Archives for 2022

One of the more excellent announcements any company can broadcast is when they have surpassed a previous record or set a new milestone or completed a project with better than expected results.

Such has now occurred for the annual SmallSat Symposium — event organizers have revealed that this major, industry proceeding will be hosting more exhibitors than have been experienced at any previous event.

According to SatNews Publisher, CEO, Silvano Payne, “We have seen an increase in sponsorship and exhibition presence of more than 35 percent over our February 2020 event.“

Plan your visit to the SmallSat Symposium as quickly as you can — the event is in session from February 8th through February 10th at Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Leading organizations in the SmallSat Industry will be exhibiting at, and sponsoring, this first, major, SmallSat event in two years. The energy and enthusiasm for this industry trade event reflects a feeling that all are now able to finally ‘come home.’

The SmallSat industry is booming and major actors are coming out of the lockdown shadows to showcase their capabilities… unlike ever before witnessed.

The dates to remember are: February 8th through 10th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California… the 7th Annual SmallSat Symposium… “Defining What’s Next for the SmallSat Industry.”

Register today at this direct link…

Kleos Space S.A (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1) (DaaS) company has announced that the company’s Kleos Patrol Mission (KSF2) satellites, planned to launch in January of 2022, have been remanifested to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-4 mission that is scheduled for April of 2022.

Kleos is partnering with launch services provider Spaceflight Inc. to deploy its Patrol Mission (KSF2) satellites to a sun synchronous orbit (SSO). Originally scheduled for the SpaceX Transporter-3 mission in January 2022, Kleos’ Patrol Mission launch was postponed when the Spaceflight orbital transfer vehicle tasked with launching and deploying Kleos’ satellites experienced technical issues. Spaceflight quickly identified an alternative launch option.

Kleos’ fourth satellite cluster, the Observer Mission (KSF3), is unaffected by the Patrol Mission delay and remains on track to launch in mid-2022.

“Delays are a common occurrence in the industry, and we are committed to navigating them quickly to ensure our customers’ satellites still get to orbit in a timely manner,” said Tony Frego, VP of mission management at Spaceflight Inc. “Through our portfolio of launch vehicles, we were able to secure capacity for Kleos on a new launch that will occur in only a few months. We are committed to minimising the impact of any delays and ensuring our customers’ missions are a success.”

Kleos CEO Andy Bowyer commented, “As our four Patrol Mission satellites were undamaged, we have been able to mitigate the delay by quickly rescheduling the launch for April 2022. Launching into a sun synchronous orbit, our Patrol Mission satellites will significantly increase our data collection capability and complement the eight satellites we already have in orbit. The launch delay does not impact the revenue generating life of the mission.”

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has launched the DEWA-SAT 1 smallsat in collaboration with NanoAvionics, becoming the world’s first utility to use smallsats to improve the maintenance and planning of electricity and water networks — this achievement underlines DEWA’s leadership in developing and using the latest world-class technologies.

DEWA-SAT 1 was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex (SLC-40) in Florida, USA. HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, attended the launch along with officials from DEWA and NanoAvionics.

Al Tayer said that the smallsats was designed and developed at DEWA’s R&D Centre in the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. He noted that DEWA will launch another U6 smallsat later this year to promote its flexibility and agility in monitoring, managing, and maintaining its electricity and water networks. This ensures providing electricity and water services according to the highest standards of availability, reliability, and efficiency. It also reduces costs, improves its asset utilization, enables knowledge and experience transfer, as well as trains Emiratis at DEWA.

Al Tayer said that DEWA-SAT 1 uses LoRa IoT communication technology, which is a new wireless protocol designed for long-range communications that consumes less energy, to expand the coverage of the existing terrestrial communication network. Using satellite communications, IoT, and AI will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of DEWA’s operations and support digitizing energy networks, water distribution and transmission networks. It also enables the integration of IoT data using DEWA’s private cloud.

Al Tayer said, “I extend my thanks and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for his unlimited support to DEWA and its innovative initiatives and projects including its Space-D program, which His Highness launched in January of 2021. The program supports the National Space Strategy 2030 that aims to realize the UAE’s vision in space sciences, technologies, applications and services."

He added, "DEWA, in collaboration with NanoAvionics, has launched the first U3 nanosatellite as part of the Space-D program that aims to improve the operations, maintenance and planning of its networks with the support of nanosatellite technology, Internet of Things (IoT), and remote sensing technologies. The program also aims to train Emirati professionals to use space technologies to enhance its electricity and water networks and take advantage of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and blockchain to exchange information with the help of satellite communications and earth observation technologies."

Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, said that DEWA’s Space-D program includes a ground station at the solar park as well as IoT and AI technologies to support ground communication transmission stations in electricity and water networks. By deploying this infrastructure, DEWA seeks to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its planning and operations, and enhance preventive maintenance at its production, transmission, distribution divisions as well as its smart grids, and electric vehicle charging stations. Multi-spectrum, high-resolution thermal imaging devices such as those used onboard spacecraft, specifically designed for use in electricity and water networks, will be deployed to detect thermal fingerprints in high voltage transmission lines, substations, buildings and solar power stations.

The University of Southern California (USC)‘s Satellite Dodona, with its novel Lockheed Martin La Jument payloads, is part of SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program and was transported to orbit via SpaceX’s Transporter 3 mission.

Partner Lockheed Martin supported USC students (graduate and undergraduate) and faculty to take an internally built cubesat (measuring 30 cms. by 10 by 10, called Dodona) the size of bread box and test Lockheed Martin’s newest payload technologies in orbit, including new software that allows for rapid mission changes while in orbit. This SmartSat technology is part of Lockheed Martin’s larger La Jument program and Dodona is the first is a series of demonstration flights.

Dodona is a project out of USC’s Space Engineering Research Center, directed by Professor David Barnhart, which is a joint research center from USC Viterbi School of Engineering Department of Astronautical Engineering and the Information Sciences Institute.

The La Jument payload suite includes low SWAP (size, weight and power) optical and infrared cameras that employ algorithms to enhance imagery on-orbit, plus Lockheed Martin’s Compass advanced mission planning app. The Compass team developed a new Target Selection Visualization tool that makes it much easier to identify a targeted region to photograph. Using a map overlay, users can pick a point on the map within the satellite’s coverage area and the tool translates that into messages relayed back to the USC team commanding the satellite.

In addition to Lockheed Martin’s new technology suite, the SERC team is testing a new “B dot” controller — a new guidance control algorithm that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field to stabilize the satellite in orbit.

SERC launched its first satellite, Careus — developed in partnership between USC and Northrop Grumman — in 2010, and its second satellite, Aeneas, in 2012. The process of developing and launching a satellite requires vigorous design work and testing, including “shake and bake” testing, which literally checks how the satellite fares when shook and heated to simulate launch. Satellites also must adhere to global regulations, including making sure the team can bring the satellite down within an agreed upon period of time and ensuring the satellite’s orbit will not interfere with other satellites.

Part of SERC’s mission is creating hands-on opportunities for students and faculty to build and test advanced space technology, in addition to integrating, launching and operating small satellites. Dodona takes advantage of the space focused curriculum through analysis tools and techniques that are taught at USC through the Astronautical Engineering Department.

For Dodona, the team also needed to receive FCC approval for operating its small radio, an off-the-shelf radio made for cubesats so the satellite can both receive commands sent up from the ground station (located on USC’s University Park campus) and downlink data on the health and status of the satellite while in orbit. Lockheed Martin will operate a similar ground station at their Valley Forge facility in Pennsylvania.

In the following two weeks, the USC-Lockheed Martin team will assess mission success criteria, including the satellite’s launch into and stability on-orbit and its ability to transmit data about what’s happening on the spacecraft. The mission is focused on Lockheed Martin’s optical payload and will be the first satellite from USC that is able to take photos of the Earth from space.

SERC’s next small satellite project is Magneto, a fully student-built class project it hopes to launch in late 2022, and has a new rendezvous technology planned to fly inside the International Space Station in early 2023.

Tom Smith, the vice president for Lockheed Martin’s Centers of Excellence that include Optical Payloads, said, “The La Jument integrated payload was designed by Lockheed Martin and then integrated and tested with Dodona by USC students at the Space Engineering Research Center (SERC). The La Jument 3U payload on Dodona will be the first satellite to fully use Lockheed Martin’s SmartSat software-defined satellite architecture on its payload. It’s a game changer for space because we can easily update satellites after launch and use advanced AI algorithms in orbit instead of just on the ground.”

Sonia Phares, vice president for engineering and technology at Lockheed Martin Space, added, “The La Jument/Dodona launch is the first of three rapid prototyping missions Lockheed Martin will deliver in 2022. Our dual LINUSS spacecraft will be in GEO orbit by Mid-May and our dual Pony Express 2 spacecraft will be launch to low earth orbit in October. “

The SpaceX Smallsat Rideshare program offers a viable and affordable option to launch up to 200 kg. into an SSO LEO

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