3 ms·
another comment mentions starlink launches. If spaceX has 12000 satellites of their own that they need to send up, they can fill up a fair bit of unused capacit
by notatoad 7y ago
another comment mentions starlink launches. If spaceX has 12000 satellites of their own that they need to send up, they can fill up a fair bit of unused capacity.
it sounds like they're essentially selling the opportunity to take the place of a starlink satellite in any given launch. if the customer cancels, no big deal - they'll just send the originally scheduled starlink satellite.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- rtkwe 7y agoThis looks very different from their Starlink launcher though and doesn't look like it could live above or below it either. Sun synchronous orbit is a pretty specific orbit too.
- Symmetry 7y agoYeah, there aren't any plans to put Starlink satellites in SSO.
- dr_orpheus 7y agoYeah, the Starlink launcher was a pretty specific device designed around the Starlink satellites. The attachments shown in the attached link are the ESPA (EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Secondary Payload Adapter) [1] rings. They work well for a variety of customers using it because you can put out a generic document for an interface and a box you need to fit within. The first dedicated rideshare program like this was the STP-2 mission. [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EELV_Secondary_Payload_Adapter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EELV_Secondary_Payload_Adapter [2] http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/spacecraft/stp-2-payload.html http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/spacecraft/...