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I totally agree. You still need to get the fuel to space regardless of who is doing the propulsion work. Let's say that your tug is already on-orbit, how is the
by branchan 7y ago
I totally agree. You still need to get the fuel to space regardless of who is doing the propulsion work. Let's say that your tug is already on-orbit, how is the fuel going to be brought up? Would you not need to launch another spacecraft to bring you the fuel? How much would that spacecraft weigh?
Besides this, they would have to develop on-orbit refueling technology, as well as force the other spacecraft to use a bus that allows for rendez-vous and docking/proximity ops.
And also, how big is the market for satellite startups that are heading to GEO orbit? For now, it seems like it is just Astranis and GapSat.
- ibmont 7y agoWe will be able to transport satellites up to 5000 lb in mass directly to GEO, which should be most of the market. Almost every large GEO player is developing new, smaller satellites. We will also modify existing interfaces to allow for docking. Rendezvous and prox-ops is all on our side.
- branchan 7y agoWho is "we"? Care to identify yourself? What existing interface are you talking about? Which GEO manufacturer is making 5000 lb spacecraft?
- zarathustra10 7y agoI can take a wild guess who "we" is, since Epic's young founder is Ignacio B. Montero and the nick is "ibmont".
- ibmont 7y ago"you got me"