Unseenlabs has signed a launch services agreement (LSA) with Exolaunch to deploy their BRO-8 smallsat on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 rideshare mission, which is to launch no earlier than (NET) January of 2023.
Manufactured by GOMSpace, BRO-8 (Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter-8) is a 6U satellite designed to provide customers with data and analytics based on the interception of radio frequency (RF) signals (detection of electromagnetic waves emitted by electronic devices from Earth’s surface). It is to be the eighth satellite of Unseenlabs’ constellation, designed for high-precision maritime vessel tracking.
BRO-8 will be launched via Falcon 9 and deployed via Exolaunch’s EXOpod Nova smallsat deployer into SSO from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Under the LSA, Exolaunch is overseeing all rideshare mission management, environmental testing and satellite integration and deployment.
“We are looking forward to launching BRO-8, our eighth satellite, with Exolaunch and SpaceX,” said Jonathan Galic, CTO and Co-Founder of Unseenlabs. “This RF nanosatellite represents a crucial step in the development of our space-based radio frequency detection technology dedicated to Maritime Domain Awareness. It will allow us to improve our solution and revisit time. Thanks to Exolaunch and SpaceX, we will be able to provide the best quality service possible to our customers.”
“Unseenlabs and Exolaunch have long held a strong partnership, launching together on nearly all of our companies’ space missions and now expanding to new launch vehicles,” said Michael Tolstoj, Mission Director at Exolaunch. ”Unseenlabs is at the leading edge of maritime surveillance, and with so much at stake in this field we are happy to support those who are contributing the most.”