Archives for May 2022

General Dynamics Mission Systems (NYSE: GD), and Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) have been awarded a contract by the Space Development Agency in the amount of $324,516,613, including a base amount of $162,954,122 and $161,562,491 in options, to establish the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).

Together, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium will build ground entry points and operations centers for the NDSA as well as provide network operations and systems integration services for the SDA’s next tranche of proliferated LEO satellites.

The core operations and integration functions include enterprise management, network management, mission management, payload data management, and constellation monitoring that spans the ground, link, space, and user segments of the architecture. Working with partners at KSAT USA (KSAT Inc.), Raytheon and EMERGENT, the General Dynamics Mission Systems-Iridium team will develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain state-of-the-art, commercial-like operations centers, acquire and operate ground entry points, and lead ground-to-space integration efforts.

“We are incredibly proud to bring our long heritage of mission-critical space and ground communications and networking expertise to the Space Development Agency,” said Chris Brady, president, General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Together with our partners, we’re excited to build the foundation for the SDA’s initial warfighting capability and backbone of Joint All-Domain Command and Control.”

“Iridium, General Dynamics Mission Systems and the U.S. government have a long and successful history of working together and partnering on this project is a natural evolution of our relationship,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “Iridium’s 25 years of experience operating in LEO makes us uniquely qualified for this opportunity, and we’re honored to take on this tremendous responsibility in support of this next generation network.”

ICEYE has successfully launched five new SAR satellites — all spacecraft were launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 smallsat rideshare mission via EXOLAUNCH from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Communication has successfully been established with each spacecraft. ICEYE and ICEYE US have now deployed 21 satellites since 2018, including commercial and dedicated customer missions.

ICEYE’s satellite 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 vital for government and commercial uses in various sectors, including insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, national security, defense, humanitarian relief and climate change monitoring.

The launch also included the second and third satellites built, licensed and operated by ICEYE US. ICEYE US, a subsidiary of ICEYE, established a satellite manufacturing facility early last year at its headquarters in Irvine, California. The newly launched ICEYE US satellites are licensed by NOAA and will be operated and controlled exclusively from the company’s 24/7 Mission Operations Center in Irvine.

Later this year, ICEYE plans on adding up to five additional satellites to its constellation including more satellites manufactured by ICEYE US.

Two of the satellites launched are provided directly to the Brazilian Air Force. The Air Force will operate the satellites in support of environmental and national security objectives. Due to Brazil’s cloudy weather, SAR satellites that can image the Earth during the night or through clouds have an important advantage in gathering actionable insights.

“The ICEYE team has launched 21 small radar imaging satellites in a few short years, which is a remarkable feat to accomplish,” said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-founder of ICEYE. “The world needs these sources of objective truth data now more than ever. With this launch, we’ll have increased performance and capacity to further support our customers and our growth across current and emerging vertical markets.”

“Expanding our fleet of US built satellites is a critical step that expands our capability to support our customers across the U.S. Government,” said Jerry Welsh, CEO of ICEYE US. “We are seeing a shift in the U.S. and international government sector that is now looking to fully leverage and integrate commercial remote sensing technologies into their collection architectures.”

On Wednesday, May 25th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-5 mission to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The 57 minute launch window opened at 2:35 p.m., ET, or 18:35 UTC. The Falcon 9 flew along Florida’s eastern coast over the ocean and may have been visible from the ground.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, one Starlink mission, and the Transporter-4 mission. After stage separation, the Falcon 9’s 1st stage returned to Earth and landed squarely on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-5 is SpaceX’s fifth dedicated, smallsat, rideshare mission. On this flight are 59 spacecraft, including cubesats, microsats, non-deploying hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs).

All imagery is courtesy of SpaceX.

INAF (ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI ASTROFISICA), POLIMI (Politecnico Milano), SkyLabs d.o.o., TU Delft, University of Maribor, University of Trento, have joined in a consortium of research institutes, universities and industry, and have won the tender “Space Weather Monitor Nanosatellites” published by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a project proposal called CUBE (CME Catcher Carousel).

