SpaceX - Continuing to Drive Launch Costs Down and Launch Opportunities Up for the Small Sat Community

SpaceX - Continuing to Drive Launch Costs Down and Launch Opportunities Up for the Small Sat Community

SpaceX is revolutionizing access to space for the satellite community by providing highly reliable, low cost launch services. To this end, SpaceX has developed a family of orbital transportation solutions and aims to reduce the price of launch services by an order of magnitude. The small satellite community is critical to the future of our industry. SpaceX is committed to providing reliable, timely, and cost-effective launch services and will continue to innovate in this capacity. An overview of these efforts and how they will positively impact the small satellite community are discussed. In 2010, SpaceX conducted two consecutive successful launches of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, proving their capability and becoming the first commercial company to ever return a private spacecraft from orbit. Initial analysis shows Dragon will be reusable – an important factor in reducing long term costs of access to space. In addition to the near-perfect missions of this medium-class launcher and cargo transportation system, great strides were made for the small satellite community.