Hacker News with Generative AI: Rocketry

The top fell off Australia's first orbital-class rocket, delaying its launch (arstechnica.com)
The payload fairing at the top of Gilmour Space's first Eris rocket was supposed to deploy a few minutes after lifting off from northeastern Australia. Instead, the nose cone fell off the rocket hours before it was supposed to leave the launch pad Thursday.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Australia

12 points by LorenDB 7 days ago | 5 comments

China is making stainless steel tanks for its future super heavy-lift rockets (spacenews.com)
HELSINKI — A Chinese state-owned rocket maker is making progress in producing large diameter stainless steel tanks for its next-generation launch vehicles.

Space Exploration, China, Rocketry, Manufacturing

4 points by rbanffy 22 days ago | 0 comments

Firefly's rocket suffers one of the strangest launch failures we've ever seen (arstechnica.com)
Firefly Aerospace launched its two-stage Alpha rocket from California early Tuesday, but something went wrong about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, rendering the rocket unable to deploy an experimental satellite into orbit for Lockheed Martin.

Spaceflight, Rocketry, Failures, Aerospace

13 points by divbzero 24 days ago | 2 comments

How to design, build and test small liquid-fuel rocket engines-ROCKETLAB (spacha.github.io)

Rocketry, Engineering, DIY

19 points by nill0 35 days ago | 2 comments

First Orbital Rocket Launched from European Soil, Rocket Crashes, but It's Cool [video] (youtube.com)

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Europe

39 points by consumer451 54 days ago | 49 comments

Rocket carrying European orbital vehicle crashes after launch (phys.org)
The first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe crashed seconds after blast-off Sunday, dealing a blow to the continent's bid to build a new space economy.

Space Exploration, Europe, Rocketry, Failures

7 points by endofreach 54 days ago | 2 comments

First orbital rocket launched from Europe crashes after launch (theguardian.com)
A test rocket aimed at kickstarting satellite launches from Europe fell to the ground and exploded less than a minute after takeoff from a Norwegian spaceport on Sunday, in what the German startup Isar Aerospace had described as an initial test.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Europe, Startups, Accidents

17 points by chha 54 days ago | 3 comments

Fundamental miscalculation in the design of Starship V2 and its engine section (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

SpaceX, Starship, Engineering, Rocketry

24 points by JumpCrisscross 65 days ago | 0 comments

SpaceX launches Starship on 8th test flight, tries to catch returning booster [video] (youtube.com)

SpaceX, Starship, Space Exploration, Rocketry, Video

13 points by busymom0 78 days ago | 7 comments

Long-time advocate of SLS rocket says it's time to find an "off-ramp" (arstechnica.com)
The lights may be starting to go out for NASA's Space Launch System program.

Space Exploration, NASA, Rocketry

8 points by ironyman 86 days ago | 1 comments

Mere weeks after Starship's breakup, the vehicle may soon fly again (arstechnica.com)
A little over a month after SpaceX's large Starship launch ended in an explosion over several Caribbean islands, the company is preparing its next rocket for a test flight.

SpaceX, Starship, Space Exploration, Rocketry, Testing

24 points by amichail 92 days ago | 81 comments

The dream of offshore rocket launches is finally blasting off (technologyreview.com)
Sea-based launches are hitting their stride. That could lead to a lot more space missions with a lot less red tape.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Technology

65 points by pseudolus 100 days ago | 37 comments

ULA's Vulcan rocket still doesn't have the Space Force's seal of approval (arstechnica.com)
With a Space Force review still ongoing, ULA is removing its next Vulcan rocket from the launch pad.

Space Exploration, Space Force, Rocketry, ULA, Vulcan Rocket

5 points by rbanffy 100 days ago | 0 comments

SpaceX's Starship test flight ends in failure after spacecraft is destroyed (theguardian.com)
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad.

