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.
?
, - , — -. () 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. .
, , . , - .
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 . , 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 — . 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, .
Alpha
- Firefly . 2014 Firefly Space Systems, , 2017 , Firefly Aerospace. Alpha : Reaver Lightning .
- . , . , ; .
RS-1
ABL Space Systems RS-1 — - . , RS-1 Keralox E2 , 3D-. E2. E2 — , .
, , RS-1 . , GSE .
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) , .
-, . , « », , Falcon 9 .
, :
(SSO). SSO — , 96,6° 142,1°. , . , . . , , .
, . 2021 . , . , . - . , - , , — .
, - 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.