Scottish aerospace

Soyuzturtle

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#1
All right me laddies , this thread is about current and planned Scottish spacecraft and space related stuff because the Scots seem to be fairly underrated when it comes to spaceflight.

Enjoy your read and have a nice day !
 

Soyuzturtle

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#2
first I want to talk about orbex , a planned rocket company which will operate a single launch vehicle.

201907-181731.jpg

This is quite an interesting rocket for multiple reasons. First of all it's propellant is propane and liquid oxygen which is quite rare in the aerospace industry. Also quite interesting is their plan to use coaxial fuel tanks with the different tanks being located inside eachother so the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane. Orbex claims this design decreases the propellant tanks' mass because the liquid supports the weight of the tank , allowing for reduced mass being used for supports.
Because the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane , the fuel gets some better density and specific impulse through some sort of science I don't understand.

The rocket itself would weigh 18 tonnes and would stand 19 meters on the launch pad ( planned to be at Sutherland )
The structural components will be mainly aluminium and carbon fibre composites. The first stage will be propelled by six engines each with a turbopump , the second stage will use a pressure fed engine. This however may change.

The payload of this rocket will be 225kg to sun synchronous orbit ( because of its launch site only having access to northbound launches ) which is a bit better than rocket lab's electron rocket.

The first test launches are expected for 2021.

I'll post something on skyrora later once I've done some research :)
 
T

TomaJo

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#4
first I want to talk about orbex , a planned rocket company which will operate a single launch vehicle.

View attachment 44399
This is quite an interesting rocket for multiple reasons. First of all it's propellant is propane and liquid oxygen which is quite rare in the aerospace industry. Also quite interesting is their plan to use coaxial fuel tanks with the different tanks being located inside eachother so the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane. Orbex claims this design decreases the propellant tanks' mass because the liquid supports the weight of the tank , allowing for reduced mass being used for supports.
Because the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane , the fuel gets some better density and specific impulse through some sort of science I don't understand.

The rocket itself would weigh 18 tonnes and would stand 19 meters on the launch pad ( planned to be at Sutherland )
The structural components will be mainly aluminium and carbon fibre composites. The first stage will be propelled by six engines each with a turbopump , the second stage will use a pressure fed engine. This however may change.

The payload of this rocket will be 225kg to sun synchronous orbit ( because of its launch site only having access to northbound launches ) which is a bit better than rocket lab's electron rocket.

The first test launches are expected for 2021.

I'll post something on skyrora later once I've done some research :)

Hey, that's interesting! Skyrora has run some new tests since you posted this. They have almost reached the finish with their Skyrora XL three-stage rocket. You seem to be good at describing what's going on in a concise and clear way. I would be very interested to read about this. And what do you think of their space tug?
 

Soyuzturtle

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#5
Hey, that's interesting! Skyrora has run some new tests since you posted this. They have almost reached the finish with their Skyrora XL three-stage rocket. You seem to be good at describing what's going on in a concise and clear way. I would be very interested to read about this. And what do you think of their space tug?
God , this is an old thread which I completely forgot about. I'll post something about Skyrora as soon as I can.
 

Soyuzturtle

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#7
Now after 5 months , Skyrora!
Skyrora has adopted quite a different development strategy to orbex in the way that it is launching smaller vehicles and slowly working their way up to an orbital launcher.
5eac4155a3ae6.jpg

Back in 2019 , they launched their skylark nano , a supersonic rocket using solid propellant which didn't really go far. In August 2020 the skylark micro launched which had two stages which were again , solid rocket motors. This one managed to reach 27km from Iceland.
Testing has also been carried out last year on the liquid fuel engines of the skylark L which should be able to go on and launch payloads into a space though at a suborbital trajectory. The 2466kg (wet mass) vehicle will use kerosene to power a single 30kn , pressure fed engine.

