Archives for July 2021

Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”) has announced that Astroscale Japan Inc. (“Astroscale Japan”) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (“Mitsubishi Heavy Industries”) to cooperate on active debris removal and other projects for improving space environmental protection, marking the first collaboration between Astroscale and a launch services provider. Astroscale Japan has also been selected by the Government of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (“METI”) to research and develop robotic hand and arm technologies that can be affixed to spacecraft to perform complex servicing activities on-orbit and in lunar environments.

“Active debris removal and robotic technologies are paving the way for on-orbit services that will form the infrastructure of the global space economy,” said Nobu Okada, Founder & CEO of Astroscale. “Astroscale is leading the on-orbit servicing market and providing options, which have not been available until now, for satellite and launch vehicle operators to reduce risk and increase ROI. I would like to thank Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and the Astroscale team — through these collaborative efforts between industry and government, we can accelerate actions toward an era of space sustainability, while expanding on-orbit servicing business opportunities.”

The collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will leverage Astroscale’s on-orbit servicing technologies and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ launch vehicle manufacturing and launch services capabilities to cooperate on the technical aspects required to advance sustainable space operations. Initial efforts will include discussions and development of debris removal methods for upper stages.

“We are very pleased to take action with a leading global launch provider on debris removal and move the industry toward a more sustainable future,” said Takayoshi Koyama, Managing Director of Astroscale Japan. “In order to secure sustainability in space, we must address both the prevention and remediation of debris. At Astroscale, we are doing both and are dedicated to improving the space environment by leading the development of innovative on-orbit servicing solutions across all orbits.”

The proposal from METI to develop robotic hand and arm technologies is in response to the growing on-orbit servicing market to extend the life of satellites, reducing operating costs for satellite operators and mitigating the creation of further debris. Astroscale is one of two companies selected and the objectives of the three-year contract, budgeted up to $2.5 million for the Japanese fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021), are to research and develop the technologies related to robotic hands and arms, autonomous control, and interfaces to replace robotic hands. The project will also analyze on-orbit servicing market and standardization trends, reflect them into the development plan and provide recommendations for standardization. Robotic technology is fundamental to on-orbit servicing activities and is expected to play a key role in base construction activities on the lunar surface for the Artemis space exploration program.

On June 13, 2021, the G7 Member nations released a statement confirming orbital debris as one of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector and pledged to commit to the safe and sustainable use of space. The statement welcomed all efforts, public and commercial, in debris removal and on-orbit servicing activities and encouraged further institutional or industrial research and development of these services. Astroscale’s partnerships with industry and government agencies will be critical to the development of on-orbit servicing technologies and the overall safety and sustainability of the orbital environment.

The Hindustan Times is reporting that, after six-month delay, an Indian start-up firm has now targeted their satellite launch for October.

The EO satellite developed by the Indian start-up Pixxel will target an October launch with an Indian Space Research Organisation mission, a company official said. The satellite was to be launched aboard the PSLV-C51 mission in February of this year but the company had to back out due to a last minute glitch in the software. The company said they are designing the world’s highest resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites that can provide 10 to 50 times more detailed information than current systems.

“There was a problem with GPS acquisition and logging in the satellite which we were able to resolve in a couple of days. But we had missed the window to ship the satellite to ISRO launch site. The satellite is completely ready and we used the time to do another round of testing. We were waiting for the next opportunity that ISRO mission would go to the orbit we need. We will be launching the satellite in October,” said Awais Ahmed, founder and CEO of the company (incorporated as Sygyzy).

The work on the second satellite, in a planned constellation of 36, is also 60% complete and is likely to be launched in December. “We have been working on two more satellites in parallel; they are 30% complete and will be launched next year,” said Ahmed.

The company aims to complete their constellation of hyperspectral satellites by 2023.

This would be first satellite by an Indian start-up; barring the satellite of the non-profit SpaceKidz India that was launched as per a non-commercial agreement by ISRO on PSLV C51 mission in February. The PSLV C51 mission carried on board a three-satellite system developed by an industry consortium and SindhuNetra by DRDO for monitoring the Indian Ocean Region.

“A normal phone camera works in the visible RBG range, whereas something like a night goggle works in the infrared range. A hyperspectral image can capture data in both visible and infrared spectrum thereby providing great details,” said Ahmed. “If we take agriculture for example, our satellite will be able to provide granular data on not just the health of soil but the nutrients present in it. It will be able to identify the crop. It will be able to tell whether the crop has been under-irrigated or over-irrigated from soil moisture data.”

