Editing Small satellite (section)

==== Microsatellite launch vehicle ====
A number of [[private spaceflight|commercial]] and military-contractor companies are currently developing '''microsatellite launch vehicles''' to perform the increasingly [[orbital trajectory|targeted]] launch requirements of microsatellites.  While microsatellites have been carried to space for many years as secondary payloads aboard larger [[launch vehicle|launchers]], the secondary payload paradigm does not provide the specificity required for many increasingly sophisticated small satellites that have unique orbital and launch-timing requirements.<ref name=sn20130812>{{cite news |last=Werner |first=Debra |title=Small Satellites & Small Launchers: Rocket Builders Scramble To Capture Growing Microsat Market |url=https://spacenews.com/36741small-satellites-small-launchers-rocket-builders-scramble-to-capture/ |access-date=13 March 2021 |newspaper=Space News |date=12 August 2013}}</ref>

In July 2012, [[Virgin Orbit]] announced [[LauncherOne]], an [[orbital launch vehicle]] designed to launch "smallsat" primary [[Payload (air and space craft)|payloads]] of {{convert|100|kg|abbr=on}} into [[low Earth orbit]], with launches projected to begin in 2016.  Several commercial customers have already contracted for launches, including [[GeoOptics]], [[Skybox Imaging]], [[Spaceflight Industries]], and [[Planetary Resources]].  Both [[Surrey Satellite Technology]] and [[Sierra Nevada Corporation|Sierra Nevada Space Systems]] are developing [[satellite bus]]es "optimized to the design of LauncherOne".<ref name=nsj20120711>{{cite news |title=Virgin Galactic relaunches its smallsat launch business |url=http://www.newspacejournal.com/2012/07/11/virgin-galactic-relaunches-its-smallsat-launch-business/ |access-date=11 July 2012 |newspaper=NewSpace Journal |date=12 July 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715235055/http://www.newspacejournal.com/2012/07/11/virgin-galactic-relaunches-its-smallsat-launch-business/ |archive-date=15 July 2012}}</ref>  Virgin Orbit has been working on the LauncherOne concept since late 2008,<ref name=fgh20081209>[http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/12/exclusive-virgin-galactic-unve.html EXCLUSIVE: Virgin Galactic unveils LauncherOne name!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514165558/http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/12/exclusive-virgin-galactic-unve.html |date=14 May 2013 }}, Rob Coppinger, Flightglobal Hyperbola, 9 December 2008</ref> and {{asof|2015|lc=y}}, is making it a larger part of Virgin's core business plan as the Virgin human spaceflight program has experienced multiple delays and a fatal accident in 2014.<ref name=telegraph20150822>{{cite news |last1=Burn-Callander |first1=Rebecca |title=Virgin Galactic boldly goes into small satellites, telling future astronauts 'you have to wait' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11816213/Virgin-Galactic-boldly-goes-into-small-satellites-telling-future-astronauts-you-have-to-wait.html |access-date=24 August 2015 |newspaper=UK Telegraph |date=22 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824021720/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11816213/Virgin-Galactic-boldly-goes-into-small-satellites-telling-future-astronauts-you-have-to-wait.html |archive-date=24 August 2015}}</ref>

In December 2012, [[DARPA]] announced that the [[Airborne Launch Assist Space Access]] program would provide the microsatellite rocket booster for the DARPA SeeMe program that intended to release a "[[Satellite constellation|constellation]] of 24 micro-satellites (~{{convert|20|kg|abbr=on}} range) each with 1-m imaging [[Satellite imagery|resolution]]."<ref name=nsw20121219>{{cite news |last=Lindsey |first=Clark |title=DARPA developing microsat constellation orbited with air-launch system |url=http://www.newspacewatch.com/articles/darpa-developing-microsat-constellation-orbited-with-air-launch-system.html |access-date=22 December 2012 |newspaper=NewSpace Watch |date=19 December 2012 |url-access=subscription|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526224612/http://www.newspacewatch.com/articles/darpa-developing-microsat-constellation-orbited-with-air-launch-system.html |archive-date=26 May 2013}}</ref>  The program was cancelled in December 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://spacenews.com/darpa-airborne-launcher-effort-falters/ |title=DARPA Scraps Plan To Launch Small Sats from F-15 Fighter Jet |work=SpaceNews |first=Mike |last=Gruss |date=30 November 2015}}</ref>

In April 2013, [[Garvey Spacecraft]] was awarded a {{US$|200,000}} contract to evolve their ''Prospector 18'' [[suborbital]] launch vehicle technology into an orbital nanosat launch vehicle capable of delivering a {{convert|10|kg|abbr=on}} payload into a {{convert|250|km|abbr=on}} orbit to an even-more-capable [[Modular rocket|clustered]] "20/450 Nano/Micro Satellite Launch Vehicle" (NMSLV) capable of delivering {{convert|20|kg|abbr=on}} payloads into {{convert|450|km|abbr=on}} [[low Earth orbit|circular orbits]].<ref name=pa20130404/>

The [[Boeing Small Launch Vehicle]] is an [[air launch to orbit|air-launched]] three-stage-to-orbit [[launch vehicle]] concept aimed to launch small payloads of {{convert|100|lb|kg|order=flip|abbr=on}} into low Earth orbit.  The program is proposed to drive down launch costs for U.S. military small satellites to as low as {{US$|300,000}} per launch ($7,000/kg) and, if the development program was funded, {{asof|2012|lc=y}} could be operational by 2020.<ref name=aw20120521>{{cite news |last=Norris |first=Guy |title=Boeing Unveils Air-Launched Space-Access Concept |url=http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_05_21_2012_p25-458597.xml&p=1 |access-date=23 May 2012 |newspaper=Aviation Week |date=21 May 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326232014/http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=%2Farticle-xml%2FAW_05_21_2012_p25-458597.xml&p=1 |archive-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>

The Swiss company [[Swiss Space Systems]] (S3) has announced plans in 2013 to develop a suborbital [[spaceplane]] named ''SOAR'' that would launch a microsat launch vehicle capable of putting a payload of up to {{convert|250|kg|abbr=on}} into low Earth orbit.<ref name=dp20131008>{{cite news |last=Painter |first=Kristen Leigh |title=Spaceport Colorado lands agreement with Swiss space company Read more: Spaceport Colorado lands agreement with Swiss space company |url=http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24261021/spaceport-colorado-lands-agreement-swiss-space-company |access-date=21 October 2013 |newspaper=The Denver Post |date=8 October 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131011013440/http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24261021/spaceport-colorado-lands-agreement-swiss-space-company |archive-date=11 October 2013}}</ref>

The Spanish company [[PLD Space]] born in 2011 with the objective of developing low cost launch vehicles called [[PLD Space#Miura 1|Miura 1]] and [[PLD Space#Miura 5|Miura 5]] with the capacity to place up to {{convert|150|kg|abbr=on}} into orbit.<ref name="yahoo">{{cite web|url=https://es.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/astronomia-terricolas/pld-space--la-empresa-espa%C3%B1ola-camino-de-lanzar-sat%C3%A9lites-e-incluso-alcanzar-la-luna-133224289.html|title=PLD Space, la empresa española camino de lanzar satélites e incluso alcanzar la Luna|last1=Peláez|first1=Javier|website=Yahoo noticias|publisher=Yahoo|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305210833/https://es.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/astronomia-terricolas/pld-space--la-empresa-espa%C3%B1ola-camino-de-lanzar-sat%C3%A9lites-e-incluso-alcanzar-la-luna-133224289.html|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live|access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref>