In this case, however, we're talking about launching satellites into orbit, something that costs much more than a trip home from the bar. Until now, companies and research groups wanting to launch small satellites had to hope that a much larger company had space on their rockets to stow the smaller satellites.

That's not an ideal arrangement for small companies, however. If you're hitching a ride with a huge company that can afford the several hundred million dollars necessary for a full launch, you're at the whim of that larger company. You fly when that company wants to fly, launch from where it wants to launch, and, if there's a delay or other interruption, you're stuck on the ground until further notice.

Worst of all, you pay what it wants to charge you. Because there's plenty of competition to be a secondary payload on a major launch, you're often subsidizing the cost of the launch.