first stage.
Competition is good and good competition is even better.
Also, the second stage they have designed alleviates the need for a separate hot staging ‘throw away ring’ (sorry, I forget the actual name of the “ring”) since the 2nd stage engines don’t have the huge bell nozzles and are ‘outboard’ of the first stage.
Competition is good and good competition is even better.
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You're right. I should have looked more carefully. It seemed to me that there were some in the jet coming out, but that's an artefact of them only being reasonably visible on a light background.
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