The consortium was formed from the key partners of the HERMES pathfinder project, extended to include experts of Space Weather. It brings together scientific and technological competence, which have been identified by ESA with breakthrough ideas that will form the scientific pathfinder in the field of space weather observation activities under the auspices of ESA.

The objective of the ESA competition is to study and develop possible solutions for effective space weather monitoring and its hazards by developing dedicated smallsats as a foundation of a future constellation of satellites.

The solar wind is the ultimate source of energy and is responsible for virtually all magnetospheric dynamics. Describing and quantifying the solar wind energy transfer to the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere system is one of the fundamental questions in space physics.

The main objective of the proposed future CUBE constellation is to identify incoming Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and solar energetic particle (SEP) events, measure them at different magnetospheric locations and altitude to quantitatively understand the energy transport toward the Earth. One of the objectives is also to study the SEP penetration in the magnetosphere, ionization of the ionosphere and oscillations of the magnetic field during SEP events.

According to baseline mission analysis, two 6U spacecraft on circular SSO, and six 12U spacecrafts on a highly energetic circular orbit — 60,000 km. radius around and phased 60 degrees away from one another — are planned for the first phase. All units will be equipped with magnetometers and particle monitors capable of measuring proton and electron spectra from a few tens keV to a few hundred MeV, and particle velocities. 

Mission study began in April of 2022 with an estimated duration of 10 months, which means completion by the beginning of February 2023. By collaborating with ESA, members of the consortium will combine knowledge, experience and solutions to lay the scientific pathfinder for the future activities in the field of space weather as well as for all other future ESA activities, which may become feasible in the following years.

Omnispace and Thales Alenia Space successfully launched and delivered the Omnispace Spark-2 satellite into orbit.

This marks the completion of the deployment phase of the “Omnispace Spark” program, the initial phase in the company’s development and delivery of the world’s first 5G capable satellite network.

Omnispace Spark-1, launched in April of 2022, and Omnispace Spark-2 will now be used to advance and validate the development and implementation of Omnispace’s global, non-terrestrial network (NTN). As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space designed and built the Omnispace Spark satellites with the help of industry partners: NanoAvionics, ANYWAVES and Syrlinks. Omnispace Spark-2 was delivered into orbit by Exolaunch aboard a SpaceX Transporter mission.

The new-generation NGSO satellite constellation in LEO will operate in 3GPP band n256, which has been standardized for NTN operation, making direct-to enterprise and government IoT as well as consumer device connectivity possible worldwide.

“Thales Alenia Space, along with this incredible team of innovators, was instrumental in making Omnispace Spark possible, and we are thankful for their expertise and execution. With deployment of the Omnispace Spark program now complete, we look forward to testing and advancing delivery of the first global, mobile network with direct-to-device connectivity from our satellites in space,” said Ram Viswanathan, president and CEO of Omnispace LLC. “Ubiquitous mobile connectivity will empower consumer, enterprise, and government users worldwide — creating economic opportunity like never before.”

“The success of the Omnispace Spark program is due to an impressive team effort between Thales Alenia Space and innovative startups,” said Hervé Derrey, president and CEO of Thales Alenia Space. “We’re very proud to support Omnispace in the deployment of the first global 5G network via satellite, which will open the door for new opportunities for mobile network operators, industry and end-users.”

“Being part of the Omnispace Spark Program and working closely with all companies involved has been a tremendous experience, crowned by the two successful launches,” said Vytenis J. Buzas, founder and CEO of NanoAvionics. “NanoAvionics’ strong relationship with prime contractor Thales Alenia Space allowed us to bring our modular and cost effective nanosatellite buses to the project as well as launch support and in-orbit operations.”

“The launch of Omnispace Spark-2 marks the next step in building the universal 5G network desired by Omnispace. Our payload antennas will be used to enable a direct connection, no matter where in the world the user is, meeting our commitment to enable disruptive technologies for the benefit of all humanity,” said Nicolas Capet, ANYWAVES CEO.

