What Rocket Lab just did is totally humiliated Blue Origin after SpaceX…
In the space race, no doubt SpaceX is the leader, miles ahead. However, in distant 2nd place is Rocket Lab, even beating out Bezos Blue Origin.
Blue Origin has yet to orbit. Jeff Bezos’ Rocket went to space—But not to orbit. They were planning to launch New Glenn by 2020 but the current schedule is first to launch no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, Rocket Labs has 32 launches under its belt, 29 of which were successful. The Electron rocket can place 150-300 kilograms into orbit. The lower payload for a sun-synchronous orbit and the higher payload for a low earth orbit. Rocket Labs plans a Falcon 9 class rocket with a new Neutron rocket. Rocket Labs plans to launch the Neutron by 2024.
Well, I’m talking about getting to “space” vs. orbit. This is how Elon Musk describes it:
“One of the toughest things that are really hard to explain to people is orbit versus space. Getting to space is easy. Getting into orbit is hard. It’s 100 times harder to get to orbit than to get to what you’d call, in quotes, “space.” Which is, say, the Karman line at 100 kilometers, which is an arbitrary point at which the atmosphere is fairly thin.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson also said that Blue is not really going to “space” they’re flying to slightly higher than where planes go. They experience some weightless less but that is all.
The difference is so obvious!
More seriously, what Rocket Lab just did is totally humiliated Blue Origin after SpaceX…
Find out everything about this in today’s episode of Alpha Tech:
Like Elon Musk, Peter Beck – the founder of Rocket Lab – doesn’t have the academic pedigree one would expect. Elon only has bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics, not aerospace engineering. Peter is even more unconventional, as he is a rocket scientist with no college degree whatsoever!
In 1995, he worked as a tool-and-die-maker apprentice at Fisher & Paykel. He used his employer’s workshop to tinker on the side with rockets, making everything from rocket bikes to jet packs. From there he was able to purvey his career in product design and engineering, raking up a cornucopia of knowledge on smart materials, composites, and propulsion systems.
This New Zealand native then founded Rocket Lab in 2006. He secured a crucial seed investment from the aptly named Mark Rocket, a fellow New Zealander who had made his riches online. Within just 3 years, the company successfully reached the Karman line of space with their multi-stage rocket, Ātea-1. So yeah, the next time someone tells you college is a necessity, tell them about this guy who got to space in 3 years with just a high school education.
What Rocket Lab just did is totally humiliated Blue Origin after SpaceX…
