Archives for December 2022

With the Transporter 6 mission, Spaceflight will have completed 10 missions in 2022, including the successful debut launches of the firm’s experimental OTV for hosted payloads, Sherpa-AC, in May, and its chemical propulsion OTV Sherpa-LTC in September.

Spaceflight also worked with several launch vehicle providers in 2022, including SpaceX, Rocket Lab, PSLV/NSIL and Astra, and has signed additional agreements for launches with new vehicle providers, including Firefly, ABL, Rocket Factory and SAB/Vega. In addition, the company helped extend a number of customer constellations, including Kleos, Astrocast and BlackSky among others, and is continuing to expand its OTV capabilities from last-mile delivery to on-orbit servicing. 

Earlier this year, Spaceflight celebrated a major milestone — its 50th mission, which flew aboard a Rocket Lab Electron, and the company moved into a new, 39,000 square feet office headquarters and state-of-the-art integration facility space in Bellevue, Washington. In addition, NASA selected Spaceflight to provide launch services for the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions.

In 2023, Spaceflight plans to execute 10 to 15 missions and work with more launch vehicle providers to efficiently launch customer payloads to their desired orbital destinations. Spaceflight is also underway preparing the debut of the next variation in its Sherpa OTV program — Sherpa-ES, a higher energy variant with a bipropellant, high delta-V OTV that enables smallsat delivery anywhere in cislunar space.

“In 2022, we executed groundbreaking missions on behalf of our clients, improved customer success and showcased innovation with the expansion and early success of our Sherpa OTV program through our Sherpa-AC and Sherpa-LTC OTV launches,” said Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight. “This next year, we’re looking forward to further progressing our Sherpa OTV program, executing missions with new launch vehicle providers, and continuing to expand our transportation services beyond LEO.”

BRO-8 will be launched in January of 2023 by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of that company’s Transporter-6 Mission. Since the launch of its first satellite in 2019, Unseenlabs has been able to collect tens of thousands of electromagnetic signatures, helping maritime stakeholders track any ship — including dark vessels — anywhere in the world.

This new satellite will add to the company’s constellation as well as increase the volume and quality of the services the firm can provide to an extensive customer base in France, Europe and across the globe.

Unseenlabs’ satellites are 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), at any time of the day or night, regardless of weather conditions. Vessels at sea carry many signal-emitting communication and navigation devices.

The technology used by Unseenlabs’ constellation characterizes all these emitters by geolocating them within a specific time frame, and identifying each ship at sea with a unique signature — or fingerprint — that can be used to track it. This capacity is paramount for governmental and business-related applications, and is used for the surveillance of areas such as the Baltic Sea (gas pipeline surveillance), the Gulf of Guinea (piracy, trafficking, offshore platforms) and the Arabian Sea (IUU fishing).

With its latest launches, Unseenlabs is steadily pursuing its constellation development strategy. Six more satellites are due to be launched in 2023. Unseenlabs will continue developing its constellation, to enable data collection above an area of interest several times a day for governmental and business-related applications.

The company, which doubled its workforce in 2022 across all departments (sales, engineering, support, etc.) employs about 50 people and plans to continue recruiting in 2023.

“The Unseenlabs team has launched eight satellites dedicated to space-based RF detection in just three years,” said Clément Galic, CEO & cofounder of Unseenlabs.

“More than ever, maritime stakeholders are in need of radio frequency data to optimize their surveillance, protection and intervention systems. This new satellite will give us increased capacity to support our partners, and our growth in current and emerging markets,” said Jonathan Galic, CTO & co-founder of Unseenlabs.

The Roddenberry Foundation launched the Boldly Go Campaign in 2021, Gene Roddenberry’s centennial year, to celebrate Gene’s hopeful vision of humanity’s future — one of inclusion, scientific progress, and co-operation across our differences. Planet was a natural partner for the Roddenberry Foundation, given that the company shares a similar mission of accelerating humanity to a more sustainable, secure and prosperous world by illuminating environmental and social change.

The campaign asked people around the world to share what gives them hope for humanity’s future via online submissions. The 1,500+ submissions to the Boldly Go Campaign shared common themes of Gene’s vision, such as the value of diversity, the wonder of space, and optimism. These values were reflected in the quotes chosen to be laser-etched onto a select number of Planet’s SuperDove satellites launching later this year. This launch represents the culmination of the partnership between Planet and The Roddenberry Foundation on the Boldly Go Campaign.

“Star Trek showed us a future where diverse peoples come together across differences to work for the common good,” said Rod Roddenberry, son of Gene Roddenberry and co-founder of the Roddenberry Foundation. “We are thrilled to celebrate that vision with Planet by taking the Boldly Go campaign to space, the final frontier.”

“Launches are always a special milestone for Planet, but this one particularly so. Through Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry inspired the world to look to the stars in wonder and hopeful curiosity. In a similar vein, we at Planet look to space to help life here on Earth and are thrilled to partner with The Roddenberry Foundation to use space to help celebrate his legacy,” said Planet CEO, Will Marshall.

Follow Planet and the Roddenberry Foundation on Twitter for updates as we near the launch window. Learn more about the Boldly Go Campaign here.

This mission will occur from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility – a launch pad developed to support U.S. Electron missions for government and commercial customers.

The pre-launch exercise saw the launch team carry out identical activities they will conduct on launch day to ensure the Electron rocket, launch pad, and supporting systems are ready for flight.

Called the “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers” mission, three satellites are scheduled to be deployed for HawkEye 360. Additionally, NASA’s Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) software will be flown for the first time from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, representing a valuable, new capability for the nation.

This mission will be the first of three Electron launches for HawkEye 360 in a contract that will see the company deliver 15 satellites to LEO between late 2022 and 2024.

