Archives for May 2021

SpaceFund Inc. announced the company has fully deployed investments from its first “LaunchPad” fund — this venture capital firm placed investor funds in 14 companies, including some well-known NewSpace stars as well as seeding rising stars the firm believes are capable of helping to lead humanity into the frontiers of space.

SpaceFund is rapidly becoming one of the world’s leading space venture capital companies. The firm’s team started the LaunchPad fund in 2019 as a proof of concept to demonstrate its ability to find, navigate, and capitalize on deal flow that may be elusive to those outside of the insular next generation space community.

In addition to one stealth company, the LaunchPad fund has now completed building its portfolio with investments in the following companies:

• Axiom Space: The world’s first commercially built, owned and operated space station.
• Cognitive Space: Transforming the state of automation and AI for spacecraft and orbital machines.
• Cosmic Shielding: Major game changing radiation shielding and space weather forecasting.
• Eden Grow Systems: The first built-for-space integrated food and energy production system, now commercializing this technology for use on Earth.
• Made In Space (Redwire): The first in-space additive and industrial manufacturing company.
• Novo Space: The first plug-and-play modular computers for the most ambitious space missions.
• Orbit Fab: The first Gas Stations in Space for satellite refueling and the first Satellite Gas Cap fueling ports.
• Sen: The first commercial live high-resolution television of Earth (and space), from space.
• Skyloom: The first high speed laser (optical) space communications network.
• Space Forge: The first end-to-end, free-flying space micro-manufacturing plants.
• Space Perspective: The world’s first luxury spaceflight experience company.
• SpaceX: The world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft.
• Voyager Space Holdings: A leading global space exploration company.

“We’re right on track in our plan to seed and support the growth of these amazing companies,” said SpaceFund founder Rick Tumlinson. “Our formula is working. First we find brilliant frontier tech startups in need of early funding, then we bring in funds from visionary investors, and after significant diligence, we place those funds in just the right places to power the space revolution. These companies are a good representation of those rising to meet the challenge of what Gerard O’Neill called the ‘High Frontier. The seeds our investors are enabling us to plant and support now, will grow into the mighty oaks of the future space industrial ecosystem. With our next BlastOff fund, we will widen this base, finding new leaders, and providing the funding for growth needed to assure humanity can permanently and profitably expand into that frontier.”

“We balance our excitement about what is and will be happening in space with a deep and thorough vetting process,” said SpaceFund managing partner and co-founder Meagan Crawford. “We don’t chase rockets, satellite swarms, or shiny objects. Instead, we find brilliant teams with game changing technologies and solid business plans. While some of them may not seem glamorous, they are the foundational elements of a rapidly rising space economy.”

SpaceFund is now investing in new companies out of its second fund, the BlastOff fund. If your space startup would like to be considered for investment, please fill out the ‘Submit Your Company for Consideration’ form on the SpaceFund website: https://spacefund.com/submit/

Maya-3 and Maya-4, the first Philippine-university built cubesats, have been turned over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), according to STAMINA4Space.

The country’s third and fourth smallsats were turned over to the JAXA on April 28, the Facebook post reported.

Filipino engineer Izrael Bautista, project manager of Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology’s (Kyutech) 4th Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite (BIRDS-4) Project and Dr. Takahashi Yamauchi of Kyutech’s Laboratory of Lean Satellites Enterprises and In-Orbit Experiemnts( LaSEINE) were present during the event on behalf of the scholars, the STAMINA4Space said.

“The scholarships are part of the STAMINA4Space Program’s STeP-UP Project, a graduate program with a nanosatellite engineering track housed within the University of the Philippines Diliman Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute),” the Facebook page reported, citing the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) continued support of the project.

The STAMINA4Space is the country’s space research and development program funded by the DOST and implemented by DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) and the University of the Philippines (UP). The program aims to further develop deep expertise that enable and sustain the growth of a local scientific-industrial base in space technology and applications in the Philippines. During its four-year implementation, the program successfully launched three smallsats: Diwata-1, Diwata-2 and Maya-1.

