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Commercialization

Vector Completes Successful Flight Test

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 3, 2017
Filed under
Vector Completes Successful Flight Test

Vector Completes Successful Flight Test of Vector-R Launch Vehicle, SpaceRef
“This successful flight test represents Vector’s next technical milestone of the Vector-R launch vehicle. The flight test, which took place in Mojave, Calif. on May 3, featured Vector’s first stage 5K-lbf engine and 3D additive manufacturing printed injector, which was successfully tested in December 2016, and developed in partnership with NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

3 responses to “Vector Completes Successful Flight Test”

  1. Steve Harrington says:
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    A rocket startup that launches rockets! Great job.

  2. ExNASA says:
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    Hoorah!

  3. Daniel Woodard says:
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    Vector’s support from the Flight Opportunities Program, which seems reasonably efficient, is a positive sign. Propylene has (modest) energy advantages over RP-1 as a propellant, and the complex injector plate is a very reasonable application for 3-D printing. But whether this will be enough to turn a profit in the relatively limited suborbital and small LEO satellite market is yet to be seen. In the larger commercial markets (GEO and multiple LEO satellite launches) , the higher lift capacity and substantially greater financial resources of SX and Blue will make them tough to beat. Finally, the pressure fed design makes sense for a small rocket like the one tested, but at larger launch masses the pressurized fuel tank is too heavy and pump-fed engines have the advantage.