A new survey has found that more than 50 organizations are working on developing new small satellite launch vehicles capable of lifting up to 500 kg into low Earth orbit (LEO).
Result of the survey, which was conducted by Carlos Niederstrasser and Warren Frick of Orbital ATK, were presented last week during the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The survey found that at least 29 launch vehicles are currently under active development. The boosters are shown in the table below.
| Small Space Launch Systems Under Active Development | ||||
| Organization Name | Vehicle Name | Country | Latest Launch Date | Launch Frequency |
| PLD Space | Arion 2 | Spain | 2021 | 10/year |
| Bagaveev Corporation | Bagaveev | USA | 50/year | |
| Horizon Space Technologies | Black Arrow 2 | United Kingdom | 4/year | |
| zero2infinity | Bloostar | Spain | 2017 | |
| CubeCab | Cab-3A | USA | 2018 | |
| Scorpius Space Launch Company | Demi-Sprite | USA | ||
| Tranquility Aerospace | Devon Two | United Kingdom | ||
| Rocket Lab | Electron | USA/New Zealand | Q4 2016 | 1/week |
| China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation | Fei Tian 1 | China | ||
| Firefly | Firefly α | USA | 2017 | 50/year |
| ARCA Space Corporation | Haas 2C | USA | 2016 | |
| Rocketcrafters | Intrepid-1 | USA | Q4 2018 | |
| LandSpace | LandSpace-1 | China | Q4 2017 | |
| Virgin Galactic | LauncherOne | USA | H2 2017 | 24/year |
| MISHAAL Aerospace | M-OV | USA | ||
| Interorbital Systems | NEPTUNE N5 | USA | 2017 | |
| Open Space Orbital | Neutrino I | Canada | ||
| Nammo | North Star Launch Service | Norway | 2020 | |
| Orbital Access | Orbital 500 | United Kingdom | 2020 | |
| Leap Space | Primo | Italy | 20/year | |
| SpaceLS | Prometheus-1 | United Kingdom | Q4 2017 | |
| Celestia Aerospace | Sagitarius Space Arrow | Spain | 2016 | |
| Swiss Space Systems | SOAR | Switzerland | 2018 | |
| UP Aerospace | Spyder | USA | ||
| CONAE | Tronador II | Argentina | 2019 | |
| VALT Enterprises | VALT | USA | 1000s/year | |
| bspace | Volant | USA | 2018 | Multiple/quarter |
| Vector Space Systems | Wolverine | USA | 2018 | 100/year |
| Lin Industrial | Таймыр-1A | Russia | Q1 2020 | |
The authors also put together a watch list of projects that did not meet one of their criteria for being actively under development.
| Watch List of Small Satellite Launchers | ||
| Organization | Vehicle Name | Country |
| Airbus | Unknown | France |
| Avio Spa | Unknown | Italy |
| Departamento de Ciencia e Tecnologia Aeroespacial | VLM-1 | Brazil |
| Generation Orbit | GOLauncher 2 | USA |
| Gilmour Space Technologies | Eris | Australia |
| Heliaq Advanced Engineering | Austral Launch Vehicle | Australia |
| New Ascent | Unknown | USA |
| Newton Launch Systems | Unknown | United Kingdom |
| Odyne Space | Unknown | USA |
| One Space Technology | Unknown | China |
| Relativity Space | Unknown | USA |
| RocketStar | N/A | USA |
| SpinLaunch | Unknown | USA |
| Stofiel Aerospace | Unknown | USA |
| Stratolaunch | Unknown | USA |
| Swedish Space Corporation | Rainbow Smallsat Express | Sweden |
| U. Hawaii, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sandia | Super Strypi | USA |
| Unreasonable Rocket | Unreasonable Rocket | USA |
| Whittinghill Aerospace | Minimum Cost Launch Vehicle | USA |
The table below shows the system performance, launch types and launch locations for boosters under development.
