Archives for September 2021

AT&T has signed a strategic agreement with OneWeb to harness the capabilities of satellite technology to improve access for AT&T business customers into remote and challenging geographic locations — this new connectivity will complement existing AT&T access technologies.

AT&T’s business fiber network enables high-speed connections to more than 2.5 million U.S. business customer locations. Nationwide, more than 9 million business customer locations are within 1,000 feet of AT&T fiber.¹ However, there are still remote areas that existing networks can’t reach with the high-speed, low-latency broadband essential to business operations.

AT&T will use this technology to enhance connectivity when connecting to its enterprise, small and medium-sized business and government customers as well as hard-to-reach cell towers.

The AT&T service will be supported by OneWeb’s network of satellites. OneWeb has launched 288 satellites and expects to attain global coverage with a total fleet of 648 satellites by the end of 2022. AT&T business and government customers in Alaska and northern U.S. states will be covered later this year.

“Working with OneWeb, we’ll be able to enhance high-speed connectivity in places that we don’t serve today and meet our customers wherever they are,” said Scott Mair, President, Network Engineering and Operations, AT&T. “We’re expanding our network with one more option to help ensure that our business customers have the high-speed, low-latency connectivity they need to thrive as the nation recovers from COVID-19.”

“OneWeb’s enterprise-grade network has a unique capability to serve hard-to-reach businesses and communities. Our work with AT&T will focus on how satellite technology can support improved capacity and coverage in remote, rural and challenging geographic locations,” said Neil Masterson, OneWeb Chief Executive Officer. “Today’s agreement with AT&T demonstrates OneWeb’s execution momentum and the confidence customers such as AT&T have in its services and offering.”

¹ The over 2.5 million U.S. business customer locations, which AT&T provides high-speed fiber connections, is included within the >9M U.S. business customer locations on or within 1,000 feet of our fiber.

BridgeComm, Inc. has entered into a strategic new teaming agreement with Space Micro, Inc. and the companies will focus on the design, development and testing of U.S. Government and commercial optical wireless communications (OWC) programs and equipment and more.

Space Micro has a flawless space flight heritage of over 2.5 million hours, coupled with the firm’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) products, has helped Space Micro to support aerospace primes, government and civil agencies, commercial entities and new space ventures around the globe. Among its many Industry firsts and achievements, Space Micro has the world’s highest data rate Laser Communications Terminal on-orbit.

The strategic agreement between BridgeComm and Space Micro will focus strongly on AstroBridge and AeroBridge Tracking Terminals. BridgeComm will continue to develop LEO constellation and aerospace operation projects, building on current partnerships, using Space Micro as a partner. BridgeComm will leverage Space Micro design, production and testing capabilities, including hermetically sealing components and space-related environmental testing.

Space Micro is also enabled to offer for sale BridgeComm ground station equipment products and capabilities, as applicable, for LEO and geosynchronous orbit (GEO) applications. On a preferred partnership approach, Space Micro may offer for sale BridgeComm’s smallsat space terminal.

“This is both an opportunity and a significant milestone for BridgeComm, particularly with the space industry finally coming to the forefront in a big way,” said BridgeComm CEO, Barry A. Matsumori. “Over nearly two decades, Space Micro has built a remarkable team delivering mission-critical products for satellite operators, lunar missions and deep space exploration. Together we will share our unique experiences, resources and engineering intelligence to drive continued growth and innovation in OWC in this next space era.”

“We are looking forward to partnering with BridgeComm, particularly as laser communications terminals are key to many new government initiatives,” said David Czajkowski, CEO, Space Micro. “BridgeComm’s commitment to realizing the tremendous potential of optical communications for space applications, paired with our dedication to delivering highly reliable products will move the needle not just for BridgeComm and Space Micro, but for the entire space industry. And that is incredibly exciting.”

2021 Keynotes and Headliners

Fresh and creative business insights for the satellite industry is invaluable. However, in order to take advantage of these innovative ideas to form your strategic business plans, a rapid response to significant and germane ideas is required.

A critical factor in navigating these tricky waters is the art of listening to clients, colleagues and thought leaders who have already introduced successful and novel technologies to the industry and to adroitly absorb the presented, applicable knowledge.

Selected from organizations that are apt at building innovative satellite solutions, more than 100 speakers at Satellite Innovation 2021 are able to provide unique insight as well as pragmatic strategies.

Register day to join industry leaders that are focused on next-generation satellite technology and business.

Note: In-person and virtual attendance options are readily available.

Additional, Original Perspectives

View all speakers…

Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1) has secured A$12.6 million (equivalent to $9.3 million) from new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors in Australia and the U.S. via a Placement of approximately 14,823,529 new CHESS Depositary Interests (instruments traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)) over Kleos ordinary shares (CDIs) at A$0.85 (~0,63 USD) per CDI (Placement).

The Placement includes cornerstone investments from Perennial Value Management and Thorney Investment Group.

