Archives for December 2021

The commissioning phase of the C3S RadCube 3U CubeSat has been successfully completed — the platform developed by C3S has been operating since its launch on August 17, 2021, and RadCube has performed flawlessly under the extreme conditions of the space environment.

After launch, the solar panels opened and the electrical power system properly charged the battery — voltage and temperature are also stable. As indicated by the continuously downlinked telemetry data, the power switches of the subsystems operate well, and the thermal conditions of the subsystems are also nominal.

Due to the communication between the On-board Computer (OBC) and the Mission Operations Center, we receive the telemetry data several times per day when the satellite passes over the ground station in Budapest. One of the commissioning phase’s milestones was the deployment of the boom that allowed the performance of scientific experiments 80 centimeters away from the satellite which, in this manner, minimizes its magnetic field.

Following the deployment, the first measurement data arrived. Even before all of this, we had started the collection of the housekeeping data of the primary scientific payload RadMag that was developed by the Centre for Energy Research. Approaching the end phase of the commissioning schedule, the activation of the instrument has been fully completed. During commissioning, the radiation unit of RadMag already recorded the effects of a space weather event. C3S is the prime member of the ESA’s RadCube consortium and, in addition to holding the project together and adding technological value, its activity encompasses the entire lifecycle of the mission from mission planning, system engineering, platform design & development, through tests and simulations to the arrangement of the launch. Furthermore, its in-house developed Mission Operation Centre and ground stations support the satellite’s operation after launch.

In addition to the Hungarian Center for Energy Research, which is responsible for the space radiation environment monitoring payload, further members of the consortium are the Imperial College of London that developed the magnetometer payload, Astronika from Poland, which is liable for the boom mechanism and ESA that provided the secondary payload to characterize space radiation effects on computer memory chips. Spanish DHV Technologies delivered the solar panels, while the Belgian KU Leuven provided the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS).

The satellite was launched from Guyana Space Centre, Kourou, French-Guyana with the coordination of Arianespace. C3S 3U cubesat’s launch partner was SAB Launch Services Srl. The launch vehicle was a VEGA (flight VV19), a European launch vehicle. ESA contracted for a half year of operation in order to complete the In-Orbit Demonstration mission objectives. However, the design lifetime of the C3S satellite platform in space exceeds this several times over.

RadCube is the sixth smallsat launched in LEO for technology on-orbit demonstration purposes within the ESA’s General Support Technology Program (GSTP). The European Space Agency has brought several projects to life in recent years with the purpose of exploiting the immense and diverse potential of smallsats. RadCube was funded from the GSTP contributions of Hungary, Poland and United Kingdom.

“The all-new cubesat platform and the precision of RadCube’s miniature instruments demanded a complex commissioning process, which has now been successfully completed,” said Dorottya Milánkovich, C3S Project Manager.

“Now we have a fully functioning spacecraft with a well-running ground segment, which is capable of operating the scientific instruments, and hence contributes to a better understanding of our space weather environment, as well as giving important flight heritage to the newly developed technologies on board," said Roger Walker, Head of the CubeSat Systems Unit at the European Space Agency. 

C3S LLC’s products and solutions support both scientific experiments and space industry demands throughout the missions. The company’s mission planning activity encompasses highly reliable nanosatellite platform and subsystem design, pre-launch simulation software and hardware development and mission operation environment development. Its redundant subsystems are highly available and have a long life-cycle. Beyond cubesats, C3S has an increasing presence in the medium satellite market as a designer of electric power distribution systems and payload management systems.

Satellite Vu has formally signed a contract with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to build the firm’s first satellite, which is scheduled to be launched into LEO in Q4 2022.

The satellite will collect thermal data day and night of both the natural and the built environment at any location on the planet. The full constellation will have the ability to measure the heat signature of any building multiple times a day, enabling Satellite Vu to derive new insights in real time about building heat loss, activity and insulation.

The deal comes following Satellite Vu’s £15 million series A funding round, and an additional £1 million grant from the UK Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Program (NSIP).

The satellite has been designed with a high resolution 3.5 meter resolution mid-wave infrared imager with video capability. The satellite video generation capability adds unique advantages over traditional imagery, allowing the detection of highly dynamic features in scenes to be provided and extracted, such as 3D profiles, movement tracking, and speed measurement useful for a range of applications relating to human activity, including defence and security and disaster monitoring.

The satellites and applications development has been supported by the UK Space Agency, via two National Space Innovation Grants, and a European Space Agency (ESA) General Support Technology Program (GSTP) grant.

