Why Lux Aeterna designs satellites to come back instead of burn up | Brian Taylor

Lux Aeterna bets cheap launch makes disposable satellites obsolete

Lux Aeterna is betting that the satellite industry is built on an obsolete assumption. Launch is roughly 20 times cheaper than it was decades ago, yet satellites are still designed to burn up at the end of life, and regulators require operators to prove they will demise. Since mass is now cheap to orbit, Lux Aeterna spends it on shielding and reuse instead. It sells to defense and civil agencies first, because commercial buyers commit only after a demonstration, and plans to settle the argument with an operational mission in 2027.

Takeaways

• Cheap launch left disposable satellite design untouched. Taylor says launch is about 20 times cheaper than 20, 30 or 70 years ago, yet nobody designed a different satellite. Starlink was the first constellation past 100 satellites when constellations topped out near 50, and its initial 3,000 were built to burn up.
• Lux Aeterna spends mass on coming back. The company deliberately carries more mass in exchange for reentry and reusability. Satellites in low Earth orbit are built to burn up and operators must prove to regulators that they will demise, while satellites in higher orbits sit in parking orbits and create debris.
• Skeptics get hardware, not arguments. Taylor frames the doubt as a systems problem, weighing cadence and reliability against launch costs and materials. He plans to prove it with hardware and an operational mission in 2027, since talking rarely changes a skeptic's mind.
• Defense customers come first in space. Commercial buyers offered letters of intent contingent on a successful demonstration at the right price, but Taylor says those do not last. Non-dilutive government funding signals traction to investors, and a $1m contract can lead to a $100m program of record. The first mission is sold out.
• Government contracting is a 20-year skill. Taylor says there is no handbook for government procurement, and learning the contract types and colors of money takes 20 years, too slow for a venture-backed company. He hired that expertise in, learning just enough to hire well.
• The founder roller coaster runs daily. Taylor covers lunch for the whole team at one long table in the shop and notices when the chairs run out. He says he can think the company will fall apart in the morning and feel on top of the world by lunch.

Saving the first 60 Starlink satellites

1. SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites had problems with the power generation system as they came out of eclipse.
2. Taylor had three weeks to work out how to test a full flight solar array on the ground in the cold conditions causing the fault.