Archives for January 2022

ICEYE has successfully launched two new SAR satellites into orbit — the launch included the first satellite built, licensed and operated by ICEYE US.

Both satellites were launched on the SpaceX Transporter-3 smallsat rideshare mission with Exolaunch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Communication has successfully been established with each spacecraft. In total, ICEYE has now deployed 16 satellites since 2018, including both commercial and dedicated customer missions.

ICEYE’s constellation is designed to provide customers with reliable and frequent imagery enabling the rapid detection and tracking of changes on the Earth’s surface, regardless of time of day, or weather conditions. This capability is ideally suited for applications such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, national security, defense, humanitarian relief and climate change monitoring.

ICEYE US is a subsidiary of ICEYE with its headquarters located in Irvine, California. The newly launched ICEYE US satellite is licensed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and will be operated and controlled exclusively from the company’s 24/7 Mission Operations Center (MOC) in Irvine, California.

For 2022, ICEYE US plans to grow the team based in its U.S. headquarters and open an office in the Washington D.C. area to better serve regional customers. In addition, the company plans to increase the number of spacecraft built in Irvine this year. Last November, ICEYE US announced it had joined a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (SMDTC) to advance state-of-the-art Earth Observation (EO) technology in support of U.S. Army missions.

“Expanding our fleet is an important step in better serving our global customers and empowering our advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence relating to SAR technologies,” said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-founder of ICEYE. “The new satellites add critical capability to the ICEYE constellation which translates to additional solutions and deeper analytics for our customers.”

“The ICEYE US team continues its rapid progress,” said Jerry Welsh, CEO of ICEYE US. “The launch of our first U.S. built and licensed satellite is a key milestone as we grow our U.S. operations and customer base.”

ICEYE delivers unmatched persistent monitoring capabilities for any location on earth. Owning the world’s largest synthetic-aperture radar constellation, the company enables objective, data-driven decisions for its customers in sectors such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring and finance. ICEYE’s data can be collected day or night, and even through cloud cover.

Kepler Communications welcomed four new satellites into their constellation after the successful launch via a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral as part of the SpaceX Transporter-3 mission — this event enhances the company’s active constellation to 19 satellites in total.

These four satellites — KEPLER-16, KEPLER-17, KEPLER-18, and KEPLER-19 — once fully operational within the constellation, will add additional capacity to Kepler’s Global Data Service (GDS) offering while also performing as a test bed for bringing the internet to space, Kepler’s ÆTHER service.

Kepler continues to produce GEN1 satellites at their facility in the heart of Toronto, Canada. The GEN1 6U-XL platform represents a stable platform from which Kepler can grow their constellation size and their ability to service terrestrial (GDS) and space-based (ÆTHER) customers. The increased size accommodates significant technology enhancements, including additional power and antenna capabilities that allow the support of both Ku-band and narrowband spectrum from a single satellite. This multi-spectrum support is achieved with Kepler’s proprietary Software Defined Radio (SDR) which has been proven onboard the 15 satellites already on-orbit. It also allows for integration of the ÆTHER receiving and transmission terminal for testing with partners.

Diane Burchett, the Vice President of Engineering, had the following to say about the launch, “The opportunity to build and bring the internet in space is the driving force here at Kepler and a key reason why I joined. The technical challenge of bringing consistent and persistent connectivity to objects moving at more than 28,000 kph is an exciting challenge and we look forward to successfully demonstrating our progress towards that goal with this first ÆTHER launch.”

Steve Bennett highlighted the following about the benefits of this launch to Kepler’s present and future customers, “Bringing the internet to space was the mission upon which Kepler Communications was founded and with this launch we take an important step forward toward making that a reality. The ÆTHER test platform included as part of this launch will allow us to not only build upon recent successes, but to validate our current trajectory and begin providing value to potential customers with assets in orbit. Additionally, we are further expanding our constellation, which provides an ever-improving service for our Global Data Service customers.”

Kepler is a satellite telecommunications provider based in Canada, backed by Tribe Capital, Canaan, Costanoa Ventures, IA Ventures and other leading investors. Kepler’s mission is to bring the Internet outside of Earth, their product ÆTHER. To this end, Kepler is building an in-space telecommunications network through an incremental deployment of products and technologies. The first to launch and operate a Ku-band satellite service in Low Earth Orbit, Kepler has expanded its capabilities with the successful launch of 19 satellites in their constellation and the commissioning of a satellite production facility at their Toronto headquarters.

On January 13, 2022, Planet‘s Flock 4x, consisting of 44 SuperDove satellites, was successfully launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

These 44 satellites will join our existing fleet of roughly 200 satellites in orbit. SpaceX has now brought to orbit a total of 127 Planet satellites across eight launches. This marks our first launch with SpaceX under our new multi-year, multi-launch rideshare agreement that was signed in 2021.

Planet was able to establish contact with all of the SuperDove satellites, many within two minutes of the final deployment, upholding the firm’s record of successfully connecting with 100% of all launched Planet satellites.

Planet’s constellations provide daily insights about the Earth’s resources and global events. With the latest addition of 44 SuperDove satellites, the firm’s PlanetScope product will continue to offer customers satellite data captured from the latest and strongest technology. Just-in-time used to ensure we can continuous technology innovations are incorporated into Planet spacecraft before they are shipped to the launch site.

To date, Planet has built and launched the largest fleet of Earth Observation (EO) satellites in history. The company’s fleet of both medium- and high-resolution satellites have collected an unprecedented amount of EO data over the last 10 years, creating a deep stack of 1,700 images on average for every spot on the Earth’s landmass. This allows customers to obtain the most up-to-date image of their preferred area of interest as well as gives them an extensive set of training data for the building of artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Planet’s teams are already fast at work on the next satellites and data services to enhance the constellation.

SpaceX‘s January 13th, Falcon 9 launch has successfully lifted the Transporter-3  from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The 29-minute launch window opened at 10:25 a.m. EST, or 15:25 UTC.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and five Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, SpaceX brought home the Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-3 is SpaceX’s third, dedicated, rideshare mission, and on board this launch are 105 spacecraft (including smallsats and Orbital Transfer Vehicles( OTV)).

Screenshot Image captures are courtesy of the SpaceX live launch webcast…

Aliena Pte Ltd (Aliena), a Singapore-based space tech company that enables mobility of small satellites through their core-technology – Hall thrusters, has made history by deploying their engines on the smallest satellite in-orbit to host such a propulsion system. The Hall thruster was integrated on a 3U nanosatellite (NuX-1) made and owned by satellite IoT company NuSpace, and was brought to space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 through 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 nanosatellite 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 nanosatellites 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 nanosatellites to consider the utilization of such systems for emerging missions and operations. Aliena has achieved a milestone reduction in power consumption for Hall thrusters through the utilization of a novel ignition and neutralization scheme developed internally. 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 small satellite operators through provision of more payload volume, and power budgets to be diverted for actual operations.

“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.”

Aliena also has microsatellite-class engines (MUSIC) that will be first deployed on a 12U nanosatellite 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.

Designed by the Grizu-263 space team of students from the Bülent Ecevit University in the northern province of Zonguldak, Turkey’s first PocketQube satellite project, Grizu-263A, will be launched into space on January 13 with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

The mini-satellite, which is 5x5x5 centimeters, will locate on a low Earth orbit of 525 kilometers and operate for four years and eight months.

“We are happy that years of hard work will come to fruition,” Bülent Ekmekçi, the team’s supervisor, said in a press conference on January 6.

The mission of the satellite will be to take photos of the Earth.

“We will break a new ground globally when we succeed in taking a photo with a PocketQube satellite,” said Çağla Aytaç Dursun, the head of the team.

The Grizu-263 team has been known for its efforts on space and satellite technologies since 2016, the year it was established. Sponsored by the country’s leading steel manufacturer Erdemir, the team produced many projects that achieved various trophies in national and international contests.

The team, named after a firedamp (which means ‘grizu’ in Turkish) explosion that killed 263 miners in the Kozlu district in 1992, has been working on the PocketQube satellite for the last five years.

“Our satellite has been integrated into the rocket. We are waiting for the launch now,” Ekmekçi noted.

The mini-satellite will be in the orbit at 6.25 p.m. exact time on January 13, according to the supervisor.

A PocketQube is a miniaturized satellite for space research that has a size of 5 centimeters cubed and has a mass of no more than 250 grams.

Not only the team but the province of Zonguldak is also making preparations for the satellite’s launch. “We are organizing an event where we will watch the launch live. All Zonguldak residents are welcome,” Ekmekçi added.

“We really worked hard. We slept in the university’s library for days. We will succeed more,” said Kerim Uslu, a proud member of the team.

Another member, Halime Pehlivan, gave a piece of advice to all her agemates. “Never let yourself down to people who say ‘you can’t do it.’ Show them that you can.”

The Grizu-263 team has been attending the satellite competition of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), named “AAS CanSat,” since 2017. The team finished 25th in 2017 and second in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the team’s projects achieved fourth place.

Turkey which is one of the 30 countries having satellites in the orbit, has five communication and three surveillance satellites.

Türksat 1B was the first Turkish satellite in the orbit on August 10, 1994.

The first attempt was on January 24, 1994, when the rocket carrying the Türksat 1A fell into the ocean 12 minutes after the launch. From YeniSafak

NanoAvionics recently received a contract for a biodiversity observation satellite mission from Lemu, a startup building an atlas of Earth’s biosphere to make conservation the best investment possible.

Essential to the biosphere atlas is “Lemu Nge” (Forest Eye in the Mapudungun language), Chile’s first private satellite, which is designed to observe all 51 billion hectares of Earth’s surface biodiversity. Built by NanoAvionics in Lithuania, the 6U smallsat will collect hyperspectral imaging data that will help Lemu to identify, measure and track the value that each ecosystem generates each and every day.

Lemu Nge will start with measuring and tracking the value of the world’s forests, which cover about four billion hectares, or 31 percent of the Earth’s land surface. Flying in SSO, with revisit rates from one to seven days for the same region, the smallsat will provide geospatial images for Lemu’s biosphere atlas. Once the mission is completed, an onboard propulsion system, using a liquid metal ion thruster, is designed to allow the smallsat to safely deorbit, leaving no space debris behind. The launch of Lemu Nge is planned to be aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2023.

From the obtained geospatial data, supported by satellites from NASA and ESA as well as ethical-AI, Lemu is able to analyze, measure and evaluate information about ecosystems, starting with the world’s forests. Lemu then assigns a value for each ecosystem, a Lemu Index.

The analyzed results will be critical in helping Lemu as it seeks to reduce deforestation and degradation of ecosystems. It will also aim to increase the success of reforestation and restoration efforts, improving Lemu’s ability to precisely measure carbon sequestration and other nature-based solutions. The biodiversity atlas will be open to anyone who wants to participate and contribute, including other organizations and people in the nature conservation community worldwide.

The key instrument of Lemu Nge satellite is a high-resolution, hyperspectral camera supplied by Simera from South Africa. Supported by the Lemu’s artificial vision, it allows to segment land cover and vegetation biodiversity in unusual detail, more than 20x the current resolution. The camera is capable of measuring 32 spectral bands with wavelengths between 450 to 900 nanometers (the human eye sees wavelengths from 400 nm to 700 nm). Its ground sampling distance (GSD), the distance between pixel centers measured on the ground, has a resolution of 4.75 meters. The satellite is expected to complete one orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes, resulting in 14 orbits each day.

Leo Prieto, founder and CEO of Lemu, said, “To revert the global environmental crises we need to increase and succeed with conservation efforts across the world. Through Lemu, we are using the most advanced technologies available to demonstrate that conservation and ecosystem restoration are the best investment possible — and not a philanthropic effort. Each cent invested in conservation generates a considerable return on investment from the nature-based solutions that are produced, and today we have the tools to measure and visibilize that. Deep ecology requires deep technology, that is why this mission is a critical piece of our ‘Space to Soil’ strategy allowing us to accelerate the generation of information that will take us from degradation to restoration.”

Sangeetha Narayan, co-founder and chief product officer of Lemu, said, “Using a small satellite like NanoAvionics for our biodiversity atlas is the only efficient way to measure the entire surface of Earth. Of course, we value immensely the data provided by NASA and ESA’s satellites, and we don’t expect Lemu Nge to replace the variety and volume of geospatial data sources we are using today. It was clear from the beginning though that in order to accelerate the development of our artificial vision models for Earth observation, we needed to have our own sensor in orbit. To minimize the energy and emissions needed to get it into orbit, it had to be quite small. At the same time, it had to be more powerful than what was currently at our disposal, with enough flexibility for experimentation in the future. The nanosatellites by NanoAvionics fit those specs perfectly and with a price tag that suits our budget. They provide everything, mission infrastructure, hardware, logistics and operations, to deliver the data we need on a plate."

Vytenis J. Buzas, CEO NanoAvionics, said, “The effects of climate change affect us all and we need to make every effort to turn things for the better. I’m very proud that NanoAvionics supports, and with our small satellite technology, enables Lemu’s efforts to improve humanity’s understanding of our biodiversity, allowing research organisations, companies and individuals to develop new solutions to counter the effects of deforestation and restore ecosystems. As a leading nanosatellite provider partner with extensive experience in integrating remote sensing payloads, NanoAvionics is the ideal go-to mission partner for organizations like Lemu, wanting to obtain relevant data sets from Earth observation.”

Arianespace has been awarded a launch contract by SITAEL, with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as the final customer, to orbit PLATiNO 1 and 2 satellites.

The action should occur between 2022 and 2024 via a Vega and Vega C launch vehicles. PLATiNO 1 and 2 are Earth Observation (EO) SSO smallsats. PLATiNO 1 will feature a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that operates in the X-band while PLATiNO 2 will carry an optical thermal instrument.

PLATiNO is a versatile, multi-mission, high-tech, and all-Italian platform suitable for a wide set of applications that will be equipped with various instruments – both radar and optical – which guarantee optimal resolutions and an on-board computer capable of acquiring and downloading a large number of images.

The PLATiNO platform has been developed through a temporary consortium established between SITAEL, Leonardo, Thales Alenia Space (a joint venture between Thales -67% and Leonardo -33%) and Airbus Defense and Space and has been designed to support a wide range of missions in different operational scenarios supporting from EO to telecommunications and scientific missions.

This platform ensures a reduction of development and operational costs within a frame of an extremely competitive market and supports a strategic placement of the Italian industries in a sector where new space systems, such as megaconstellations, are increasing in number.

“We are very proud of this new launch contract, which underlines the capacity of Arianespace’s launch solutions, here with Vega and Vega C, to address institutional needs at the most competitive conditions, even for very demanding missions within the 100-500 kg. class”, Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, said. “This agreement also demonstrates Arianespace’s capability to support the development of new space initiatives embedded by governments and European institutions.”