Small launch vehicles press ahead despite market setbacks

PARIS — Despite stiff competition from SpaceX rideshare services and some high-profile failures, ventures are still pursuing small launch vehicles that they argue can fill niches in the market.

Several companies presented updates on the development of small launch vehicles at World Space Business Week Sept. 18, arguing they can deliver satellites when and where customers want rather than waiting for the next available rideshare launch from SpaceX.

“We offer flexibility,” said Miguel Belló Mora, executive chairman of Orbex, a small launch vehicle developer based in the United Kingdom. “We can’t compete on price per kilo.”

Orbex is developing the Prime launch vehicle that will launch from Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland. An initial test launch is scheduled for the summer of 2025, with commercial launches beginning in 2026.

Other companies in Europe are pressing ahead with first launches of new small vehicles. Stanislas Maximin, chief executive of French startup Latitude, said the company plans to have its Zephyr vehicle ready for an initial test launch by the end of 2025.

Another French startup, Sirius Space Services, is developing the Sirius line of vehicles, starting with the Sirius 1 with a capacity of 175 kilograms. The company has two upgraded versions, the Sirius 13 and Sirius 15, with two and four additional boosters, respectively.

François Maroquene-Froissart, chief executive of Sirius Space Services, said the company was planning a first test flight of the Sirius 1 in mid-2026, followed by first Sirius 13 in 2027. The company separately announced at the conference an agreement with Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) to conduct those launches from ELA’s Arnhem Space Centre.

The companies acknowledged they need significant demand to break even: from six launches a year for Sirius to 20 per year for Latitude. The only Western small launcher flying at that rate today is Rocket Lab’s Electron, which has launched 10 times so far this year. Rocket Lab once projected as many as 22 launches this year but has curtailed those forecasts because of customer delays.

Other companies are launching far less frequently, if at all. Startups ABL Space Systems and Rocket Factory Augsburg recently lost vehicles in pad tests. Astra, which once planned to launch dozens to hundreds of its Rocket 3 vehicle annually, withdrew the vehicle from the market in 2022 after multiple failures. Virgin Orbit went out of business in 2023 after a failed launch from the U.K.

The startups at the conference, though, insisted there is sufficient demand for their vehicles. Demand is coming from “all over the place,” said Latitude’s Maximin, including both European governments and international commercial customers.

“Is there enough of a market in Europe? Probably not enough to sustain Orbex and me, but there is the whole world” he said. “We have plans, we made offers and we expect to sign customers from around the world in the next few months.”

“There are a lot of small launch vehicles worldwide” under development, admitted Maroquene-Froissart. He said he was expecting many to fade away, but at least a few survive in Europe.

“I think there could be two or three companies in Europe easily,” Orbex’s Belló Mora said of small launch vehicle ventures.

Other vehicle updates

Latitude, Orbex and Sirius are all working to enter a market with many competitors in Europe and elsewhere, who are working towards upcoming launches.

During another conference panel Sept. 18, Stella Guillen, chief commercial officer of Isar Aerospace, said the company was in final preparations for the first flight its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Spaceport in Norway.

“We have the entire vehicle already at the launch site,” she said. The company is preparing to perform final tests of the second stage and then the first stage. The final step will be to obtain a launch license from Norwegian regulators. “We’re targeting for sure this year” for the launch, she said.

Raul Verdú, chief business development officer at PLD Space, said the Spanish company was on track for a first launch of its Miura 5 vehicle next year. The company is spending 10 million euros to convert the former Diamant launch site in French Guiana for the vehicle. That pad should be completed by next summer, he said. Asked how likely it would be that the rocket will also be ready by then, he replied simply, “Yes.”

Yasushi Tabei of IHI Aerospace, which is an investor in Japanese launch venture Space One, said that company is preparing for a second launch of its Kairos rocket in December. The inaugural launch in March failed when the solid-fuel vehicle exploded seconds after liftoff. The company has not disclosed the cause of that failure.

Related