Orbit: notes on the market above the atmosphere

A satellite servicer is a robot in orbit, so people have started asking us about this market. Here is how we handle it, honestly: we publish explainers, Joe listens, and when it is real we make introductions. We do not configure missions, recommend providers, or estimate costs here, because this is a market where things genuinely fail in flight, prices are not commodity prices, and a wrong answer is a seven figure wrong answer. We would rather connect you with people who live in this market than pretend we do.

• Getting a payload to orbit

  The launch is the famous part and increasingly the simplest one. What surrounds it decides your year.

• The robot in orbit

  Life extension, inspection, relocation and deorbit are machine tending at 28,000 kilometers per hour.

• The ground segment is half the project

  A satellite you cannot talk to is debris that cost you money. The unglamorous half of every mission is on the ground.

• Do you need a satellite, or the data?

  The honest first question in this market, and the one that dissolves a surprising number of missions.

• Why things fail up there

  The reason we make introductions in this market instead of recommendations, stated as plainly as we can.

• End of life in orbit

  Disposal used to be a virtue. It is becoming a requirement, and it belongs in the plan before launch, not after.