I'm just a dummy - but one thing that puzzles me is how this is going to scale to actually transport stuff into space? Especially once it has to have materials on the vehicle to allow it to survive re-entry heat & forces.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 5 days ago

I have been following what this team has been doing for a while. Great to see the advancements are still ticking along.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 2 points 5 days ago

Virgin are working on a system where a high altitude aircraft will deploy a rocket, and a similar system was developed using an F-14 as a launch vehicle.

I'm not away of a single stage system doing this before now though.

[–] Smrki@mastodon.nz 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

@Fizz Nazis had rocket planes 80 years ago.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Which plane? I don't remember them making rocket planes to fly to space.

[–] Smrki@mastodon.nz 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@Fizz No but they made a rocket plane. Fighter.

[–] TagMeInSkipIGotThis@lemmy.nz 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Heh, it was barely a plane though - basically wings on a rocket, very little fly time & wasn't landing it so problematic that more often than not it crashed or the pilot bailed?

[–] Smrki@mastodon.nz 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@TagMeInSkipIGotThis Sure, but 80 years ago… How much did it take from Orwille brothers to Sputnik? 40-50 years?

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Things plateau as the "cost to result" ratio becomes more and more unfavorable.

I don't see what you're trying to say.