Publisher's Synopsis
This richly illustrated book is a fictionalized account of the challenges faced by a group of seven investors and their engineering team in developing a low-cost, reusable, Earth-to-orbit launch vehicle. The marketing, regulatory and technical problems are explored, making it an excellent and readable introduction to the technical aspects and challenges facing today's designers, entrepreneurs, regulators, legislators, and investors. The business model presented includes numerous timely scenarios and ideas: considering a reusable launch vehicle as a product, which has a different market and better cash flow, than the market for launch services; using clever engineering to solve the problem of an economical reusable launch vehicle with existing technology; and greatly increasing the ""supply"" of launch capacity, with a reusable vehicle that has low marginal costs per flight, is necessary to drive down the cost of launch to low Earth orbit using modifications of the same basic vehicle to gain access to the inner solar system at reasonable cost.The increased dedication by both private individuals and government institutions to solve the problem of low-cost, reusable launch vehicles makes this book necessary reading for all those involved in developing solutions. ""The Rocket Company"" provides a point of departure for building a consensus on how to take the process through to low cost access to orbit - and beyond.
