Starstruck (company) explained
Starstruck Inc. was a company cofounded by James Bennett and Phil Salin that attempted to perform low-cost orbital rocket launches using experimental, sea-launched hybrid rockets. While a commercial failure, it is an important part of hybrid rocket history,[1] responsible for restarting commercial development of hybrid rockets.[2] [3] One of its core leadership was former first Apple CEO Michael Scott. It was based in Redwood City, California.[4] [5]
The company folded after three rockets were built and one was successfully launched to suborbital space. Several veterans of Starstruck founded the American Rocket Company (AMROC),[6] which also eventually failed. AMROC's intellectual property was acquired by SpaceDev.
Sources
- Jim Schefter. (May 1984) High-tech Rockets on the Cheap. Popular Science
See also
SeaLaunch
Notes and References
- Arif Karabeyoglu. (2008, May 09). Hybrid Rocket Propulsion for Future Space Launch. Aero/Astro 50th Year Anniversary. http://aa.stanford.edu/events/50thAnniversary/media/Karabeyoglu.pdf
- History of Hybrid Rockets. Web site: History of hybrid rockets / Geschichte der Hybridraketen . 2008-10-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081210094147/http://www.hybridraketen.de/Homepage/Old/Antares/Hybridraketen/history.htm . 2008-12-10 .
- Web site: Hybrid Rockets . Hawkfeather.com . 2010-04-30.
- Web site: Hotels in Outer Space & Phil Salin & the Rocket Co. in RWC . March 27, 2007 . June Morrall . Half Moon Bay Memories . 2020-12-09.
- Book: Free Minds & Free Markets: Twenty-five Years of Reason . https://archive.org/details/freemindsfreemar00pool/page/52/mode/2up?q=%22Phil+Salin%22 . 52 . Phil Salin ... a cofounder of StarStruck, uses this thought experiment to drive home a main point: A dramatic reduction in the cost of getting there is the key to developing space for human use. . 1993 . Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy . San Francisco . Poole . Robert W. Jr. . Robert W. Poole, Jr. . Postrel . Virginia I. . Virginia Postrel . 0-936488-72-7 . Space Entrepreneurs . Patrick . Cox . January 1985 . 2020-12-09.
- David P. Gump. (1990). Space Enterprise: Beyond NASA. Praeger Publishers, New York. pp 28-31.