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iceagegoatee t1_jdk0qrk wrote

Reply to comment by New_Poet_338 in Rocket Lab targets $50 million launch price for Neutron rocket to challenge SpaceX’s Falcon 9 by cnbc_official

There's a big market on the government side.

Defense contracts need multiple suppliers for redundancy and NASA is also very far along in its move towards contracting multiple suppliers for all launches (outside of SLS size payloads).

RL has an advantage of already having relationships with both and a long enough launch history that they can bank on reliability.

And while I want SpaceX to succeed I wouldn't call Falcon 9 last generation until Starship successfully delivers a payload to orbit.

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Reddit-runner t1_jdm6tq5 wrote

>I want SpaceX to succeed I wouldn't call Falcon 9 last generation until

It's their current operational rocket. It's not their new or next rocket.

Basically RocketLab has to hope that they get Neutron up and running well before Starship is eating up even the small sat market.

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Supermeme1001 t1_jdpxgv6 wrote

people have been saying for a while but especially in the past year that starship is going to change the world, I get it. but do we really think the model for people launching under 10t payloads is the starships payload being a bunch of different contracts with tugs?

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Reddit-runner t1_jdpy5wd wrote

>but do we really think the model for people launching under 10t payloads is the starships payload being a bunch of different contracts with tugs?

Imagine yourself being a customer. Do you really care about the maximum payload mass of a rocket as long as it can carry your payload to your desired orbit and is the cheapest option?

People often seem to be caught up with the giant payload mass of Starship and extrapolate current practice into the future. All while they forget that customers pay per launch, not per kg.

The propellant load for a full Starship launch costs well below $2M. This makes clear why SpaceX is so certain that they can hit their desired launch cost.

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Supermeme1001 t1_jdpybfl wrote

I dont disagree, does spacex have a tug design ready?

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Reddit-runner t1_jdpyizb wrote

Maybe some intern has something on a flash drive. But I have not seen any official stuff yet.

However with the flexible architecture of Starship any space tug will be far down the line.

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vibingjusthardenough t1_jdkfk7u wrote

I’m not too well-versed on the specifics of RL’s business and am rusty on US spaceflight conventions but are they a viable option for USSF or NASA since they’re based in NZ?

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TheBroadHorizon t1_jdkqg7d wrote

They were founded in NZ and have their primary launch site there but the company relocated their headquarters to California several years ago. They've launched multiple payloads for both NASA and the US military.

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R1150gsguy t1_jdm6j1f wrote

They also just started launching from wallops in Va.

I was lucky enough to see the inaugural liftoff in person.

Very cool

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Braqsus t1_jdmgzi9 wrote

They are part owned by a couple big US aerospace companies

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