Archives for January 2022

Kleos Space has received a data evaluation contract from Advanced Ground Information Systems, Inc. (AGIS).

AGIS simultaneously processes up to 200,000 real-time sensor reports to provide command and control communication capabilities to U.S. military, government and first responders.

The firm’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) system enables data interoperability between U.S. and NATO C5ISR systems to provide a common operational picture.

AGIS’ C5ISR system will be using Kleos’ electronic intelligence (ELINT) data to complement other intelligence data sources to provide hostile and illegal shipping awareness to its customers with the ability to direct forces.

Under the contract, AGIS will have access to Kleos’ Guardian Locate data product for evaluation purposes. The product delivers processed radio frequency transmissions collected over key areas of interest, irrespective of the presence of positioning systems.

Kleos’ radio frequency geolocation data enhances the detection of illegal activity, including piracy, drug and people smuggling, border security challenges and illegal fishing. Its global activity-based data is sold as-a-service to governments and commercial entities, complementing existing commercial datasets.
Kleos currently has eight satellites on-orbit with launches for the company’s Patrol and Observer Missions scheduled for April and June 2022, respectively.

Kleos’ Chief Revenue Officer, Eric von Eckartsberg, said, “AGIS has a long history of providing critical data to those in the field. We’re excited for our geolocation sensor data to be integrated into their command-and-control systems, which will help bringing Kleos’ products to a wide array of government customers around the world. Kleos’ data complements existing datasets and can be used to validate or tip and cue other sources to improve the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.”

AGIS’ CEO, Cap Beyer, said “We are looking forward to working with Kleos, and providing users the ability to integrate Kleos’ intelligence information with a mature multinational C5ISR system and other intelligence sources.”

Total success of the launch of the first Spanish picosatellites that will offer IoT connectivity for industrial assets in areas without ground-based coverage occurred on January 13 for aerospace startup FOSSA Systems with the deployment of the company’s third smallsats mission via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Just 18 hours after launch, the FOSSA Systems engineering team confirmed that all of the smallsats have established communications with more than 365 TinyGS (Open Network of Ground Stations), low-power, IoT stations around the world, using the LoRa communication frequency.

The launch occurred from Cape Canaveral and the first members of the FOSSASat-2E mission reached their assigned orbits at 5:32 p.m., CET.

With full connectivity achieved, the technological milestone in the field of picosatellites (smallsat platforms weighing less than one kilo) is completed. FOSSA Systems plans to deploy a constellation of 80 smallsats in successive launches prior to 2024. The company’s objective is to offer global IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity in areas without mobile coverage for low-power devices. This is the first Spanish company, and one of the first ten in the world, to deploy a constellation of IoT smallsats.

Designed and integrated in Spain, the six picosatellites were launched and deployed in SSO — the FOSSASat-2E will orbit the Earth approximately 15 times a day, allowing a single satellite to provide global coverage, anywhere on the planet.

FOSSA Systems offers a turnkey service that includes data collection, monitoring and analysis, offering an optimal and available solution for all types of industries, from power plants, fish farms, agriculture, Defense to maritime transport, among others. The launch took place just three months after FOSSA Systems obtained two licenses from the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transition, which enabled the company to operate a public, satellite-based, electronic communications network, as well as to the transmission of data by the same system.

The launch occurred 18 months after the company was founded by Julián Fernández, CEO, and Vicente González, the firm’s CTO.

Fernández said, “This is the first step in an ambitious deployment that will democratize access to IoT connectivity at a global level, demonstrating the success of the technology and the capabilities that we can offer. Billions of connected devices will come online over the next decade, and we aim to serve much of the market in remote areas. All this, reducing orders of magnitude the cost compared to traditional satellite connectivity. "

González added, “Today begins a new stage for FOSSA and, although there is still a long way to go, we are closer to achieving one of our main objectives, which is none other than offering optimized end-to-end solutions for each use case, with low-power IoT connectivity as core."

Capella Space has been contracted by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to demonstrate the company’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery capabilities.

Through this contract, Capella will work with the NRO to provide SAR data modeling and simulation, end-to-end regional imagery responsiveness demonstrations, theater downlink demonstrations and sample imagery delivery.

