Are these Space X competitors?
Introduction:
Space X gets a lot of media attention lately but there are a few other private space companies with interesting projects. In the following I am going to present to you my favorites. As they arent all the same it should be interesting to watch their development in the next couple of years.
#1 Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is a U.S. aerospace manufacturer founded in 2000 with their launch site located in New Zealand. Founded in 2006 they just succesfully launched their Electron rocket for the first time and put three commercial satellites into orbit. They also put their own satellite called Humanity Star into space. The Humanity Star is basically a disco ball which can be seen from all over the world. It will stay around nine months in orbit before falling back to earth. Rocket Lab developed a lightweight launch vehicle which is able to put smaller payloads into orbit. Their engine is 3D printed and the rocket is made of carbon.
#2 Blue Origin
Blue Origin is a Spaceflight services company set up by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Blue origin has a working suborbital system with the New Shepard rocket and is planning to launch their New Glenn orbital launch vehicle in 2020. The New Shepard rocket lands similiar to the Falcon 9 but is a lot smaller. The New Glenn rocket is also intended to be recovered and relaunched. They have plans for a space tourism sevice and for commercial satellite launches. Definetly an interesting company!
#3 Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic was founded 2004 wants to provide suborbital and orbital spaceflights for space tourism and space science missions. They already had a successful test flight. Their spacecraft is air launched from a carrier airplane. In 2014 the company lost their SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise and the co-pilot got killed.
#4 Moon Express
This company has the goal to mine the Moon for natural resources of economic value. Moon Express signed a rocket launch contract with Rocket Lab. Their first two launches are sheduled for this year. But there isnt much known about their spacecraft... Its going to be interesting.
#5 Vector Space Systems
The company produces and launches mini-satellites with their Vector-R rocket. They have launched it two times to this date.
#6 Zero2infinity
A spanish company with the plan to launch small satellites from weather balloons. This could be a cheaper and more efficient way to launch a spacecraft because the engine does not have to fly through the atmosphere. It is nice to see an european space company with an innovative plan. The erliest launch could take place in 2019.
This is it!
I hope you enjoyed my first real post and learned something new. If I have aroused your interest dont stop here. There are much more private spaceflight companies with interesting concepts. Here you can find a list.