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Aria Alamalhodaei
Guest
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! There was a TON of space news this week so I won’t ramble too much, other than to remind you that many of the people mentioned below will be at TC Sessions: Space on the 14th and 15th! That includes Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, Nanoracks’ Jeffrey Manber, and many, many others. It’s going to be a really great event and we’d like for you to be there — more details are at the bottom of this post.
Questions, comments, feedback, compliments: aria.techcrunch@gmail.com.
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On Thursday, Rocket Lab finally gave a much-anticipated update on Neutron, its medium-lift launch system, and the company did not disappoint. Neutron features a number of surprising innovations in both operation and development that depart from other rockets of its class — I’ll go over a few here.
The first is the material used: Rocket Lab has chosen to go with carbon composites for the body of the rocket, eschewing metal alternatives. This is interesting because SpaceX famously ditched carbon composites for stainless steel for the Starship system, but CEO Peter Beck told me that the lighter structure offers huge advantages in weight and performance.
The other notable alteration I’ll mention here is the payload fairing. Traditionally, a rocket is stacked vertically, with the second stage sandwiched between the first stage on the bottom and the fairing on the top, like a nose cone. This is not the case with Neutron.
Instead, the company has decided to attach the fairing to the first stage and put the second stage inside it. When the rocket is ready to deploy payload, the fairings will mechanically open, like a weird alien flower or a big claw!
These are just a few details on the design — read the full story for more.
Neutron’s second stage and payload saying sayonara. Image Credits: Rocket Lab (opens in a new window)
NASA awards over
Questions, comments, feedback, compliments: aria.techcrunch@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to sign up to get the free newsletter version of Max Q delivered to your inbox.
Rocket Lab is reimagining rocket design with Neutron launch system
On Thursday, Rocket Lab finally gave a much-anticipated update on Neutron, its medium-lift launch system, and the company did not disappoint. Neutron features a number of surprising innovations in both operation and development that depart from other rockets of its class — I’ll go over a few here.
The first is the material used: Rocket Lab has chosen to go with carbon composites for the body of the rocket, eschewing metal alternatives. This is interesting because SpaceX famously ditched carbon composites for stainless steel for the Starship system, but CEO Peter Beck told me that the lighter structure offers huge advantages in weight and performance.
The other notable alteration I’ll mention here is the payload fairing. Traditionally, a rocket is stacked vertically, with the second stage sandwiched between the first stage on the bottom and the fairing on the top, like a nose cone. This is not the case with Neutron.
Instead, the company has decided to attach the fairing to the first stage and put the second stage inside it. When the rocket is ready to deploy payload, the fairings will mechanically open, like a weird alien flower or a big claw!
These are just a few details on the design — read the full story for more.
Neutron’s second stage and payload saying sayonara. Image Credits: Rocket Lab (opens in a new window)