Aim To Reduce Costs, Improve Response Times

Ongoing efforts by countries such as China to assert footholds in space have added impetus in the United States to launch more satellites, less expensively, reports The New York Times.

Leading the "more for less" charge are private companies such as SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, and Microcosm... which are hoping to move into commercial launch territory now dominated by the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, French company Arianespace, and Russia's ISC Kosmotras and Dnepr.

Of those three, Orbital has by far the most experience. Founded in 1982 to develop smaller, cheaper rocket systems, the Dulles, VA-based company has 3,300 employees. In the past 12 years, Orbital has recorded 24 successful launches for its Pegasus system -- which launches satellites into orbit from below a converted Lockheed L-1011 airliner.

At about $30 million a pop, Pegasus isn't cheap... which is why Orbital also offers the lower-cost Minotaur I (below), slated to send two US Air Force satellites into orbit at a cost of around $11.5 million apiece.  

"We have the capability and reliability," said Orbital VP for investor relations Barron S. Beneski. "And reliability doesn’t come cheap." One of the ways Orbital cut costs for Minotaur, is to use government-supplied rocket engines.

Another company with ambitious plans to grab a chunk of the commercial satellite market -- which brings in roughly $63 million a year for Orbital -- is Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. Founded by Elon Musk, who made his name in the technology sector, the company has tried to send its Falcon I rocket into orbit twice.

Both launches failed to achieve orbit, though the rocket came very close the second time and its propulsion system worked as designed, Musk says. The company plans a third launch attempt it January.

Even without a completely successful mission to its credit, SpaceX has managed to attract strong support... including a $278 million contract from NASA, under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, to develop the larger Falcon 9 rocket and a cargo transportation module. Musk has kicked in $100 million of his own money to the company, he adds.

"We can do any payload for one-half to one-third the price of larger competitors," Musk said, adding he's kicked in around $100 million of his own money to date for SpaceX.

A third entrant into the market is Microcosm, Inc. With only 40 employees, the company -- founded in 1984 -- hasn't garnered the headlines SpaceX has... but it is working on a USAF contract to develop a fast-launch rocket system. Dubbed Scorpius Low-Cost Launch Services, the company is working on a rocket that could send a payload weighing less than 800 pounds into orbit with eight hours' notice, for $4.6 million.

"Look at it this way," said Microcosm president James Wertz. "If we could have launched a satellite within 20 hours of the Asian tsunami in 2004, we could have found villages needing help right away rather than a week or two later. We could have saved more lives."

Such ambitious goals have inherent complications... namely, it's tough to develop a rocket that's both lightweight, and inexpensive. As it stands now, the rocket and propellant alone will cost nearly $4 million per launch, according to Microcosm VP Robert Conger.

The company is working to develop lightweight composite propellant tanks and thrust systems to contain liquid oxygen under intense pressures, reports Conger.

Microcosm has worked on Scorpius for eight years... and spent $65 million in government money, and another $15 million from the company, on the project. Wertz admits funding is tighter than he'd like.

"We’ve got $40 million to go," Wertz said, "and these are challenging times."

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.smad.com, www.orbital.com