Now for their orbital rocket , the Skylark XL. This design will be a large 55ton , 3 stage vehicle capable of putting 300kg into a sun synchronous orbit of Earth. The rocket will use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene to achieve a highly eco-friendly production and flight. It will be propelled by 8 turbopump fed 'skyforce' engines on the first stage and 1 on the 2nd stage. The 3rd stage will have an un-named pressure fed engine which will be capable of multiple ignitions.
5.jpg
Skyrora20XL_00.jpg
 

Mars Pathfinder

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#10
Now after 5 months , Skyrora!
Skyrora has adopted quite a different development strategy to orbex in the way that it is launching smaller vehicles and slowly working their way up to an orbital launcher.
View attachment 54430
Back in 2019 , they launched their skylark nano , a supersonic rocket using solid propellant which didn't really go far. In August 2020 the skylark micro launched which had two stages which were again , solid rocket motors. This one managed to reach 27km from Iceland.
Testing has also been carried out last year on the liquid fuel engines of the skylark L which should be able to go on and launch payloads into a space though at a suborbital trajectory. The 2466kg (wet mass) vehicle will use kerosene to power a single 30kn , pressure fed engine.

Now for their orbital rocket , the Skylark XL. This design will be a large 55ton , 3 stage vehicle capable of putting 300kg into a sun synchronous orbit of Earth. The rocket will use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene to achieve a highly eco-friendly production and flight. It will be propelled by 8 turbopump fed 'skyforce' engines on the first stage and 1 on the 2nd stage. The 3rd stage will have an un-named pressure fed engine which will be capable of multiple ignitions.
View attachment 54431 View attachment 54432
from thinn to thicc :p
 
T

TomaJo

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#11
Thank you! Good ability to make information accessible and beautiful.
It seems like they were going to use Ecosene for their ships, right? Well, plastic kerosene.
The Skyrora XL third stage has also been successfully tested. This device is aimed at various tasks from correcting the trajectory of satellites to removing space debris.
 

Soyuzturtle

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#12
Thank you! Good ability to make information accessible and beautiful.
It seems like they were going to use Ecosene for their ships, right? Well, plastic kerosene.
The Skyrora XL third stage has also been successfully tested. This device is aimed at various tasks from correcting the trajectory of satellites to removing space debris.
This 'ocesene' however is much less efficient and so more of it is needed to reach orbit with the same payload. Therefore something like the Orbex rocket has a similar impact on the environment than the Skyrora XL because it uses much less fuel.
 

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#13
first I want to talk about orbex , a planned rocket company which will operate a single launch vehicle.

View attachment 44399
This is quite an interesting rocket for multiple reasons. First of all it's propellant is propane and liquid oxygen which is quite rare in the aerospace industry. Also quite interesting is their plan to use coaxial fuel tanks with the different tanks being located inside eachother so the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane. Orbex claims this design decreases the propellant tanks' mass because the liquid supports the weight of the tank , allowing for reduced mass being used for supports.
Because the liquid oxygen surrounds the propane , the fuel gets some better density and specific impulse through some sort of science I don't understand.

The rocket itself would weigh 18 tonnes and would stand 19 meters on the launch pad ( planned to be at Sutherland )
The structural components will be mainly aluminium and carbon fibre composites. The first stage will be propelled by six engines each with a turbopump , the second stage will use a pressure fed engine. This however may change.

The payload of this rocket will be 225kg to sun synchronous orbit ( because of its launch site only having access to northbound launches ) which is a bit better than rocket lab's electron rocket.

The first test launches are expected for 2021.

I'll post something on skyrora later once I've done some research :)
looks like electron
 

Mooncrasher

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#16
The laws of physics are the same in Scotland as in New Zealand... But Scotty from Star Trek is from Scotland...:eek:
 

Soyuzturtle

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#17
The laws of physics are the same in Scotland as in New Zealand... But Scotty from Star Trek is from Scotland...:eek:
No ,in New Zealand rockets just fall into space because they're upside down over there.
 

Mooncrasher

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#22
Scotty was actually Canadian. And a bit of a legend in real life as well.
James Doohan, yes. :) Amazing fellow.
That's not what they said in the show, though! And I think there's a plaque for Scotty in Aberdeen.