Boeing, last year, launched two electrical satellites via Space X Falcon 9, a bargain rocket as it is reusable. What impressive thing Boeing did is that they stacked one satellite on top of other. On the surface, this doesn’t look like anything impressive, butit’s really a big deal.
Why? Because using this configuration helped them drop extra supportive structure in the rocket. This saves mission cost by reducing extra weight. A typical enclosing Sylda, for example, weighs around 600kg.
Until Oct 2015, Boeing could send electric-powered satellites only for which they even had a patent filed. Keeping the innovation flowing, Boeing recently has filed another patent application which discloses sending hybrid satellites to space by stacking one on top of other.
Rockets can carry multiple satellites at once through several methods to avert multiple launches. SpaceX Falcon 9 is one of the best examples which, On Dec 22, 2015, launched 11 OG-2 satellites into orbits, and landed back on its pad.
The first payload is kept on top of an enclosing carrying another payload. This helps in multi-stage launches where we want to deploy different satellites at different orbits. Sylda and Vespa are some examples of these enclosing which were used in Ariane 5 launch.
We use this method to launch Cube-shaped satellites that can fit in your palm. NASA is working on four new projects to develop and send CubeSats to Earth’s low orbit to test emerging technologies.