Launcher has purchased slots on three more SpaceX rideshare missions for its
Orbiter tug as it continues development of a small launch vehicle.
Launcher announced Feb. 7 it signed a multi-launch contract with SpaceX for
three additional missions of its Orbiter tug. Those tugs will fly on Falcon
9 rideshare missions in January, April and October of 2023.
Launcher’s first Orbiter tug will launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 rideshare
mission in October 2022 under a contract announced last June when the
company revealed its plans to develop Orbiter. The vehicle is designed to
deploy cubesats and other smallsats in their desired orbits as well as host
payloads for missions lasting up to two years.
“We have chosen SpaceX to be our provider in 2023 and beyond, due to their
incredible reliability, performance, industry-leading price, and mission
flexibility, which allows us to provide the lowest-cost Orbiter mission
services to our customers,” Max Haot, chief executive of Launcher, said in a
statement.
Launcher offers launch and orbit transfer services for smallsats for between
$8,000 and $25,000 per kilogram, depending on mission requirements. It also
will sell a dedicated Orbiter mission for $400,000 plus SpaceX flight costs.
The company development of Orbiter is on track for its first mission this
fall. The company recently announced a series of tests of the vehicle’s main
engine, a thruster that uses ethane and nitrous oxide as propellants,
including one test where the engine was fired for two and a half minutes.
ORBITER MILESTONE ✅: Today, we had more than ten successful test fires of our Orbiter engine (transfer vehicle) - including a last 2m30s test at 🌅. We proved regen cooling and repeated ignition on demand. Full video: https://t.co/Qd0iWmlPDc - 3D printed on @VELO3DMetal pic.twitter.com/QAtFXSBvD6
— LΛUNCHER (@launcher) February 4, 2022
Orbiter is one of several vehicles designed to provide “last mile” in-space
transportation services for smallsats launched on rideshare missions like
SpaceX, moving satellites from an initial transfer orbit provided by the
rideshare launch to their final orbits. D-Orbit, Momentus and Spaceflight
are among the other companies that are developing or have flown similar
vehicles.
Launcher developed Orbiter not just for rideshare missions on larger
vehicles but also for its own Launcher Light small launch vehicle in
development. Haot told SpaceNews that the company was making “great
progress” in testing of the E-2 engine that powers the vehicle’s first stage
and that the first launch of the vehicle is scheduled for March 2024.
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