This satellite platform will deliver many different CubeSats into space by 2022.

Space company Launcher has announced its new satellite platform called Orbiter, which will aim to launch many different CubeSats into space. The first mission, capable of carrying up to 150 kg of payload, is scheduled for October 2022 and will be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket with Spacex…

According to the official release of Launcher, Orbiter will allow developers of small satellite constellations to take advantage of the purchase of the program. ride sharing (“Free ride”, literal translation) like SpaceX – when other companies, for example, hire Falcon 9 send their cargo into space along with the releases of Elon Musk’s own company. In addition, the platform is intended to operate as the third stage of Launcher Light, a small rocket set to reach low Earth orbit in 2024.

Compared to the Falcon 9, the Launcher Light is much smaller – its height is 15 meters compared to the 70 meters of the Falcon 9, but this makes it ideal for one small mission. In addition, the orbiter can change the orbital speed of satellites up to 500 m / s, which will allow its operators to adjust the orbit of their vehicles up or down. But the small Light rocket launcher will have a small competitive market when it launches in 2024, as launchers like Electron, yes Rocket Lab, at the testing stage, and LauncherOne, by Virgin Orbitare already in the demonstration stage.

While Launcher founder Max Haot stated in 2018 that the company was not ready for a launch into space, he added that Launcher Light would have an advantage in optimizing performance and satellite launches. “We do not believe that people who got there a few years earlier will become winners. We believe that the people who trade with the highest margins will be the winners, ”he said.

Some of the money raised by the company will go towards putting Launcher Light into orbit and hiring 40 employees later this year – Launcher plans to have 150 people on its team over the next three years. “Compared to our competitors, we are in a fundraising kindergarten,” Haot said.

A source: Space.com