Anthony Baker, CEO, Satellite Vu said, “After months of perfecting and developing the core technology, we’re excited to have formally signed this agreement with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd to build the first of our seven planned satellites which will offer near real time high resolution temperature profiles of cities around the world. Satellite Vu will become the thermometer of the world. With the climate change emergency reaching critical levels, our insights will enable any business, building owner or government on the planet to obtain an independent, ongoing assessment of their energy wastage and efficiency, as well as the ability to monitor water pollution. Getting access to this data will enable organizations to take immediate action to improve their green credentials, as well as giving shareholders and investors a unique view into their company’s ESG performance.”

SSTL’s Managing Director, Phil Brownnett, said, “I am extremely pleased to be partnering with UK start up Satellite Vu. Our partnership is an ideal blend of SSTL’s pioneering approach and years of small satellite expertise with Satellite Vu’s entrepreneurial approach and strong business case. It’s a game-changing climate change mission and SSTL is very proud to be involved.”

Elizabeth Seaman, Head of National Space Innovation Programme at the UK Space Agency, said, “The National Space Innovation Programme is supporting our most ambitious innovators who are developing first-of-a-kind technologies to help solve some of our greatest challenges. This exciting partnership between SSTL and Satellite Vu will develop the first of a series of new satellites to provide real-time data on the energy efficiency of buildings, an important source of information that will help organisations respond to climate change.”

MDA Ltd. (TSX:MDA) and ICEYE have entered into an agreement for ICEYE to supply an X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) spacecraft for CHORUS, MDA’s next generation commercial Earth Observation (EO) mission.

A collaborative multi-sensor constellation, CHORUS brings together diverse and unique imagery and data sources, changing how and when we see the world by providing a new level of real-time insight and innovative EO services.

Building on the RADARSAT program, CHORUS will include C- and X-band SAR satellites operating in a mid-inclination orbit with day or night imaging in all weather conditions. An essential element of the CHORUS constellation, the X-band spacecraft will fly in the same mid-inclination orbit with the identical ground track as the MDA-built C-band SAR satellite.

This revolutionary approach will provide the most extensive radar imaging capacity available on the market, with higher imaging performance, higher frequency imaging, variable imaging times, more imaging time per orbit, fast tasking, faster delivery timelines and Near Real-Time (NRT) data exploitation aided by ML / AI.

Adding a trailing high-resolution X-band SAR satellite to a powerful C-band SAR satellite will also unlock new use cases, including tipping and cueing techniques that allow MDA’s leading broad area sensor to monitor an area of interest (the “tip”) and to zoom in on objects of interest (the “cue”) using the trailing high resolution sensor.

Combining C- and X-band capabilities, CHORUS will significantly enhance existing services and enable new applications not feasible with existing SAR satellites. Features include:

●        Designed with a focus on maritime surveillance applications, CHORUS will have dedicated vessel detection imaging modes with an imaging capacity to collect an area equal to 40% of the global Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) – or over 55 million square kilometers – every day using the 25m Vessel Detection Mode.

●        CHORUS will enable a new level of precision all-weather satellite monitoring of icebergs in the North Atlantic. This is currently achieved by crewed aircraft observations supplemented with Earth Observation satellite imagery.

●        The mission will enable tipping and cueing operations between wide area surveillance to high-resolution point target monitoring. This unique capability is especially useful, when fused with space-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, for use cases such as broad area ship detection and vessel classification to support dark vessel detection activities.

●        The X-band satellite will operate in a trailing orbit which will enhance image correlation, allowing for more effective image fusion, measurements, exploitation and event or object characterization.

The companies also announced they have signed a separate distribution agreement that will allow MDA to sell ICEYE’s existing and future X-band data to select RADARSAT-2 customers, as well as to develop value-added products to immediately take advantage of advanced information data integration and analytics from these two types of SAR sensors.

MDA owns and operates RADARSAT-2, one of the world’s most capable commercial broad-area imaging satellites. With over 20 imaging modes, and established customers in over 45 countries, RADARSAT-2 delivers operationally reliable products and services supporting a number of use cases, including marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping. 

ICEYE operates the world’s largest commercial constellation of SAR satellites and has launched 14 spacecraft to date. The company is planning to further expand its constellation with at least four additional satellites by mid-2022, with the objective of reaching an average access time of three hours anywhere on the globe.

CesiumAstro, Inc., with support from NASA, is accelerating radio frequency (RF) active phased array antenna development enabling dual function communications and sensing for lunar and cislunar applications across common Ka-band, TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) and 5G mmWave frequency bands

High-performance communication links for lunar and deep space missions are essential to large scale lunar infrastructure and operations. Core factors to delivering this step change in lunar exploration and development include mass manufacturability and software-defined capabilities which serve as the cornerstones of CesiumAstro’s modular ecosystem, readily suited to a wide range of mission scenarios using the company’s unique modular building block approach to build and deploy communications systems.

