Rocket Lab gets another contract
Capitalism in space: With its first test launch set for Monday, Rocket Lab today earned a new launch contract, this time from Spaceflight, a company that acts as a charter company putting together launches for smallsat companies.
Spaceflight buys a launch from a rocket company, and then sells slots to smallsat companies that cannot afford to buy the whole launch. This way Spaceflight can tailor each launch to the needs of the different smallsats. Though they have previously purchased launches from India’s PSLV, Russia’s Dnepr, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Rocket Lab’s Electron fits this model more perfectly, because — as a small rocket designed for smallsats, it doesn’t require a lot of smallsats to fill its payload. Thus, they can offer the smallsats on board access to orbits not normally available. This will make it relatively easy to find customers for the launch.
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Capitalism in space: With its first test launch set for Monday, Rocket Lab today earned a new launch contract, this time from Spaceflight, a company that acts as a charter company putting together launches for smallsat companies.
Spaceflight buys a launch from a rocket company, and then sells slots to smallsat companies that cannot afford to buy the whole launch. This way Spaceflight can tailor each launch to the needs of the different smallsats. Though they have previously purchased launches from India’s PSLV, Russia’s Dnepr, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Rocket Lab’s Electron fits this model more perfectly, because — as a small rocket designed for smallsats, it doesn’t require a lot of smallsats to fill its payload. Thus, they can offer the smallsats on board access to orbits not normally available. This will make it relatively easy to find customers for the launch.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
“Dedicated rideshare”, isn’t that an oxymoron? What’s better with being secondary payload on an Electron than on a large launcher? And what special orbit will it launch into that larger launchers don’t launch to? Spaceflight has arranged the launch of over 100 smallsats so they obviously know what they are doing. But I don’t get it.
LocalFluff: This is how I see it: Electron is a smallsat launcher. It will be very cheap to buy, and can deliver a handful of smallsats to high inclination orbits that these smallsats will never get the chance to reach as secondary payloads on a large rocket like a Falcon 9.
In other words, by buying a launch from a small rocket the smallsat companies obtain flexibility.
I see that the typical launch cost per unit cubesat (max 1.33 kg) is $100,000. And Electron could take more than a hundred cubesat units. Hmm.
So this market has nothing to do with large launchers’ cost per kilogram to orbit. I suppose there are high fixed costs for compliance and certification and such, which a dedicated small rocket provider can cut down by alot by not having a billion dollar primary payload. If administration (and insurance) costs $100,000 then the per kilo price doesn’t really matter. $110,000 on Ariane 5 or $102,000 on Falcon Heavy. So now I wonder however the large launchers will be able to compete with small launchers for smallsats ;-) Hey, I change as I learn.
great post. it is nice to visit your site.
LocalFluff wrote: “So this market has nothing to do with large launchers’ cost per kilogram to orbit.”
It has a lot to do with the flexibility of being able to get to the proper orbit sooner rather than later. If you are going to piggyback on another satellite’s ride “uphill,” then you have to wait for another satellite that is going close to where you want to go. This often takes time. Time that hurts your business model. Waiting for the (assumed) cheaper ride may cost more in lost business than the savings.
Plus, secondary payloads are second in importance, not first.
It sounds like the company Spaceflight is working like NanoRacks works for the ISS. They both make it easier to work with the actual service provider.