Article authored by Anonna Dutt, New Delhi

With precise plans to develop a commercially driven, hybrid, multi-orbit global constellation, the Paris based startup — ROVIAL — responded to EU Commissioner Thierry Breton’s strong interest, as articulated recently to an audience of nearly 500 European space sector companies, for the EU private sector to develop a space-based system for secure connected services in Europe and across the globe. That system, to be focused on the telecommunications sector, is going to be designed to be Europe’s “third pillar” after the Galileo and Copernicus systems.

The target is to install a network to complement existing telecommunications infrastructure and serve Europe’s global requirement for 100% covered and always-on connectivity services and meet the exploding demand for multimedia content. Europe´s constellation will be end-to-end quantum encrypted to ensure secure communications. The satellites will be uniquely designed to provide services in geosynchronous and non-geosynchronous orbits that are environmentally friendly and sustainable, scalable, density-adaptive for user demand, and operate in millimeter wave using free space optical (FSO) technology to ensure a very large system capacity to support anticipated exponential demand for connected services.

ROVIAL expects to launch a “pathfinder” demonstration mission in late 2022. As the system´s owner-operator, the firm is leading a consortium at the core of which are the co-founding members:

Mynaric, a German developer of laser communications systems.

ISAR Aerospace, a German launch systems provider.

Reflex Aerospace, a German designer and manufacturer of satellite platforms.

The consortium is currently expanding to include European new space SMEs that specialize in satellite and ground system components and subsystems. To better evaluate these SMEs’ services and products, the consortium is organizing a series of workshops in various EU member states.

The first such workshop was held recently at ISAR’s Munich headquarters. About 30, German-based, space-tech SMEs introduced their capabilities and expertise in such areas as solar panels, propulsion systems, payload components, specialized radiation-hardened components, and ground system elements that can be included in the design and build-out of ROVIAL’s constellation.

Speaking on behalf of the consortium, Raghu Das, a co-founder of ROVIAL and co-founder of the GEO satellite operator ProtoStar Ltd. and the mobile IOT operator, Helios Wire Ltd., said, “ROVIAL and the consortium were very impressed by the breadth, quality, and capabilities of the German SMEs’ services and products. We expect that many of them can be leveraged to help realize our vision to develop an EU-built state-of-the-art constellation. The success of this workshop has encouraged us to now organize similar SME workshops in other parts of Europe to further strengthen our consortium’s supply chain..”

Dr. Ernst K. Pfeiffer, CEO of HPS Group GmbH and Chairman of the German SME association (Best-of-Space.de), said, “The German aerospace SME eco-system has long been a critical contributor to the advancement of the European Union’s old and new space sector economy, and is very excited to learn about Rovial’s planned constellation and the significant benefits it will bring to Europe and the rest of the world. We look forward to working closely with the Consortium’s founding members and supplying key services and products for this exciting project. ROVIAL is definitely about to surround itself with the industrial elite to ensure access to cutting edge technology and the rapid deployment of our constellation.”

D-Orbit has integrated AWS Ground Station with D-Orbit’s AURORA cloud-based mission control software, using the AWS Ground Station to power AURORA, manage increasingly complex missions for D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier (such as the on-going PULSE mission) as well as strengthen the D-Orbit space transportation and logistics infrastructure.

D-Orbit also plans to use AWS Ground Station with Aurora to communicate with its WILD RIDE mission, launched on June 30, and with D-Orbit’s future fleet. Together, D-Orbit and AWS accelerate smallsat use cases such as Earth Observation (EO), global telecommunications or space logistics. AWS Ground Station enables customers to downlink data and efficiently control satellite communications across multiple regions, process data, and scale operations without having to worry about building or managing their own ground station infrastructure, and to pay only for the actual antenna time used.

D-Orbit’s AURORA mission control software reduces mission costs by turning the unpredictable expenses connected to software design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance to a recurrent, predictable cost. D-Orbit’s cloud-based AURORA software is accessible through standard web browsers on multiple devices and includes all the tools needed to monitor and control a spacecraft, uplink commands, and downlink and process satellite data.

The collaboration between D-Orbit and AWS gives satellite operators access to an expanded network of satellite ground stations and facilitates the ingest of satellite data into the cloud with AWS. Customers can control their missions and securely downlink and process increasingly large amounts of satellite data using AWS services in AWS Global Infrastructure regions for real-time data processing, storage, and analysis.

For this integration, AWS Professional Services designed and built out a fully automated solution that enables reliable and seamless bi-directional communications between D-Orbit’s satellites on-orbit and their AURORA mission operations software in the cloud with AWS. The solution uses AWS Ground Station and an open-source Software Defined Radio (SDR) that is hosted on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud instances.

