Chapter 6. Launching and Rockets
Picosatellites have launched on such a mix of rockets that it is hard to categorize a single approach. Most AMSAT and university projects ride piggyback as an extra tiny payload on an existing space mission. These rocket launches are negotiated by people with access—people who know other rocket-launching people. NASA, Japan’s JAXA, and other space agencies occasionally run launch opportunities for picosatellites. CubeSats, despite becoming a standard architecture, do not have a standard launch provider. Like any picosatellite, they rely on who you know to launch. Some have launched via Russian converted ICBMs, others lofted up to the ISS, still others use the piggyback method.
Now that we are entering a new commercial ...
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