Archives for October 2020

Momentus Inc. (“Momentus” or the “Company”) and Kepler Communications Inc. (“Kepler”) have signed a launch service agreement to deploy two additional satellites for Kepler’s GEN1 constellation in 2021.

Momentus’ rideshare service will include launch provisions and delivery to the customer’s desired orbital altitude while maintaining the SSO inclination using Momentus’ Vigoride transfer vehicle. The GEN1 platform supports both Kepler’s Global Data Service, a wideband high-capacity data service, and EverywhereIoT, a narrowband solution for Internet of Things applications.

With deployment beginning in late 2020, Kepler’s GEN1 constellation is the first to offer both wideband and narrowband services from LEO. The two new satellites will deliver additional commercial capacity for Kepler’s Global Data Service and provide additional support for on-going technology demonstrations for EverywhereIoT.

For communications and IoT satellites, the Local Time of the Ascending Node (LTAN/LTDN) is important in terms of offering fleet coverage diversity so that a satellite operator can offer data and analytics over a variety of times. Once in orbit, Momentus’ Vigoride transfer vehicle can change the LTAN/LTDN of a spacecraft deployed by using precession — a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. Kepler will be a prominent customer for Momentus’ LTAN shift service as they build out their constellation.

Executive Comments

Jared Bottoms, Director, Space Systems at Kepler, said, “Securing this launch with Momentus represents a key milestone in the deployment of our GEN1 constellation. We look forward to the successful launch, and the benefits of the Vigoride service. Assurance on an accurate LTAN insertion is key for Kepler as we serve users on a global scale, and this played a significant role in our selection of Momentus for this mission.”

Mikhail Kokorich, CEO of Momentus, said, “Momentus is honored to enable Kepler’s IOT constellation and will efficiently deploy their GEN1 satellites to precise and specific orbits, thereby enabling Kepler to expand their commercial service.”

mu Space and Advanced Technology, Satellite and Space Technologies venture — led by an aerospace engineer James Yenbamroong (Founder and CEO of the company) — are in talks to raise as much as $25 million in series B funding at a pre-money valuation of $75 million (2.3 billion Baht.)

According to a document reviewed by people familiar with the company’s fundraising activities, the new funding will raise the value of ‘mu Space’ to more than $100 million.

The new funding is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter. The new $25 million series B funding will be spent on the development of a High Throughput Satellite (HTS), whose majority of its components will be developed by ‘mu Space’ engineers. The satellite will be deployed to provide commercial broadband internet services in Thailand and the Asia Pacific Region.

The new funding will also help the company build a medium-sized ‘future’ factory to develop and manufacture space technology, which includes satellites, automation systems, and robots. These innovations will be placed into service in the future. It is expected that the projects will boost investment and employment by generating thousands of new high-paying job opportunities that meet the future demand for the rapidly-growing space technology industry.

Leveraging on existing strong ground infrastructure assets, ‘mu Space’ has partnered with “TOT,” the Thai state-owned telecommunications infrastructure company, to establish a gateway system and provide ground services in key areas of various provinces in Thailand. In addition, ‘mu Space’ plans to demonstrate the new 5G technology in its factory in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area, where defence and aerospace industries are getting the highest priority in terms of government incentives and assistance, creating high-paying jobs for tech companies in the Eastern region.

As a future technology company, upcoming technologies from mu Space particularly a data center and spaceship concepts will support the rapid development of business sectors that have exceptionally high growth prospects such as Telecommunications, Banks, Securities, including the Industry of Automotive and Aerospace manufacturers.

The SVP of Kasikorn Securities said at a press conference of the MOU signing ceremony between TOT and mu Space that the satellite market — particularly, internet broadband services and the local mobile backhaul market — will likely continue to grow up to $1.3 billion per year in Thailand. He added that ‘mu Space’ aims to be a new leading technology player in the satellite industry and the pioneer in transforming the global space industry. According to Morgan Stanley, the value of the space economy will increase to $1.1 Trillion by 2040 globally.

‘mu Space’ previous investors include Mr. Prasop Jirawatwong, the owner of Nice Group — a major sports apparel manufacturer for Nike and Adidas — B. Grimm Power infrastructure conglomerate, Majuven Fund, LP Venture Capital, and Private Equity. Shared investors include high net worth individual trusts, family, and friends. Several investors who invested with the company before have confirmed to contribute in this fundraising round, along with new investors.

‘mu Space,’ founded in 2017, develops satellite and space technologies. In 2018, the company made history for sending the first payload into space from Asia to be onboard with New Shepard, a Blue Origin‘s rocket. ‘mu Space’ plans to launch its satellite and to lead space technology development in Asia-Pacific.

