To put this into perspective: the Planetary Society solar sail cubesats have a novel design, cost about $1 million apiece, and mass ~ 3kg. Falcon 9 costs about

To put this into perspective: the Planetary Society solar sail cubesats have a novel design, cost about $1 million apiece, and mass ~ 3kg. Falcon 9 costs about $12,000/kg for a GTO launch. The cubesat dispenser does have mass, but as you can see, the launch cost is still << satellite cost. Amateur radio cubesats, which use 100% volunteer labor, appear to cost ~ $50,000 for a 3kg satellite. Launch cost is significant for them.