SpaceX is poised to launch 114 payloads to orbit on a Falcon 9 tomorrow morning, the sixth mission of its smallsat rideshare program. But while the rocket company is now an old hand at launches – SpaceX just completed a record year with 61 launches in 2022 alone – for a handful of space startups, Transporter-6 marks a milestone.
Those startups include Launcher, which is conducting its first space tug mission; an inaugural in-orbit tech demonstration from Magdrive; and Epic Aerospace, which is also launching a space tug for the first time.
Launcher CEO Max Haot told TechCrunch that the company realized that there was a big market opportunity to develop a space tug after SpaceX debuted its rideshare program, which dramatically lowered the cost of launch. Launcher’s tug, called Orbiter, will deploy or host payload for 10 separate customers. T...