Commenting on the Placement, Kleos CEO Andy Bowyer said, “I am extremely pleased to welcome new high-calibre institutional investors Perennial and Thorney to the register. The strong support we have received from new and current investors reflects Kleos’ significant technical and commercial progress that is accelerating rapidly.”

The Placement proceeds will be used to fund the launch of future satellite clusters and to scale Kleos’ data-as-a-service offering.

The 14,823,529 CDIs will rank equally with existing ordinary CDIs of the Company and will be issued under the Company’s issuing capacity in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 7.1A. Settlement is expected to occur by September 10, 2021, with allotment expected to occur on September 15, 2021.

The 8,894,118 Options will be issued under ASX Listing Rule 7.1. The A$0.85 (~0,63 USD) Placement price represents a 9.6% discount to the 30-day volume weighted average trading price and is inclusive of three attaching options for every five CDIs issued, exercisable at A$1.20 and expiring three years from the date of issue.

2021 Keynotes and Headliners

Fresh and creative business insights for the satellite industry is invaluable. However, in order to take advantage of these innovative ideas to form your strategic business plans, a rapid response to significant and germane ideas is required.

A critical factor in navigating these tricky waters is the art of listening to clients, colleagues and thought leaders who have already introduced successful and novel technologies to the industry and to adroitly absorb the presented, applicable knowledge.

Selected from organizations that are apt at building innovative satellite solutions, more than 100 speakers at Satellite Innovation 2021 are able to provide unique insight as well as pragmatic strategies.

Register day to join industry leaders that are focused on next-generation satellite technology and business.

Note: In-person and virtual attendance options are readily available.

Additional, Original Perspectives

View all speakers…

Libre Space Foundation‘s QUBIK mission is scheduled to launch on the September 2nd on Firefly Aerospace’s inaugural flight of their Alpha launch vehicle, scheduled to occur on September 2.

This mission will be supporting Libre Space Foundation’s QUBIK Mission as well as several other technical and non-technical payloads from around the world.

Launching from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, USA, the launch window is:

• September 03, 2021 – 01:00-05:00 UTC
• September 02, 2021 – 18:00-22:00 PDT, local time

The times are subject to change.

The Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission (DREAM) provided a unique opportunity to schools, institutions, labs, non-profits and startups to gain access to space. Firefly Aerospace is hosting academic and educational payloads, free of charge, on this inaugural Alpha launch.

The QUBIK mission is comprised of two components, the QUBIK-1 and QUBIK-2 smallsats, measuring 5x5x5 cm, and the PocketQube dispenser, called PICOBUS. The PICOBUS deployer is the first, open-source, PocketQube deployer.

The QUBIK PocketQubes (pictured above, photo courtesy of Libre Space) are to be short-lived, with only ~3 weeks of predicted orbit lifespan. This short timeframe will suffice for a series of amateur radio experiments on Identifying and Tracking satellites early on, upon deployment.

The experiments will be conducted with the help of SatNOGS, the world’s largest open-source network of satellite ground stations. This is a network of 400+ stations in more than 50 countries around the world.

Libre Space Foundation (LSF) is a non-profit organization involved in designing and developing open-source, space-related technologies. LSF was founded in 2015 and focuses on supporting knowledge, scientific research and works toward making space accessible to everyone interested. True to the vision “for an Open and Accessible Outer Space for all,” the projects that LSF supports and maintains are opensource and available to everyone. Libre Space Foundation maintains collaborations with space agencies, university institutions, space organizations, libraries and companies that help make space an open environment for all humanity.

D-Orbit has signed an agreement with HyImpulse Technologies that’s aimed at a joint launch and deployment mission that will leverage HyImpulse’s SL1 launcher and D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier.

SL1 is a three-stage, hybrid rocket designed to transport to LEO satellites of up to 500 kg. ION Satellite Carrier (ION) is D-Orbit’s proprietary orbital transportation vehicle designed to ferry a batch of satellites across orbits and release each satellite into a customized orbital slot, while at the same time operating multiple hosted payloads during a single mission.

This partnership will offer, for the first time, a combination of a launcher and orbital transportation vehicle that maximizes the mass of SL1’s payload to SSO and leverages ION Satellite Carrier to deploy satellites into orbits with distinct values of parameters like altitude, inclination and local time of the ascending node (LTAN).

The scope of the contract includes a study of a late payload integration that will enable third parties to board the launch vehicle as late as possible for use cases such as preserving pharmaceutical and biological payloads, apply last-minute changes to the manifest, and replace payloads that are suffering development delay with others that are ready-for-fly. The joint mission is targeted to launch in 2025.

“This contract marks the start of an alliance that will provide the first all-European rideshare launch service that enables smaller satellite operators to reach orbits previously out of reach for this category of spacecraft,” said Matteo Bartolini, D-Orbit’s Launch Manager. “By partnering with the launcher at mission design level, we can optimize the mass and other mission resources, significantly pushing the envelope of what we can do in terms of in-orbit transportation. This first partnership represents a major step in that direction, and we are proud of the fact that the entire operation will be done here in Europe with European resources.”

