Gone are the days of government-funded space exploration. Instead, the private sector has entered the space industry, tapping into a larger customer pool. While satellites launched in the 20th century gathered data for government agencies, times have changed. Corporations, businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers, and even regular citizens can send a private satellite into space thanks to the services of companies like Rocket Lab and SpaceX.
But what’s the cost of such a venture? First, let’s explore how satellite manufacturing has evolved and impacted launch prices.
A Far Cry From Sputnik
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite into an elliptical LEO (low Earth orbit). With its diameter barely exceeding 22.8 inches, the satellite’s size resembled a beach ball, yet Sputnik required a 30-meter rocket to carry it into space.
The metal sphere had four radio antennas to send signals back to Earth. It transmitted signals successfully for three weeks until it emptied its batteries. Still, it continued its journey for another two months. Then, on January 4, 1958, as Sputnik began to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, it couldn’t withstand the atmospheric pull and burned up.
The success of the Soviet space program resulted in the famous space race of the 20th century. The race led to significant technological advances, yet these breakthroughs were time-consuming and expensive. For example, NASA invested approximately $28 billion in landing a spacecraft on the Moon. That sum rises to roughly $266 billion in 2022, adjusted for inflation.
While space exploration has remained costly, it now comes at a fraction of the price.
Multiple space startups have sprouted up in the last 20 years, competing against industry giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The changing industry landscape has resulted in falling launch costs, accelerating the growth of the space business.
While access to space used to be reserved for only a handful of global superpowers, low-cost satellite launches have shifted the paradigm. Today, many can participate in thriving space programs, including entrepreneurs, commercial companies, researchers, and even students.
Lower Costs, More Launches
Before the 21st century, space exploration was a government-dominated field. But, thanks to privately owned companies like Rocket Lab and SpaceX, the prices of sending a satellite into orbit have dropped dramatically.
What has caused this drop? The answer is simple—technological development. The advancements that revolutionized personal computing, equipped our homes with smart devices, and ushered in AI and machine learning have transformed space.
While mainstream media covers human exploration, major players in the private sector have modified their manufacturing practices, changing the ways satellites are built and operated.
Similar to how computers took up an entire room but now function as pocket-sized smartphones, satellites have shrunk. Some are barely larger than a loaf of bread. While their bulkier predecessors were a luxury few could afford, modern private satellites are much more affordable.
Depending on the type of spacecraft, launch, and payload mass, sending a satellite into space can cost as low as $1 million. Of course, the figure is still high, but a fraction of what it takes to construct and launch traditional models. For example, assembling and launching a weather satellite, instrumental in weather forecasting and disaster monitoring, costs nearly $400 million.
The revolutionized manufacturing process has produced miniature spacecraft, lowered production expenses, and made private launches more accessible.
The Future Is Smaller
Most space providers offer CubeSat launches at low prices. A type of miniaturized satellite, a CubeSat unit has a maximum weight of 4.4 pounds and is usually assembled from mass-produced components. Building a CubeSat from commercial, off-the-shelf electronic elements is relatively straightforward and costs approximately $50,000. Roughly $75,000 is enough to cover launch costs.
Companies like Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Rocket Lab have capitalized on the cost-effectiveness of CubeSats.
Rocket Lab is an aerospace company founded in New Zealand with a US-based headquarters in Long Beach, California. It charges its customers approximately $5 million per flight, around $10,000 per pound of payload.
However, SpaceX boasts a more competitive price. A Falcon 9 rocket launch is around $62 million, so sending a pound of payload into LEO works out to $1,200. The low-cost, miniaturized satellites and their reusable rockets allow SpaceX to cut costs.
Reusable Rockets
Since 2011, SpaceX has funded the development of reusable launch systems. The program is still active, and the company intends to eventually produce fully reusable launch vehicles. So far, the program has yielded significant breakthroughs.
In 2016, SpaceX recovered the Falcon 9 rocket from the sea and successfully relaunched it the following year. The corporation believes reusing rockets can cut costs by as much as 30%. Recovered boosters are expected to complete ten missions without modifications and approximately 100 with some refurbishing. In addition, since CubeSats usually piggyback on rockets, the SpaceX program could make launches even more affordable.
As of today, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable. The company’s now standard practice involves landing the boosters, the rocket’s most expensive component, and retrieving and relaunching them. Post-launch, the rockets’ upper stages are discarded. The reusable technology allows the company to schedule frequent missions and take on more clients, meeting growing industry demands.
