Smallsat Launchers See Regulatory, Policy Changes Needed to Help Nascent Industry
From an overhauled FAA launch approval process to the U.S. whole-heartedly embracing the small-satellite launch industry, launch executives at a Washington Space Business Roundtable panel Wednesday had a variety of suggestions for how policymakers and regulators could help along the…
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emerging industry. Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis said the pace of launches could be ramped up if the FAA's commercial space regulatory overhaul includes giving a range of trajectories with a launch approval. He said faster acquisition timelines for government contracts would help space startups keep the flow of venture capital going. Firefly Aerospace Vice President-Business Development Les Kovacs said the U.S. needs to specify smallsat launchers are important to the nation's industrial capabilities and funnel more work that way. Stella Guillen, Arianespace vice president-sales and marketing, said the nation needs to open up to foreign vehicles for government payloads. While more than 100 smallsat launchers are at some stage of development, maybe five will survive, Kovacs said. Other panelists wouldn't make predictions. Rocket reusability isn't likely to be a big part of the smallsat launcher business model. "I would love to wrap myself in a reusability flag," but the added fuel and equipment needed for a reusable rocket cuts into the payload size -- a problem when already dealing with smallsats, Kovacs said. Echoed Vox Space Vice President-Government Affairs Jeffrey Trauberman, economics of reusability aren't as compelling for smallsat launchers as for larger vehicles. Planned small satellite mega constellations are a big driver of expectations of a smallsat boom, but some aren't counting on those as big parts of their business plans. If even a fraction of those mega constellations come to fruition, they will mean a shortfall in launch capacity, Guillen said. Smallsat launchers could handle replenishment missions, but larger rockets make sense for putting up those massive constellations, said John Steinmeyer, Northrop Grumman Launch Vehicle Division director-space launch business development. Ellis said the startup's long-term goal is 3D printing of rockets, and such capabilities -- which will be as disruptive as rocket reusability -- are "inevitable," and could come within 20 years.