Pythom

Key takeaways

Pythom belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pythom to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pythom from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pythom (doing business as Pythom Inc.) is a Swedish-American aerospace company based in Bishop, California. Pythom was founded in 2020 by software engineers and professional explorers Tina Sjögren and Tom Sjögren. The company is currently in development of a complete human-rated space transportation system, including rockets, landers and spaceships for Earth, Mars, the Moon and asteroids. Pythom has announced public aspirations of going to Mars within the end of this decade.

History Pythom was founded in 2020 by the married couple Tina Sjögren (CEO) and Tom Sjögren (CTO). With a background in exploration, the two were awarded a combined four Guinness world records. The couple summited Mount Everest as expedition leaders in 1999, skied unsupported from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole in 2001-2002, and from Canada to the North Pole also in 2002. As part of their expeditions, the couple invented lightweight satellite communication software and hardware solutions, which later turned into a business with customers including NASA, NGOs, defense units, and extreme explorers. In 2020 Pythom joined the DARPA Launch Challenge as one of 55 teams to design a rocket that could launch "anytime, from anywhere". Pythom's Eiger rocket was selected as one of ten finalists, before the competition ultimately closed with no winner. Pythom was established later that year, in 2020, to build first the Eiger rocket and then a complete space transportation system for human exploration of the Solar System. The space fleet is designed around successful principles from early Earth exploration: low cost, light travel, small and agile teams. Pythom received seed funding from a Swedish special investment vehicle team of investors named Space Cowboys. The group was specifically created to invest in the startup and has since doubled in size. In March 2022, Pythom conducted a hold-down test of the first stage of the Eiger rocket. Following this test, the company received backlash from industry professionals for their lack of safety precautions. Pythom dismissed these concerns, claiming that since its start in 2020, and during two years of propulsion test activities, it has a clean personnel and environmental safety record. Pythom's main development facilities are in Bishop, California.

Hardware

Black Magic Propulsion System Pythom rockets and space fleet are designed around storable propellants and a proprietary propulsion system that supports entire space missions, without the need to change technologies. Pythom's Black Magic cyclic pressure system has been tested to 10 MPa chamber pressure, twice the previous record in the small launch segment (<100–500 kg to LEO), and a magnitude greater than the Apollo lunar lander.

Asterex Engine Pythom's Asterex 12 kN double-walled regeneratively cooled rocket engine is designed to operate through entire space missions. Mathematically designed and additively manufactured in Inconel. The name "Asterex" is a false portmanteau of "astro" (star) and "rex" (king), plus a tribute to cartoon persona Asterix from the comic book series The Adventures of Asterix.

Eiger Rocket Named after the famous mountain in Switzerland, Eiger is Pythom's first orbital launch vehicle that is currently under development. Eiger is designed to carry 150 kg to low Earth orbit, for a total cost of $1.2 million. Selected as one of ten finalists in the DARPA launch challenge, Eiger is designed to launch anytime from anywhere with minimal infrastructure. Eiger's first stage is equipped with a cluster of nine Asterex engines, and the second stage operates with a single Asterex vacuum engine. Both stages are powered by storable propellants that ignite naturally, nitric acid (HNO3) as the oxidizer and furfuryl alcohol (C5H6O2) as fuel. The furfuryl alcohol fuel is also carbon neutral and is regarded a green propellant.

Kang Rocket Following Eiger completion, the larger Kang rocket, named after the world's third highest mountain Kangchenjunga, is designed to be 30 m tall, and carry 4,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Kang is also designed to be a human-rated launch vehicle.

Olympus Lander Powered by the Black Magic propulsion system and a cluster of five Asterex engines, Olympus is designed to transport humans and cargo between a spaceship and foreign bodies such as planets, moons and asteroids. The vehicle is currently under development. Olympus is named after the largest and highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars.

Pythom Spaceship Pythom is a conceptual design of a spaceship assembled from used upper stages of the Eiger and Kang rockets in Earth orbit. The spaceship rotates for artificial gravity, and will be able to simulate different gravitational environments based on the length and therefore the speed of its spokes. Sharing its name with the company itself, the Pythom spaceship is named after the comet that ancient Egyptians believed to have brought life to Earth.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pythom

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pythom claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pythom before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pythom ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pythom

In research: Pythom appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pythom in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pythom is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 establishments in California, Aerospace companies of the United States, American companies established in 2020, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pythom outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Pythom in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pythom means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pythom out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pythom in simple terms?

Pythom (doing business as Pythom Inc.) is a Swedish-American aerospace company based in Bishop, California. Pythom was founded in 2020 by software engineers and professional explorers Tina Sjögren and Tom Sjögren.

Why does Pythom matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pythom?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pythom.