Private, Reusable Rockets Launch Commercial Satellites, Lowering Costs

Satellite launches are benefitting from aerospace technology trends, as satellites are becoming much smaller, lighter and cheaper to make, but also because the rockets that blast them into orbit are evolving as well. There are several companies worldwide involved in the development of reusable rockets, led by SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Blue Origin, among others. All are engaged in building spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to platforms such as the International Space Station (ISS) as well as launch to satellites.

Blue Origin (www.blueorigin.com), which is backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, led the pack with its development of a reusable rocket, first achieved when its New Shepard rocket completed a controlled, upright landing after a brief trip to space in November 2015. In December 2017, the company launched the first flight of its Crew Capsule 2.0 with a test dummy aboard, followed by five successful flights with human crew and passengers. As of October 2025, the company completed its 14th human spaceflight and the 36 flight overall for the New Shepherd program.

Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk started Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which is commonly called SpaceX (www.spacex.com). The firm’s reusable rocket, called the Falcon 9, has successfully delivered numerous payloads and returned to Earth. SpaceX also developed the Falcon Heavy, intended to be the world’s most powerful rocket, which made its first successful test flight in February 2018. The Falcon Heavy generates more than 5 million pounds of thrust, is 230 feet tall and weighs 3.1 million pounds. In addition, SpaceX’s Dragon free-flying spacecraft was the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and return cargo to Earth in 2012.

The company has utilized its unique technologies and services to dramatically reduce the cost of orbital launches. In May 2020, SpaceX’s first crewed mission of its Dragon spacecraft delivered two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) using an automated docking system. This was the first time that such a launch was completed by a private, non-government firm. By October 2025, the Dragon had 51 total launches and 50 visits to the ISS. SpaceX is a contractor to NASA’s Artemis space program, which plans to send astronauts to the moon as early as 2028. Boeing is also a major private space rocket contractor, as the prime supplier for NASA’s Space Launch System. Boeing’s Starliner made its first crewed flight to the ISS on June 5, 2024. However, in March 2025, SpaceX equipment had to rescue two NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were significantly delayed in returning from the International Space Station due to problems plaguing the Boeing Starliner, which was originally planned to be their return transportation to Earth.

SpaceX owns two repurposed offshore oil rigs called Deimos and Phobos (names for the two moons of the planet Mars). These are now floating launch and landing sites that serve the Starship reusable rocket and its booster, the Super Heavy. Starship made its sixth successful test flight in October 2025, when an uncrewed Starship capsule deployed eight Starlink simulators and executed the third in-space relight of a Raptor engine, demonstrating a capability for future deorbit burns. In a previous flight in 2024, the Super Heavy booster successfully landed using cutting edge technology in which it returned to Earth, was slowed to essentially zero speed and was caught in an upright position by mechanical arms extending from its launch tower. This proves reusability of this massive booster rocket, saving vast amounts of money per launch over traditional rockets. Sadly, a June 2025 test flight of the Starship ended in a massive explosion due to a rupture in a high-pressure nitrogen tank on the vehicle’s nose cone. Further enhancements and testing will occur on a steady basis.

Ultimately, SpaceX hopes to use its launch and landing sites as part of a global network of hypersonic travel hubs, taking up to 100 people and cargo from point to point around the Earth in minutes rather than hours. The firm signed an agreement with the U.S. Pentagon to study the feasibility of this network. SpaceX has also worked with the U.S. Air Force and Army to demonstrate communications links. In addition, the company has worked deals with the military for launching national security satellites and improving weather forecasts.

Meanwhile, The Biden administration earmarked $1.5 billion in funds in 2022 for NASA’s moon-lander program, which made an uncrewed launch in early 2025 a precursor for a manned mission on a SpaceX rocket (part of a $2.9 billion contract awarded from NASA in 2021). In May 2023, NASA announced the selection of Blue Origin to develop the Artemis V mission, which will once again carry humans to the moon. A crewed demonstration flight is expected as early as 2029.

Launch cost is measured by a cost-to-Low Earth Orbit (LEO) metric, or the price for one rocket to launch one kilogram of cargo into low Earth orbit. The Saturn V, a rocket used in the 1960s, had a cost-to-LEO of between $20,000 and $25,000, while the Falcon 9’s ratio is between $4,000 and $5,000. Consider also the size differential between rockets. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has a payload of about 20 tons, which has to be filled in order to fly. Rocket Lab’s much smaller 330.7-pound payload can more easily be filled, making it much faster and easier to schedule a flight, especially if multiple satellite firms can schedule loads on one flight.

A startup called Relativity Space (www.relativityspace.com) is one of several up-and-coming firms working with 3D printing technology for reusable rockets. The company’s printers (which are among the largest in the world), utilize 18-foot robotic arms with lasers capable of building a 7-foot by 14-foot fuel tank in a few days, and an engine in 10 to 12 days. The goal is to create a rocket’s entire body in a single piece. On March 22, 2023, the firm’s methane powered Terran 1 became the first 3D printed rocket to fly to space. The company is also working on the Terran R with capabilities of missions from Earth to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

In addition to space travel, a number of private companies are working on building space stations. For example, Blue Origins is working on a proposed station called Orbital Reef which it describes as a “mixed-use business park” for researchers as well as tourists. Long Beach, California-based Vast, Inc. plans to build and launch Haven-1, a space lab for up to four private and/or government astronauts, as early as May 2026. Voyager Technologies, in partnership with Airbus, Mitsubishi and MDA Space, is backing Starlab as a successor to the ISS, with a launch planned in 2027.

Rocket Companies to Watch:

ArianeSpace, (www.arianespace.com)

Blue Origin (www.blueorigin.com)

Firefly Aerospace (www.fireflyspace.com)

Relativity Space (www.relativityspace.com)

Rocket Lab (www.rocketlabusa.com)

SpaceX (www.spacex.com)

Vector Launch (vector-launch.com)

In addition, the governments of India, Russia, China and Japan are already operating, or working to develop, launch industries.

SPOTLIGHT: SpinLaunch

Silicon Valley-based SpinLaunch (www.spinlaunch.com) is an aerospace startup that has raised $80 million in venture capital to build a catapult capable of hurling rockets into space. The proposed technology would power a rocket in a tight radius, moving faster and faster until the system releases the craft with enough force to break free of the Earth’s gravity. Investors include Airbus Ventures, Alphabet’s GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. SpinLaunch had a prototype of a rocket built in its California factory by early 2022, but it will need to build a centrifuge to launch the rocket that will be roughly three times the size of its test facility in New Mexico. In the meantime, SpinLaunch is developing a broadband satellite constellation called Merdian Space.

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