United Launch Alliance is working on a new secondary payload rideshare system as it looks to capitalise on the burgeoning cubesat market, CEO Tory Bruno has announced. Speaking in Colorado this week, Bruno said ULA will deploy a 24-berth cubesat carrier on Atlas 5 launches from mid-2017.
United Launch Alliance is working on a new secondary payload rideshare system as it looks to capitalise on the burgeoning cubesat market, CEO Tory Bruno has announced.
Speaking in Colorado this week, Bruno said ULA will deploy a 24-berth cubesat carrier on Atlas 5 launches from mid-2017. A spokesperson was quoted saying it will cost customers roughly US$100,000 to launch a single cubesat.
ULA already offers cubesat launches and has provided rideshares since 2007, but the new cubesat vessel appears to be a more formal marketing push, and a further sign that the company is looking beyond its traditional business model.
The rise in microsat technology and dramatic fall in development costs over the past couple of years has created a new opportunity for launch providers as a growing number of startups, predominantly in the Earth observation sector, have birds that need to be lofted.
A number of other companies are offering smallsat launches of one kind or another. The rideshare model is notably being pioneered by Spaceflight, which in September booked out an entire Falcon 9 from SpaceX to take a variety of small satellites to sun synchronous orbit in 2017.
Elsewhere companies such as Stratolaunch and Virgin Galactic are working on air-launch systems, and Rocket Lab is planning on bringing its Electron vehicle into service next year which will specialise in lofting smaller payloads.
Bruno’s comments came as ULA also unveiled a programme to offer a number of free cubesat rides to universities in a competitive process, as the company looks to ally its brand with innovation.
The move is part of broader strategy by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture to increase its commercial business and diversify its revenue streams – and timely given that this week has also seen ULA drop out of the bidding for a US national security mission.
ULA has had a monopoly on launching national security missions, but the emergence of low-cost rival SpaceX, coupled with the US government’s distaste for Atlas 5’s Russian-made RD-180 engine, led to its decision to not bid for the GPS III-X launch.
How many more RD-180s ULA will be allowed to use for national security launches is up to Congress. Reports from the US suggest one senator is pushing to allow ULA to use the Russian-made engines until an alternative becomes available, but Congress has already legislated to ween ULA off the engines amid strained relations with the Kremlin.
ULA is developing an all-American engine with Blue Origin but this is not planned to be ready until 2019.
