The Rocket CompanyThis richly illustrated book is a fictionalized account of the challenges faced by a group of seven investors and their engineering team in developing a low-cost, reusable, Earth-to-orbit launch vehicle. The marketing, regulatory and technical problems are explored, making it an excellent and readable introduction to the technical aspects and challenges facing today's designers, entrepreneurs, regulators, legislators, and investors. The business model presented includes numerous timely scenarios and ideas: considering a reusable launch vehicle as a product, which has a different market and better cash flow, than the market for launch services; using clever engineering to solve the problem of an economical reusable launch vehicle with existing technology; and greatly increasing the supply of launch capacity, with a reusable vehicle that has low marginal costs per flight, is necessary to drive down the cost of launch to low Earth orbit using modifications of the same basic vehicle to gain access to the inner solar system at reasonable cost. institutions to solve the problem of low-cost, reusable launch vehicles makes this book necessary reading for all those involved in developing solutions. The Rocket Company provides a point of departure for building a consensus on how to take the process through to low cost access to orbit - and beyond. |
Contents
Seven Billionaires and One Big Problem | 1 |
Big Telescopes Hot Rodders and Librarians | 9 |
Gateses Jobses and the Laureates Lemma | 17 |
Build Big Build Many or Use it Again | 23 |
Small Market Small Payload But Not a Toy | 35 |
Myths Mistrust and Trust | 39 |
The Pitch | 47 |
The Business Plan | 63 |
Markets Philosophy Techniques and Approaches | 153 |
Rockets Jets and Soft Landings | 159 |
Pilots Payloads and Passengers | 163 |
Mooncars Monks and Monasteries | 171 |
Aliens Cheetahs and Archea | 183 |
Halfway to Everywhere | 189 |
First Stage First Flight | 201 |
Stop the Production Line | 209 |
Mazes Stop Cords and Skunk Workers | 71 |
Fuel Tanks Heat Shields and Fire Walls | 77 |
Balloon Tanks Fracture Mechanics and Friction Stir Welding | 91 |
Enthusiasm Bubbles Ejections and Expander Cycles | 101 |
Gasoline Alcohol Kerosene or Liquid Methane | 113 |
Design Reviews Prototypes and Parawings | 119 |
Guidance Navigation and Control | 129 |
Webb Suit Hard Suit Space Suit | 141 |
Common terms and phrases
achieve actually additional aerobraking aerodynamic aerospace aircraft airplane allow altitude aluminum AM&M amount approach asteroids atmosphere basic build capability concept cooling cost crack cryogenic cycle delta-V ejection seat Father Scipio feet per second first-stage flight test Fred fuel going gravity Group of Seven heat shield hydrogen peroxide hydrogen tank industry John Forsyth landing less lightweight liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen loads low Earth orbit lunar Mars material million monastery moon NASA operations orbital stage parawing payload bay pilot pound of payload Pratt & Whitney pressure problem production vehicle propellant tanks prototype reentry heating refueling relatively reusable launch vehicle rocket engines solar space shuttle space tourism space transportation spacecraft spaceflight spacesuit structure suit surface temperature thrust Tom's trajectory turbine upper stage velocity weight