Using AWS Ground Station, D-Orbit customers can immediately access AWS storage, compute, and analytics services, such as Amazon S3, for storing the downloaded data; Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, for managing data ingestion from satellites; and Amazon SageMaker for building custom machine learning models that can be applied to a wide variety of data sets.

“AWS Ground Station integration within our AURORA mission control software is essential to managing and conducting increasingly complex missions for customer payloads on our ION Satellite Carriers. The synergy between AURORA and AWS helps mission controllers monitor and control payloads through AWS’s extensive network of ground stations, downlink and process their satellite data faster and more cost effectively, and easily integrate the data into cloud based applications. AURORA is fleet or constellation ready, and AWS Ground Station enables D-Orbit to leverage that capability with global coverage,” said Bruno Carvalho, Vice President of Business Development for D-Orbit.

Currently, the capabilities of the space industry are hidden behind a multitude of barriers: costs, restrictive rules to engage with satellite operators, gatekeeping behaviors of government agencies and individuals in charge. This limits “small league” commercial players from entering the market, where most of the future innovation will come from. For example, mobile developers today can develop a new iOS app with a spare iPhone and $100 AppStore fee. No such path exists in space industry to rapidly get a space service online, even in the smallsat sector.

Recently, Exodus Orbitals and Modularity Space joined forces and envision a future where every farm owner or every small business operator can have their own satellite mission on a sub $1,000 budget. A future where every amateur astronomer can afford dedicated time on real space telescope and a world that is connected even in the most remote and uninhabitable locations on Earth.

This partnership signifies the transitions from a single satellite hosting one mission for single customer, to hundreds of satellites hosting thousands of software-defined missions tailored to each specific customer. Within a few years, a farmer, a banker and an amateur hobbyist can all have their own mission from the comfort of their own home.

Exodus Orbitals and Modularity Space are officially announcing the start of ambitious new initiative: a “satellite-as-a-service” platform to run software applications in space, by combining the respective powers of both companies: software development and reusable space engineering. Millions of people worldwide will now have their chance at participating in the upcoming space rush, on par with national space agencies and large aerospace companies – as soon as 2022.

Exodus Orbitals specializes in the development of satellite virtualization solutions, allowing access to observation and processing capabilities in space through a seamless, hardware- and vendor-independent “satellite-as-a-service” business model, suitable for multiple satellites types in LEO and beyond. This space software technology has been space-qualified through a participation with the European Space Agency’s, OPS-SAT mission – a “software laboratory in space” satellite, a first of its kind.

Modularity Space is leading the transition to reusable space systems by building the first constellation of reusable satellites, named “The Neighborhood”. Commercial space companies and governments can rent satellite space on the network to host their constellations and technologies instead of developing their own satellites. This innovative “Satellite Rental” service, combined with Modularity Space’s proprietary reusable satellite technology will provide the fastest, easiest, and most affordable space platform every designed.

Space-tech startup Digantara has raised $2.5 million as part of their seed round of funding from Kalaari Capital — this funding will accelerate Digantara’s product development and enable them to launch their first satellite (technology demonstration mission) to LEO, sooner than expected.

Overall this will strengthen Digantara’s efforts in making space operations safer and increasing orbital sustainability. The startup is incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Digantara is set to take on the problem of space junk and eliminate the risk of collisions in space. Massive fleets of satellites in space are required to constantly maneuver to avoid not only one another but also potentially damaging space debris. This can only be done with greater oversight to collision avoidance instructions, for which Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is paramount. SSA also refers to keeping track of objects on-orbit and predicting where they will be at any given time. Digantara is India’s first startup to be working in this space and, globally, they are pioneers of the hybrid approach to debris tracking.

Existing SSA solutions are either ground-based or utilize passive sensors alone, limiting debris tracking in terms of range, accuracy, sensitivity, number of objects detected, and overall data. The team of space architects at Digantara is developing a unique patent-backed comprehensive SSA solution suite for modelling centimeter-sized Resident Space Objects (RSO) and space weather in LEO. They combine space weather data to their prediction models to enhance data accuracy further than current technology permits. This significantly helps reduce uncertainties in space where minor shifts in position can be catastrophic for satellites and space objects and cause damage worth millions of dollars.

The team recently managed to bring in Dr. Satyanarayana Malladi as Chief Scientific officer (CSO). Dr. Malladi is the Former Project Director, Space Borne Lidar at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO. Other recent wins include OneWeb’s 2021 Innovation Challenge, for which Digantara will work with OneWeb on an unspecified research and development project. A Grant of Rs. 50 Lakh was also awarded to Digantara for their win at ISRO ARISE ANIC – Category 3 — Space Robotics/VR/AR/Outer Space Monitoring.

