Routine_Shine_1921 t1_iwh9b80 wrote
Reply to comment by IsraelZulu in How many different companies now have built a rocket and used it to deliver anything or people to space (besides government organizations like NASA and the Russian equivalent)? by Courcy6185
Yup. First, there are way too many, as basically any sounding rocket counts as suborbital non-crewed, up to an including any amateur rocket. Also, the private line is just too hard to define, as most are companies that are doing it for the military, or with military support.
Finally, it's not super interesting. It gets interesting when it's done as a stepping stone to something else, but otherwise it's, well, just a basic sounding rocket, a tube full of solid propellant and little more.
IsraelZulu t1_iwh9ubq wrote
>up to an including any amateur rocket
Ok, now you've gotten my curiosity. Who's actually sending shit up to space (and back) from their backyard‽
AWildDragon t1_iwhiowz wrote
Check out the annual Balls rocket launch event. Out in the middle of nowhere and you can get a waiver for pretty much any altitude you want.
Or spaceport America cup if you are a student.
Routine_Shine_1921 t1_iwhawyg wrote
Well, not "to space", but suborbital doesn't require you to reach the kármán line. So, where do you draw the line? If you draw it at the kármán line, you leave outside a lot of actual sounding rockets being used by research institutions and the military. If you don't, you include amateurs like BPS space.
IsraelZulu t1_iwheuk0 wrote
Any vehicle or payload that returns to Earth's surface, without completing at least one unpowered lap around it, is technically sub-orbital - right?
Personally, I think describing a vehicle or payload, or the flight thereof, in terms of "orbital" or "sub-orbital" is only really relevant if it reaches an altitude where an unpowered orbit is even possible to begin with. That would put the minimum height at around 150 km.
But, per Wikipedia at least, it seems the Kármán line (or a similar "border of space" that's relatively close to it) is the more commonly-accepted mark.
Routine_Shine_1921 t1_iwhn71g wrote
>Any vehicle or payload that returns to Earth's surface, without completing at least one unpowered lap around it, is technically sub-orbital - right?
Yup. Technically, if you throw a ball, it's a suborbital flight ;)
>Personally, I think describing a vehicle or payload, or the flight thereof, in terms of "orbital" or "sub-orbital" is only really relevant if it reaches an altitude where an unpowered orbit is even possible to begin with. That would put the minimum height at around 150 km.
Sure, but that would leave out a lot of important historic flights, for instance, all of the V-2 flights, both those performed by the Nazis and the early tests after the US acquired the technology.
>But, per Wikipedia at least, it seems the Kármán line (or a similar "border of space" that's relatively close to it) is the more commonly-accepted mark.
Yes, the kármán line defines "space", but that doesn't mean sub-orbital requires going to space. In any case, it's all just semantics :)
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