James Dean

FLORIDA TODAY

A startup focused on low-cost launches of small satellites hopes to fly a suborbital test flight from Cape Canaveral this year, and is considering building rockets on the Space Coast.

Tucson, Arizona-based Vector Space Systems hopes to start launching orbital missions next year, and could bring more than 100 jobs to the area if the local manufacturing work materializes.

“This, we think, is the wave of the future,” CEO Jim Cantrell said Saturday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 46.

Cantrell spoke to reporters in front of an engineering model of the company’s 42-foot-tall Vector-R rocket, which on Monday morning will be put on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The two-stage rocket, designed to lift up to about 130 pounds to low Earth orbit, is intended to serve a growing market for small, inexpensive satellites now mainly limited to hitching rides as secondary payloads on big rockets.

“The micro-satellite market is exploding,” said Cantrell.

Market studies, he said, project roughly 1,000 such satellites will be seeking launches annually by 2023.

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With its small, relatively simple rocket and engine designs, Vector anticipates being able to launch more than 100 times a year, even launching multiple times a day.

The cost: $1.5 million for a basic Vector-R flight, to up to $3 million for the heavier-lift Vector-H.

The rocket requires minimal ground infrastructure, rolling to the pad on a trailer that doubles as a mobile launch platform and launching within a few hours. Three booster engines burn chilled liquid propylene and liquid oxygen.

Vector’s planned high flight rate “requires us to have some of our facilities close to the launch sites,” said Cantrell, with Florida being just one of those sites.

It also requires a cultural shift at ranges not used to supporting such frequent launches.

So far, Vector, which has fewer than 30 employees, has no firm agreements in place to launch or manufacture rockets at the Cape.

Negotiations are in progress with the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing to approve operations from Launch Complex 46, a long-dormant pad managed by Space Florida that may support multiple users.

The site currently is being prepared for a launch this summer of Orbital ATK’s Minotaur IV rocket, and is expected to host a 2019 test of the launch abort system for NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule.

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Cantrell said Vector expects to launch a suborbital test flight from California in as soon as two weeks.

The pace of its progress hinges on attracting money from investors. The company has raised $8 million to date, Cantrell said, and needs another $30 million to $40 million.

Vector is building upon more than a decade of work by Garvey Spacecraft Corp., which Vector acquired last year.

Cantrell and John Garvey are longtime friends who were members of SpaceX’s early engineering team.

“This is a team that knows what they’re doing,” said Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida, at Complex 46 on Saturday.

“We’re not the young kids on the block,” added Cantrell.

Around 11 a.m. Monday, the rocket will be displayed outside the KSC Visitor Complex's IMAX theater, later being raised overhead as part of the NASA Now gallery.

The aluminum engineering model’s black color reflects future designs with carbon fiber stages, while the copper trim is a nod to the company’s Arizona roots.

“We know the industry needs this,” said Cantrell of the micro-launcher. “We know we can do it.”

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.