Rocket Report: Alpha explodes on test stand; Europe wants a mini Starship

"We are trying to find a partner that is willing to invest."

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[MarkW98]

If the post is about BO, NG might stand for New Glenn. That one actually tripped me up a few times. But in general, thank you for your service.

New Glenn is included too. It's the entry just before Northrop Grumman.

 

[MarkW98]

It's there now, but I would have sworn it wasn't there before, and I would like to think that I'd have noticed while composing my reply.

That being said, the post doesn't indicate that it has been edited, so I guess I don't know.

No worries. As something of an old fogie myself, I'm surprised by how often I think I've read one thing, only to reread it and find it said something entirely different.

 

[MarkW98]

What are the odds BO can successfully land New Glen on the next flight? I kind of feel like the odds are zero, but sometimes I'm a pessimist.

Well, to put a positive -- but I think accurate -- spin on things, their chances of finding out something they still need to do in order successfully land NG are close to 100%. But only if they make the attempt.

 

[MarkW98]

There’s about 10,000 hundred millionaires in the US alone, so 300 seems like a drop in the bucket.

I wouldn't assume everybody with that kind of money wants to go to space, so the potential market for NS rides could be considerably less than 10,000 people (in the U.S.). Similar to how pretty much anyone with a decent paying job can afford to try skydiving, but most people never do.

 

[MarkW98]

I would also include the possibility of seeing CASC's Long March 12A (a methalox variant of the LM 12 kerolox medium-lift rocket), and Landspace's Zhuque-3 (a stainless steel, methalox reusable rocket that basically replicates Falcon 9 capabilities), making their debut this quarter. In the case of Zhuque-3, they supposedly will even attempt a landing (if they're lucky).

Would be nice if China livestreamed these things... I won't hold my breath, but will keep my on ice just in case.

edit: there's also a chance of iSpace's Hyperbola-3 (medium-lift methalox reusable) flying for the first time this year - though no landing will be attempted until a later flight, presumably next year.

As long as we're talking about Cinese rockets, it looks like Galactic Energy plans to debut two new rockets soon, Pallas-1 and Ceres-2. Listed as "October TBD" at Wikipedia, though that's after showing as "September TBD" last month.

 

[MarkW98]

Sheesh, I wasn't even aware of that one... and apparently there's also Nebula-1 or -2 from Deep Blue Aerospace, launching either late this year or in 2026, respectively. Things are really about to go nuts over there.

IIRC they were doing some hop tests with a prototype a few years ago. I had forgotten about them.

 

[MarkW98]

As a newly minted old fogie, I've noticed my reading comprehension has dropped after I switched to bifocals.

I'm a fast reader (not a speed reader, just fast). I read by the shape of the word, not the individual letters. idk if it's something about the way the progressives work, but I find myself mis-reading words a lot more than I used to.

But at least I can read without holding the book at arms length.

I tried progressives once, but felt the transitional area was wasted dead space in my visual field. So I wear old-school bifocals, and occasionally use a pair of clip-on readers so I can see a computer monitor looking through the top half of my lenses.

 

[MarkW98]

Half a billion dollars for Stoke Space.
https://www.stokespace.com/stoke-sp...turing-of-fully-reusable-nova-launch-vehicle/

Article from Eric on this ... but we heard it from you first.