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And soon to join will be Astra, who made it very close to orbit recently.

someperson 6y ago
Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, Astra and SpaceX rideshare are all able to launch 150-500kg into orbit for a few million dollars. It's hard to see how the market can support so many small launch providers. That's a lot of options for what has been relatively small market. Rocket Lab's Peter Beck has said some of these companies are propped up by the favorable fundraising environment and to expect industry consolidation when the money runs out. Rocket Lab is obviously in a great financial position with their high launch cadence and improving re-usability technology. And SpaceX is of course in a league of their own.
- qayxc 6y ago
  > It's hard to see how the market can support so many small launch providers. The small- and tiny-sat market is expected to grow by a factor of four compared to the previous decade [0]. Big launchers like Falcon 9 and especially Starship cannot easily service this market. Ride share has plenty of issues and projected launch costs of $2M for Starship are on the theoretical side of things right now. SpaceX needs to set aside a considerable amount of their launch capabilities for internal purposes (i.e. Starlink) and with expected double-digit grow rates in the small-sat market, there's plenty of room for competition. [0] https://smallsatnews.com/2020/07/24/an-analysis-of-prospects-for-the-small-satellite-market/ https://smallsatnews.com/2020/07/24/an-analysis-of-prospects...
  - m4rtink 6y ago
    Yeah, basically if you want a custom orbit and firm launch date (eq. no delays due to other payloads having issues on a rideshare) a dedicated small sat launcher makes sense. Still I'm thinking Starship once operational could service that as well, being full RLV. Like, just launch with couple tons of cubesats and as much fuel as possible, then deliver then to orbit as needed using you huge delta-v budget then go home. Rinse and repeat. You could theoretically even do inclination changes using the Starship aerodynamic surfaces if you were crazy enough. ;-) As you are effectively using up just fuel in Starship (+ some wear and tear) it might still be cheaper than dumping a complete small non-reusable rocket.
- saargrin 6y ago
  if theres a reliable cargo rocket ,it could serve as cheap and fast suborbital intercontinental cargo carrier ,which is what SpaceX and Blue Origin have both been hinting at

Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, Astra and SpaceX rideshare are all able to launch 150-500kg into orbit for a few million dollars. It's hard to see how the market can support so many small launch providers. That's a lot of options for what has been relatively small market. Rocket Lab's Peter Beck has said some of these companies are propped up by the favorable fundraising environment and to expect industry consolidation when the money runs out. Rocket Lab is obviously in a great financial position with their high launch cadence and improving re-usability technology. And SpaceX is of course in a league of their own.

qayxc 6y ago
> It's hard to see how the market can support so many small launch providers. The small- and tiny-sat market is expected to grow by a factor of four compared to the previous decade [0]. Big launchers like Falcon 9 and especially Starship cannot easily service this market. Ride share has plenty of issues and projected launch costs of $2M for Starship are on the theoretical side of things right now. SpaceX needs to set aside a considerable amount of their launch capabilities for internal purposes (i.e. Starlink) and with expected double-digit grow rates in the small-sat market, there's plenty of room for competition. [0] https://smallsatnews.com/2020/07/24/an-analysis-of-prospects-for-the-small-satellite-market/ https://smallsatnews.com/2020/07/24/an-analysis-of-prospects...
- m4rtink 6y ago
  Yeah, basically if you want a custom orbit and firm launch date (eq. no delays due to other payloads having issues on a rideshare) a dedicated small sat launcher makes sense. Still I'm thinking Starship once operational could service that as well, being full RLV. Like, just launch with couple tons of cubesats and as much fuel as possible, then deliver then to orbit as needed using you huge delta-v budget then go home. Rinse and repeat. You could theoretically even do inclination changes using the Starship aerodynamic surfaces if you were crazy enough. ;-) As you are effectively using up just fuel in Starship (+ some wear and tear) it might still be cheaper than dumping a complete small non-reusable rocket.
saargrin 6y ago
if theres a reliable cargo rocket ,it could serve as cheap and fast suborbital intercontinental cargo carrier ,which is what SpaceX and Blue Origin have both been hinting at