🛰️ Mission Control
Pick a real engine and a real destination. Design a staged rocket the same way as Rocket Lab, but this time the target delta-v is a published number, not a badge — so you find out exactly how short, or how far ahead, your design really is.
Fast enough sideways to keep missing the Earth.
282 s sea level, 311 s vacuum, 845 kN per engine.
Delta-v achieved
479 m/s to spare beyond what Low Earth orbit requires.
How this is worked out
Each stage contributes Δv = Isp · g₀ · ln(m₀/m_f), summed from the top stage down. The bottom stage uses Merlin’s sea-level Isp of 282 s; every stage above it uses the vacuum Isp of 311 s, since only the bottom stage ever flies through thick air. Dry mass (4 t per stage) and payload (2 t) are illustrative assumptions, not published specs, the same ones Rocket Lab uses. Delta-v required for Low Earth orbit and the engine’s own figures are real, published numbers.