“At Syrlinks all the team follows with a great interest the successive launches of the Omnispace Spark satellites, onboarding Syrlinks Radio frequency payload solution. For such IoT (Internet Of Things) satellite service, any additional satellite placed in orbit is key to enlarge this innovative service coverage and penetration. It’s a new step toward the final objective of having a multiple-satellite constellation,” said Eric Pinson, director of Space activity at Syrlinks.

5G mobile connectivity from a single global network will help transform industries and serve as the communications infrastructure to support the digital economies of the 21st century. The network will empower mobile network operators, their customers and partners to fuel innovation, power industries, and connect billions of users. Follow the launch journey and learn more at Omnispace.com.

Omnispace is redefining mobile connectivity for the 21st century. By leveraging 5G technologies, the company is combining the global footprint of a non-geostationary satellite constellation with the mobile networks of the world’s leading telecom companies to bring an interoperable “one network” connectivity to users and IoT devices anywhere on the globe.

The Israel Space Agency within the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology has presented the strategic plan for advancing the civilian space industry in Israel to the Minister, Orit Farkash-Hacohen. The plan, in a detailed manner, sets out the vision, objectives and targets as well as the activities that are required to achieve them.

The space industry throughout the world has been undergoing dramatic change in recent years, with space being opened up to private entrepreneurs and investors, so that it has become a growing and developing market. The strategic plan is introduced against the backdrop of this dramatic change.

The plan was devised at the request of Minister Orit Farkash Hacohen, who charged the Israel Space Agency to perform the strategic work of mapping the area of opportunities that are opening up for the State of Israel as a result of this dramatic change last December, and to consequently prepare a strategic plan for the development of the civilian space industry in the State of Israel.

The plan determines that the space industry can constitute a force multiplier and leverage for significant economic growth, for strengthening components of science and technology, and also for enhancing Israel’s international status. The plan contains measurable targets for the development of the Israeli space industry together with a long list of actions, for which the budgetary scale in the next five years is estimated at around NIS 600 million.

The Key Elements of the Strategic Plan for Space

The objective of the plan is to enhance the strength and independence of the State of Israel by positioning it as one of the world’s leaders in the space industry, as leverage for economic growth as part of the Israeli high-tech industry; to give a boost to science and technology; and to enhance Israel’s international status. To reach this goal, the plan defines four main objectives: (1) to strengthen and develop the civilian space industry in Israel, as a sustainable growth engine; (2) to strengthen and support scientific research in space; (3) to advance and develop the human capital that is required to further strength and growth in the space industry; (4) to enhance Israel’s international status in the field of space.

To enable the advancement of the plan, measurable targets will be set for developing the Israeli space industry. Among the targets for the coming decade are…

• Doubling the number of space companies (from 60, at the present time, to at least 120)
• Quadrupling the number of people employed in the space industry, from 2,500 to 10,000
• Quadrupling the scope of annual sales made by the space industry, from $1 to $4 billion
• Increasing the number of space researchers in the academic world, from 120 to 160 (an increase of 33%)
• Increasing the number of high school graduates who have actually been involved in the space industry, from 200 to 4,000
• Establishing international partnerships in the space industry, and increasing the Israeli presence in key multi- and international organizations

Among the activities that will be included in the plan:

• Setting up a space-based National Data Center, which will allow the integration of the use of the deliverables from space within the activities of the government and additional entities, while supporting the space industry and space research.
• Expanding the TEVEL program (“tevel” means universe in Hebrew and is also an acronym for “Students Build Satellites”), and transforming it into an international program that is connected with the IDF and with the academic world – a key tool for attracting high school students to get involved in technological professions in general, and for giving them a sense of capability regarding the space industry in particular.
• The SHALOM satellite – a commercial and scientific satellite – a joint project between the Israel Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, whose main tasks are: environmental monitoring, atmosphere, land and oceans, and precise agriculture. Its deliverables will allow the development of various applications by commercial entities, the deepening of the research in the field of remote sensing and additional technological developments.
• Facilitating access to space for Israeli entrepreneurs, through the annual launch of an Israeli satellite to LEO, for the purposes of demonstrating and proving technological capabilities.