Smallsats Maya-3 and Maya-4 are in the development and are expected to be launched this year. The Philippines’ fourth satellite and second smallsat, Maya-2, was successfully deployed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) on March 14, 2021.

NanoAvionics has signed a contract with OQ Technology to build, integrate and operate a smallsat for the company’s 5G IoT mission named Tiger-2.

The 6U cubesat is the second mission for the Lithuanian smallsat bus manufacturer and mission integrator with OQ Technology and the latest addition to OQ Technology’s growing LEO constellation of nanosatellites. Their constellation intends to provide basic commercial IoT and M2M services, using 5G connectivity, to customers with a focus on Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

OQ Technology expects to generate revenue with this satellite, scheduled to be launched this year. To meet that deadline, the company will take advantage of NanoAvionics’ fast satellite build-time of a few months, a result of its automotive approach for speedy bus manufacturing. Following the launch, OQ Technology aims to quickly add another two missions to this constellation, followed by a batch of 6 satellites. Through the Tiger-2 mission the company also intends to secure strategic frequency licenses and partnerships in key countries.

As part of the Tiger-2 mission, NanoAvionics will integrate two payloads into the modular spacecraft. The primary payload will provide satellite-based IoT and M2M services using low frequencies. The secondary payload will demonstrate the feasibility of using high frequencies for 5G IoT radio links. To deliver widespread coverage and 5G IoT/M2M communication, in line with 3GPP recommendations, OQ Technology is using spectrum in the mid band 5G (Sub-6 GHz) frequency bands.

Tiger-2 is a continuation of the collaboration between NanoAvionics and OQ Technology, following MACSAT, the world’s first agile smallsat mission dedicated to 5G IoT in LEO, led by OQ Technology and supplied by NanoAvionics.

OQ Technology is the first 5G IoT operator, building a global hybrid system that combines both satellite and terrestrial wireless networks. It’ll enable expansion of the 4G and 5G IoT footprint globally, which plays a critical role in enabling mobility in vertical markets such as smart cars and drones, transport, logistics, and maritime. Moreover, it provides a unique value for low latency applications (which are critical for 5G) as the satellite are in low earth orbit and provide few milliseconds latency communication which traditional GEO satellites operators cannot do.

Their hybrid system will provide seamless connectivity using 5G standards, terrestrial 5G hardware and chips for a variety of IoT applications for environmental monitoring and agriculture, logistics, maritime, smart metering, mining and oil & gas, aviation, and defence. OQ Technology already holds patents in using narrowband cellular IoT over non-terrestrial networks and is licensing its satellite frequencies globally.

“Tiger-2 is an example of a NewSpace startup breaking barriers and racing with time to get to orbit within a few months, while using an agile approach to quickly deliver 5G connectivity,” said Omar Qaise, founder and CEO of OQ Technology. “Without partners like NanoAvionics, achieving such a target within a short time frame will not be possible. To grow our constellation and provide global coverage we plan to add more nanosatellites soon. What makes OQ Technology different is its combination of cellular and satellite technologies, providing coverage in poorly connected areas with a low-cost solution that can match existing but expensive M2M and VSAT satellite products. We do this by using both mobile 5G chips and a low-cost infrastructure of LEO nanosatellites. This allows us to bring the 5G revolution to countries where terrestrial infrastructure and expensive satellite costs have been a bottle neck, depriving many regions from catching up with the latest developments in the telecommunication industry. OQ Technology is here to change this soon and make digitalization available everywhere.”

Vytens J. Buzas, CEO NanoAvionics, said, “Our nano- and microsats are ideal for IoT and Earth observations with single, formation and constellation setups and our rapid integration accelerates the time to market applications for companies like OQ Technology. Over 90 percent of our customers already ask for full mission services including built, integration, launch brokerage and mission operations. One key element for the success of our mission operations is that we’ve significantly increased how frequently our nano- and microsatellites can send data back to Earth data through the global ground station networks of our partners.”

