Comments on: SpaceX ‘s decision to slash prices/provide reliable launch schedule upends smallsat industry

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 04:03:23 +0000

Phill O,
Yes, there are many programs to track, like SatPC32, and there are websites that can give you the data, like Heavens Above – https://heavens-above.com/. I use that website to track Ham Radio Satellites. Have fun tracking!

When I was 12, I use to call up the “Mir Hotline” that the Nation Space Society had to get the passes of Mir and Saylut-7 over my house. They discontinued the hotline, but I use to subscribe to a monthly service that sent the Keplerian elements on a disk for my C-64 computer.

By: Phill O

Phill O — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:11:42 +0000

With all the satellites going up, is there any kind of program for an amateur to track these things?

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:12:53 +0000

The launch costs SpaceX is quoting sound great but the expense will shift to integration. It doesn’t help a smallsat builder if the cost of the flight is $100/Kg but the testing and integration costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cheap flights are great and I appreciate them, but what are the other costs that keep going up? It is tempting to disrupt the satellite testing industry the same way SpaceX has disrupted the launch market.

Regulation would be another great place to cut back on as well.