Saturday, October 17

SmallSats: More Private Sector Investment

NASA’s Launch Services Program recently awarded what are called Venture Class Launch Services  contracts to three private companies to provide small satellites (SmallSats) in low-Earth orbit. These three companies are:

  • Firefly Space Systems Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, $5.5 million
  • Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Los Angeles, $6.9 million
  • Virgin Galactic LLC of Long Beach, California, $4.7 million
Since Virgin Galactic seems to be making slow progress in the space tourism industry this may be a new opening for the company. And expanding NASA's rocket suppliers is always a good move as it spreads the risk of the space program. 

Image Credit: Firefly Alpha Rocket from Firefly Space Systems