On May 4, the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise Mission Manifest Office (MMO) has delivered two, fully tested and integrated, multi-manifest satellite vehicles, Technology Demonstration Orbiters (TDO-3 and TDO-4), to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, for integration aboard the SBIRS GEO-5 mission.

The MMO is increasing space warfighting domain flexibility by enabling expedited integration and “swap-out” capability of multi-manifest satellites late in the integration process. The SBIRS GEO-5 mission will demonstrate this “swap-out” capability by having two qualified and compatible, multi-manifest, satellites vehicles ready to be substituted, if needed, as late as two weeks prior to launch. Considering the normal integration timeline for traditional satellites is approximately 24 months, this is just another example of how SMC is driving integration flexibility and responsiveness into the National Security Space planning process and rapidly delivering capability to the warfighter.

TDO-3 and TDO-4 are carrying multiple U.S. Government sponsored payloads that will provide critical experimental data for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). The Department of Astronautics at USAFA was the sponsor for TDO-3 and TDO-4.

This data will ultimately be used to create capabilities that assist the nation’s warfighters in performing their critical missions. The MMO used strategic partners NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA/Wallops Flight Facility and numerous industry participants to exercise this urgent effort. The multi-organizational design, analysis, manufacture, test and integration effort was performed within a nine-month period.

The successful effort also demonstrated an atmospheric modeling thesis. DNet Engineering & Integration of Denver, Colorado, operated as the bus manufacturer and payload integrator for TDO-3 and TDO-4 satellite vehicles. Parsons Corporation developed the interchangeable EZ Integrated Flight System that was designed to house the TDO-3 and TDO-4 satellite vehicles.

TDO-3 and TDO-4 will deploy into an optimized GTO after the first upper-stage Main Engine Cut Off (MECO-1) and prior to the SBIRS GEO-5 satellite’s separation. This is the third time that an early separation event has occurred as part of a National Security Space Launch (NSSL) mission. Successfully executing this early separation maximizes the operational utility and flexibility of NSSL and supports the warfighter with added capabilities in space.

OneWeb has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TrustComm Inc. which will enable OneWeb to offer its LEO network and connectivity services to U.S. government clients and TrustComm customers.

Based at the highly secure Ellington Joint Base in Houston, Texas, TrustComm was established in 1999 as a provider of managed satellite communications and professional services to commercial organizations and governments. TrustComm offers services ranging from broadband Internet access, VoIP and voice, video conferencing and data communications for business continuity to emergency response, tactical field deployment and temporary use.

Under the terms of the agreement, a newly acquired proxy subsidiary of OneWeb will be led by TrustComm CEO Bob Roe and focus on introducing OneWeb’s enterprise grade network services to customers. Terms of the transaction are confidential, and it is expected to close in 2021, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

OneWeb will offer DoD and other government clients a new suite of services with network speeds up to 195 Mbps, lower latency, smaller and more compact multi-orbit user terminals and built-in network management tools providing substantial economic savings over traditional GEO sales models.

The acquisition follows the successful demonstration of OneWeb’s turnkey satellite-based communications system to the DoD in March of 2021, with data rates up to 500 Mbps at latency levels as low as 32 ms. The demonstration also illustrated the seamless handover of connectivity between multiple LEO satellites as they passed overhead.

Designed to provide organizations and governments with truly global and resilient connectivity services, OneWeb’s solution will feature a network of 648 LEO satellites, global gateways and air, maritime and land user terminals. In late 2021, OneWeb will start to provide provide commercial services across the Arctic and expanding to global coverage in 2022.

