First Private Japanese Rocket Reaches Space (engadget.com) 41
"Interstellar Technologies has successfully launched its MOMO-3 sounding rocket into space, with the vehicle easily crossing the Karman line (62 miles in altitude) before splashing into the Pacific," reports Engadget. This is the first time a private rocket launched from Japan has reached space. From the report: There was a fair amount riding on the mission. Interstellar's ultimate aim is to ferry small satellites into orbit at a fraction of the cost of government launches, and this takes the company one step closer to achieving its dream. It also relieves some of the pressure on Interstellar founder Takafumi Horie. There had been skepticism about the Livedoor creator's spaceflight chops given his controversial entrepreneurial history (including a conviction for accounting fraud). This shows that his initiative can work on a basic level -- the challenge is translating a test like this into a full-fledged business. You can watch the launch here.
They are well behind other companies (Score:5, Interesting)
They have a lot of catching up to do. Rocket Lab did the same - started with a sounding rocket, and moved on to a small sat orbital rocket - but they launched their sounding rocket in 2009. Although Rocket Lab is the most prominent, and the only one I'm aware of to have launched satellites commercially*, there are dozens of other companies aiming for this small sat launch business. Vector Launch is one which is probably very close to achieving an orbital launch. If it takes Interstellar Technologies 5 years (which seems optimistic to me) to go from sounding rocket to orbital launch vehicle, they'll be entering a crowded market, in which there are competitors who have already paid off their R&D investment.
Having said all that, I wish them luck. Rockets are cool, and I'm happy to see more of them.
* Falcon 1 and Pegasus could be counterexamples, depending on how you count things, and I think there may be an Israeli company also.
Re: They are well behind other companies (Score:3)
The more the merrier I'd say and preferably many organisations from many countries as possible doing it.
Be careful what you wish for (Score:2)
The more the merrier I'd say and preferably many organisations from many countries as possible doing it.
For peaceful space exploration and commerce, sure. Problem is that there is always some asshat out there who wants to put a warhead on the rocket and some subset of those asshats would actually use said warhead. You do realize that the space race between the US and Soviets was almost entirely a proxy contest for ICBM technology right? We panicked over Sputnik because developing the orbital technology necessarily equals developing ICBM technology.
You really want North Korea having orbital rocket technolog
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The biggest asshats are those with large ballistic arsenals who presume they can tell everyone else what to do, because the arsenal gives them the feeling that might makes right.
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The biggest asshats are those with large ballistic arsenals who presume they can tell everyone else what to do, because the arsenal gives them the feeling that might makes right.
ballistic arsenals are over-rated. They are useless for pushing other countries around, and even useless at stopping others from pushing you around.
Would a Ukrainian nuclear arsenal have stopped Russia from re-taking Crimea? Not a chance, unless they could bluff the Ruskies that they were suicidal.
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That's why countries with a few nukes don't like the idea of a missile defense shield and why Russia didn't care. Russia can overwhelm any defense shield and knows it.
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"a few nukes" is good only for retaliation, and you don't need missiles for that. A truck or fishing boat will suffice.
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Would a Ukrainian nuclear arsenal have stopped Russia from re-taking Crimea?
Did a Soviet arsenal stop the US from using nukes?
Yes, it did.
What is the upside? (Score:2)
The biggest asshats are those with large ballistic arsenals who presume they can tell everyone else what to do, because the arsenal gives them the feeling that might makes right.
Cute. Explain to me the upside of North Korea having orbital rocket capability. This ought to be good... How about a Taliban controlled Afghanistan? Explain to me why anyone should desire that state of affairs.
No not all countries are responsible enough or sane enough to handle dual use technology including but not limited to ballistic missiles, nuclear reactors, advanced biotechnology, etc. Even the ones that have it currently are barely responsible enough at times. More is not better here. If you f
Re: Be careful what you wish for (Score:2)
Given that I'm talking about the commercial exploitation of space I'm not sure what your hysterical posts are about. I know full well what fueled the space race and I also know that our society is better off because of it.
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Rockets are cool
Disposable rockets stopped being cool the instant Carmack uploaded those Armadillo Aerospace vids.
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Which ones? The ones which replicated the DC-X flights that happened a decade earlier?
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Re:Kármán line is about 85km (Score:2)
Karman line is ~45 miles (Score:2)
For the civilized world, 83.6 KM is about 45 nautical miles, or ~52 statute miles. Which is around the actual definition of space, which is >50 miles.
Either 45 miles, or 62 miles, is rather moot, it's mostly arbitrary, but the 50 mile definition is more based in physics than the 62 miles. , it's just another source of a pissing contest between metric fetishists and internationalists, and the people who actually accomplish something useful in the world. Most of the people and countri
Iscandar (Score:1)
Narrator: There are 364 days left until the extinction of the human race.
Orbital capabilities?? (Score:2)
Meh....color me impressed when they launch a rocket that can achieve ORBIT.
Kinda neat dogleg maneuver with the rocket right after lifting off. Kind of a heart stopping moment for all involved (unless by design of course).