I don’t know, but if I was to hazard a guess, it’s probably something to be
considered for inclusion in the future. Currently they’re basing their hybrids
around 3D printed fuel grains – I don’t think anyone wants to be casting large
hybrid grains. Feedstock filament/rod/cord impregnated with any pure Al, let
alone the right blend % wouldn’t be an off-the-shelf product, so I’m guessing
it’s a one step at time kinda thing.
Troy
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of roxanna Mason
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2022 1:47 PM
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AR] Re: Gilmour's test fire
Anyone know why they're using a non-aluminized formulation?
Ken
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 2:51 AM Troy Prideaux <troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Only one of them is a banker, and that’s the differentiation from the *myriad*
of other hybrid startups that have come & gone or come & stagnating – ie. they
found the VC.
Why hybrids? They started as 3 – the 2 brothers and a propulsion expert named
Jamie Anderson who pretty much convinced them to pursue this avenue of a space
launch startup.
Jamie always had a soft spot for HTP. In the 90s I drove him and another
AUSROC member to Woomera from Melbourne and back for a hybrid launch on the
Woomera Range. The entire 14 hour road trip over was non-stop discussion about
rocket propulsion and a fair chunk of the trip back was the same. His fondness
of HTP was evident then and it never really changed. He was always open to
hybrids and later probably preferred them.
They started out building 1 or 2 N2O hybrids, flew them and then switched to
peroxide once they secured a source.
There was a falling out between the brothers and Jamie (which I won’t go
into) resulting in him parting ways with the business. They continued the
pursuit of the hybrid path and were able to secure more VC and government
funding – it’s currently a time where the Australian Government are actually
showing some interest in space which is fortunate timing for them, although
it’s luck they largely made themselves by demonstrating the indigenous
capability.
Hats off to them. I really wish them and the other startups luck.
Troy
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ;<mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On
Behalf Of Jonathan Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 11 January 2022 7:11 PM
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AR] Re: Gilmour's test fire
The thing that really gets me about Gilmour is that they've bucked the
worldwide trend in launch startups of liquid propellant rocket engines and have
gone hybrid. Everyone from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Astra, Firefly, Launcher and so
on all use entirely liquid rockets. One exception is Virgin Galactic, but
perhaps their tourist spaceplane doesn't sit in the same category here. It's
something of a deviation to see Gilmour, and Gilmour alone developing their
hybrids. With liquid rockets at least there's a well-defined process for
iteration and moving on to bigger engines, plus there's the reusability aspect
of just being able to refly the whole thing like everyone seems to be looking
for. Gilmour doesn't seem to be looking for that (yet).
I'm not sure what to think of them, actually, and they're just about the only
company I really look at that way. And for whatever it's worth, the founders
(the Gilmour brothers) are both bankers/financiers with no physics or
engineering background. For their sake, Gilmour Space's deviation from
conventional launcher architecture had better not be some kind of cheap
cost-cutting thing...
Just my two cents worth.
-Jon.
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:46 PM Plugger Lockett <plugger.lockett@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:plugger.lockett@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
So much of the press and associated spin with new space initiatives in general
and Gilmour specifically leaves a lot to be desired. There are plenty of things
to dispute in their press release, but that's not entirely unexpected I guess.
I do find it curious that they continually state they'll fly Eris to orbit this
year when they've never once successfully flown one of their own hybrid motors
in a rocket. I'm not saying it's not possible for them to reach orbit this
year; just incredibly unlikely.
Is this latest test a flight capable motor? it definitely appears to be a
different motor from the test campaign posts early last year.
It doesn't appear to have the bolted together pipe look that the motor from
last year did.
drew
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 12:39 PM David Arnold <davida@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:davida@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Test fire from Gilmour
https://youtu.be/8p66KZzp8Ek
(from their tweet https://twitter.com/GilmourSpace/status/1480712134535221249)
d