New Launch Price Calculator from GK Launch Services

Last month, GK Launch Services, a commercial launch service provider for a Russian Souyz-2 rocket, announced a new service – a launch price calculator for smallsats. The interface available for the users is not exactly new: for the past two years, most of the launch providers started accepting incoming requests online using the forms to collect the basic mission information like size of a satellite, orbit to reach, timeframe, etc. 

What makes the GKLS’ calculator different is the fact that the company has rearranged its business processes so that a manager can get the launch price quickly enough to answer for the request within one work day. The feature is meant to help satellite operators no matter where they are with their mission development starting from the preliminary mission budget evaluation to actual launch booking.

This calculator is an important statement for a launch provider of this size (Souyz-2 has a performance of 4800 kg to SOO and has already performed a multi-payload launch of 73 satellites in 2017). Modern reality shows that big launch providers tend to outsource rideshare management to launch aggregators of various kinds. Creating such a tool for smallsats is a step towards small payloads on GKLS part.

We in Precious Payload believe that smart rideshare aggregation is the best strategy to increase the launch vehicles’ load factor. We understand how difficult this challenge is and have developed another tool that, together with a calculator similar to the one provided by GK Launch Services, will be an ultimate solution for any satellite mission. We’ve been developing our RFQ (Request for Quotation) Exchange System thinking about the changes that the market will be facing in the next several years.

Already today any satellite operator can upload the launch services request there and send it to payload managers from all over the globe. We will make sure that all the interested launch providers will receive it and answer with a proposal within several days.

It doesn’t matter if you are a launch provider that wants to sign new clients within a week instead of months or a satellite operator looking for a ride. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you feel that your business processes can be more efficient! 

We used photo from http://gklaunch.ru/en/news/gk-activated-online-launch-price-calculator-for-smallsats/