Steve Jobs (Apple) and Commodore computers started the Personal computer revolution in 1976. The world changed from multi-million dollar mainframe computers to a world of sub-thousand dollar personal computers.
By 1980, there were over a million personal computers.
The world could change radically in the next few years. We currently live in a world where it costs over $50 million for a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A rideshare on a Falcon 9 costs $350,000 for a 50 kilogram payload. However, you typically have to wait a year for a rideshare mission.
In 2027, instead of buying a Cybertruck, you could choose to buy your own reusable rocket and a small satellite to send up to orbit.
This rocket is real and the hardware is being tested. It is a low cost revolution.
Rocket Lab has the Electron rocket and it costs $7.5 million for a launch. the Electron rocket started at 225 kilogram payload but is now 320 kilograms.
Sidereous Space will be able to launch 6U cubesats for $100,000.
If they succeed in launching to sub-orbit next year (2025) they will already have a valuable business.
If they succeed with orbital launch in 2026 they will be ahead of other rocket companies with billion dollar or multi-billion dollar valuations.
The Sidereus rocket is designed to be fully reusable and single stage to orbit.
The 10 kilogram rocket engine is 3D printed. The fuel tank only weighs 15 kilograms. The entire dry weight is 30 kilogram.
It can launch with regular jet fuel from any airport. This 660 gallons (2 tons of fuel) only costs about $2000 per launch. This is less fuel than most business jets. It is 50 times less fuel than a wide body passenger jet.
The rocket does not have to stay this small. Later versions can be larger.
When these rockets are in mass production, then a constellation of 1000 mini-Starlink communication satellites could be deployed for $100 million.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Sorry, but from what’s been shared on their website and in reports, this is dreaming at best, a scam at worst.
If this vehicle makes orbit, it will be astounding. If it makes orbit with a useful payload fraction, even more so. If it makes orbit and successfully returns in one piece, incredible. If it makes it to orbit with a useful payload fraction and returns in one piece, a potential game changer.
If I were a betting man, which I’m not, I’d wager this vehicle never reaches sub-orbital.
I noticed comment on Youtube about using these for personal ICBMs, or other military uses. Maybe they could be used to collect orbital debris? This is a great accomplishment, yes. But how can it be used?
Planes are here for 100 years and you still can’t buy a plane the price of a cybertruck.
FB marketplace begs to differ:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1436014423696141/
Was talking about airbus/boeing jets, not obsolete planes.
Lot of that’s due to governmental help, and a lack of economies of scale. The vast majority of general aviation aircraft out there pre-2000 are using engines based on 80-year old designs. There was little innovation, numbers built were low, and a regulatory environment that demanded that any changes in powerplants or avionics off their original state needed a lot of expensive paperwork and government approvals. This also applied to new built aircraft – as long as you kept building what you’d been doing, you didn’t need to redo certification.
But if you make a change, you had to pay to recertify the aircraft. Imagine if auto makers had to spend $200 million whenever they changed anything on a car. New engine, changes to the frame, changes to the interior, changes to even the fenders and body – all requiring extensive/expensive certification before they could sell it. Now, drop the build rate to a couple of thousand of each model. It’s a lot cheaper to keep the design frozen…
It’s easier now to make modifications, but there’s a lot of inertia and very little innovation going on in certain areas. No incentive for it on the maintenance side… If a new engine’s going for $75k, and you’re getting $40k for rebuilding an engine, and that engine needs to be rebuilt every 1000-2000 hours, well, you don’t want to see that particular engine style go away, do you?
Plus, there was also the ‘Luxury Tax’ on boats, yachts, small aircraft, furs and jewelry that got passed in the early ’80s. 10% off the top, that lasted for close to a decade. That almost killed Cessna and Piper as small general aviation manufacturers – because used aircraft weren’t significantly different than new, well maintained (due to government regulation) and a lot cheaper than new. An airplane’s a luxury good in the first place, so when you tack on an extra fee, well – why buy new?
And we won’t talk about the cost of fuel and the like…
All in all, there’s a number of factors why new aircraft cost the equivalent of 3-4 Cybertrucks.
Hi Brian
Call it “real” once it reaches orbit. Until then, it’s aspiring to be an Orbital Rocket.
Hi Brian
Call it “real” once it reaches orbit. Until then, it’s aspiring to be an Orbital Rocket.
I really want to see this work. But, if we’re going to have a single stage to orbit vehicle for cheap, wouldn’t they be better off making it a plane-like configuration with VTOL capability? Of course, that’s likely to raise the price.
We need to come up with the rules and technology that can handle this, before we let this technology loose on us…
Oh this would be lovely it it happened. Then again, it took decades to develop the commercial and military air traffic control system. If you take off in your own personal rocket hey this ain’t “The Jetsons”, a cartoon from the 1960’s. Guess what? You need to know where your going, and what path you’ll take to get there. And everyone else will need to know that, so they don’t
run into you, where ever your trying to get to. And we think travel on a 2D road is a bitch?
Oh, really?
Can this help make a new car I want cheaper? A rocket is very cool. But I REALLY need a new car. One I can afford.
Check out Tata cars in India, I think they made a 1000 dollar car.
No aircon, airbag or radio, but its cheap.
Problem is getting plates in USA
It actually ended up as a $4k car and then Tata stopped making it. Tata Nano was the name. But making a sub-10K car is not a problem.
I would wait for it to launch and land before calling it a breakthrough.
This rocket’s tank is made of alluminium
And how they plan to reentry:
“Re-Entry and Landing
During the reentry phase, a skip trajectory is employed to maximize the reentry time while reducing both thermal and mechanical loads.
Once lower down in the atmosphere, a parafoil is ejected, allowing a highly precise pinpoint landing.”
Call me skeptical…
Reply to Person Penna: Me too. I’d love to offer a flash of insight. But sometimes, I can’t. (OH GOD I HATE WHEN THIS HAPPENS!!!) Humiliating but true… I should be used to this by now, but you never get “used to it”. ..
Space is going to get very crowded. Who keeps these satellites from crashing into each other? Or the ISS?
Reply to Mr. Musson: Your not kidding. The “air-traffic” control system for low, medium and high Earth orbit will require the coordination of every nation on Earth. When was the last time EVERY NATION agreed on anything? Actually, never. But the nearest we’ve ever come is the current commercial airline air traffic control system. Not every country abides by universal ATC rules. But the VAST majority of nations do. (North Korea is the only country I can think of off the top of my head that does not. There may be 1 or 2 others.)
The world wide ATC language is English. (Pilots sometimes “flip” into their local/native language just as they take off, or are about to land. But this happens, surprisingly quite rarely). Commercial radar and transponder tech is effectively “the same” all over the world. At least in “what” the people in ATC centers “see” based on what their technology reveals.
A person who works in an ATC facility in NY, could walk into one in the UK, Bangkok, Australia, or anywhere and know how to do THEIR job THERE. (They may not know how to get a cup of coffee at one of those other centers, but that’s not “job-critical”, usually…)
As far as I know, the world wide ATC system is the only system of a technological infrastructure that spans the Earth. We may want to look at how that wonderful system works, before space gets too crowded.
This would be awesome. But I could see orbital traffic getting crazy. Maybe not, though. I’m having a hard time imagining how it would look, but I’d love it if space became so accessible.
To Person Mordriel: As I’ve said in my previous post’s; We better figure out how to “make it work” before we make it happen.
That picture above…is that black silicone or similar quite sloppily squeezed around the joint areas of the different sections? The application doesn’t look tidy or even, it looks like some drunk put it down.