So many small sat launch companies…
Most will fail. I am continually surprised by how many startups there are trying to enter the market. Now there is Reaction Dynamics in Canada. Has plans to build a launch site in Nova Scotia. Claims to have a new design for a “hybrid” rocket engine but their website provides zero information about it. It’s almost comical; click the “Technology” link on the site and discover that a password is required for access. News articles like this one in the Toronto Star quote the company as saying that it has “solved the problem” of a hybrid rocket providing high performance for an extended duration and of shutting it down and restarting it multiple times. No mention of reusability.
A hybrid rocket uses a solid propellant and a liquid oxidizer and can be readily restarted. The solid propellant cannot readily be refilled like a liquid propellant tank can.
Given the large number of small sat launch companies, if Reaction Dynamics cannot build an easily reusable rocket they don’t seem competitive to me.
Most will fail. I am continually surprised by how many startups there are trying to enter the market. Now there is Reaction Dynamics in Canada. Has plans to build a launch site in Nova Scotia. Claims to have a new design for a “hybrid” rocket engine but their website provides zero information about it. It’s almost comical; click the “Technology” link on the site and discover that a password is required for access. News articles like this one in the Toronto Star quote the company as saying that it has “solved the problem” of a hybrid rocket providing high performance for an extended duration and of shutting it down and restarting it multiple times. No mention of reusability.
A hybrid rocket uses a solid propellant and a liquid oxidizer and can be readily restarted. The solid propellant cannot readily be refilled like a liquid propellant tank can.
Given the large number of small sat launch companies, if Reaction Dynamics cannot build an easily reusable rocket they don’t seem competitive to me.