United Launch Alliance Reveals Transformational CubeSat Launch Program
“ULA will offer universities the chance to compete for at least six CubeSat launch slots on two Atlas V missions, with a goal to eventually add university CubeSat slots to nearly every Atlas and Vulcan launch,” said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO. “There is a growing need for universities to have access and availability to launch their CubeSats and this program will transform the way these universities get to space by making space more affordable and accessible.”
Not a bad idea. If they are providing these services “free” to universities that are not for profit I wonder if they are claiming the launch costs as a “charitable contribution” to reduce their tax load?
Yeah, probable tax write off and great PR. Good work Mr. Bruno. But I’m thinking, that maybe we should thank Mr. Musk also. This looks to me like the next chapter in the saga of the Benefits of Competition. I’m looking for SpaceX to do something interesting at some point.
They want those students to become lifelong satellite customers. ULA is seriously competing for the smallsat market, see this ppt and talk about secondary payload options on the Atlas V:
http://spirit.as.utexas.edu…
How does this mesh with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, which for the most part uses slots on the same launch vehicles?
Better reserve cubesat slots now for the Atlas. Altho not a betting man, I bet dollars to donuts that the Vulcan will never actually launch.