They started out as hitchhikers.
For years, tiny CubeSat satellites have only been able to fly into space by riding along
with larger, primary payloads.
Now, they’re about to get their own rides into space… on their own terms… and that’s
a big plus for science.
To explain, let’s rewind a little bit.
In 2015, NASA introduced Venture Class Launch Services – and the companies the agency
selected to make the dream of small-satellite-friendly launch vehicles a reality: Rocket Lab USA
of Huntington Beach and Virgin Orbit, formerly Virgin Galactic of Long Beach, California.
CubeSats might be small satellites, but don’t be fooled by their size.
They offer a big benefit: a low-cost way for educational institutions, non-profits and
others to design spacecraft, fly a mission and collect real data.
But flying to space along with other payloads was like flying “coach class to space”
– and it placed limitations on where CubeSats could go in orbit.
GARRETT SKROBOT: By flying piggyback, it meant we had to go where the primary went; we were
not able to select our orbit; we had to build our science around particular orbits or sacrifice
some of the science.
That’s what the Venture Class Launch Services was developed to fix.
In short, it’s a small-satellite game-changer.
Fast forward three years.
In this business, that’s the blink of an eye – especially if you’re going from
a rocket on paper to a rocket that’s ready to fly. – with CubeSats as the primary payload.
Now?
CubeSats are the primary payload.
In other words, they’re going to be flying first class.
Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit – are on the leading edge of this new era in small satellite capability.
Rocket Lab’s two-stage Electron rocket stands nearly 56 feet tall.
Its Rutherford engine is the first oxygen/kerosene engine to have all its primary components
created by 3-D printing – in just 24 hours.
Prelaunch processing takes place at the company’s location in Huntington Beach, California.
Then it’s all shipped to New Zealand.
Launch Complex-1 is located an 8-hour drive from Aukland at remote Mahia Peninsula.
Peter Beck: It’s a testament to NASA’s vision for the future and to invest in something
this early, and it’s truly fantastic.
What Rocket Lab is about is enabling really small satellites to do really important things
that affect us all.
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne is a two-stage rocket, about 70 feet in length and weighing
in around 57,000 pounds at takeoff.
Rocket and payload are processed at the company’s facility in Long Beach, California.
Finally, LauncherOne is air-launched from Cosmic Girl, the company’s 747 carrier aircraft…
providing the flexibility to launch from locations around the world.
Steve Isakowitz: Really appreciate the effort that’s gone into this new innovative program
that’s not only going to unleash the revolution that’s going to be created by small sats,
but also is going to change the way, how we conduct business, and how we work with NASA.
So how do the CubeSat missions get matched to the right rocket for the job?
That’s where NASA’s Launch Services Program comes in.
Based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center, LSP makes the hard business of rocket science
a little easier.
LSP is Earth’s bridge to space… and that includes finding innovative ways to lower
the cost of a ride to orbit for all spacecraft… large and small.
Venture Class Launch Services is a natural fit for this talented team.
Mark Wiese: So the Venture Class Launch Service was born out of a strategic initiative led
by the Launch Services Program, rooted in that drive to seek a new way to get to space.
In only three years, the Venture Class Launch Services capability went from this …
And it all started with a pioneering idea for a low-cost… first-class…
dedicated ride into space for small packages of big science.