In addition, the ultimate goal of ‘mu Space’ is to solve resource depletion and overpopulation problems by finding new resources outside the earth. The company is determined to build future infrastructure for human colonies and factories on the Moon. The company is aiming to make space tourism possible in years to come.

There are, and will be, many challenges for the Kleos Space S.A, launch team that has arrived in India for final preparations of their upcoming launch, targeted for the first half of November 2020. The team is preparing for the launch of mission satellites for Kleos’ four Scouting Mission nanosatellites aboard PSLV C49 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Despite the unprecedented 2020 challenges of the launch industry to follow schedule, Kleos Space’s Gavin Bowyer supported by Ed Stevens from In-Space and mission manager Marcy Rugland from Spaceflight arrived in Chennai yesterday at 3:00 am local time.

The team will isolate in quarantine for six days on their arrival and remain on the launch site in facility barracks. The Satish Dhawan Space Center is nestled in the jungle, where the team will face additional challenges as humidity is typical for the climate during this period of the year.

Kleos’ Gavin Bowyer said before leaving, “In the current pandemic situation, traveling is an obstacle we are willing to overcome. Irrespective of our mission, the challenge on site will nevertheless be to stay in good physical conditions and avoid being bitten by Mosquitoes!”

Over a further week the team will undergo a system checkout and mechanical inspection prior to battery charging, and fueling. The satellites will be armed for flight, inserted into their dispensers and finally integrated onto the PSLV launch vehicle.

Gavin Bowyer is the MAIT (Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration and Test) Manager at Kleos Space having joined the Company at its formation from UK Space Company Magna Parva where he has overseen and built equipment for Mars and Mercury exploration missions over a 10+ year Space career.

Ed Stevens is the Director of Space Systems at In- Space Missions, a Space as a Managed Service company, where he leads the design, build and operation of the company’s satellites. Ed brings his 20+ years of space experience in design, build and launch to bear in providing support to Kleos in delivery of the Scouting Mission nanosatellites.

Spaceflight Mission Manager Marcy M. Rugland is an experienced engineering leader with a passion for commercial space and aerospace. As a Mission Director, she has overall technical and schedule responsibility for the KSM, meaning from the mission assignment to post-launch, including onsite launch campaign team leadership. Marcy also volunteers as a member of the steering committee of “Ladies who launch”.

Andy Bowyer, CEO of Kleos Space added, “We are immensely proud of the entire team, launching satellites is always a huge challenge and the COVID-19 pandemic has made logistics and travel even more difficult, their dedication to getting our Scouting Mission satellites into orbit and collecting data to deliver enhanced situational awareness for our customers has been fantastic.”

Spaceflight, the satellite rideshare and mission management provider, confirmed earlier this week that the launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on track to occur as previously announced within the first half of November 2020.

Kleos Scouting Mission satellites are the foundation of Kleos’ future constellation, which will deliver unprecedented situational awareness at sea with near real-time coverage over key regions of maritime interest including the Strait of Hormuz, South China Sea and African coast.

Sateliot is advocating to the space and telecommunications industry for smallsat technology to make the democratization of 5G possible in any corner of the planet.

The company, which will be launching their LEO smallsat constellation next year to offer a global and massive IoT service, has in recent days participated alongside companies from mobile operators, network equipment manufacturers and space industry giants in the meetings of the 3GPP, the body responsible for defining the new 5G standard and the maintenance and evolution of the previous 2G, 3G and 4G generations. Sateliot’s aim is to reach a consensus on the integration of satellite networks and IOT protocols into the 5G standard.

The space sector is experiencing a new paradigm in which sizes, costs and times are being reduced, giving rise to a genuine ‘democratization of space’, with more competitive innovation cycles and more possibilities of deploying not one, but tens or hundreds of satellites progressively to provide services on a global scale.

This smallsat revolution has led Sateliot to implement its business model and propose its roaming service to telecommunications operators, offering them the capacity of its smallsats, which act as telecommunications towers from space as an extension of coverage where terrestrial networks cannot reach.

Thus, space is configured as one of the great motors of the economy due to its high added value, its capacity to generate employment and large investments that will be realized over the coming years. In fact, in Spain alone in 2019, this sector moved nearly one billion euros and contributed 0.5% to the national GDP. Moreover, Spain is one of the top 5 European countries by number of employees in this industry, according to TEDAE figures.

Sateliot is the first satellite telecommunications operator that will provide global and continuous connectivity to all the elements that make up the universe of the Internet of Things (IoT) – such as the connected car or house – under the 5G protocol, according to the firm. Thanks to a constellation of the latest generation of smallsats, located at low altitude and acting as mobile towers, Sateliot is the perfect complement to large telecommunications companies by providing them with the necessary infrastructure to deliver terrestrial technologies that are not currently served.

