So "over 20 satellites" at roughly $60 million is something around $3 million average cost per payload plus whatever profit Spaceflight is making here. Maybe $3.5-4 million for an average cost to the satellite owner, for a very rough estimate of cost?
This is exactly why all those start-ups trying to build dedicated launchers for small payloads for $5-$10 million a shot are doomed to fail.
At one launch/year they aren't going to steal many payloads from outfits who are planning on a shorter timeline. Especially for DoD smallsats which they may want up on demand.
"For a price below US $10 million, LauncherOne will now be able to launch 200 kg into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit"
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 10/01/2015 08:28 amThis is exactly why all those start-ups trying to build dedicated launchers for small payloads for $5-$10 million a shot are doomed to fail.At one launch/year they aren't going to steal many payloads from outfits who are planning on a shorter timeline. Especially for DoD smallsats which they may want up on demand.
there is one thing that worries me about many smallsats in sunsynchronous orbit. It is quite high and they will decay very slowly.
If your satellite can maneuver then it is only necessary that it operate in such a way that it causes no danger to others, no matter where it physically is. If it cannot, then your electrically propelled sheepdog could be part of a future solution. However policing such a service could be a major regulatory headache. For example, a US sheepdog couldn't sweep up a foreign-owned vehicle without the owner's permission.
Quote from: guckyfan on 10/02/2015 07:17 am there is one thing that worries me about many smallsats in sunsynchronous orbit. It is quite high and they will decay very slowly.The solution here as I see it would be satellite corrals for birds that can't control themselves or have a high likelyhood of failure and as an alternative a commitment to use manoeuvring fuel to deorbit by a set date. The enforcement of the 'corral' would be with a device launched with them that can tether or net inactive sats that stray outside the corral. It would have guidance and electric propulsion. Eventually the whole corral has failed and is all tethered to the sheep dog satellite and can be deoribited together, or even if not, they are at least one monolithic piece and not 100's. The enforcement of the 'commitment' to deorbit should be a license fee and review of the likelihood of successful deorbit. If the bird fails before it deorbits the fee should have been high enough to pay for trash collection of the bird multiplied by the odds of it failing.