Small Satellite Launchers Poised for Big 2020

[Chris Bergin]

Covering Firefly, Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab.

By Thomas Burghardt:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/01/small-satellite-launchers-big-2020/

[Rzeppa]

In the article, it said that Electron's AFTS enabled quicker turnaround between missions. How does this work compared to human in the loop flight termination? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Falcon 9's AFTS will enable them to do polar orbits from Florida without killing any Cuban cows, but how does it make mission turnaround quicker too?

[TrevorMonty]

In the article, it said that Electron's AFTS enabled quicker turnaround between missions. How does this work compared to human in the loop flight termination? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Falcon 9's AFTS will enable them to do polar orbits from Florida without killing any Cuban cows, but how does it make mission turnaround quicker too?

Currently human in loop systems need time to setup range for a launch. Not so important for RL Mahia site but definitely helps with busy shared ranges in USA. ULA is also moving to AFTS. Removing humans and expensive ground systems from loop also helps reduce launch costs.

[TrevorMonty]

Covering Firefly, Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab.

By Thomas Burghardt:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/01/small-satellite-launchers-big-2020/

Firefly larger Beta would need to be RLV, as a ELV would be in similar price range as F9R, also competition are moving to RLVs. They could use AR1 with 3-4 Reavers to provide reentry and landing engines. The Alpha is small enough to do mid air recovery, may need reentry burn due to it being x4 size of Electron.

If Virgin go down same recovery path as RL, being airlaunch should help save money on recovery. With flexible flight path, could bring MAR with range of land based helicopter, no support ship required.

[edzieba]

In the article, it said that Electron's AFTS enabled quicker turnaround between missions. How does this work compared to human in the loop flight termination? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Falcon 9's AFTS will enable them to do polar orbits from Florida without killing any Cuban cows, but how does it make mission turnaround quicker too?

Currently human in loop systems need time to setup range for a launch. Not so important for RL Mahia site but definitely helps with busy shared ranges in USA. ULA is also moving to AFTS. Removing humans and expensive ground systems from loop also helps reduce launch costs.

On top of that, Rocketlab are likely jumpier than most over FTS setup verification and testing after losing their first launch vehicle to an FTS communication error. Taking that not only in-house but in-vehicle removes a whole branch from the potential fault tree.

[JoerTex]

Test Stand fire at Briggs, Texas during Firefly testing.  Automatic fire suppression contained the situation.

https://www.kxan.com/traffic/us-183-closed-in-briggs-area-due-to-non-law-enforcement-incident-bcso-says/