Startup Phantom Space wants to rush to orbit

Cantrell’s latest focus is Phantom spaceOne of many newly launched startups seeks to take advantage of the explosive advantages of smaller, cheaper satellite designs and create rockets that can meet the growing demand for launching these payloads into orbit. But, like Cantrell’s course, Phantom seeks to succeed by advancing with the times.

One of the hottest rocket trends right now is Carpool launch, Customers can purchase payload points on medium or large rockets on a specific departure date. For customers, this is a cheaper method than a single launch, which allows customers to send payloads into space-with SpaceX’s ride-sharing program, the cost of launching a 200 kg payload is $1 million (its Falcon 9 The rocket can put a total payload of 22,800 kg into low earth orbit). The company launched a dedicated carpool mission on January 21, deploying a record 143 satellites into orbit. It performed a similar task in June. In a surprising turn in March, Rocket Lab, which has long resisted the idea of ​​making larger rockets, launched “Neutron”. The exact purpose of the ride-sharing launch And compete with SpaceX Falcon 9.

The ride is not a phantom and a cup of tea. The company hopes to build its own space footprint by manufacturing small rockets on a large scale and launching one hundred each year. “We want to be the Henry Ford of space,” Cantrell said. “We hold the opposite view on how to develop this technology.” Just as Henry Ford did not reinvent the car, but the way it was made, the Mirage did not want to reinvent the rocket-it just produced the rocket.

how so? When SpaceX was launched, the supply chains of aerospace companies that entered defense orbit were trapped in the financial system of the US Department of Defense. In order to be independent of the system, SpaceX decided to build everything on its own, relying on Musk’s wealth and large investments to sustain its livelihood despite years of losses. This was a long-term bet, and it paid off.

But the founders of Mirage decided that they didn’t need to follow suit. Even in the past five years, the aviation supply chain has become more flexible and competitive, which means that Mirage can purchase the specific parts needed without having to build all the parts from scratch. It purchased the 3D printed engine from Ursa Major, Colorado.The design of the flight computer has been approved by NASA and used BeagleBone blackboard Some distributors sell for about $50. Other components, such as batteries and telemetry systems, are purchased through the missile defense supply chain.

Henry Ford’s analogy is not just an ambition, but a model for the company. Co-founder Michael D’Angelo (Michael D’Angelo) said that the automotive and rocket businesses follow a similar growth curve: doubling production yields certain economies of scale, while also bringing higher efficiency and fewer production errors. . Computers and mobile devices follow a similar path. He believes that today’s supply chain is mature enough to meet the rapid manufacturing that Phantom wants.

Currently, the company is seeking two types of rockets. There is an 18.7-meter-high Daytona, which should be able to lift approximately 450 kilograms of cargo into space. Perhaps this is the larger end of the so-called small rocket products, but according to Cantrell, the company’s analysis estimates that this is the best scale for profitable activities. Then there is the Laguna, which is a 20.5-meter-high rocket that can lift a payload of up to 1,200 kg. Mirage is developing a version of Laguna with reusable first-stage boosters, such as the SpaceX Falcon 9 (which has a similar vertical landing process).

Mirage hopes to fill the gap in the market. Although the fare is cheap, customers have less control over task execution. Carpooling tasks like trains are fixed. If you want the satellite to take a different orbit or trajectory, you need to install expensive thrusters to take it there. Otherwise, you must redesign its functions to adapt to the new orbit, tolerate less favorable orbits, or simply buy tickets for other tasks. And, you better hope that your satellite can be close to all the other payloads it operates, these flights are full.

A small rocket launch may cost more, but will return control to the customer. If your mission has very special requirements, such as replacing specific satellites in a constellation, launching sensitive equipment, or running expensive technology demonstrations, you may need a dedicated flight instead of a shared car. Ryan Martineau, a space systems engineer at the Utah Space Dynamics Laboratory, said: “There is absolutely interest and demand for the launch of these small rockets.”

Cantrell believes that Phantom can meet this demand without increasing the budget. He estimated that the company’s method can actually provide launch services at one-third of the price of a ride-sharing model.

But first, the company must actually go into space. Daytona’s goal is to make its first space flight in 2023. Cantrell said that classically speaking, the reliability of the first four flights of the new rocket reached 50%. The Mirage’s plan more or less assumed that at least one of its first four flights would enter orbit. It recently signed a lease with the U.S. Air Force for its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and is currently seeking permission from its launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida-if it does launch 100 rockets per year, it will Is an important initial step. the goal.

Mirage also hopes to build satellites and become a one-stop shop for customers. StratSpace, which acquired Cantrell this week, is considered a key part of this aspect of the business. The company is developing constellation prototypes for customers and is part of a team that develops a $1.2 billion scientific mission funded by business (details will not be made public until a few months later). Moreover, it has been working silently on a communication network called Phantom Cloud. Phantom Cloud is essentially a mesh network, and other satellites can use them to communicate with each other or with systems on the ground. Cantrell called it the “Space Satellite Internet.”

In fact, the Mirage does not necessarily have to beat SpaceX and other large rocket manufacturers, it only needs to have its own strength. “As the small launcher market matures, I think you will see more customers who take advantage of this feature,” Martineau said. “I don’t think it is possible for one person to become the dominant one and surpass another.”

Cantrell said that coexistence is a good practice: “We recognize that SpaceX has greatly developed this large-scale reusable space transportation system, but we believe that this is just one of at least two fundamentally different economic systems in the space transportation ecosystem. One, or more. He hopes that “Phantom” will set a precedent in other fields.