Orit Farkash-Hacohen, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, said, “The civilian space industry is undergoing a global revolution. There is huge economic and commercial potential for the Israeli economy and for the Israeli high-tech industry. The plan that I have charged the Israel Space Agency to prepare, to advance this industry, will continue to develop the space industry in Israel in accordance with the future trends, and it will harness the extensive information and assets that Israel has in the space industry, from the defense industry, for civilian uses. Already at the present time, we can see more and more start-ups and research studies in this field, and it is our job to significantly increase their number.”

Hilla Haddad-Chmelnik, Director-General of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, said, “We are standing at a critical point in time, when space is being transformed from the domain of governments to the domain of the private market, and this presents a huge opportunity for the State of Israel. Strategic investment in the space industry is critical for the civilian strength of the State of Israel, both from the economic aspect as well as from international aspects. This is a growing market, and the State of Israel has the ability to capture 1% of the global market share – this will bring about massive profits for the Israeli companies that are engaged in the industry, and for the State of Israel as a whole. In the strategic plan, we have chosen to focus on four aspects: the significant strengthening of the civilian space industry; state aspects of the space industry, the strengthening of space research; and the fields of education and the community, which will drive greater interest among students in the worlds of science and technology in general.”

Phase Four, the creator of the radio-frequency thruster (RF Thruster) for satellite propulsion, announced that the company has finalized a lease for an expanded manufacturing facility to support high volume production of the firm’s Maxwell engine product line for commercial and government missions.

The new site, located in Hawthorne, California, will host a manufacturing facility more than 3x the size of Phase Four’s current facility in El Segundo. The facility will also house a dedicated environmental testing facility, which will continue to reduce the company’s industry leading, sub-4 month, lead times. As part of its expansion, Phase Four will also stand up a dedicated R&D cell to support the development of higher performance thrusters and higher power propulsion systems for larger spacecraft.

Phase Four’s Maxwell Block 1 engine gained flight heritage in 2021 and is currently operating on several commercial small satellites. The company is set to begin production of its Block 2 Maxwell engine in the second quarter of 2022. Block 2 uses the company’s second generation RF Thruster and offers significant performance improvement over the Block 1 engine.

Phase Four is also working to adapt the RF Thruster to operate on nontraditional propellants that are less expensive and more readily obtained than purified noble gases like xenon and krypton. The company is currently performing thrust measurements with its Maxwell engine adapted to operate on iodine on an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) sponsored program, and recently won a Space Force Pitch Day award to test on green propellant.

“With the increased demand for our high performance Maxwell engine to support the steadily growing number of small satellite constellations, we made the decision to first focus on our manufacturing process ” said Phase Four CEO, Beau Jarvis. “We demonstrated through several production runs in 2021 that Maxwell engines can be built, tested and delivered to customers in under four months. Now with a larger, dedicated manufacturing facility we will scale up production runs to support delivery of over 100 Maxwell engines annually.”

“Our aim is to catalyze industry in space by delivering a short lead time plasma thruster, and developing a thruster that can operate on next generation propellants. Phase Four’s Hawthorne site is essential to achieving these goals. Our new facility will allow us to vertically integrate flight unit manufacturing and testing, removing key throughput limiters in our engine production line. Furthermore, the facility will allow us to disaggregate shared vacuum chambers between R&D and production, removing internal competition for resources and thereby accelerating the development of our RF thruster,” said Phase Four CTO, Umair Siddiqui. “This comes at the right time; given the supply chain insecurity of legacy plasma electric propulsion systems. Both government and commercial customers need domestic propulsion systems with short lead times to support rapid constellation deployments.”

In addition to the new facility opening, which is set for early Q4 2022, Phase Four is also gearing up for a hiring push. The Company hopes to double its employee count by the end of next year, said CEO Beau Jarvis. “We are excited to grow the Phase Four family as we begin to realize our mission of catalyzing the space industry through mass manufacturing of our Maxwell engines and the introduction of engines that enable new missions by leveraging advanced propellants.”

