When it comes to OTVs, just like Goldilocks and her three bears, there IS too big, too small and “just right.” We believe after factoring in the limitations of physics, commercial viability, and economies of scale, our Ranger OTV hits the sweet spot for size — especially for the challenging environments of GEO and cislunar space. Having the right-sized OTV for the job gives us the maximum flexibility to serve customers multiple ways in the most cost-efficient manner.
Smaller OTVs can be nimble and (relatively) inexpensive to build, and can have lower launch costs. However, they are limited by their small size as well. Consider that avionics are not scaled down because an OTV is smaller. These OTVs must have the same size package of avionics and battery of their larger counterparts. There is also a payload size limitation, which limits the amount of revenue they can bring in. A small OTV that can carry a 100kg payload will still need 200kg of systems onboard. With such a small payload capacity, the number of customers to contribute revenue is limited. This often means choosing less expensive systems, sacrificing the quality of components which further limits the effectiveness of the OTV.
OTVs that are too big also have significant limitations. Obviously, launch costs go up with increased mass. For propulsive OTVs, the bigger they are, the more propellant they need, adding to the weight and thus the launch costs. They also may require too many customer payloads onboard to make economic sense to launch - especially when there is a finite pool of customers who need a desired orbit. Also, transportation to the launch site and integration facilities can become an issue, not to mention being sized out from smaller launch vehicles. At a certain point, sizing up further brings diminishing returns.
When Quantum Space set out to build our Ranger, we knew it had to hit that perfect point on the size spectrum - the size where the OTV could serve the maximum amount of customers to maximize revenue while still keeping the costs reasonable. The spot where top-quality components made sense and the manufacturing benefited from economies of scale. We purpose-built Ranger to be modular and stackable, so that if one Ranger isn’t enough, we can just add another.
As a result, Ranger is designed for maximum flexibility and maximum efficiency. It can deliver payloads beyond LEO, serve as foundation for larger infrastructure, host payloads, provide critical data services and more. The range of services it can provide for our customers is due to its “just right” size - Goldilocks would approve.