Archives for March 2021

ST Engineering’s Earth Observation and geospatial analysis business, ST Engineering Geo-Insights (“Geo-Insights”), has partnered with BlackSky to provide customers in Southeast Asia an expanded satellite imaging and insights portfolio that now includes BlackSky products and services.

In addition to the appointment of ST Engineering Geo-Insights as an authorized reseller of BlackSky’s suite of satellite imaging and data analytics services in Southeast Asia, the partnership also allows Geo-Insights and the firm’s customers to leverage BlackSky’s imagery data to develop value-added products, which will be included in Geo-Insights’ offerings.

BlackSky currently offers geospatial solutions to customers, including optical data and analytics via the company’s Spectra AI platform. Established in Asia, Geo-Insights has the capability to provide geospatial solutions that integrate optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Both parties expect to further evaluate options to expand their offerings with a new suite of jointly developed optical/SAR geospatial intelligence products powered by the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.

“We believe demand for satellite imagery and analytics will grow in the future due to increasing demands for location-based technologies and growing interest in the remote monitoring of business operations and critical assets. The addition of BlackSky’s advanced imagery and analytics products to our portfolio will place us in a stronger position to meet the varied business needs of our government and commercial customers in this region. More importantly, we see this as a first step towards a longer-term relationship where both parties can further leverage each other’s unique strengths and networks to develop novel, differentiated products and services to meet new user demands and expand into new markets,” said Goh Ing Nam, General Manager of ST Engineering Geo-Insights.

“We are fortunate to have a recognized leader like ST Engineering Geo-Insights join the BlackSky reseller network. This partnership is expected to accelerate our go to market in the Southeast Asian region, building off the strong base of Geo-Insights’ recognized expertise and customer relationships,” said Brian E. O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “We’re also excited to explore opportunities to further integrate SAR and optical products to advance real-time geospatial intelligence solutions.”

SpaceX had scheduled another 60 Starlink satellite launch for early in the a.m. on the first of March; however, that push has now been delayed until on later on that date from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As of this writing, no explanation for the delay had been offered by the company — expect this second attempt at 8:15 p.m., ET.

PSLV-C51, the first dedicated launch for NSIL, successfully launched Amazonia-1 and 18 co-passenger satellites from Sriharikota, India.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C51 successfully launched Amazonia-1 along with 18 co-passenger satellite son February 28, 2021, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR.

PSLV-C51 lifted off from the First Launch Pad of SDSC SHAR at 10:24 hours (IST) as planned. After a flight of about 17 minutes 23 seconds, the vehicle injected the Amazonia-1 into its intended orbit and in the succeeding 1 hour 38 minutes, all of the 18 co-passenger satellites successfully separated from the PSLV in a predetermined sequence.

Amazonia-1 is the optical Earth Observation (EO) satellite of National Institute for Space Research (INPE). This satellite would further strengthen the existing structure by providing remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Government of India company under Department of Space.

The 18 co-passenger satellites onboard PSLV-C51 included four from IN-SPACe and 14 from NSIL. Out of the four satellites from IN-SPACe, three were UNITYsats designed and built as a joint development by Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumbudur (JITsat), G.H.Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri Shakti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (Sri Shakthi Sat) and one was Satish Dhawan Sat (SDSAT) from Space Kidz India. The 14 satellites from NSIL carried were the commercial satellites from India (1) and USA (13).

PSLV-C51 is the 53rd flight of PSLV and 3rd flight of PSLV in ‘DL‘ configuration (with two, strap-on motors). This was the 78th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

With this launch, the total number of customer satellites from foreign countries placed in orbit by PSLV is 342 from 34 countries.

Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl and a LauncherOne flight. Photo is courtesy of the company.

As Virgin Orbit‘s first customer payloads take their victory laps around the Earth, the company is already looking ahead to the upcoming missions set to fly on LauncherOne later this year.

In the wake of the successful Launch Demo 2 mission in January, Virgin Orbit has since announced the addition of two exciting new customers to the launch manifest: SatRevolution, a satellite company based in Poland, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).

SatRevolution has tasked the company with launching their first pair of smallsats — STORK-4 and STORK-5 (nicknamed MARTA) — of their 14-satellite STORK constellation. Once deployed, STORK-4 and MARTA will collect multi-spectral medium-resolution imagery and data for agricultural and energy customers in the US, in Poland and abroad.

SatRevolution’s broader ambition is to become the largest worldwide operator of Earth Observation(EO) satellites, with a plan in motion to launch more than 1,000 satellites to LEO by 2026 to provide round-the-clock data collection.

The launch date of the four Axelspace satellites (GRUS-1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) is set for March 20, 2021, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

These smallsats will become part of the AxelGlobe Earth Observation System and this will be the second launch for the company, after the successful deployment of GRUS-1A in December of 2018.

Launch Campaign Members in Axelspace hoodies have been working on final preparation for the launch.