SpaceX’s first vice president of business development, Jim Cantrell, has a new venture in the form of a micro-satellite company cqlled Vector.
As CEO of Vector, Cantrell is conducting things differently than Elon Musk and SpaceX, focusing mostly on small satellites that weigh only a few dozen pounds each.
Vector recently successfully launched a micro-satellite with a special 3D-printed injector, the first of several planned launches its Vector-R vehicle.
“We always wanted to build micro-rockets, but Elon [Musk] had other ideas,” Cantrell, told The Verge. “He was interested in building a company with larger rockets for his Martian ecosystem. We were more attracted to the smaller stuff.”
Ultimately, Vector has received around $1 million to keep working on and launching its Vector-R vehicles, which look to utilize 3D-printing more and more in order to drive down costs.]