This contract follows an October 2021 NRO announcement about its new Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Framework for Strategic Commercial Enhancements, focused on new and emerging commercial capabilities. The BAA Framework allows the NRO to rapidly explore, assess and leverage innovative industry capabilities to meet new intelligence challenges and inform operational requirements.

In December 2019, Capella signed an earlier contract with the NRO to study the integration of its SAR imagery into the NRO’s national ground architecture. The company has partnered with several other U.S. Department of Defense agencies, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Space Force.

“As the first & only operator of an American commercial SAR constellation, we are thrilled to take our partnership with NRO to this next phase,” said Payam Banazadeh, CEO and founder of Capella Space. “The BAA Framework allows the NRO to take advantage of our growing constellation of high resolution satellites. We look forward to working with the NRO to expand our reach into additional US government customers.”

ICEYE US, a subsidiary of ICEYE, has received a contract from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). This contract enables ICEYE US to participate in the NRO’s evaluation of commercial, remote sensing companies operating synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.

With a focus on modeling and simulation, ICEYE US will support NRO’s detailed assessment of imaging modes, image quality, geolocation accuracy and coverage among other important technical parameters. The contract represents a critical step in NRO’s plan to leverage next generation commercial radar providers to deliver innovative, resilient, and responsive satellite imagery for intelligence, defense, and humanitarian efforts.

ICEYE US builds and operates U.S.-licensed SAR spacecraft from its facility in Irvine, California. The company successfully launched its first-ever satellite earlier this month with SpaceX and Exolaunch. ICEYE’s satellites are small, each weighing about 220 pounds, but provide customers with detailed images and measurements of activities on the surface of the Earth. Such satellites can be continually improved on ground and in space with new technologies and in response to specific customer requirements.

At any given time, most of the Earth is covered in clouds or darkness. Unlike traditional Earth observation satellites, ICEYE’s small radar imaging satellites can form high-resolution images of areas of the Earth in daylight, at night, and through cloud cover. In other words, they can “see” any part of the Earth multiple times a day. ICEYE’s satellites can collect images over wide areas and even more detailed images over smaller points of interest. This provides customers with persistent coverage of fast breaking events on the ground in all weather conditions.

“ICEYE US is privileged to be recognized as a NRO mission partner,” said Jerry Welsh, CEO of ICEYE US. “We are committed to advancing state-of-the-art commercial remote sensing capabilities for the U.S. Government and dramatically improving NRO’s access to flight-proven satellites that collect high resolution radar imagery anywhere on Earth.”

“Our objective with this NRO effort is to demonstrate how ICEYE spacecraft provide global situational awareness and complement existing government systems so that NRO can best satisfy future U.S. Government GEOINT requirements,” said Eric Jensen, President of ICEYE US. “We are delighted to partner with NRO to equip end users with the most relevant, high-quality data needed to support critical decision-making.”

The new NANOBEND cable assembly from HUBER+SUHNER enables industries operating critical operations to benefit from improved connectivity in small spaces.

Designed for applications in aerospace, defense and test and measurement markets where space, weight and performance are critical, the product is the latest addition to the award-winning MINIBEND® product line, widely-known as the original ‘bend-to-the-end’ solution and offering the smallest bending radii in the industry.

The entire cable assembly is extremely flexible and enables tight bending where the cable and connector meet, without compromising on signal strength or stability. NANOBEND is ideal for frequencies of up to 65 GHz, and ensures excellent strength and reliable connectivity in high-stress environments. It is triple shielded to minimize radio frequency leakage, further increasing its durability in extreme conditions. Ideal for close-quartered situations, NANOBEND features an outer cable diameter of only 1.62 millimeters.

Designed to meet Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) standards , NANOBEND provides plug-and-play capability with existing market solutions, making upgrades flexible and cost-effective. In addition, specially designed connectors offer end-to-end contacts that meet common industry standards, including SMA, SMP, SK, SMPM and SMPM-T.

