Aerospace firms look to hitch rides to send satellites into orbit

By Ann Schrader
The Denver Post

Sending a small satellite into space is not cheap, though rocket companies and "hitchhikers" believe ride-share programs may be the answer in tight budget times.

For aerospace companies, universities, researchers and even NASA, ride-sharing on rockets with hefty primary payloads offers an affordable alternative for satellites that may weigh up to 440 pounds.

For some rocket companies, it's a potential source of business, and for others, it's already happening.

Sierra Nevada designs and builds small satellites that weigh 110 to 2,200 pounds at its Littleton facility.

"Some of them may require their own launch vehicles, but we would like to take advantage of ride-share opportunities that are out there," said John Roth, Sierra Nevada's vice president of business development.

In December, Sierra Nevada will launch the first of 18 330- pound communications satellites it is building for Orbcomm of New Jersey. The launch will be as a secondary payload on Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket.

On Friday, several tiny satellites called CubeSats built by college students will go up on a Delta II rocket provided by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance, thanks to a NASA ride-share program that curtails the launch cost for educational groups.