The world's first 3D-printed, battery powered rocket engine destined for space -16-04-2015
The cost of getting into space is -- pardon the pun -- astronomical, but New Zealand-based startup Rocket Lab believes it will be able to reduce average launch costs by 95 percent.
This is down to its lightweight satellite launcher, Electron -- and, partially, Electron's Rutherford engine, newly unveiled at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado, USA. According to the company, it has been able to reduce the amount of liquid fuel used and is able to get a satellite into orbit around the Earth using the same amount of fuel it takes a jet-liner to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
