New Mars Forums

RGClark

Member

From: Philadelphia, PA

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 744

Website

New start-up aiming for a SSTO.

Andrew Parsonson @AndrewParsonson
Italian rocket builder Sidereus Space Dynamics has completed an integrated hot fire test of its single-stage-to-orbit EOS rocket.
https://x.com/andrewparsonson/status/18 … 58674?s=61

  Bob Clark

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Old Space rule of acquisition (with a nod to Star Trek - the Next Generation):

      “Anything worth doing is worth doing for a billion dollars.”

tahanson43206

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Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,142

Re: New start-up aiming for a SSTO.

This post is reserved for an index to posts that members may contribute over time.

Best wishes for success with this interesting new topic!

(th)

kbd512

Administrator

Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 7,607

Re: New start-up aiming for a SSTO.

It looks like their approach is to delete the landing gear and propellant weight which would be reserved for vertical landings, and to instead make the rocket light enough that they can recapture it in mid-air, the way we used to do with film canisters from spy satellites.  This will be an interesting one to watch for spy satellite tech as miniaturized cameras and synthetic aperture radars become ever-more compact, yet ever-higher resolution, and able to do some of the processing themselves in real time.  It'd be real hard to beat them on launch costs if they can mass manufacture their vehicles.  Something that small could also be dropped from a carrier aircraft to give it anytime / any orbit capabilities.

Europe and ESA could conduct their own satellite recon missions to keep tabs on the Russians, potentially with overflights that return to or near the launch site, but caution should be exercised to ensure it doesn't get mistaken for an incoming warhead.  If the satellite is small enough and low-cost enough, then shooting it down would rapidly become cost-prohibitive.

On the civilian side of the house, upper atmospheric sampling missions could be routinely conducted to keep tabs on CO2, CH4, aerosols, solar particle events, and the like.  The exact composition of the upper atmosphere is not as well-studied as it could be, but a pint-sized SSTO that can skim through it and use air-breathing ion propulsion to remain aloft within it might change that.  I would like to know what role the charged particles in the upper reaches of the atmosphere play in the magnetic reconnection events happening further out in space.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,310

Re: New start-up aiming for a SSTO.

Reminds me of the Rocket Lab rocket to a degree.