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A Californian start-up has announced that it is planning to move closer to space, blowing up satellites as large as loaves of orbiting bread from Virginia.
This effort reflects growing demand from businesses and governments for monitoring vessels, crops and weather from space.
Rocket Lab announced on Wednesday that it was going to build its launch pad at the Atlantic Regional Spaceport on the east coast.
The rocket laboratory's electron rocket, carrying only a small payload of about 150 kilograms (331 pounds), takes off from the Mahia Peninsula on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. . A California start-up has announced that it will propel small satellites into orbit from Virginia.
It is located at NASA's Wallops flight facility, where unmanned cargo missions are already being sent to the International Space Station.
Rocket Lab, which recently built its first launch pad in New Zealand, moved to Virginia at a time of unprecedented growth in the use of smaller, relatively inexpensive satellites.
The devices encircle the Earth for a few years before being consumed in the atmosphere. The Atlanta-based SpaceWorks consultancy announced in January that nearly 2,600 of them will be in orbit over the next five years.
The industry attracts venture capitalists, while Chinese companies and companies such as Virgin have developed dedicated launch systems for smaller devices. Dozens of others are under development.
Rocket Lab has so far sent two rockets, humorously calling these missions "This is a test" and "Still in Test".
The second rocket reached orbit in January.
The next commercial mission of Rocket Lab, known as "It's Business Time", is due to take off from New Zealand in November. Launches from Virginia are expected to begin in the summer of 2019.
"We are not focused on the next flight, but on the next 100 flights," said Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, at a press conference in Virginia.
Small satellites have often used rockets to carry larger satellites in orbit or with supplies for the space station.
But more and more companies are offering small satellites their own launches, providing better control over their schedules and the orbits they are delivered to.
Rocket Lab, headquartered in Huntington Beach, Calif., Plans to reduce costs by using light rockets and consumables with 3D engines.
This plan is different from other space companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, which uses larger rockets to carry larger payloads.
Rocket Lab said its cargo contained a ground-based satellite in January for Planet, a company that provides customers with information on all activities, from floods to deforestation.
Rocket Lab said that future launches would be for the Luxembourg company Kleos Space. This company says it can help law enforcement officials detect illegal activities, such as human smuggling or illegal fishing, by locating maritime radio transmissions.
NASA also has a contract with Rocket Lab for the supply of small satellites. But the most famous cargo of the company was perhaps the star of humanity, a geodesic sphere designed to reflect sunlight on Earth.
Beck said he hoped this would remind people to look beyond everyday concerns and face broader challenges such as climate change.
The "Humanity Star" fell into orbit a few months after the January launch. Its life span was nine months.
Rocket Lab selected the state-owned Virginia Spaceport as one of the US finalists, including the Pacific Spacecraft Complex in Alaska and Cape Canaveral, Florida. Officials in Virginia said it could create 100 jobs if flights increase to once a month.
Currently, four companies have developed six dedicated small satellite launch vehicles and dozens more are under development, according to Carlos Niederstrasser, an engineer at Northrop Grumman, who tracks the industry. His company also launches small satellites.
Other companies entering the market include Virgin Orbit, a sister company of the Virgin Galactic space tourism company.
He tested a small rocket that must launch satellites in space from a 747 jet flying at 10,000 meters (35,000 feet). Chinese companies are also operational.
Niederstrasser wrote in his survey of the industry in 2018 that the market would not be able to support most new companies.
But he said that it was clear that the founders and investors of the company believed that there would be room for at least some.
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