European manufacturer EADS Astrium has announced an
agreement to market SpaceX’s Falcon 1e rockets in Europe,
supporting customers with very small payloads to launch into
low-Earth orbit.
The deal covers launches up until 2015, and promises…
European manufacturer EADS Astrium has announced an
agreement to market SpaceX’s Falcon 1e rockets in Europe,
supporting customers with very small payloads to launch into
low-Earth orbit.
The deal covers launches up until 2015, and promises space
agencies, and other institutional European customers with small
payloads, the world’s lowest cost per dedicated flight.
Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, said: “Our agreement
with Astrium opens exciting new doors for SpaceX. Together
we will meet the growing demand for reliable, low-cost and
dedicated launch services for very small Earth observation and
scientific payloads for European institutional customers.”
Silvio Sandrone, vice president for launches at Astrium
Space Transportation, told SatelliteFinance that he sees
the European institutional very small satellite market as an
expanding sector. Sandrone was unable to comment on
future deals in this area, but said the company feels now is the
time to push into this market because the miniaturisation of
technology has finally made it feasible.
The Falcon 1e agreement follows SpaceX’s announcement
in July of a US$492m launch contract with MSS operator
Iridium Communications for its 72 satellite second-generation
constellation NEXT. That deal, which will use the heavy lift
Falcon 9 rocket, represents the largest single commercial
launch deal ever signed but equates to a cost of approximately
US$6.83m per satellite. As with the Astrium deal, SpaceX
is seemingly seeking to gain market share and operational
heritage through competitive pricing.
Sandrone insisted the deal with SpaceX was not a snub to
Arianespace, which Astrium builds larger rockets for and which
is also developing its own light-lift launcher called Vega. He
said there was never any competition with the group because,
although small, Vega is still too big for its requirements.
On September 8, Arianespace announced that it had agreed
a production contract with ESA for the first Vega launcher, due
to begin operations in 2011.
On the same day, ELV, Vega’s prime contractor, signed a
frame contract for five Vega launch vehicles, which will be
delivered after the qualification flight.