Executive Comment

According to Marco Guadalupi, Co-Founder and CTO of Sateliot, “Our participation in the 3GPP meetings, together with telecommunications and space giants, puts us in the front line to promote our proposals in the development of the 5G IoT standard, where the possibilities of nanosatellites are almost infinite.”

mPower Technology has announced that the firm’s DragonSCALES solar cell prototype has completed integration and testing on a Sparkwing on-orbit solar array technology demonstrator in preparation for inclusion on Momentus’ Vigoride transfer vehicle launch that is scheduled to occur in the fourth quarter of 2020.

DragonSCALES was developed to provide a low-cost, voltage-adjustable, high packing factor and lightweight solar power module that streamlines panel assembly and is designed for the needs of commercial LEO (low earth orbit) satellite constellations.

The Sparkwing team has introduced a groundbreaking new approach towards low cost, fast-delivery solar arrays for smallsats by offering a catalogue approach for standardized solar array models, similar to the automotive industry. The team is interested in mPower’s solar cell technology because of its potential to offer a unique combination of cost and performance benefits for next-gen solar arrays.

DragonSCALES enable disruptive, new approaches to solar applications by leveraging small, advanced silicon cells integrated on a flexible substrate in a patented, highly interconnected architecture. They provide unprecedented improvements in system cost, weight, flexibility, resilience, and ease of installation and system integration.

For emerging satellite missions, primes are continuously searching for alternative photovoltaic assembly (PVA) solutions that bring more power at lower price points and shorter delivery schedules. Silicon-based DragonSCALES solutions provide a viable, tested alternative for space power applications with advanced architecture, unparalleled performance, streamlined production and lower cost per watt.

Executive Comments

“mPower is disrupting the space power market with its alternative approach to solar power,” said Kevin Hell, President and CEO of mPower Technology. “The Sparkwing team needs a resilient, flexible, cost-effective solar solution for their innovative smallsat solar array product, and DragonSCALES is the perfect fit given its ease of integration and unique ability to meet customized mission requirements.”

“We are very interested in the launch of this demonstrator together with mPower and Momentus, and looking forward to the in-orbit results. At Sparkwing, we are always looking for cutting-edge technologies that will change the approach to space power in subsequent missions. We’re closely following the mPower development.,” said Marloes van Put, who is leading the Sparkwing initiative.

Last month, Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) signed an MoU with Andøya Space to implement a launch site for the RFA ONE launch system to provide end-to-end launch services for smallsats.

Andøya Space is developing the new launch complex on Andøya island, 35 km south of their existing sub-orbital launch site. This new site will provide operators of vehicles in the 1.5t payload class with independent integration facilities and access to two launch pads with necessary support infrastructure.

Rocket Factory, a start-up backed by the German satellite manufacturer OHB as a strategic investor and Munich-based venture capital firm Apollo Capital Partners, currently is developing a launcher system called RFA ONE for small satellites with a payload performance of up to 1.500kg to low earth orbit (LEO). The first launch is scheduled for 2022. The company recently qualified the upper stage tank system during cryogenic tests and is currently preparing hot-fire tests of the main engine in Esrange, Sweden.

Executive Comments

“This partnership is pivotal, it allows RFA and Andøya to launch the first satellite into orbit from continental Europe with an European launcher,” said Dr. Stefan Brieschenk, Chief Operation Officer of RFA.

Jörn Spurmann, Chief Commercial Officer of RFA, added, “Andøya Space is the most advanced micro launcher spaceport project in Europe. We believe to have found the best partner to start with the delivery of our end to end launch service to our customers in 2022.”

“We are convinced that Rocket Factory is one of the most progressive SSLV companies in Europe. Having them commit to Andøya Space as a partner is of great significance to us. We are developing an efficient multi-user launch site in Norway, and Rocket Factory has the technical capabilities, the same innovative culture, and the enthusiastic team we need in a partner to help us take the spaceport initiative forward. We look forward to supporting them in their missions to polar- and sun synchronous orbits,” said Odd Roger Enoksen, CEO and President of Andøya Space.

Spaceflight Inc. will execute two launches on two different continents in a matter of weeks; one aboard a Rocket Lab Electron and the other on NewSpace India Limited’s (NSIL) PSLV — for both missions, Spaceflight arranged the launch and is providing mission management and rideshare integration services for its customers Canon Electronics, Kleos Space and Spire.

The next mission, dubbed RL-5 by Spaceflight and ‘In Focus’ by Rocket Lab, will launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 at the southern tip of Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch window opens October 20 at 5:14pm ET.

