Rainer Groh

Tag: New Space

  • Podcast Ep. #33 – Black Arrow’s Vision for a Seaborne Launch Capability and STEM Engagement

    Paul Williams is the Executive Director of the British startup Black Arrow Space Technologies. Black Arrow is developing a sea-borne launch capability based on their current expertise in developing composite propellant tanks for satellites. The launching of rockets from ships has a previous history in America, and as an island nation, the concept is clearly suited for a UK launch provider. Paul and I talk about the heritage of the Black Arrow name, the advantages of a sea-borne launch approach, and the importance of audacious technical challenges in galvanising and inspiring the next generation of engineering talent.

    In fact, Black Arrow is currently supporting and working with a number of ambassadors from the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) campaign. One of these ambassadors is Liv Scott-Golding, a 3rd year Physics undergraduate student at the University of Bristol, who is also joining us on this episode. Liv has been involved with Black Arrow from the start, and with contagious enthusiasm, tells us about her passion for the space industry and her interactions with Black Arrow as a WISE ambassador.

    Selected Links from the Episode

  • Podcast Ep. #24 – Veronica Foreman on Small Satellites and Virgin Orbit’s Air-Launched Rocket System

    Veronica Foreman is a payload engineer at the small-satellite launch provider Virgin Orbit. Before starting her career at Virgin Orbit, Veronica earned several academic accolades including an Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award at Georgia Tech, and a Best Masters Thesis award at MIT. What I find especially impressive about her Masters work on small-satellite constellations is that Veronica considered both the design of constellations, as well as the economic and policy challenges to small-satellite mission success.

    As Virgin Orbit’s mission is to be the premier dedicated launch service for small satellites, Veronica has seemingly found the perfect place for her expertise and passion. One of the key features of Virgin Orbit’s launch design is its air-launching system that drops the rocket (LauncherOne) from the wing of a Boeing 747 (Cosmic Girl), providing a movable launchpad. As Veronica explains in this episode, this capability provides Virgin Orbit unique advantages in terms of providing a dedicated launch service for small satellites. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering podcast, Veronica and I discuss:

    • Virgin Orbit’s vision
    • the unique advantages and challenges of an air-launched rocket system
    • some of Virgin Orbit’s key engineering technologies
    • and the growing importance of satellite constellations

    Selected Links from the Episode

  • Podcast Ep. #17 – Alba Orbital Engineer Andrew Dunn on PocketQubes

    On this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast I am speaking to Andrew Dunn who is an engineer at the satellite company Alba Orbital in Glasgow, Scotland. Alba Orbital is in the business of building PocketQubes, which are miniaturised satellites mainly used for space science, Earth imaging and space exploration. As the name suggests, PocketQubes are pocket-sized, usually around 5 cm (2 in) cubed and weighing no more than 180 grams. What is more, PocketQubes are typically assembled entirely from commercial off-the-shelf components, driven mostly by the miniaturisation of smartphone electronics, and this makes PocketQubes an ideal low-cost testbed for university labs and smaller startup companies.

    Traditional satellites of the last decades often took so long to develop that by the time they were launched into space, the technology was already out of date. Furthermore, their large size increased launch costs and most components were one-off designs that made them too expensive but for the largest companies. Alba Orbital is currently developing the Unicorn-2 PocketQube platform, which is a modular design that can host different payloads, such as optical equipment, deployable antennas or a radio module, but is built on a foundation of integrated electronics that can serve any need. In this episode, Andrew and I talk about:

    • the unique features of PocketQubes
    • their components and how they are manufactured
    • and Alba Orbital’s future plans for the Unicorn-2 platform

    Selected Links from the Episode

  • Podcast Ep. #16 – Max Haot and Launcher’s Ten-year Journey to Deliver Small Satellites to Orbit

    On this episode I am speaking to Max Haot, who is the founder of Launcher, a rocket startup based out of Brooklyn, NY. Launcher was founded in early 2017 and is on a ten-year journey to deliver small satellites to orbit. More specifically, Launcher plans to deliver payloads of up to 300 kg into low-earth orbit cheaper than anyone else in the growing small launcher market; a market specialising on small satellites that will deliver GPS, internet services and earth imaging in the near future.

    The most difficult part of launching satellites into orbit is building a robust and reliable rocket engine. On top of that, the physics of the rocket equation dictate very stringent constraints on the mass of the rocket and payload. To launch a satellite into low-earth orbit, a typical liquid-oxygen/kerosene rocket is around 95% propellant on the launchpad. So any fuel savings from a more efficient rocket engine can go towards increasing the payload. Launcher has spent the last year working on their proof-of-concept engine, the E-1, and are now in the process of spending the next three years developing the 40x larger E-2 engine. Key to Launcher’s rocket engine is 3D printing and a staged combustion cycle. 3D printing allows for a reduction in parts, faster development times, and easier manufacturing of complex geometries such as integrated cooling channels, which all help to reduce costs. In a staged combustion cycle, a favourite of Soviet rocket engineers, propellant flows through two combustion chambers, a preburner and a main combustion chamber. The pressure produced by igniting a small amount of propellant in the preburner can be used to power the turbo pumps that force the remaining propellant into the main combustion chamber. The addition of the preburner leads to better fuel efficiency, but comes at the cost of greater engineering complexity.

    One of the things I love about Launcher is that they face this daunting engineering challenge with the utmost humility, documenting many of their failures and successes online for everyone to see. In this way, anyone can get a glimpse of what it means to build a rocket company from scratch. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast you will learn:

    • how Max got into the space industry
    • the engineering details behind many aspects of the E-1 engine
    • the advantages of 3D printing and stage combustion
    • and Launcher’s current schedule for developing the full-size E-2 engine

    Selected Links from the Episode

  • Podcast Ep. #8 – Rocket Lab’s Lachlan Matchett on Democratising Access to Space and the Rutherford Rocket Engine

    In this episode I am talking to Lachlan Matchett, who is the VP of Propulsion at Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab is a startup rocket company with the mission of removing barriers to commercial space by frequent launches to low-earth orbit. The current conundrum of many space technology companies that want to launch small satellites into space is that there is no dedicated launch service tailored to their needs. This is where Rocket Lab enters the picture. To provide small payloads with a flexible and dedicated launch vehicle, Rocket Lab has developed the Electron rocket. The Electron is a two-stage rocket that can be tailored to unique orbital requirements and provides frequent flight opportunities at personalised schedules.

    In terms of the engineering, there are many interesting features to the Electron rocket, but one of the key innovations is the Rutherford engine that Lachlan Matchett and his team have developed over the last five years. Rutherford is the first oxygen/kerosene-powered engine to use 3D printing for all primary components. In fact, the Rutherford engine can be printed in an astounding 24 hrs, and this is one of the driving factors behind Rocket Lab’s cost efficiency and high target launch frequency. So in this episode, Lachlan and I talk about:

    • Rocket Lab’s business model
    • their recent launch success in Jan 2018
    • some of the engineering highlights of the Rutherford engine
    • and Rocket Lab’s plans for the future

    Selected Links from the Episode