“OneWeb’s acquisition of TrustComm underpins our strategy to rapidly scale satellite communications service to the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies as they look to integrate high throughput, low latency solutions to meet new connectivity demands,” said OneWeb’s Head of Government Services, Dylan Browne. “We are excited to have TrustComm join our team and leverage their strong reputation providing the remote communications our customers want, particularly in Alaska and the Arctic.”

“The TrustComm team is thrilled to be joining OneWeb at the dawn of this new era of satcom services. TrustComm’s heritage and customer-focused support teams will enable us to expand the portfolio of services we offer and allow us to pursue new opportunities. This is an exciting development and we look forward to taking our government business to new heights in the coming year,” said Roe.

The SpaceX Starlink smallsat family constellation progression continues unabated, with the firm’s latest launch occurring on Sunday, May 9, 2021, when, at 2:42 a.m. EDT, the firm’s Falcon 9 launched 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

After stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship.

This was the first Falcon 9 first stage booster to complete a tenth launch and landing. The first stage booster previously supported Crew Dragon’s first demonstration mission to the International Space Station, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7, and now seven Starlink missions.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX May 4th launch of 60 Starlink craft will be followed by another 60 on – or about – May 9th. There will likely be another record broken.

The May 9th launch, subject to the usual weather and technical limitations, is currently scheduled for 0642 hours GMT (0242 hours, Florida time) and is the 27th batch of 60 satellites on a mission that’s designated as Flight 27.

Musk said that, while the initial targets for his latest fleet of Falcon 9 boosters was up to 10 flights he now says that there doesn’t seem to be an obvious limit to the reusability of the vehicle. Consequently, this coming Sunday’s flight could include a 10th usage of one of the Falcon 9 booster stage. SpaceX already has two 9-timers in its inventory.

Some 1,500 working Starlink craft are now on-orbit. The number launched is 1,620; however, some have failed and been de-orbited. A recent FCC ruling permitted SpaceX to orbit up to 2,814 satellites – previously targeted to 1100 to 1300 kms – to now fly at orbits of 540 to 570 kms.

Musk’s team is also preparing the super-giant Starship vehicles for intercontinental and beyond flights. But Gwynne Shotwell (SpaceX’s COO) said that a Starship could hold 400 satellites per launch. A high-altitude – and flawless – test flight (SN15) of a Starship occurred on May 5 and completed a perfect landing after a 10 km journey.

Expert observers have suggested that SpaceX’s launch cadence is working in a 10-day cycle (including non-Starship launches for NASA and commercial clients). Consequently, Musk can keep his launch preparation and rocket logistics to something of a mass-production line and continuous activity. The company doesn’t have to put its launch sites into mothball as used to be the case between NASA flights.

The increasing pace of the commercial satellite industry continues and, as a response, KSAT is adding 34 new antennas this year that will be dedicated for the KSATlite network, the company’s network optimized to support smallsat constellations.

The antennas will be installed across the globe, adding capacity in already existing sites as well as expanding the coverage to new sites. The roll-out of the first batch of antennas is already well on its way, the second one starting in June.

This significant investment comes as a direct response to the growing demand for services on the KSATlite network. Last year, the number of passes in a six month period time doubled on the lite network from 10 to 20k passes per month. By June, the network will be probably be handling 30k passes per month, having exceeded 1k passes daily.

The strong growth is caused by several factors. Existing and new customers are expanding their constellations, adding more satellites to their missions and requiring an increased number of contacts on the network. An important factor revolves around operational flexibility. Allowing the ground to define a standard interface gives the satellite owners flexibility and a network-oriented approach for data reception and satellite control.

Although adding 34 antennas requires a significant effort from the whole organization, deployment of the antennas across the network is “relatively” easy. The KSATlite strategy and product concept is all about standardized set-ups and scalable ground station architecture that, together with flexible API driven interfaces, are making this possible.

The 34 antennas will augment KSATs already fully operational Ka-band network that consists of 6 polar antenna systems (4 Tri-band and 2 Dual-band) and comes in addition to an already ongoing expansions as well as additional investments on the KSAT ground network this year.

