Cowboy Space, started by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, unveiled its Big Iron launch vehicle on Oct. 26, saying the upper stage is designed to stay in orbit as a megawatt-class data center. The company said it is targeting 2028 for Big Iron's first flight.
Cowboy said the stainless steel vehicle, which has a reusable booster, stands 86 meters tall and is designed to carry more than 15,000 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit.
Its first stage is to be powered by nine Clydesdale engines burning liquid oxygen and methane, each providing 300,000 pounds-force of thrust, the company said. Cowboy called its gas-generator engine cycle a proven architecture, chosen to shorten the path to first flight. Seeking speed and lower costs, the team turned to proven designs, Payload wrote.