“We are excited to work together with D-Orbit and explore opportunities for future joint missions. By using our Small Launcher SL1 and D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier, we are confident to satisfy all requirements of our customers. D-Orbit and HyImpulse both are great examples of innovative European NewSpace companies and together we offer new and disruptive solutions to the growing market,” said Dr. Mario Kobald, CEO of HyImpulse.

The W-Cube smallsat is the first satellite that ESA has ordered from Finland and is part of ESA’s ARTES project, which is coordinated by Joanneum Research in Austria. Reaktor Space Lab (RSL) developed and manufactured W-Cube’s satellite platform. VTT designed, manufactured and tested the radio beacon system of W-Cube together with Germany’s Fraunhofer IAF. The satellite signal is measured at both the main measuring station in Graz as well as a corresponding station at VTT in Espoo, Finland.

The satellite is now modelling, for the first time ever, how a 75 GHz signal can penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere. This opens possibilities for the use of the high millimeter wave frequency range in communications satellites in the future.

A new frequency range and additional capacity will be needed already in the next few years when the number of data communication satellites increases and big flocks of satellites such as Starlink operated by SpaceX are deployed.

The penetration through the atmospheric layers by the signal needs to be understood before the frequency range can be used. W-Cube’s dual frequency radio beacon system sends a 75 GHz signal through the Earth’s atmosphere to the measuring ground stations.

The data from the measurements helps in modelling how weather phenomena in space and in the atmosphere affect the signal propagation and polarization. In addition, W-Cube broadcasts a 37.5 GHz signal, making it possible to compare the information on measurements with previous models with a low frequency range. To save battery power, the beacon signals are only switched on when they can be detected by measuring stations in Europe. At other times, the satellite charges its batteries via the craft’s solar panels. The satellite orbits the Earth approximately once every 1.5 hours and is visible to the Earth station (from horizon to horizon) for about 10 minutes at a time.

“Today’s lower frequency ranges are divided into narrow bands over which satellites and terrestrial radio links compete. Meanwhile, no bands in the high frequency range have been shared yet among the various applications. A free wide bandwidth enables rapid transfer of information and connections in, for example, the 5G and 6G networks and in remote areas such as Northern Finland. The European Space Agency ESA has a mission to offer these connections and in this way to invest in European competitiveness”, says VTT’s Senior Scientist, Jussi Säily. “We also hope that this will help Finland get into more sizeable satellite programs. The project is of great significance in the development of both skills and knowledge, as well as testing facilities. A testing environment for satellites has taken shape in Otaniemi through collaboration involving VTT, Aalto University and commercial actors. Ensuring the spaceworthiness of the satellite has challenging terrestrial testing in environments including exposure to vacuum, heat, and vibration”.,

W-Cube was launched into space on June 30, 2021, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle as one of the satellites on the Transporter 2 mission with 88 additional satellites. W-Cube was placed into orbit on July22, 2021, and the first contact between the satellite and the RSL ground station was established July 22 to 23.

“This was followed by a deployment process in which we made sure that all of the systems were working as planned after the stress of the launch into space. That phase reached its climax today with the broadcast and reception of the 75 GHz signal. After reaching this milestone, the propagation of the signal in the atmosphere under different conditions and at different times of the year will be monitored for at least two years”, said Jarkko Antila, CEO of Reaktor Space Lab.

HawkEye 360 is the latest company to join the Space Data Association (SDA), an international non-profit association of satellite operators.

Formed in 2009, the SDA works to support the efficient and reliable sharing of crucial data to enhance safety of flight via sharing of operational data and promotion of best practices across the industry. Members include some of the world’s major satellite communications companies.

HawkEye 360 is a Radio Frequency (RF) data analytics company that was founded in 2015. The company operates a first-of-its-kind commercial satellite constellation to identify, process and geolocate a broad set of RF signals. HawkEye 360 extracts and analyses this data using proprietary algorithms to solve challenges and identify critical insight. Its customers include a range of commercial, government and international entities

The SDA enables operators to pool their orbital data in a secure and controlled manner through its Space Data Center (SDC). With HawkEye 360 joining the SDA, the SDC now covers 275 GEO satellites and 506 LEO satellites.

Pascal Wauthier, Chairman, Space Data Association, said, “We are pleased to welcome HawkEye 360 as the latest member of the SDA. With the number of objects in space continuing to rise, it is vital that more data is shared amongst operators to preserve flight safety and reduce threats of impact. This can only be achieved by more operators working together to share operational data that contributes to enhanced safety.”

Lorin Metzger, Director of Space, HawkEye 360, added, “It is the responsibility of all space-based operators to ensure the future of space safety. HawkEye is committed to contributing data and insights which can improve space situational awareness for all operators. We look forward to working with the SDA to achieve its mission.”

For more information about joining the Space Data Association, please visit https://www.space-data.org/sda/why-join-2/