The tailor made rocket venture is run by United Launch Alliance. Photo / Supplied
The tailor made rocket venture is run by United Launch Alliance. Photo / Supplied
Sending cargo into space has just got a whole lot easier - provided you have $100 million to spend, that is.
A new website, launched this week, will enable customers to build their own custom-spec rocket from scratch.
Called RocketBuilder, the tailor made rocket venture from United Launch Alliance (ULA), aims to provide the hardware and knowhow to get private cargo into orbit.
Customers can tweak their rocket to select the payload mass, the orbit, the package of launch services and even if they want marketing for the launch.
Colorado-based ULA is a joint venture between aerospace firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
In a promotional video, president and CEO Tory Bruno said: "RocketBuilder is a website, but it's also a revolution in how you purchase a ride to space."
According to Nasa Space Flight, the firm provides and operates all Atlas V, Delta II and Delta IV rockets used for government and commercial launches.
The major selling point for the new website is reliability, both in terms of its sturdy Atlas rockets and lack of delays.
Atlas rockets have carried a number of crucial space missions safely into orbit and beyond, including the New Horizons probe - now sailing beyond Pluto - as well as the Juno spacecraft locked in orbit around Jupiter.
The tailor made rocket venture is run by United Launch Alliance. Photo / Supplied
ULA claims that in the last five years its average delay for launches has been less than two weeks, compared to up to six months for other providers.
MailOnline specced out its own rocket, set for launch before April 2017.
To get a full spectrum Atlas V rocket to launch a 1500 kg payload into a geostationary orbit was $136m.
This would be enough to launch a payload like the Sentinel telescope, which will scan the horizon for dangerous asteroids on course for Earth.
For a more substantial mission, such as deep space missions to Mars and beyond, the size of the rocket and the price tag increase.
All in, a long rocket for Earth escape carrying a 6000 kg payload with full spec services, set to launch in the first quarter of 2018, carries a price tag of $177m.
But budding aerospace entrepreneurs will need to factor in the cost of the payload, which for a mission such as Nasa's Juno probe, can run to more than $1bn.
