SpaceX's Competitors Scramble to Try to Build Reusable Rockets (msn.com) 16
When SpaceX developed reusable boosters for its Falcon rockets, it helped cut costs of launches.
Now the Wall Street Journal reports that last week's first-time catch of "its huge Starship booster" could "extend SpaceX's cost advantages, especially in launches to low-Earth orbit, where SpaceX and others operate satellites." A fully and rapidly reusable Starship would push down SpaceX's costs by limiting the need to crank out new hardware and cutting downtime between flights, space industry executives say. Bain, the consulting firm, has estimated that Starship would reduce the cost of getting each kilogram to low-Earth orbit by 50 to 80 times... SpaceX's rocket peers are moving toward reusability, but they are behind the progress Musk's company has made.
- The huge booster that will power New Glenn, the orbital rocket Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is developing, is designed to be reusable. That rocket is slated to launch for the first time next month.
- ULA, the rocket operator owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is looking to recover the two engines that help power the first part of its new rocket, Vulcan Centaur. The parent company for Arianespace, whose new vehicle is powered by an expendable booster, has also invested in a startup developing a reusable booster.
- Last year, Rocket Lab USA used an engine that had flown before on a flight of its Electron rocket, and is working on a new vehicle, called Neutron, with a booster it could use again.
- Jason Kim, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, said the reusable vehicle the Texas-based company is developing with Northrop Grumman would give launch customers more flexibility and better pricing. "It really comes down to the affordability and the schedule," Kim said in a recent interview.
"We need reusability for rockets, just like we have reusability for cars, for airplanes, for bicycles, for horses," Musk said in a video SpaceX posted earlier this year...
Now the Wall Street Journal reports that last week's first-time catch of "its huge Starship booster" could "extend SpaceX's cost advantages, especially in launches to low-Earth orbit, where SpaceX and others operate satellites." A fully and rapidly reusable Starship would push down SpaceX's costs by limiting the need to crank out new hardware and cutting downtime between flights, space industry executives say. Bain, the consulting firm, has estimated that Starship would reduce the cost of getting each kilogram to low-Earth orbit by 50 to 80 times... SpaceX's rocket peers are moving toward reusability, but they are behind the progress Musk's company has made.
- The huge booster that will power New Glenn, the orbital rocket Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is developing, is designed to be reusable. That rocket is slated to launch for the first time next month.
- ULA, the rocket operator owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is looking to recover the two engines that help power the first part of its new rocket, Vulcan Centaur. The parent company for Arianespace, whose new vehicle is powered by an expendable booster, has also invested in a startup developing a reusable booster.
- Last year, Rocket Lab USA used an engine that had flown before on a flight of its Electron rocket, and is working on a new vehicle, called Neutron, with a booster it could use again.
- Jason Kim, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, said the reusable vehicle the Texas-based company is developing with Northrop Grumman would give launch customers more flexibility and better pricing. "It really comes down to the affordability and the schedule," Kim said in a recent interview.
"We need reusability for rockets, just like we have reusability for cars, for airplanes, for bicycles, for horses," Musk said in a video SpaceX posted earlier this year...
Well duh. (Score:3)
Whenever there is a fundamental shift in technology that results in dramatically lower costs, you will always see competitors seek to imitate for the simple reason that if they do not then they will not remain in business much longer. This is the very nature of competition and the longer there isn't a true competitor the higher launch costs will remain.
Re: (Score:2)
Besides, it's unfair of SpaceX to use tech like this to disadvantage their competition. There should be laws ensuring equity.
Re: Well duh. (Score:1)
WSJ and execs: wow, really sharp! (Score:5, Informative)
A fully and rapidly reusable Starship would push down SpaceX's costs by limiting the need to crank out new hardware and cutting downtime between flights, space industry executives say.
Wow, those are some sharp executives. Give them a raise and extra bonuses!
If they, and the WSJ, are just now figuring this stuff out, after Falcon has been dominating the space industry for years, well...'nuf said.
It's pretty sad that the old-space companies have completely missed the resusability train. Neither ULA nor Ariane ever even considered reusability when designing their current rockets. Both depend on lobbying and governmental restrictions to stay in business. The other space start-ups are at least adapting their strategies, but they are years behind.
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Well, there is the thing.. in most organisations you get promoted by not making mistakes, nut doing a great job. And any new thing is a risk, so just saying no to anything new is on average better for your personal future. If the organisation suffers, then too bad is the thing that most esecs seem to think.
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Reusing the orbital craft is much more difficult to do economically than the booster. It re-enters far faster with much more damage---or would take much more fuel to slow down, severely reducing paying payload.
I suspect SpaceX may go to an expendable upper stage (light and with higher capacity as it doesn't need to survive coming back) for numerous missions, particularly those which need extra orbital energy.
Re: WSJ and execs: wow, really sharp! (Score:1)
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If they, and the WSJ, are just now figuring this stuff out, after Falcon has been dominating the space industry for years, well...'nuf said.
They aren't. Stop confusing actual business decisions with a sound bite given to unwashed masses for a news article.
Neither ULA nor Ariane ever even considered reusability when designing their current rockets.
No shit Sherlock. SpaceX only proved the concept was actually viable *after* ULA and the ESA started designing their current rockets, and even then SpaceX didn't prove they could actually reliably bring down costs by reusing equipment until 6 years ago. Developing shit takes time, there was never a scenario where anyone without a crystal ball would have reusable rockets in their current 2024 l
A decade behind (Score:3)
These companies are a full 10 years behind SpaceX (2015 - first reusable Falcon 9 debut). New Glenn probably is the furthest along and they still haven't launched it. Neutron will probably launch next year too I suppose. But then they aren't fully and rapidly reusable -- only their first stage is reusable (like Falcon 9). What are they going to do when SpaceX's fully and rapidly reusable Starship become available to customers in 2026? It will be impossible to beat SpaceX on launch cost. And no the "small launch" market isn't going to save them. Starship will have rideshare and satellites can use a thruster to get into whatever orbit they need. The only niche will be small satellites that need to quickly get into a particular orbit. How many of customers are there for something like that? Oh and existing Falcon 9s will still be around.
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On the other hand SpaceX has proven which concepts work, so that's a load of effort their competitors don't have to waste on other ideas that will ultimately be rejected.
I expect the first major competitors will be from China. They are already fairly advanced with re-usable booster development and will have it working in the next six months most likely. They have some other interesting technology like the ability to launch from a ship. They will get the cost of heavy lift down quickly too, thanks to their m
Just build a coil gun (Score:2)
Re: Just build a coil gun (Score:2)
Reminds me of the touchscreen scramble (Score:2, Insightful)
This reminds me of when I used the first iPhone at an Apple store when it launched. Doing a smooth screen rotation by turning the phone, and pinch-to-zoom on a map app, looked like alien technology. Then Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Blackberry, LG and others scrambled to release touchscreen phones. Most were awful in terms of screen responsiveness to touch, and they were laggy.
Competitors in space vehicle re-use will come, because re-use will be table-stakes for space.