{"id":18397,"date":"2018-08-18T20:01:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T12:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/from-stratolaunch-to-startup-chuck-beames-raises-his-sights-to-york-satellites\/"},"modified":"2018-08-18T20:01:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T12:01:33","slug":"from-stratolaunch-to-startup-chuck-beames-raises-his-sights-to-york-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/from-stratolaunch-to-startup-chuck-beames-raises-his-sights-to-york-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"From Stratolaunch to startup: Chuck Beames raises his sights to York satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"York
An artist\u2019s concept shows a York Space Systems satellite in orbit. (York Space Systems Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago, Chuck Beames presided over Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen\u2019s effort to build the biggest airplane in the world. Now he has his eyes set on another big frontier: small satellites.<\/p>\n

Beames, who left the president\u2019s post at Allen\u2019s Stratolaunch venture in 2016, is gearing up for his first launch as executive chairman and chief strategy officer for York Space Systems, a startup based in Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting,\u201d Beames told GeekWire during an interview on the sidelines of last week\u2019s SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah. \u201cWe\u2019re really democratizing space for the entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beames can\u2019t say too much about his time at Stratolaunch, due to confidentiality requirements that still apply. But he has lots to say about his latest gig, which began last year. \u201cI\u2019d known about York for a while before I joined the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Chuck
Chuck Beames is executive chairman and chief strategy officer for Denver-based York Space Systems. (York Space Systems Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Founded in 2012, York has been working on a spacecraft platform, or bus, that can be adapted for a wide variety of satellite applications. York\u2019s S-class satellite can carry instrument payloads weighing as much as 85 kilograms (187 pounds), for a total mass of 160 kilograms (352 pounds), Beames said.<\/p>\n

That capacity on the small side when compared with, say, NASA\u2019s 6.5-ton James Webb Space Telescope. But it\u2019s heftier than the typical CubeSat range of 12 kilograms (26 pounds) for a satellite the size of a shipping box.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CubeSat is great,\u201d Beames said. \u201cBut it\u2019s very much geared toward academic research. That\u2019s where it came from. So there ends up being inherent limitations in the design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beames said York is targeting a different sort of sweet spot: \u201clow-cost, industrial-grade, meaning a very predictable design life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can design to launch on every launch vehicle,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything from a very rough ride on a solid rocket to a rideshare on a Falcon 9, to rideshare on an ESPA ring for the Air Force. Our first one is going to be on a Rocket Lab Electron.\u201d<\/p>\n

That first launch is due to take place by the end of the year at Rocket Lab\u2019s New Zealand launch facility. York\u2019s Harbinger Mission will carry a Finnish-made Iceye synthetic aperture radar instrument, BridgeSat\u2019s optical communications system, and a field-emission electric-propulsion thruster system from Austria\u2019s Enpulsion.<\/p>\n

The mission is backed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Systems Defense Command, and could literally serve as a harbinger for rapid-response national security launches.<\/p>\n

For Beames, the price point is a big selling point. He said the base model costs in the range of $1 million, and upgrades such as a beefed-up 3,000-watt power system bring the cost to \u201cnot much more than that, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That lowers the cost of admission for entrepreneurs trying to get into the thick of the satellite services market. \u201cThey no longer have to raise $30 to $50 million to build their first satellite,\u201d Beames said.<\/p>\n