Spaceflight’s SmallSat Express rounds up more than 70 satellites for SpaceX launch

An artist’s conception shows Spaceflight’s satellite deployers emerging from their SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. (Spaceflight Illustration)

LOGAN, Utah — Seattle-based Spaceflight is confirming that it has more than 70 satellites from 18 countries signed up for launch on a first-of-its-kind dedicated rideshare mission, due to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by the end of the year.

The dozens of spacecraft include two SkySat high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites from Planet, which are designated as the lead payloads. But there’ll also be more exotic payloads on board — including an art project that’s designed to shine in the night sky, and a satellite built by middle-schoolers to test the viability of bacteria in the vacuum of space.

The current tally of 71 satellites on Spaceflight’s SmallSat Express won’t set the record for the most satellites launched at one time. That distinction will still belong to the Indian Space Research Organization, which launched a PSLV rocket with 104 satellites on board last year. But it will represent Spaceflight’s first purchase of the full capacity of a Falcon 9 rocket, and the first use of an innovative set of satellite deployers known as the Upper Free Flyer and the Lower Free Flyer.

Spaceflight, which is a division of Spaceflight Industries, typically places secondary payloads on rockets that have room left over after accommodating somebody else’s primary payload.

Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight, told GeekWire that the Falcon 9’s payload space is nearly completely full. “There are a couple of slots, but really, most everything is done,” he said. “To add somebody at this stage would take a little bit of rework.”

Blake declined to say how much Spaceflight is paying, but SpaceX’s list price for a Falcon 9 launch is in the neighborhood of $60 million. Blake also said he couldn’t yet provide a precise date for launch, other than that it’s likely to be roughly in the middle of this year’s fourth quarter.