Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Paypal Founder's Merlin Rocket Engine Fires Up

Posted by timothy on from the no-milquetoast-nasa-puttering dept.

Baldrson writes "Wired News reports that after 2 years of development, Space Exploration Technology Corp ('SpaceEx') successfully test-fired their new LOX/Kerosene Merlin rocket engine for the 160 seconds required for orbit. SpaceEx was founded by Elon Musk from the proceeds of the 2002 sale of his prior start-up, Paypal, to Ebay. According to Musk, 5 Merlins bundled with the first stage of SpaceEx's powerful Falcon V booster will launch 5 people to orbit by 2010, thereby winning America's Space Prize which was endowed by Robert Bigelow."

2 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Big rockets? by chris098 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm surprised that with a $1.5 billion budget they couldn't find a better way to get people into space. Rockets don't seem like the "affordable" answer to me. Maybe a space elevator, or maybe some new technology that nobody's invented yet. ...but big rockets? They seem so dated...

  2. Isn't this just an RD-180 in disguise? by Anonymous+Cowherd+X · · Score: 1, Troll

    First he sells PayPal and now he's wasting his money on this? It's not that the project is not worthwhile, it's just that there are more economical and efficient ways of achieving what he set out to do.

    We'd like Merlin to be the best performing engine of its class (LOX/Kerosene, GG cycle turbo-pump) ever made and it looks like we have a decent shot at getting there.

    Just how is their Merlin engine different from the Russian RD-180? It sounds like a rip-off which they are trying to improve and claim they invented something radically new. Renting Baikonur and hiring Russian specialists would have cost him half as much and the results would be much better, IMHO.