Kings of Small Satellite Launchers - Comparisons

Trevor Sesnik , May 28, 2021, Everyday Astronaut, 10 min read





Technological advances in recent decades have allowed manufacturers to dramatically reduce the size of electronics. This has led to a reduction in the size of satellites, which has led to a sharp explosion in the small sat market. To launch these satellites, launch companies design and build smaller and cheaper rockets. These rockets are classified as small satellite launchers.





-,  ( ), . . , - ; - .





, . - Alpha Firefly, LauncherOne Virgin Orbit, Rocket 3 Astra, Terran 1 Relativity Space, RS-1 ABL Electron Rocket Lab. , Falcon 1 Falcon 9 SpaceX.





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, - , — -. () 2000 . , 2 000 20 000 , - , «», «» Falcon 9. , 20 000 50 000 - , Falcon 9 , Delta IV Heavy. , -, 50000 , -, Starship SpaceX Saturn V.





- . , . 200 5 , Falcon 9 50 .





(Rideshare) Space Flight Inc. SpaceX. .









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Prime





 Prime Orbex. Prime . . Orbex Prime , .





Skyrora XL





—  Skyrora, Skyrora XL.  . , Prime, -1 . , -107 -108 «». , «», , , .





Rocket-1





— - Rocket-1.  - , . . , , BE-4 Blue Origin. 365 , -1.





Electron





Electron Rocket Lab . Electron 2017  It's a Test, - . , 21 2018 , Electron .





Electron takes off during the mission As The Crow Flies (Source: Sam Thoms and Simon Moffat / Rocket Lab
Electron As The Crow Flies ( : / Rocket Lab





Electron . , Electron . . Electron : Rutherford. Rutherford — . , , , . , , Rutherford Rutherford , 3D-. .





Electron 1 (LC-1A) . Rocket Lab . LC-1A Rocket Lab , LC-1B. , SpaceX SLC-40 LC-39A , Rocket Lab . , Rocket Lab MARS Pad 0C , , .





, Rocket Lab , . - Rocket Lab , NASA USSF ITAR.









, Electron — . Rocket Lab , , . (   ). Rocket Lab Electron, . ,  Running Out of Toes Rocket Lab ,  Return to Sender.





Photon





, Electron . Kick stage, Photon. Photon : , , . Photon Curie. Curie : , Hyper Curie, - , Rocket Lab . Curie , Hyper Curie Photon . , Photon .





LauncherOne





LauncherOne Virgin Orbit. LauncherOne « », Boeing 747 , - . , . , .





Boeing 747-400,  Cosmic Girl. 747 . -,     Stratolaunch, , , . , 747 . Virgin Orbit , .





LauncherOne after take off (Source: Jack Beyer)
LauncherOne (:   )

-





LauncherOne — . Newton 3, . Newton 4. RS-68 Delta IV, Newton - .





LauncherOne 2020 , . 2021 LauncherOne , .





Astra





Astra — -. . . C-130 .





, Astra -. Delphin, , Rutherford, 3D-. Ether .





Astra . . , Rocket 3.0, , . , . , 2020 Rocket 3.2 , , 500 / - . Astra ~ 10 , Astra, .





Rocket 3.1 Launch (Source: John Kraus / Astra)
Rocket 3.1 (: / Astra)

Alpha





- Firefly . 2014 Firefly Space Systems, , 2017 , Firefly Aerospace. Alpha : Reaver Lightning .





- . , . , ; .





Firefly Alpha rocket at the SLC-2W launch pad (Source: Firefly)
Firefly Alpha SLC-2W (: Firefly)

RS-1

ABL Space Systems RS-1 — - . , RS-1 Keralox E2 , 3D-. E2. E2 — , .





, , RS-1 . , GSE .





Model of the RS-1 rocket (Source: ABL)
RS-1 (: ABL)

Terran-1





, Relativity Space Terran-1 3D-. , Terran-1 3D-. , Relativity Space , , ( 100 ), . , 3D- , - .





Terran-1 Eon 1. Eon 1. , . Raptor RS-25, Eon 1 . . .





Terran-1 16 (LC-16) , .





Terran-1 (Source: Caspar Stanley)
Terran-1 (:   )

-,  . ,  « »,  , Falcon 9 .





Comparison of the heights of all small launchers and the Falcon 9 (Source: Everyday Astronaut)
Falcon 9 (: Everyday Astronaut)

, :





The diameter of the aforementioned six small launchers (Source: Everyday Astronaut)
(: Everyday Astronaut)

(SSO). SSO — , 96,6° 142,1°. , . , . . , , .





, . 2021 . , . , . - . , - , , — .





Estimated payload, estimated price and engine cycles for each launcher (Source: Everyday Astronaut)
, (: Everyday Astronaut)

, - RS-1 Terran-1 1000 SSO. , , Astra Electron.





Electron Rocket Lab - , 20 , 100 . LauncherOne , . Firefly , Alpha, , .





Finally, it is truly amazing what SpaceX was able to achieve more than a decade ago with the Falcon 1. With less funding, SpaceX was able to create a more powerful and cheaper rocket than some of the smaller satellite launchers still under development.





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