Spaceflight is coordinating the launch of Canon Electronics Inc.’s CE-SAT-IIB, a technical demonstration microsatellite that will add to its Earth-imaging satellite constellation. The payload has three cameras onboard with different resolutions, fields of view and sensitivities, which will demonstrate its capabilities by taking images of the Earth. This is Canon Electronics’ second launch with Spaceflight.

Spaceflight’s next mission is slated to lift off on a PSLV-C49 rocket during the first half of November from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Center, SDSC SHAR. It will carry four smallsats from Kleos Space and four from Spire.

The Kleos 6U satellites make up the company’s Scouting Mission, which will be foundational in its radio frequency monitoring constellation. The smallsats are the cornerstone of a 20-system constellation that will geolocate VHF transmissions from marine vessels to provide global activity-based intelligence data as a service.

Spaceflight also manifested four Spire Global Lemur-2 3U cubesats to add to its constellation of small, inexpensive satellites in operation for Earth observation, maritime monitoring, communications, meteorology and science.

In addition to the RL-5 and PSLV-C49 missions, Spaceflight is also preparing for the launch of SXRS-3 which will debut Sherpa-FX, its first orbital transfer vehicle (OTV). The SpaceX rideshare mission is scheduled for no earlier than December 2020 and will carry 16 spacecraft managed by Spaceflight. Sherpa-FX is the first in Spaceflight’s innovative Sherpa-NG (next generation) portfolio of vehicles to fly as the company delivers cost-effective, “last mile” service to its customers on orbit.

Executive Comments

“We are thrilled that the launch date of the Kleos Scouting Mission is close at hand and that with a successful launch of PSLV-C49 we will be able to start to provide RF geolocation data products to our waiting global customer base,” said Andy Bowyer, CEO of Kleos Space. “From there we start the deployment of our constellation of Kleos satellites in the middle of 2021 with Spaceflight onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch.”

“We strive to be a comprehensive space transportation company continuously developing innovative solutions to go above and beyond to meet our customers’ — and the industry’s — evolving needs,” said Grant Bonin, senior VP of business development at Spaceflight. “The Sherpa-FX vehicle and our recent multi-launch agreements are prime examples of how we’re innovating to add more flexibility into our offerings. It allows us to get satellites where they need to be, when they need to be there, which is the ultimate goal.”

Since its founding, Spaceflight has launched more than 300 satellites and executed 32 rocket launches, establishing itself as the leading rideshare service provider. Spaceflight works with a large portfolio of launch vehicles, including Falcon 9, Antares, Electron, Vega, and PSLV and has recently expanded its global portfolio of launch vehicles to include NSIL’s SSLV, Relativity’s Terran 1 and Firefly’s Alpha, in order to best fulfill customers’ specific mission needs.

Telesat U.S. Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of satellite operator Telesat, has been awarded a contract by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the development and on-orbit demonstration of commercial LEO spacecraft buses in a LEO constellation network with robust low-latency communications features as part of DARPA’s Blackjack program.

Following Telesat’s initial 2018 contract for system engineering and interface definition under the Blackjack Phase 1 program, Telesat U.S. Services will develop and demonstrate the Blackjack Phase 2/3 Track B technology, including on-orbit testing the capabilities of Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs).

As part of Phase 2, Telesat U.S. Services will deliver two spacecraft buses to DARPA in less than one year for a “risk reduction” flight to test OISL communications with government payloads in orbit and to demonstrate OISL interoperability with different hardware. The Phase 2 base contract represents an $18.3 million program for Telesat U.S. Services. Subsequently, additional Telesat LEO spacecraft may be procured to fully populate the Blackjack constellation, which represents a total contract value of up to $175.6 million if all options are exercised.

The Blackjack program is a demonstration of LEO satellites in hybrid commercial- government constellations offering highly resilient space systems, global persistence, low latency communications and rapid technology refresh. These enabling objectives will be accomplished by leveraging commercial space technologies including commoditized spacecraft buses, ground infrastructure and user segments at unprecedented low costs.

The company said the Telesat LEO constellation includes a number of distinctive features that align with the Blackjack program vision, including spacecraft buses with native OISL capability, mesh networking, onboard processing, and a full global network architecture backed by global priority spectrum allocations.

Executive Comments

“This next phase of the Blackjack program will showcase the powerful capabilities that commercial LEO networks bring to a hybrid architecture for government space communications,” said Don Brown, General Manager, Telesat U.S. Services. “With OISLs and advanced networking native to the Telesat LEO constellation architecture, we are uniquely positioned to deliver interoperable mesh connectivity between government and commercial constellations. We look forward to continuing our work with DARPA to prove out the game-changing nature of hybrid commercial- government networks.”