Leveraging CesiumAstro’s existing phased array communication hardware and development roadmap, the company will demonstrate the next generation of its Nightingale active phased array antenna as part of a Phase II NASA SBIR contract recently awarded by the agency as a follow-on to a Phase I NASA SBIR contract supporting its conceptual design. The second generation, dual function active phased array enables both communication and sensing from a single flat panel with no moving parts or deployable structures. Comprised of the latest semiconductor technology and mass manufacturing approaches, the new CesiumAstro antenna will provide the most cost-effective flat panel antenna array solution available for higher radiation lunar environments.

More broadly, CesiumAstro’s next generation phased array will also support a wide range of civil, commercial, and defense missions which require low SWaP (size, weight, and power), high data rate communications. Missions include ground links for smallsats, dedicated high throughput communication links for larger satellites, and radar sensing payloads for orbital servicing and space situational awareness. Additionally, UAVs are a prime target for technology transition as SWaP is critical and a dual-function payload has direct application supporting communications and navigation.

Additional NASA programs that have adopted CesiumAstro’s technology include NASA Ames Research Center’s Starling program and NASA Glenn Research Center’s SKOUT program. Future NASA applications benefiting from CesiumAstro technology include communications and radar ranging systems for lunar landers, satellites, and space stations to provide a dedicated communications link for lunar rovers and habitats, very-high-throughput communications for lunar communication relay satellites, and space situational awareness capability.

“CesiumAstro is building affordable, scalable antenna solutions that will form the backbone of a robust lunar communications infrastructure,” said Shey Sabripour, Founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “Reliable communications are a requirement for developing a long-term sustainable presence on the moon.”

Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”) has appointed Nobuhiro Matsuyama (“Matsu”) as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer, effective December 1, 2021.

Matsuyama will work closely with the company’s CEO and global management team to implement the firm’s strategy to achieve business expansion and profitable growth. He succeeds Atsuyuki Uenaka, who will serve as Chief Administrative Officer and continue to lead Astroscale’s administrative functions and internal control processes.

Matsuyama joins Astroscale with more than 12 years’ experience in global finance and banking. Prior to joining Astroscale, Matsuyama held a number of key positions in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and New York. In these roles, he successfully advised global companies on strategic transactions including debt, equity and mergers and acquisitions. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, he also acted as an investor, leading the sourcing and execution of multiple principal investments into Japanese startup companies.

“Matsu has excellent global experience and a proven track record in financial strategy, capital markets and risk management,” said Nobu Okada, Founder & CEO of Astroscale. “These skills will be valuable assets in the next stages of Astroscale’s growth and development. We look forward to benefitting from his leadership and expertise as we continue to scale our operations and execute on our plan to accelerate satellite servicing development around the world.”

The Colombian Air Force and GomSpace have signed a contract for continuation of the FACTSAT-2 satellite mission.

GomSpace signed the contract with CODALTEC / Colombian Air Force (“FAC”) to continue the development on the FACSAT-2 satellite mission, which was disclosed on October 30, 2020. The contract is worth 6.1 million Swedish Krona and will be delivered in 2022.

GomSpace has successfully implemented phase A/B/C of the FACSAT-2 mission. The present contract will cover Phase D/E, which will include the integration and validation phase of FACSAT2, transfer of knowledge, LEOP, and mission operations implementation on the new Inmarsat I-6 F1 that is scheduled to launch before year’s end.

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has joined the European space consortium, UN:IO, that is creating an independent, European constellation of satellites for commercial and institutional communication channels.

As a vital part of the infrastructure, SSC adds their SATCOM services heritage as well as one of the world’s leading, ground station networks. The mega constellation is set to be fully operational by 2025, supported by the European Commission who selected UN:IO out of the 10 consortia that applied.

The European Commission will support the UN:IO consortium with 1.4 million euros for the preparations of critical infrastructure that will ensure secure broadband connectivity for mass communication and large data quantities.

In the next six months, the consortium will present its technical solutions to the EU, followed by further operational infrastructure to be fully implemented by 2025.

“Now begins the work for SSC and the other 13 member organizations to close the gap between Europe and US and China, countries which have already largely realized their constellations of communications satellites. The megaconstellation will ensure independent European development within Earth observation, positioning and navigation, communications and further exploration of space – ultimately securing sustainable societal development,” said Stefan Gardefjord, CEO at SSC.

“This consortium is Europe's technological declaration of independence. We have everything we need here in Europe, we just need to combine and activate it highly efficiently. UN:IO is ideally prepared for this task. Our flexibility, speed and cost-effectiveness, together with the innovative strength of Europe’s technological avantgarde, is what forms the European space industry," said Walter Ballheimer, spokesperson for UN:IO and Managing Director of Reflex Aerospace.