Orbital Secondary Payloads

Sepatuads.com   April 17, 2010   Andrews Space, LEO, Space Business, Space X   Comment  

A couple months ago, I wrote a post about the need for agents that could coordinate suborbital research missions – freeing developer/operators to focus on…well, developing and operating. It is exciting to see Andrews Space moving in this direction (same agent concept – orbital focus).

Utilizing’s Space X’s Falcon vehicles and Dragon capsule, Andrews is focused on secondary payloads.

- Small spacecraft launch
- Hardware qualification
- Biotechnology research
- Earth observation and monitoring

It will be interesting to watch this development.  Will we see larger launchers and capabilites be packaged and sold into small pieces like Andrews is planning or will we see the development of smaller and smaller launchers capable of dedicated launches for these smaller payloads?  There are definitely pros/cons to each approach.