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by blach 1808 days ago
There are also a proliferating number of sun-sync earth observation small sats. These are often from capital/mass/volume limited new space companies. Lowering their initial launch mass allows them to prove out a business model for a lower cost and then refuel it if it works with future capital. Benchmark's "pay as you go" SaaS-like model is also interesting in the same vein.

Edit: correcting a typo

1 comments

Depends on the fuel, though. Ion thrusters with a solid propellant are becoming popular in the smallsat business.