These missions will grow HawkEye 360’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to better deliver precise geolocation of radio frequency emissions anywhere in the world.

A live launch webcast will also be available at www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream approximately T-40 minutes prior to lift-off.

While “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers” will be Electron’s first launch from the U.S., Rocket Lab has already conducted 32 Electron missions from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, delivering 152 satellites to orbit for customers including NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), DARPA, the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and a range of commercial constellation operators. Electron now has the capacity to launch from the pads at Launch Complex 1 and 2 combined — the company has more than 130 Electron launch opportunities every year. 

Managing a constellation of satellites requires constant supervision, know-how and dedication. GHGSat, a global leader in high-resolution, remote sensing of greenhouse gas emissions from space, is taking the next step to enhance secure and effective operation and control of their satellites as they swiftly expand their constellation.

KSAT will provide services to GHGSat from the company’s new Tromsø Satellite Operations Center (TSOC), a highly advanced, operations center designed to meet specific needs for resilient and secure solutions, while being adaptable to manage multiple missions featuring different platforms and Mission Control Systems. The service is fully integrated with the Ground Station Network, ensuring seamless scheduling, tasking and ground station operation.

KSAT has worked with GHGSat since 2019 with their emissions data from their first satellite for the EO services. Since 2021, KSAT also supports the GHGSat constellation from their Global Ground Station network. This new step, Satellite Operations, is yet another milestone in the collaboration. Adding Mission and Satellite Control as a service to their portfolio, KSAT has become a one-stop solution for all ground operation needs.

The combination of highly automated procedures and the experience of the KSAT operations ensures that every spacecraft can be safely controlled from LEOP (Launch and Early Operations), through routine operations and de-orbiting.

“We are honored with GHGSat’s trust and continued business as we expand our presence in the value chain of 24/7 mission critical services. We are excited to include a NewSpace constellation into our portfolio of Satellite Operations Services,” said Amund Nylund, KSAT COO.

“Our experience with KSAT’s ground segment systems/services has paved the way to broadening our collaboration to include satellite operations for our growing constellation. The partnership enables us to stay focused on our mission and expertise, which is to deliver valuable, actionable emissions data and intelligence to customers worldwide,” said Stephane Germain, GHGSat President and CEO.

Collaborating since the early days of the German startup, NanoAvionics has already provided consulting services and a feasibility study for Constellr’s initial satellite constellation. The thermal infrared payloads for the mission are developed by OHB, which is also one of the investors of Constellr. The two satellites will be deployed via an Exolaunch CarboNIX separation system, developed by that company in 2024.

Constellr is pioneering the use of thermal infrared microsatellites for a water stress monitoring system. Within five years, Constellr expects to help save 60 billion tons of water (about 40%) and avoid 14 megatons of CO2 being emitted while generating billions of Euros in gross benefits for farmers.

Globally, more than 70% of freshwater is used for agriculture according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN). 60% of that goes to waste. The UN also estimates that 50% more food will be needed by the Earth’s population by 2050, leading to a massive increase of freshwater demand for irrigation.

To mitigate this unsustainable situation and an inability to precisely measure the water needed in agriculture, Constellr aims to offer a water monitoring system for the agricultural sector globally. Its satellite images and high-precision data will allow to recognize impending droughts earlier than existing methods and fast enough to mitigate trough targeted irrigation.

Marius Bierdel, CTO of Constellr, said, “With NanoAvionics’ expertise and their modular satellite buses, we have found a partner able to address the high-performance needs of our constellation, providing high agility, and stability as well as the significant power demand required to deliver high quality infrared images that allow us to precisely measure the water needed in agriculture.”

Vytenis J. Buzas, co-founder and CEO of NanoAvionics, said, “Constellr is the third private company to use our satellite buses with the aim to counter the effects of climate change. The other two are Chile’s Lemu with a nanosatellite to observe biodiversity for the world’s only biosphere atlas, and France’s Absolut Sensing with a demonstration nanosatellite for greenhouse gas emission measurement. These devastating effects can be felt everywhere and we are excited that our satellite buses are used to observe, analyze and ultimately mitigate them.”

Dr. Max Gulde, co-Founder and CEO of Constellr, said, “By providing the central dataset, reliable forecasts can be made and the risk of crop loss reduced. Farmers can determine their yield more robustly and much earlier, and avoid potentially catastrophic supply chain effects.”

For a lens or optical system to be considered space-ready, it must meet some strict requirements. The key environmental considerations when designing lenses for use in satellites includes how they react to the vibration and shock of launch, extremes of temperature, high vacuum and cosmic radiation encountered in space.

Mark Pontin, Managing Director of Resolve Optics, said, “As satellites have decreased in size there is the necessity for the optics that lie at the heart of these imaging platforms to also reduce in size and weight. This is not always a straightforward task. If you are developing a camera system for a micro- or nanosatellite-based space mission, we recommend incorporating a compact sensor and then it will be possible for us to keep the lens design compact as well. Being able to keep the size of the lens compact also helps them withstand vibration and shock during launch into space as the mass is small.”

Mark continued, “To ensure your micro- or nanosatellite optics are sufficiently robust, all elements in our space-ready optics are secured and unable to break loose when subjected to the rigors of launch and other environmental factors. All our satellite lenses and optical systems are athermalized to ensure they maintain focus throughout the wide operating temperature range typically experienced in space. The impact of cosmic radiation on your lens or optical system is a major consideration when designing for use in space. Unfortunately, standard optical glass types turn brown or grey when exposed to cosmic radiation. As a result, the light transmission of the lens will degrade markedly in just days or weeks. For longer term space missions, we use cerium doped glass elements that prolong the life of the satellite lens or optical system to years.”

For further information on miniature optics optimized for smallsat applications, visit this direct link to read case studies about space-ready optics.