Hacker News: postingawayonhn

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Private German rocket makes history, reaches orbit from European soil"

postingawayonhn — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 23:47:24 +0000

I think New Zealand is ahead. RocketLab was the second company in the world after SpaceX to get a privately developed launch vehicle to orbit, back in 2017. They've now had 86 successful launches from their NZ launch site.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Private German rocket makes history, reaches orbit from European soil"

postingawayonhn — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 23:38:46 +0000

Yes, they've had a space agency, but the only launchers are expensive legacy vehicles.

This launch is a move towards lower cost and more frequent launches, that in the US are provided by SpaceX.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 22:07:46 +0000

Design and manufacturing for the rocket part of their business is mainly split between Auckland and Los Angeles. Various sources say they have between 500 and 700 employees in NZ.

Earlier this year they acquired a new machining business in Auckland and are expanding capacity at their NZ launch site: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-establishes-new...

New comment by postingawayonhn in "India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:56:23 +0000

I think that's about the ballpark of what is required for a rocket of this size. SpaceX and RocketLab raised similar amounts prior to their first successful launches.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 23:07:27 +0000

Starlink speed and bandwidth is way ahead of any of the existing satellite internet providers.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Rocketlab acquires Iridium"

postingawayonhn — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:10:13 +0000

They still have significant NZ design, manufacturing, and launch operations.

For regulatory and capital raising reasons the parent company has been US based for quite a few years now. They've also been on a multi-year acquisitions spree and picked up quite a large US workforce through that.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Why New Zealand is seeing an exodus of over-30s"

postingawayonhn — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 07:58:38 +0000

Yes, they can after 4 years, although that was only a recent change.

The bigger factor is that Australia and NZ have free movement between the countries for those who are a citizen of either.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Porsche sold more electrified cars in Europe in 2025 than pure gas-powered cars"

postingawayonhn — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 03:36:16 +0000

> instead of developing that capability in-house or acquiring a few startups with decent engineering talent.

VW has a JV with Rivian. I'd consider that to be similar to what you suggest.

https://rivianvw.tech/

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Neros has raised $121M to build military drones"

postingawayonhn — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 03:56:11 +0000

Yeah, I think it will be important to continue improving drone technology and have a plan to scale manufacturing in the event of a major conflict, but the lack of conventional air superiority is what has really brought this war to a stalemate.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not"

postingawayonhn — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:20:07 +0000

But the assumptions should always be that one day someone like that could take power and gain access to that data.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission"

postingawayonhn — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:09:50 +0000

'Cost a LOT' is relative though.

Expensive compared to a 777 flight? Sure. Expensive compared to every other moon capable rocket? No.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission"

postingawayonhn — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 03:58:06 +0000

You'll need to launch more mass to get there but the technology isn't really any more complicated. It's also a more hospitable environment (reasonable gravity, day/night cycle, some atmosphere, water, etc.)

New comment by postingawayonhn in "British man claims he's unable to watch porn as tattoos confuse age check system"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 01:44:12 +0000

They never have been one.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Treating beef like coal would make a big dent in greenhouse-gas emissions"

postingawayonhn — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:27:32 +0000

Where land is converted there can be an increase. But for an existing farm with stable herd numbers the emission produced around (Methane > Carbon Dioxide > Grass > Methane > etc.).

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Preliminary report into Air India crash released"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 23:23:39 +0000

There is also audio of the pilots discussing the issue.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "Australians to face age checks from search engines"

postingawayonhn — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 01:19:08 +0000

The article doesn't quite spell it out but I assume you won't be able to turn off safe search unless you log in with a verified 18+ account.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "UK to buy F-35As that can't be refueled from RAF tankers"

postingawayonhn — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 08:38:18 +0000

Because Europe doesn't produce anything comparable at present.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "India launches attack on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Jammu and Kashmir"

postingawayonhn — Wed, 07 May 2025 03:09:36 +0000

The US isn't interested in picking sides. Historically it has tried to be friendly with both (though that hasn't always been easy).

New comment by postingawayonhn in "It doesn't cost much to improve someone's life"

postingawayonhn — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 09:47:21 +0000

> $750B for defense was 3% of the federal budget in 2024.

I think you mean of GDP, not federal budget.

New comment by postingawayonhn in "US Ends Support For Ukrainian F-16s"

postingawayonhn — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 12:13:18 +0000

NATO has never been a threat to Russia. Under what scenario are all the governments of NATO countries convinced to attack Russia?

Also Finland just joined and Russia barley registered a complaint.