Finally, any vehicle that can launch over 50,000 kg is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle, such as SpaceX’s Starship or the Saturn V. Anything between 20,000 kg and 50,000 kg is a heavy-lift launch vehicle, such as the Falcon 9 when expended, or the Delta IV Heavy. Anything between 2,000 kg and 20,000 kg to LEO is a medium-lift launch vehicle, such as the Soyuz, Proton, and recoverable Falcon 9. This class of rocket can take up to 2,000 kg into a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). What is a small sat launcher?Ī small sat launcher, more precisely a small-lift launch vehicle, is a class of rocket. This is by no means a complete list of small sat launchers, just launchers that are far in development. In addition, the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 are included for comparison. This article will cover Firefly’s Alpha, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, Astra’s Rocket 3, Relativity Space’s Terran 1, ABL’s RS-1, and Rocket Lab’s Electron. Furthermore, due to the smaller size, these rockets are inherently cheaper there is no reason to pay for the extra performance of a medium or heavy lift launch vehicle for a small sat.Īs more and more hardware gets developed and sent to the pad, it is time to see how the small sat launchers compare.

Firstly, they can launch small sats on their own dedicated rocket (or on a small rideshare), instead of on a rideshare mission with hundreds of satellites, allowing the customer to go to a more desired orbit. Small sat launchers have a number of advantages. These rockets are called small sat launchers. To launch these satellites, companies have been creating smaller and cheaper rockets. This has allowed for satellites to decrease in size, causing the small satellite (small sat) market to explode. Due to technology advancements in the recent decades, manufacturers have been able to decrease the size of electronics drastically.

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