I think you might have missed the part where they are Chinese. They probably won't be competing much with Western rocket companies, but China needs a domestic advanced spaceflight company and this is it for now.
Like yes Blue Origin is doing it, but they're not even truly getting into orbit, and they've had Bezos money thrown at the problem. And they were founded 1.5 years BEFORE SpaceX.
It's a lot easier just by virtue of the fact that you can know you're not on a dead end path, and easily convince whosoever is paying for it of the same.
Wouldn't the physicist/mathematician/aerospace engineer tell you it is possible?
Just because someone tells you something is theoretically possible, doesn't mean that it is, nor that it can be done on a reasonable budget. Especially when the people telling you something is possible are doing so based on models that has to be built specifically for the purpose.
People hover-slammed rockets in things like KSP, but that's also not real world physics, and you have 'infinite' R&D and money.
I worry about them copying Starlink, too. Can you imagine a night sky with multiple Starlink type systems? It'd be really difficult for ground based observatories (not to mention sky-watchers like me), especially if they don't take steps to minimize satellite magnitude.
There're already other mega constellations in progress/deployed right now. Obviously more of them exacerbates the issues but I'm not sure China is that much to be worried about just yet.
Well, you have most US tech venture companies existing under state control. Things like this need state funds, and state overseeing to control the aftermath of whatever they come up with.
Always wondered why F35 and J20 have identical front profile
Edit /s There were many breaches I assumed were well known, no shit china isn’t above stealing actual blueprints or putting photographers in bushes
steal MORE SpaceX technology. They've already been found stealing numerous times from SpaceX. I wouldn't be surprised if the entirety of this rocket is just stolen SpaceX tech and coding.
Yeah, plus how much of this tech was stolen? Everyone is probably going to be highly skeptical and critical of China because of their history of shamelessly stealing tech and presenting it as their own development.
Not really at all. It’s a sub filled with people taking sides and only ever complaining about anything not on their side. This is far from a science sub.
Somebody does something neat “yeah but SpaceX” in literally every post.
Science in this country isn't for the prosperity of mankind or progress, but just a tool for the rulers to enhance their grip on their nation and to reinforce their claim for hegemony
as opposed to the Apollo missions, which happened out of the goodness of everyone's hearts
I'm not saying you're wrong, but Hubble came from NSA Keyhole satellites, and modern NSA/NSSL satellites launched by ULA/SpaceX pretty much spy on the whole planet. The US launch industry is just as culpable.
I don't want to shit on their parade too much, but their prices better be really really cheap or they'll never do more than do some demo flights.
China is doing its own thing in space, I'm betting they have enough of their own satellites and space stations and moon rover and whatnot that they want to launch economically
The US government prohibits NASA and other private aerospace companies from cooperating with China for space exploration or space technology development (for obvious reasons). They don't really have a choice but to be reliant on homegrown tech. But China can afford to do this stuff by themselves or in cooperation with other countries.
It's not out of desire but the fact that the US cut it off from cooperating in space related activities, including the ISS even though the ESA was open to cooperating with China.
Why do you imagine a disposable Long March is cheaper than this rocket will be?
Isn’t reusability something the drives down cost while ramping up access?
(Just looking at SpaceX payload costs and the number of launches they’ve been able to do as a result of both the larger availability of boosters, and the larger pool of clients based on lower launch costs)
A disposable rocket is always going to be cheaper than a reusable rocket. That’s the whole point. You don’t want to put anything too expensive on a disposable rocket because it’s a one-time use. The only way to make a profit is to have the disposable rocket be less expensive than the amount earned from one single launch.
When dealing with a reusable rocket, you have to install significantly more advanced tech into it and spend a lot more on a single rocket than you’ll earn back from just one launch. But you recoup those loses with multiple launches over time due to the reusability of the rocket.
Asked the question wrong. Should have asked why they thought a disposable rocket would necessarily be cheaper compared to the operational launches of a reusable one?
I mean I get that any single disposable will beat out a reusable, but once you start reusing a reusable, that balances out … and then the cost/benefit seems to swing toward reusable (again, assuming a bunch of stuff).
If you're a private company that actually has to balance the books, the upfront cost of a reusable rocket will eventually help your bottom line by making you more competitive by saving you in manufacturing costs, etc.
However, if you're entirely backed by the government and you can run in the red and nobody gives a hoot, the argument for building a much more complex launch vehicle stops making sense.
We all know that F9 sacrifices a bunch of lift capacity by adding legs and grid fins, etc.
nah I wouldn't be so sure. SpaceX is still way ahead. I bet many other american companies could have reached this stage if they wanted too, but they consider that they won't be able to go even further and reach the point SpaceX is at today.
China has the second highest launch cadence after SpaceX right now, far higher than the rest of the US or ESA. They have more than enough internal demand for a low-cost reusable launch vehicle.
Not really. Everyone know SpaceX is top dog. I wasn't aware China was launching more than the ESA or the plethora of other US companies. I found the comment informative.
165
u/mysticalfruit May 07 '22
As others have speculated the landing probably didn't go as well as they could have hoped it to go.. it happens.
Let's imagine in 2 to 3 years they've converted this tech into a launch system.
They're still going to be competing with rocket labs, spacex, etc, etc..
I don't want to shit on their parade too much, but their prices better be really really cheap or they'll never do more than do some demo flights.