Smallsat Launch Options: Choices and Challenges

Affordable, reliable, and responsive launch is critical to the survival and growth of small satellite systems. Unfortunately, no small launch vehicle now on the U.S. market offers a perfect solution: low cost, proven reliability, and the flexibility to meet all user requirements. There are several small launchers on the market, and choosing the best launcher for a given mission is a difficult challenge for the smallsat developer. Using the launch of three sample smallsats as a mission model, this paper surveys launch vehicle options currently available or in advanced development. Those launch vehicles capable of launching the mission model satellites into the desired orbits are then evaluated on cost, risk, availability, and payload environment. A combined ranking produced by a computer model indicates the optimal choice for each mission. This exercise demonstrates that selection of the best option does not always mean picking the obvious or best-known vehicle, and that small satellite developers would be wise to thoroughly survey all suitable launch vehicles.