small launch Archives - The Enterprise Orbit

Lowered launch costs will impact ‘nearly every industry’ on Earth

Lower launch costs are driving new opportunities in space that’ll impact nearly every industry on Earth, according to a report from Deloitte. Principal analyst Bill Beyer, who authored the report, argues that advances in manufacturing processes, computing electronics and other technologies, coupled with lower launch costs, are fueling the global democratization of space access and fundamentally changing the commercial space landscape. “The business opportunities for companies in space could include

Launch U standard could help ease launch bottleneck for small sats

The Aerospace Corp’s proposed standards for satellites under 500 kg could help reduce the launch bottleneck for the rideshare market, if the industry can reach consensus on it. Aerospace Corp released its Launch Unit (Launch-U) small satellite form factor proposal earlier this month. The standard is the result of a year’s worth of work between Aerospace Corp, government officials, satellite manufacturers, launch brokers and launch vehicle providers, including SpaceX, ULA,

Big rocket builders are skeptical small launchers will find customers

As the pool of small launch vehicles grows, larger launch providers continue to express skepticism about whether the new crop of small vehicle startups will have enough customers to sustain them and their business models. Small launch vehicles promise to further reduce barriers of entry to space for non-traditional customers by offering dedicated launches for lighter payloads at lower price points. But incumbent providers SpaceX, ULA and others – which

Stofiel Aerospace aims to unleash mobile, on-demand access to space

Stofiel Aerospace is a little company hoping to bring big innovations to the small launch market. The company, which was founded in 2015 by Air Force veteran and aerospace engineer Brian Stofiel, is building a small launch “rockoon” system, called the Boreas Launch System, which the company says will offer flexible, low-cost, and on-demand access to space. The system is still in the early phases of development, but the company