Anirudh Sharma, CEO of Digantara, said, “In the dawn of the New Space Era, Space Safety and Sustainability is a major concern to the proliferated LEO Ecosystem. Just like the aviation sector, Space inevitably requires an efficient traffic management system. At Digantara, we are pioneering an active surveillance technology based in space to provide precise orbital insights to ensure continued safe space operations. It gives us an unparalleled advantage to enhance the quality of the data. We are elated to be supported by Kalaari Capital and to partner with Mr. Ravinder Singh and team, for expressing affirm confidence in Digantara and joining us in the journey of building a global space company. This funding will add more fuel to our spaceflight payload development and accelerate the launch of our first mission.”

Ravinder Pal Singh, Partner at Kalaari Capital, said, “Space Situational Awareness will be a critical component for the functioning of the Lower Earth Orbit Economy. As the New Space Economy grows, Digantara’s offerings not only help deal with space debris but will be the infrastructural enabler on which commercial missions to space and space-based services will be built. Digantara’s young founders’ passion, capability and sincerity of purpose to explore, discover and contribute to the journey of space and solve its ambiguities is inspirational.”

Digantara is India’s first start-up working on Space Surveillance and Space Situational Awareness (SSA). The multifarious team of space architects is developing a patent-backed comprehensive SSA solution suite for modelling centimetre-sized Resident Space Objects (RSO) and space weather in Low Earth Orbit. The founders Mr Anirudh N Sharma, Mr Rahul Rawat & Mr Tanveer Ahmed, being space enthusiasts, when confronted with inadequateness of spaceflight safety, conceptualized Digantara in 2018 to build a comprehensive SSA technology stack – all while pursuing bachelor’s degree at their university

The UK branch of D-Orbit has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) under the Boost! Project with ESA’s Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support Program.

The Responsive Microlauncher Service, which provides end-to-end delivery of payloads in orbit, is designed to use the upcoming small launchers that are due to be launching regularly from UK, starting from 2022. The contract will focus on logistics coordination and process standardization between different European spaceports and launcher providers.

D-Orbit is ideally placed to offer end-to-end commercial space transportation services, according to the ambitions and requirements of the ESA Boost! Project.

With one mission concluded successfully, one mid-course and a third launched on board SpaceX Transporter-2 mission, D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier, the company orbital transportation vehicle (OTV), has already demonstrated the capability to transport smallsats into space and place them into precise, independent orbital slots.

The Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support Program contract will bring this service into the UK, taking advantage of the dynamic new micro launch capabilities, adding integration and other features to maximize responsiveness to user needs, establishing D-Orbit as a key enabling provider in an end-to-end UK supply chain that transports and operates space assets into orbit.

The UK team of D-Orbit will be the primary interface between satellite operators and launch operators. For every given satellite or payload, D-Orbit will identify the optimal microlauncher-spaceport combination that is compatible with the satellite’s dimensions, its operational orbit as well as the desired launch window. The project is also backed by D-Orbit’s Portuguese team, which will support the development of the enhanced service management software, an extension of the company’s Aurora mission control suite.

This project also establishes a new partnership with Spaceport Cornwall and is a wide-reaching collaboration across key actors in the supply chain. Furthermore, the project will initially include the design of a variant of the ION spacecraft, which will then progress to manufacturing using components from the UK supply chain.

The UK Space Agency invested £12 million into the Boost! program in 2019, one of the largest investments from ESA member states. The overall value of the Boost! contract for D-Orbit and the consortium partners is £1.6 million, of which £1 million in ESA contributions via UKSA and PT Space. The funding will enable D-Orbit to benefit from ESA’s pioneering facilities, technical teams, and business networks.

The new service is based at the Spaceport Cornwall Centre for Space Technologies, acting as a gateway in collaboration with other spaceports across the UK and Europe. Indeed, operators at two additional Spaceports are members of the consortium: ScotSpace Ltd. at Prestwick Spaceport, which will act as the logistics, integration and operations support hub for the Scottish launch sites of the project, in addition to providing access to local launch services.

The Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), working from the Azores, Portugal. The ASC will lead a Portuguese component in the service project, supported through this Boost! Contract, and will demonstrate the operational feasibility to implement the Responsive Microlauncher Service from the Azores, including the development and deployment of some of the required infrastructure elements. ASC is supported by Optimal Structural Solutions, as infrastructure provider and supply chain representation, and Ilex Space, as end-user-representation and commercial broker. The Portuguese contribution allows D-Orbit to provide additional options to potential customers as it will aim at defining some standard practices across different spaceports.

