Discussion Ripple Aerospace plans to launch rockets from the ocean?

[Artlav]

I recently came across these guys:
https://rippleaerospace.com/

It's a Norwegian aerospace company that is developing an ocean-launched reusable rocket with an aerospike engine that is supposed to take 2.6 tonnes to LEO.
Apparently the first test launch would be within 4 months.

They also plan to scale it up to 36 and then 140 tonnes eventually.

Have anyone heard of them before?
Does this sound plausible?

 

[Urwumpe]

Never heard of them, but their concept looks like a Sea Dragon reloaded... even the launch sequence is very similar.

Just checked, they seem to be quite new (started in 2015) and are pretty active on Facebook... On one hand a good sign that there is activity, but I can't tell you how realistic their plans are from the business end.

 

[Andy44]

Interesting. Wet launch and a wet recovery; lots of salt water to deal with and tug/barge operations. I wonder if that makes reusability worthwhile. I always thought the use of a wet recovery for STS SRBs made them more expensive.

But the aerospike and inflatable heat shield tech will be cool if they get it working.

 

[Urwumpe]

I always thought the use of a wet recovery for STS SRBs made them more expensive.

Well, the saltwater was a small problem, but no big issue if you need to clean the segment cases from corrodic residue anyway.

But yes, saltwater is evil... but then the Sea Dragon rocket was designed by off-shore engineers, and Norway has a lot of expertise in that field as well.

 

[boogabooga]

Interesting. Wet launch and a wet recovery; lots of salt water to deal with and tug/barge operations. I wonder if that makes reusability worthwhile. I always thought the use of a wet recovery for STS SRBs made them more expensive.

But the aerospike and inflatable heat shield tech will be cool if they get it working.

The idea behind all sea launch is to treat rocketry as a ship-building problem instead of an aerospace problem. So, the resulting vessel should be as comfortable in cold sea water as any Norwegian fishing trawler. Of course, if this means that you are making your rocket out of ship building steel at that gauge, you are not gong to have a very light rocket but a "big dumb rocket". I had though that the tradeoff made more sense at a huge scale...Sea Dragon was to have been boomer-sized for example.

I think it might work better with solid fuel like a SLBM...I highly suspect that high tech turbopumps will hate to be submerged in salt water.

 

[RGClark]

I like the fact they are using an aerospike engine. In fact, altitude compensation such as the aerospike can improve payload for multi-stage vehicles also not just SSTO's:

Altitude Compensation Improves Payload for All Launchers.
http://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2016/01/altitude-compensation-improves-payload.html

Bob Clark