| System Performance, Launch Type & Location | ||||
| Vehicle Name | Performance | Orbit | Launch Type | Launch Location |
| Devon Two | 4 kg | LEO | Land | |
| Cab-3A | 5 kg | 400 km | Air | Int’l Water |
| Spyder | 8 kg | 370 km | Land | Wallops, Cape Canaveral |
| Bagaveev | 10 kg | SSO | Land, Water | |
| Таймыр-1A | 12 kg | LEO | Land | |
| North Star Launch Service | 20 kg | 350 km | Land | Andøya Rocket Range, Norway |
| NEPTUNE N5 | 40 kg | 310 km SSO | Land, Water | Moody Space Centre, Australia. Int’l Water |
| Wolverine | 45 kg 35 kg | LEO SSO | Land, Sea | Kodiak, Cape Canaveral |
| Neutrino I | 50 kg | LEO | Land | |
| Primo | 50 kg | 700 km SSO | Land | |
| Sagitarius Space Arrow | 64 kg | 600 km | Air | Int’l Water, Spanish airport |
| Bloostar | 100 kg 75 kg | LEO 600 km SSO | Balloon | Int’l Water |
| Arion 2 | 150 kg | 400 km | Land | South Europe |
| Electron | 150 kg | 500 km SSO | Land | Birdling’s Flat, New Zealand |
| Demi-Sprite | 160 kg | LEO | Land | |
| LauncherOne | 200 kg | SSO | Air | Int’l Water |
| Volant | 215 kg | LEO | Land | Kodiak |
| Prometheus-1 | 250 kg | LEO | Unknown | |
| SOAR | 250 kg | LEO | Air/Space | Canary Islands, Spaceport Colorado |
| Tronador II | 250 kg | 600 km SSO | Land | Puerto Belgrano Naval Base |
| Intrepid-1 | 376 kg | 500 km SSO | Land | Kennedy Space Center |
| Firefly α | 400 kg 200 kg | LEO SSO | Land | Kodiak Preferred |
| Haas 2C | 400 kg | LEO | Land | Spaceport America |
| Fei Tian 1 | 430 kg | 500 km SSO | Land | |
| M-OV | 454 kg | LEO | Land | |
| Black Arrow 2 | 500 kg 200 kg | 200 km 600 km SSO | Land | Worldwide |
| Pegasus XL | 468 kg | 200 km | Air | Int’l Water; Multiple locations demonstrated |
| Orbital 500 | 500 kg | 500 km SSO | Air | |
| LandSpace-1 | 530 kg 400 kg | 300 km 500 km SSO | Land | China |
The table below shows projected launch costs for select launch vehicles.
| Small Satellite Booster Launch Costs | |||
| Vehicle Name | Projected Launch Cost | Estimated Cost per kg | |
| Sagitarius Space Arrow | $0.2 M | $10.6 k | |
| NEPTUNE N5 | $0.5 M | $12.5 k | |
| Black Arrow 2 | $6.6 M | $13.2 k | |
| Intrepid-1 | $5.4 M | $14.4 k | |
| Firefly α | $8.0 M | $20.0 k | |
| Wolverine | $1.0 M | $22.2 k | |
| Demi-Sprite | $3.6 M | $22.5 k | |
| Unknown | $0.3 M | $25.0 k | |
| Electron | $4.9 M | $32.7 k | |
| Таймыр-1A | $0.5 M | $40.0 k | |
| SOAR | $10.0 M | $40.0 k | |
| Bloostar | $4.0 M | $40.0 k | |
| Cab-3A | $0.3 M | $50.0 k | |
| LauncherOne | $10.0 M | $50.0 k | |
| Spyder | $1.0 M | $125.3 k | |
| VALT | $1.7 M | No mass spec | |
The following table shows funding sources for selected boosters.
| Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Funding Sources | |
| Vehicle Name | Funding Source |
| Arion 2 | Spanish government, EC, Caixa Capital Risc, Gobierno de Aragon |
| Bloostar | Pre sales, Investors |
| Cab-3A | Biz Plan Competition |
| Electron | NZ Gov, Kholsa, VBP, K1W1, LM |
| Firefly α | Logal Gov, VC, NASA |
| Intrepid-1 | State of Florida |
| LauncherOne | Virgin Group |
| NEPTUNE N5 | Presales |
| Sagitarius Space Arrow | One signed up customer |
| SOAR | Brietling, pre IPO equity promotion |
| Unknown | Tim Draper, Adam Draper, DCVC, New Gen Silicon Valley Partners |
| VALT | Office of Naval Research, Mainte Space Grant |
| Wolverine | Seed Angels, NASA, DARPA |
| Таймыр-1A | Sergei Burkatovsky |