Virgin Orbit and Skyrora will each be working with D-Orbit to ensure the service is fully tailored to the respective characteristics of their unique offerings. Sky and Space Company (SAS) will also be involved, as part of its professional services, as reference satellite operator, payload customer, and service end-user.

The Satellite Applications Catapult are also a key partner and will be supporting market surveys, service definition and liaising with Spaceport Cornwall on the specification, funding and operation of physical service facilities.

“We aim to exploit the D-Orbit group’s unique position in the value chain and develop a suite of small satellite focused value-added services, to actively drive business towards these new market players – this is the opportunity for the UK business,” said Chris Brunskill, Head of Programs at D-Orbit UK “Boost! support is a critical enabler and catalyst in realising this vision in a timely manner as we collectively work together in achieving the Governments’ targets set out in the Integrated Review and the Space Growth Strategy.”

“ESA’s Boost! contract with D-Orbit nurtures a new commercial space transportation service and enriches launch opportunities tailored to the thriving small satellites market. This will stimulate the European economy andspace commercialization, in line with ESA’s Agenda 2025,” said Thilo Kranz, ESA’s Commercial Space Transportation Program Manager.

Ian Annett, Deputy CEO, UK Space Agency, said, “This funding is excellent news for the D-Orbit and for the UK space sector. Their standardised end-to-end transportation services will promote increased cohesion between European spaceports and launch providers, encouraging greater international collaboration. This support, alongside our world-class talent in the space sector, means the UK will be well-placed to exploit the opportunities that commercial launch from the UK will bring.”

“The development of a space ecosystem on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores, is one of the strategic challenges of the Portuguese Space Agency, so it is with great interest that we support the project “Responsive Microlauncher Service”, like we do with all projects from other companies, integrated in the Boost! program that are contributing to the development of the Portuguese industry’s capacity“, said Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency.

Accion Systems has announced $42 million in Series C funding led by an affiliate of Tracker Capital Management, LLC (“Tracker Capital”) — this investment brings Accion Systems’ valuation to $83.5 million and Tracker Capital has acquired a majority stake in the company. The funding will accelerate the development of Accion’s next-generation propulsion system and scale up its manufacturing to meet the surging demand for in-space propulsion.

Accion Systems was founded in 2014 by MIT engineers Dr. Natalya Bailey and Louis Perna to accelerate the exploration of space. To fulfill this mission, Accion Systems develops in-space propulsion technologies optimized for scalability, performance, and efficiency. Accion Systems’ flagship product, TILE, uses proprietary electrospray thrusters, bringing electric propulsion to satellites of all sizes and redefining in-space capabilities for the 21st century. As thousands of new satellites and constellations join Earth’s orbit each year, TILE can extend the value and lifetime of each mission while enabling spacecraft to de-orbit sustainably.

This investment will support Accion Systems to develop the next generation TILE system and strengthen the supply chain and at-scale manufacturing of these MEMS systems, leveraging microfabrication processes optimized by the semiconductor industry. Accion Systems will be launching four TILE systems in 2021 and two more in early 2022. Valuable flight heritage and on-orbit data, coupled with the developments in the TILE product line, will provide significant improvements in thrust and total impulse will position Accion Systems for a promising future.

TILE is an efficient, low-SWaP (size, weight, and power) electrospray propulsion system for the space industry. It combines a safe, inert liquid propellant with a simple mechanical design to create a propulsion system that is low-cost, compact, and easy to manufacture, with less than 50% of the power draw of other propulsion technologies. TILE’s thruster heads and propellant supply subsystems can be flexibly arranged within the spacecraft structure to meet the needs of any given mission. For example, TILE can be arranged to torque balance larger satellites; distributed for use as ACS actuators, rendezvous and proximity operations maneuvers; or clustered together for main propulsion.

“We are thankful for Tracker Capital’s trust and confidence in our team, technology, and business and their recognition of our TILE family of in-space thrusters as the future of in-space maneuverability,” said Accion Systems CEO, Peter Kant. “We are now poised to bring propulsion and other maneuverability capabilities to all classes of satellites and a wide range of missions. Ion electrospray provides a common, scalable, and modular propulsion system. We see TILE as the future propulsion system for all space missions. We are thrilled to partner with Tracker Capital and benefit from their resources to help us achieve our mission.”

Tracker Capital Senior Advisor, Michael Morell, commented, “Accion Systems brings innovative technology to help solve one of the space industry’s biggest and most expensive challenges. The company’s propulsion systems are poised to have a transformative impact on space mobility and we are excited to support its vision and talented team.”

Tracker Capital is a stage-agnostic venture capital investor that principally invests in high-potential technology growth companies and was founded by Stephen Feinberg, who is also Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management.