Raymond Miney, Senior Product Manager at HUBER+SUHNER said, “The NANOBEND cable assembly has been created for applications where footprint is extremely limited, such as small orbit satellites and military radar electronics. Despite the extreme bending capabilities of the cable, reliability in high-frequency signal distribution is ensured. This means that we can support the need of engineers to accommodate miniaturization requirements and meet strict ESA, NASA, and MIL standards.”

The new NANOBEND cable assembly from HUBER+SUHNER enables industries operating critical operations to benefit from improved connectivity in small spaces.

Designed for applications in aerospace, defense and test and measurement markets where space, weight and performance are critical, the product is the latest addition to the award-winning MINIBEND® product line, widely-known as the original ‘bend-to-the-end’ solution and offering the smallest bending radii in the industry.

The entire cable assembly is extremely flexible and enables tight bending where the cable and connector meet, without compromising on signal strength or stability. NANOBEND is ideal for frequencies of up to 65 GHz, and ensures excellent strength and reliable connectivity in high-stress environments. It is triple shielded to minimize radio frequency leakage, further increasing its durability in extreme conditions. Ideal for close-quartered situations, NANOBEND features an outer cable diameter of only 1.62 millimeters.

Designed to meet Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) standards , NANOBEND provides plug-and-play capability with existing market solutions, making upgrades flexible and cost-effective. In addition, specially designed connectors offer end-to-end contacts that meet common industry standards, including SMA, SMP, SK, SMPM and SMPM-T.

Raymond Miney, Senior Product Manager at HUBER+SUHNER said, “The NANOBEND cable assembly has been created for applications where footprint is extremely limited, such as small orbit satellites and military radar electronics. Despite the extreme bending capabilities of the cable, reliability in high-frequency signal distribution is ensured. This means that we can support the need of engineers to accommodate miniaturization requirements and meet strict ESA, NASA, and MIL standards.”

Aliena Pte. Ltd. (Aliena), a company that enables mobility of smallsats through the firm’s core-technology — Hall thrusters — has deployed their engines on the smallest satellite on-orbit to host such a propulsion system.

The Hall thruster was integrated on a 3U smallsat — NuX-1 — made and owned by satellite IoT company NuSpace, and was brought to orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 via the Transporter-3 mission. The Hall thrusters that were developed for this mission are GEO-Hall thrusters that are sub-10 W class systems that were designed specifically to cater to meet the most demanding smallsat operations.

A constraint in the operational deployment of conventional Hall thrusters include the power consumption of such systems that make it challenging for incorporation onboard smallsats, due to the limited power generation and storage capacities available on such small platforms. The GEO-Hall thrusters were designed to operate below the 10 W regime and have demonstrated capability to fit within extremely small form-factors, thereby heralding new potential opportunities for smallsats to consider the use of such systems for emerging missions and operations.

Aliena has achieved a milestone reduction in power consumption for Hall thrusters through the use of a novel ignition and neutralization scheme that was developed internally by the company. Additionally, this novel system allows for instant-ignition of the systems without requirement for the engines to be in a hot-standby mode or for warm-up cycles prior to firing, which are common drawbacks of systems that utilize active cathode neutralizers or solid fuel.

This unique feature enables more agile operations to be executed through on-demand propulsion while not compromising on the form-factor and power budgets of the satellites, making it an extremely attractive option for smallsat operators through provision of more payload volume, and power budgets to be diverted for actual operations.

Aliena also has microsatellite-class engines (MUSIC) that will be first deployed on a 12U smallsat platform in 2023 with Orbital Astronautic’s ORB-12 Strider mission, and has since secured separate orders from an undisclosed customer. Aliena is currently taking sales inquiries and orders from interested parties.

“As the space industry continues to grow exponentially and rapidly, Aliena aims to address a growing demand for in-space mobility through our plasma engines., said Dr. Lim Jian Wei Mark, CEO of Aliena. “Once a nascent market, we have seen a sudden surge in the number of space-tech companies being incorporated to capitalize on the cost effectiveness of small satellites and accessibility to space to deploy their own constellations that will impact terrestrial and extra-terrestrial businesses. We want to enable these emerging operations and to help catalyse new business opportunities in space through the provision of unprecedented mobility to spacecrafts and allow for them to execute the most challenging of missions.”