Phase Four is a disruptive provider of next generation electric propulsion (EP) solutions for small satellites. The company was founded in 2015 to address the demands of the rapid proliferation of satellite constellations and to accelerate the advancement of its radio-frequency thruster (RFT). The Phase Four RFT represents a revolutionary new architecture that realizes lower cost, mass-manufacturability, miniaturized power electronics, and propellant agnosticism over incumbent technologies, without compromising performance. In 2021 Phase Four’s Maxwell turn-key propulsion system achieved flight heritage and is now being regularly utilized by small satellite operators.

Terran Orbital designs, builds, and integrates satellite solutions that help solve some of the world’s most complex problems…”

Terran Orbital Corporation, a global provider of satellite solutions, primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry, announced the successful integration of six Terran Orbital designed and built satellites aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket prior to the Transporter-5 launch.

NASA CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD)

The CPOD project is being led by Terran Orbital with funding from NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The technology demonstration mission will validate the technologies needed to support rendezvous, proximity operations, docking (RPOD), servicing, and formation flight by utilizing a pair of identical 3-unit (3U) CubeSats, leveraging their inherently lower vehicle and launch costs.

NASA Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3)

PTD-3 is a 6-unit (6U) CubeSat built and integrated by Terran Orbital to host and support launch and on-orbit operations of the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload funded by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program and developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL). The TBIRD mission is the second mission in the PTD series funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The mission will demonstrate a space-to-ground data transfer capability at orders of magnitude faster than previously demonstrated technologies. This technology could open doors to large volume data communications and data accessibility for advanced space exploration, delivering multiple terabytes of data per day to a single ground station.

Fleet Space CENTAURI-5 

The CENTAURI-5 spacecraft is part of a constellation commissioned by Fleet Space Technologies to deliver global connectivity solutions specifically designed for the energy, exploration, and resource industries. Tyvak International, a Terran Orbital Corporation, designed and developed the spacecraft. Fleet Space is providing the payload that consists of the world’s first 3D printed all-metal patch antenna array combined with Digital Beamforming in S-Band frequency.

GeoOptics CICERO-2 Vehicle 1 and Vehicle 2

GeoOptics Vehicles 1 and 2 are the first phase of a next generation satellite constellation, CICERO-2 to form a unified Earth observatory allowing governments, industry, and individual stakeholders to monitor and prepare for the many impacts of climate change. These 6U XXL size spacecraft were designed and developed by Terran Orbital’s international arm, Tyvak International, in Torino, Italy. GeoOptics’s payload, Cion, is a best-in-class Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio Occultation (RO) system and is a miniaturized version of the NASA/JPL developed “TriG” payload.

“Terran Orbital designs, builds, and integrates satellite solutions that help solve some of the world’s most complex problems,” said Terran Orbital Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell. “CPOD, PTD-3, CENTAURI-5, and the CICERO-2 vehicles feature game-changing technologies that will greatly benefit the ways we measure and observe activity on Earth. Communicating this data in support of future mission capabilities will ultimately save and improve lives. We look forward to fostering our partnerships with NASA, GeoOptics, Fleet Space, MIT Lincoln Laboratories, and SpaceX as we continue to deliver groundbreaking and life-changing missions.”

...recent launches in 2022 will have doubled capacity and revisit rates, expanding HawkEye 360’s constellation to 15 satellites. This significantly boosts the constellation’s ability to serve global customer demand and to monitor activity across places such as Ukraine.

HawkEye 360 Inc., the world’s leading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, today announced that its Cluster 5 satellites have successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on May 25. Once Cluster 5’s on-orbit checkout is complete, the recent launches in 2022 will have doubled capacity and revisit rates, expanding HawkEye 360’s constellation to 15 satellites. This significantly boosts the constellation’s ability to serve global customer demand and to monitor activity across places such as Ukraine.

“Every enhanced satellite cluster we launch helps us deliver a higher density of valuable data to our government, commercial and humanitarian customers and partners – advancing our efforts to monitor global activities for a safer and more secure world,” said HawkEye 360 John Serafini. “Launch by launch, these space-based innovations are analyzing the known and uncovering the unknowns of the RF spectrum across the globe.”