Space Exploration, SpaceX, Starship, Rocketry, Failures

5 points by teleforce 127 days ago | 0 comments

SpaceX loses Ship 33 during Starship Flight 7 (twitter.com)

SpaceX, Starship, Space Travel, Rocketry, Accidents

9 points by LorenDB 127 days ago | 7 comments

After a 24-second test of its engines, the New Glenn rocket is ready to fly (arstechnica.com)
After a long day of stops and starts that stretched well into the evening, and on what appeared to be the company's fifth attempt Friday, Blue Origin successfully ignited the seven main engines on its massive New Glenn rocket.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Blue Origin

113 points by fenced_load 146 days ago | 143 comments

SpaceX hits 400 launches of Falcon 9 rocket (theregister.com)
SpaceX has unlocked an impressive achievement – 400 launches of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

Space Exploration, SpaceX, Rocketry, Space Technology

17 points by LinuxBender 175 days ago | 2 comments

SpaceX Super Heavy splashes down in the gulf, canceling chopsticks landing (twitter.com)

SpaceX, Space Exploration, Rocketry

272 points by alach11 185 days ago | 425 comments

Study reveals Starship's sound levels; shows differences between SLS, Falcon 9 (nasaspaceflight.com)
When SpaceX launched Starship and Super Heavy for its first flight test in April 2023, the rocket became the most powerful ever flown, mostly due in part to Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, SpaceX, NASA, Sound

3 points by dangle1 187 days ago | 0 comments

Rocket Lab signs first Neutron launch customer – SpaceNews (spacenews.com)
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab says it has signed the first customer for its Neutron launch vehicle as the company pushes towards a mid-2025 first launch of the vehicle.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Commercial Spaceflight

4 points by rbanffy 190 days ago | 0 comments

China reveals a new heavy lift rocket that is a clone of SpaceX's Starship (arstechnica.com)
Based on its latest specifications, the Long March 9 rocket will have a fully reusable first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines, which are full-flow staged combustion engines fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of approximately 200 tons.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, China, SpaceX, Starship

3 points by bookofjoe 198 days ago | 0 comments

China's long-term lunar plans now depend on developing its own Starship (arstechnica.com)
China reveals a new heavy lift rocket that is a clone of SpaceX’s Starship

Space Exploration, China, SpaceX, Rocketry

7 points by LinuxBender 200 days ago | 0 comments

The New Glenn rocket's first stage (arstechnica.com)
Blue Origin took another significant step toward the launch of its large New Glenn rocket on Tuesday night by rolling the first stage of the vehicle to a launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Blue Origin

6 points by perihelions 205 days ago | 0 comments

Rocket Lab Begins Installation of Large Carbon Composite Rocket-Building Machine (rocketlabusa.com)
Long Beach, California. August 8, 2024. – Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced it has begun installation of the largest automated fiber placement (AFP) machine of its kind into the Company’s Neutron rocket production line in Middle River, MD.

Space Exploration, Manufacturing, Rocketry, Aerospace

12 points by taubek 211 days ago | 3 comments

Can SpaceX land a rocket with 1/2 cm accuracy? (theshamblog.com)
No. But they don’t need to.

SpaceX, Rocketry, Engineering

139 points by scottshambaugh 214 days ago | 164 comments

Starship is Still Not Understood (2021) (wordpress.com)
Starship matters. It’s not just a really big rocket, like any other rocket on steroids. It’s a continuing and dedicated attempt to achieve the “Holy Grail” of rocketry, a fully and rapidly reusable orbital class rocket that can be mass manufactured.

Space Exploration, Rocketry, Technology, Engineering

57 points by MichaelNolan 222 days ago | 79 comments

SpaceX's "chopstick" launch tower arms have caught its Super Heavy booster (theverge.com)
SpaceX’s “chopstick” launch tower arms have caught its Super Heavy booster.

SpaceX, Rocketry, Space Exploration, Engineering

12 points by october8140 222 days ago | 1 comments

Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster (twitter.com)

SpaceX, Rocketry, Space Exploration

61 points by cube2222 222 days ago | 1 comments

SpaceX's next Starship launch–and first catch–could happen this weekend (arstechnica.com)
We may not have to wait as long as we thought for the next test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket.