Nanosatellites

17 I-4aLaunch Vehicles—Challenges and Solutions

Kaitlyn Kelley

Spaceflight Industries, Seattle, USA

17.1 Introduction

Although nanosatellites have launched on many vehicles, they are deceptively difficult to manifest. One reason is that the current launch market is built around supporting large satellites. These large satellites purchase the entire launch vehicle and effectively own all the lift capacity. Occasionally, the large satellites allow nanosatellites and small satellites to be accommodated on the launch vehicle. Then the large satellites function as the “primary payload.” While the primary satellite providers do not pay for the entire vehicle, they certainly have purchased the majority of the launch capacity, which allows them to determine orbital parameters (altitude and inclination of orbit) as well as the launch schedule. Nanosatellites and microsatellites also manifested on the vehicle are subject to the primary payload's orbit and schedule. The portion of the rocket that they purchased, while it does offset the total cost, is much less than the primary payload. Nanosatellites launching with a primary satellite are often deemed “secondary” or “rideshare” payloads. Although there are occasional options for nanosatellites to launch on sounding rockets or other small vehicles, the majority of them launch rideshare. This method is an excellent way of utilizing all of a launch vehicle's energy, but there are obstacles when adding nanosatellites to the launch manifest. ...