Cluster 5 includes enhanced antenna functions introduced with Cluster 4, which allow greater flexibility in geolocating signals across a wide range of frequencies important to customers. Cluster 4 launched on April 1 has been completing checkout and moving into final formation to begin collecting data in late June. Cluster 5 is slated to achieve initial operating capability in August 2022.

These recent launches keep HawkEye 360 on track to exponentially increase the size of the constellation, with upcoming launches now scheduled every few months. HawkEye 360 will continue to grow the constellation to achieve revisit rates around 15 minutes in order to support timely defense, national security, and commercial applications.

Phase Four, the creator of the radio-frequency thruster (RF Thruster) for satellite propulsion, announced that the company has finalized a lease for an expanded manufacturing facility to support high volume production of the firm’s Maxwell engine product line for commercial and government missions.

The new site, located in Hawthorne, California, will host a manufacturing facility more than 3x the size of Phase Four’s current facility in El Segundo. The facility will also house a dedicated environmental testing facility, which will continue to reduce the company’s industry leading, sub-4 month, lead times. As part of its expansion, Phase Four will also stand up a dedicated R&D cell to support the development of higher performance thrusters and higher power propulsion systems for larger spacecraft.

Phase Four’s Maxwell Block 1 engine gained flight heritage in 2021 and is currently operating on several commercial small satellites. The company is set to begin production of its Block 2 Maxwell engine in the second quarter of 2022. Block 2 uses the company’s second generation RF Thruster and offers significant performance improvement over the Block 1 engine.

Phase Four is also working to adapt the RF Thruster to operate on nontraditional propellants that are less expensive and more readily obtained than purified noble gases like xenon and krypton. The company is currently performing thrust measurements with its Maxwell engine adapted to operate on iodine on an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) sponsored program, and recently won a Space Force Pitch Day award to test on green propellant.

“With the increased demand for our high performance Maxwell engine to support the steadily growing number of small satellite constellations, we made the decision to first focus on our manufacturing process ” said Phase Four CEO, Beau Jarvis. “We demonstrated through several production runs in 2021 that Maxwell engines can be built, tested and delivered to customers in under four months. Now with a larger, dedicated manufacturing facility we will scale up production runs to support delivery of over 100 Maxwell engines annually.”

“Our aim is to catalyze industry in space by delivering a short lead time plasma thruster, and developing a thruster that can operate on next generation propellants. Phase Four’s Hawthorne site is essential to achieving these goals. Our new facility will allow us to vertically integrate flight unit manufacturing and testing, removing key throughput limiters in our engine production line. Furthermore, the facility will allow us to disaggregate shared vacuum chambers between R&D and production, removing internal competition for resources and thereby accelerating the development of our RF thruster,” said Phase Four CTO, Umair Siddiqui. “This comes at the right time; given the supply chain insecurity of legacy plasma electric propulsion systems. Both government and commercial customers need domestic propulsion systems with short lead times to support rapid constellation deployments.”

In addition to the new facility opening, which is set for early Q4 2022, Phase Four is also gearing up for a hiring push. The Company hopes to double its employee count by the end of next year, said CEO Beau Jarvis. “We are excited to grow the Phase Four family as we begin to realize our mission of catalyzing the space industry through mass manufacturing of our Maxwell engines and the introduction of engines that enable new missions by leveraging advanced propellants.”

Phase Four is a disruptive provider of next generation electric propulsion (EP) solutions for small satellites. The company was founded in 2015 to address the demands of the rapid proliferation of satellite constellations and to accelerate the advancement of its radio-frequency thruster (RFT). The Phase Four RFT represents a revolutionary new architecture that realizes lower cost, mass-manufacturability, miniaturized power electronics, and propellant agnosticism over incumbent technologies, without compromising performance. In 2021 Phase Four’s Maxwell turn-key propulsion system achieved flight heritage and is now being regularly utilized by small satellite operators.