Capsule Supply Chain
What parts and services does a capsule company depend on, and where are the bottlenecks?
Chapter summary
capsule companies depend on the same small-satellite supply chain as other spacecraft, solar arrays, batteries, star trackers, reaction wheels, thrusters and radios (Study S7), plus re-entry-specific items: heat-shield materials, parachutes, recovery services and landing ranges.
Key takeaways
- 1
The re-entry items are the scarcest.
- 2
Heat-shield ablators have few producers; parachutes for small capsules come from a handful of specialist firms; licensed land ranges are few.
- 3
Vertical integration, as Varda has done with its bus and heat shield, reduces dependence but raises cost and capital needs.
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