LauncherOne, proposed new microsat launcher |
LauncherOne, proposed new microsat launcher |
Feb 19 2009, 01:56 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 646 Joined: 23-December 05 From: Forest of Dean Member No.: 617 |
The Register has a story linking to a Flight International piece describing a proposed new microsat launcher for payloads up to 200kg. The concept is something like a Pegasus stage, launched from the White Knight Two Virgin / Scaled Composites mothership. I can't help speculating about the cost of a nanosat launch via this method...
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Viva software libre! |
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Feb 19 2009, 02:53 PM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
SSTL have already been on record about the ability to get a high res orbing asset built and launched for <$5M - which would be remarkable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7862827.stm Doug |
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Feb 19 2009, 03:09 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
The key quote from the BBC article is that the launch cost target was $1 M dollars:
"What we are targeting is to see if we can do this for a million dollars" For perspective, the Cosmos 1 satellite had a mass of 100 kg. -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Feb 20 2009, 01:18 AM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
Just for comparison, I see the Falcon 1e is a bit over 1,000 kg to LEO for a bit under $10M.
http://spacex.com/falcon1.php --Greg |
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Feb 22 2009, 05:44 AM
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#5
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 57 Joined: 13-February 06 From: Brisbane, Australia Member No.: 679 |
200 kg at $1 M is $5,000/kg which is CHEAP for a small-sat launcher. Would be nice to see them rattle the space access cage a bit by demonstrating a rapid turn-around or readiness potential for their proposed system. The USAF has been chasing rapid deployment for years and is still not getting any joy from the current launch service providers.
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