Rocket Lab Is One-Upping SpaceX
Can Rocket Lab embarrass SpaceX?
Cast your mind back to 2015. The presidential race was just starting, The Weekend’s I Can’t Feel My face seemed to be on repeat everywhere and VW was caught red-handed. This was also the year that I, along with thousands of others, watched with bated breath as Musk pulled off the impossible. We were all glued to our computer screens witnessing a rocket return from space and gently land back to Earth. Not only was this a damn neat trick, but it also started the modern space race that rages on today. Yet, a plucky company called Rocket Lab has a plan to one-up this fantastic feat. But can they pull it off? And what does it mean for SpaceX?
You may not have heard of Rocket Lab, but they have become one of the big players in the private space industry. Their Electron rocket has already completed 25 launches and delivered 112 satellites to orbit.
The Electron is a very unusual rocket as it is pretty tiny. With a payload to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) of only 300 kg it can take 76 times less payload to space than a standard SpaceX Falcon 9. However, it isn’t designed for the same sort of missions as the Falcon 9. Rather than being able to service the entire space industry, the Electron is meant to be highly flexible while being able to launch microsatellites on very short notice. As our world…
