![]() ![]() On Thursday, Vector had clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration only for a low-altitude flight. Cantrell was part of the SpaceX founding team, while other executives worked at Sea Launch, Virgin Galactic and McDonnell Douglas. Vector’s executive team comes from a variety of new commercial space firms and traditional aerospace giants. “The missions will get more and more complex until they actually achieve orbit,” he said. ![]() Phil Smith, senior space analyst at consulting firm Bryce Space and Technology, described Vector’s progress as “incremental.” SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which is aimed at a wider launch market, starts at $62 million. A launch on the 39-foot-tall Vector-R rocket, which will be capable of lifting about 145 pounds to low-Earth orbit, will start at less than $3 million. Vector also is aiming to appeal to these small companies on price. But hitchhiking has its limits - small-satellite operators often can’t choose the exact launch time or orbit because they’re a secondary consideration. Small satellites typically get to space by hitching a ride with a larger payload on a bigger rocket, such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V. The company’s success hinges on the expected growth in the small satellite market - and within that, an even more specialized subset of tiny spacecraft known as microsatellites. In June, the company announced a $21-million funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, bringing Vector’s total funding to $31 million. Vector plans to start sending commercial missions to orbit in 2018 and aims eventually to launch 100 Vector-R rockets a year, he said. “To keep costs down, we need to have minimum range infrastructure,” Cantrell said. Vector also has looked at building its own ranges. ![]()
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