“Our network loading forecasts shows no signs of this growth curve flattening. On the contrary, looking at the number of new satellites in the pipeline and the launch frequency this is a continuing trend,” said Amund Nylund, KSAT Chief Operations Officer. “We believe this reflects the current pace of the commercial space industry, as well as it speaks to the success of the KSATlite product in this fast-growing market.”

“Looking back 10 years, building and integrating four antennas at our new mid latitude sites in one year was a major achievement. Now we are deploying and integrating 34 antennas almost like it’s just another day at the office. It shows that the way we are operating now is streamlined and developing a software based architecture, makes the work a lot easier. However, it would not be possible without the effort from our dedicated KSAT Team,” KSAT CEO and President Rolf Skatteboe.

BlackSky recently announced a planned business combination with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: SFTW) and has revealed it expects to launch two satellites on Rocket Lab’s 20th mission, “Running Out of Toes.”

The launch, which is scheduled to take place no earlier than May 15, 2021, will deploy BlackSky’s eighth and ninth EO satellites.

Once on-orbit, the two Gen-2 satellites will continue to grow the BlackSky space network and enable the firm to provide more frequent revisits globally, with heightened revisit capability in the 45-to-50-degree markets. As BlackSky expands its constellation, it will strengthen its ability to offer timely and relevant information on pattern-of-life anomalies, situational awareness, and commercial opportunities to its customers. The company’s geospatial intelligence solutions deliver analytics and insights for a range of government agencies and industries such as transportation, infrastructure, construction and supply chain management, as well as humanitarian sectors.

The “Running Out of Toes” mission is part of BlackSky’s multi-launch agreement with Spaceflight Inc. and Rocket Lab to launch nine high-resolution, multi-spectral satellites by the end of 2021. The first of these nine satellites launched on March 22, 2021 ,and entered commercial operations within two weeks.

“BlackSky is expanding and scaling through a regular cadence of launches so we can consistently increase capacity to deliver first-to-know insights for our customers,” said Brian E. O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “Our established practice of rapid deployments and advanced commissioning process ensures customers can trust and rely on our network for access to real-time global intelligence.”

AAC Clyde Space’s subsidiary Hyperion continues to celebrate the firm’s ongoing wins with its star trackers — so far in 2021, Hyperion has received a record 0.5milion euros of orders for these products.

Star trackers were the first product in Hyperion’s portfolio and remain one of the subsidiary’s best-selling products. With a solid flight performance in space since 2015, the products have proven their reliability and efficiency resulting in them being regarded as a gold standard product by many clients.

AAC Clyde Space has used the star trackers in many of its satellites, starting before acquiring Hyperion in 2020. Star trackers are used in satellites to determine the attitude of a spacecraft. They image the star field, comparing onboard star maps with their current view. This information is then used to determine the attitude of the spacecraft and in this way control its pointing. This is a product type which is increasingly used on commercial cubesats and smallsats.

Hyperion’s product line includes one of the world’s smallest and lightest star tracker that can fit on any satellite as well as advanced star trackers to manage complex and particularly demanding environments. Hyperion has developed its range of star tracker products in collaboration with Germany-based Berlin Space Technologies.

“To become a de facto standard is a great achievement for a space product, paving the way for future success by allowing incremental improvements in both the product’s performance as well as in its financial metrics. AAC Clyde Space is very proud to have brought these star trackers into our portfolio that already include, among others, the very successful Starbuck power systems and Sirius command and data handling units,” said AAC Clyde Space CEO Luis Gomes.

AAC Clyde Space offers turnkey solutions and services from mission design to on-orbit operations, including reliable customizable satellite platforms in the range of 1 to 50 Kg and a full range of subsystems for cube and small satellites. With unrivaled flight heritage and end-to-end service, AAC Clyde Space enables customers to reach their mission goals through a single, trusted point of contact