Types of Launches
Due to the rise of private launch providers, companies and research institutes no longer have to rely on government-regulated rockets. Instead, they can enjoy increased flexibility and launch private satellites on their terms. Rather than waiting for months or years until the government agency gets to its launch date, they have many options offered by commercial providers. In addition, customers can browse different-sized rockets until they find one that meets their needs.
Moreover, they can decide on the location of the spaceport and even select the optimal method of delivering the payload into orbit. If they’re dissatisfied with launching the rocket vertically, the provider could launch it from a customized balloon or aircraft. With private satellites, the possibilities seem endless.
Commercial providers have perfected their customer service formula. Clients pay the providers, trusting them to take care of everything from design, production, and testing. In that sense, the process is completely stress-free.
Some companies, like the Sweden-based ACC Clyde Space, are working toward selling “space as a service.” So instead of launching your private satellite, they ask you what kind of information you require. They’ll then pull the data from their existing satellites and sell it.
To accommodate the growing customer pool, providers have devised different types of launches. They’re all arranged using classified or private contracts.
Until recently, the most popular option was a dedicated launch. Commonly referred to as a “single-manifest” launch, it describes a launch where a single customer pays for the vehicle’s entire payload capacity. However, the appeal of dedicated launches pales in comparison to ride-sharing. In a ride-share launch, the vehicle’s maximum payload capacity is split between two or more clients.
These secondary payload opportunities have been a key factor in more frequent launches since 2012. While only 39 small satellites were launched in 2011, that number jumped to 52 in 2012. The growth trend continued the following year, as 2013 saw 130 small satellite launches.
This Uber-like system has allowed more transparency in pricing. Generally, providers use a straightforward formula to calculate overall per-kilogram launch costs. This number is known as unit flyaway cost, a phrase that originated in the aviation industry. It includes all direct and indirect production costs, the anticipated overhead, and recurring quality control. Additionally, it covers system maintenance, software modifications, retesting, and engineering.
By dividing the total launch cost by its maximum payload capacity, you’ll arrive at a relatively accurate per-kilogram launch estimate.
The prices may vary based on other factors, such as the launch vehicle ferrying the satellites into orbit. In addition, they differ in their payload mass class and fall into the heavy, medium, or small category. Although the boundaries between the three types aren’t precise, small-lift rockets usually carry up to 2,000 kilograms into LEO, while medium-lift ones have a maximum payload limit of 20,000 kilograms. Finally, a heavy-lift rocket can carry a payload of more than 20,000 kilograms into LEO.
The ability to customize small satellite launches has spurred Exolaunch, Rocket Lab, and SpaceX, among others, to develop user-friendly booking systems. These providers allow you to enter the desired launch parameters into their websites and see available openings. Then, depending on the factors, customers receive estimated launch quotes quickly.
Will Satellites Become Smaller?
Most providers turned to ride-sharing to recoup the losses from the decreased interest in larger spacecraft. But ride-sharing is only lucrative if there are enough satellites to meet the vehicle’s payload capacity. So far, established providers have steered clear of anything smaller than a CubeSat. Yet newcomers are ready to change this trend, promising to cut launch costs further.
The UK-based Alba Orbital saw the gap in the picosatellite market and the nonexistent infrastructure to support PocketQube launches. Thus, the company developed the AlbaPod deployer. Manufactured using 3-D printing nanosatellite technology, the deployer can hold different formats of PocketQube satellites.
Another company making waves in the microsatellite sphere is AmbaSat. It offers several satellite kits that allow customers to buy and assemble a tiny spacecraft for a few hundred dollars.
What’s to Come
Although those in the know expected launch costs to fall, 2022 poses significant challenges to the space exploration industry. Namely, inflation has caused SpaceX to modify its pricing to prevent revenue loss. The price change took effect on May 21st, increasing Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 launch prices by 8%. As a result, while a Falcon 9 launch previously ran $62 million, it now adds up to $67 million.
Its competitors have yet to do the same, but they may follow SpaceX’s example soon. The company is reluctant to offer a fixed price point due to high inflation levels and has warned customers that missions scheduled for 2023 are subject to price change.
We could see cost adjustments for private satellite launches in the following months. It will be interesting to see how the industry responds to the challenges of the global economy. Another intriguing question is whether it will continue to send hundreds of small satellites into orbit annually.