NASA Picks 3 Firms for Small Satellite Launch System Contracts

Firefly Space Systems has been awarded a $5.5 million contract to test launch NASA’s CubeSat into space in March 2018.

But the company representatives said NASA’s commitment to invest just over $17 million to buy launches represented an important vote of confidence in their fledgling small launchers.

The program is created to provide dedicated launches of groups of cubesats.

Also, secondary payload CubeSats are typically dumped into orbit at the convenience of the main mission – but their increasing sophistication calls for more precise deployment. “VCLS is meant to help open the door for future dedicated opportunities to launch CubeSats and other small satellites and science missions”.

“The payoff for our CubeSat development work has been everything we had hoped for”, Skrobot said. ELANA has more than 50 un-manifested CubeSats waiting in LSP’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) that can now find rides to orbit over the next three years. Satellites that are the equivalent of three such cubes put together are known as 3U cubesats; 6U spacecraft integrate six cubes, and so on. These VCLS launches of small satellites are able to tolerate a higher level of risk than larger missions and will demonstrate, and help mitigate risks associated with, the use of small launch vehicles providing dedicated access to space for future small spacecraft and missions. NASA officials acknowledged at the press conference that this approach carries a few risk, since there is no guarantee that the vehicles will be ready as scheduled, or at all.

“It’s a huge step for the commercialization of space”, Mark Wiese, chief of the Flight Projects Office for NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said during a news conference today (Oct. 14). “Obviously, [there’s] more risk on a first flight, so there’s potentially a discount there – a chance for us to get in early as an early customer”. “As the vehicle closest to completion in this launch class, we’re excited to support NASA and other aerospace companies that have previously been unable to reach orbit due to prohibitive cost and the unavailability of appropriate and timely launch options”. “It’s an outstanding opportunity to get that first push for competition”. The first phase of launches are expected to be completed by the end of calendar year 2018.

“Emerging small launch vehicles have great potential to expand the use of small satellites as integral components of NASA’s Earth science orbital portfolio”, said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, in the press release.

Rocket Lab U.S., based in Los Angeles, and Firefly Space Systems of Texas are both developing vertical launch systems.

The reason why Firefly won this contract: The Firefly Alpha.

Firefly Space Systems’ launch vehicle is the Firefly Alpha. “We have a lot of customers in negotiation, but this is the first formal contract we’ve signed”, company co-founder P. J. King said in an October 14 interview. In a follow-up tweet, the company said it would likely choose Kennedy’s new small-scale launch pad 39C for suborbital flights.

Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne is an air-launched system that can optimize each mission to customer requirements by operating from a variety of launch sites.

VCLS constitutes NASA’s smallest class of launch services.

Virgin Galactic plans to offer launches at about $10m (£6.5) to deliver a 200kg payload into the high altitude Sun-synchronous orbit, the most popular orbit for small satellite missions. (Virgin’s tourist-carrying suborbital space plane, SpaceShipTwo, will be similarly air-launched.) LauncherOne liftoffs will cost less than $10 million apiece, according to Virgin Galactic representatives.

“In the private sector, we are now seeing that this is not just the playground of people who are interested in the technology, but this is real business”, said Steve Isakowitz, president of Virgin Galactic. Weise said the pricing reflects NASA’s willingness to bet early on launch systems that have yet to fly.