LAS VEGAS IS POISED TO BECOME THE SMALL SATELLITE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Traditional large satellites, which can weigh tens of thousands of pounds and be as large as a school bus, provide important capabilities for communications, remote sensing, and science, but they typically cost hundreds of millions of dollars per satellite and often take years to build and launch. Because of the massive investment required to build, launch, operate, and insure larger satellites, for most of the past half-century, only governments and large corporations have had the resources necessary to operate in their own satellites in space.

• The recent advent of smallsats, spacecraft that weigh anywhere from an ounce to as much as a few hundred pounds, has upended that status quo. The same advances in electronics and communications technologies that enabled smartphones and put significant computing power in the palm of everyone’s hand are allowing scientists and engineers to design smallsats and coordinated networks of multiple smallsats (known as “smallsat constellations”) that deliver novel and diverse capabilities from orbit.

• These capabilities can sometimes be delivered at a fraction of the cost and time of legacy satellite systems. Scientists and engineers can more quickly test their systems on orbit, allowing them to devise new, better systems more quickly, shortening the cycle of innovation and finally bringing “Moore’s Law” to space.

• The Supply Chain that accompanies the Las Vegas Spaceport in combination with existing local world-leading Additive Manufacturing Expertise & Production Capability can quickly elevate Las Vegas to the notoriety of being "The Small Satellite Capital of the World", supplying both Civilian and Military needs.