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so, if I understood this correctly, this would allow satellites to reduce weight by not carrying fuel required for orbit raising / changing maneuvers.., that wo
by moh_maya 9y ago
so, if I understood this correctly, this would allow satellites to reduce weight by not carrying fuel required for orbit raising / changing maneuvers.., that would otherwise increase the weight & complexity of the satellite payload?
Sort of like, instead of releasing the satellite in GTO, from where the satellite expends fuel / reaction mass to reach GSO, in this case, the rocket uses a tiny secondary engine to move the satellite to the GSO?
- olympus 9y agoI suspect that you can save some weight if you have multiple satellites going to the same orbit, or if you have a chain of satellites that can be dropped off into similar orbits as the kick stage can be stopped and started several times. But while each individual satellite doesn’t need an engine, you now have to launch an engine and fuel capable of moving a batch of satellites together, so it’s not like you’re eliminating the weight entirely.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoA serious satellite will still need an engine and some fuel for stationkeeping. But the extra stage would be useful for dropping various cubesats at different orbits, which is what I think is Electron's target market.