Archives for April 2023

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) recently completed a critical design review (CDR) for the firm’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL), part of Space Development Agency’s (SDA) LEO network designed to communicate vital information to wherever it’s needed to support U.S. troops on the ground, quickly and securely.

The Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) communication satellites will provide resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport supporting U.S. military missions around the world. Designed to connect elements of an integrated sensing architecture, the network will deliver persistent, secure connectivity, and serve as a critical element for advancing the U.S. Department of Defense’s vision for Joint All Domain Command and Control.

SDA formerly announced that Northrop Grumman is under contract to provide the agency with 56 satellites, including the 42 communication satellites in the Tranche 1 Transport layer and 14 for the Tranche 1 Tracking layer, which includes an infrared sensor payload. The Tracking layer program recently completed its preliminary design review. Northrop Grumman is also providing the ground system for both its Transport and Tracking constellations.

“We are leveraging our commercial marketplace partnerships to deliver a rapid, affordable, highly effective solution for SDA. Our T1TL solution builds on our decades of end-to-end mission expertise. We are uniquely capable of delivering a credible capability to support the warfighter.” — Blake Bullock, vice president, communication systems, strategic space systems, Northrop Grumman

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has announced that the firm’s In-space Upgrade Satellite System (LM LINUSS) accomplished a successful, on-orbit demo, proving how smallsats can serve an essential role in sustaining critical space architectures. This is accomplished by regularly upgrading existing constellations with new capabilities and extending spacecraft design lifecycles.

LM LINUSS, a technology demo funded internally by Lockheed Martin, is comprised of two, LM 50 12U CubeSats. While on-orbit, the system demonstrated highly-automated, rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) that enables complicated — yet precise — maneuvering across multi-satellite constellations. This allows on-orbit servicing coordination and upgrades at scale in any orbit. The RPO demonstration was part of Lockheed Martin’s mission to validate essential maneuvering capabilities for future space upgrade and servicing missions.

During the demo, one of the LM LINUSS CubeSats acted as the designated servicing vehicle, navigating a flightpath toward the second CubeSat, which represented the resident space object (RSO). As the servicing vehicle approached the RSO, on-board guidance algorithms made final real-time adjustments to complete its rendezvous operations. The culminating success was declared when the CubeSats maneuvered in a proximity of one another, demonstrating high confidence in conducting future, on-orbit servicing missions for customers.

In addition to RPO, these smallsats also accomplished additional technology demonstrations while on-orbit…

• Performing automated maneuvers and using artificial intelligence to fly coordinated flightpaths, supporting a variety of operational conditions.
• Using Lockheed Martin’s Horizon 2.0 command and control (C2) software and advanced RPO software.
• Maintaining connection with a secure cloud-based architecture for mission telemetry, tracking and control.
• Showcasing the company’s advanced SmartSat software.
• Demonstrating miniaturized Space Domain Awareness capabilities.
• Validating new onboard high-performance processing, low-toxicity propulsion, inertial measurement units, machine vision, and 3D-printed components.

LM LINUSS could be considered the most capable pair of CubeSats in geosynchronous Earth orbit today, based on customer community feedback. The spacecraft have higher bus density, payload accommodation and on-orbit processing than any other CubeSat, which helps enable revolutionary mission capabilities in the future. Part of Lockheed Martin’s LM 50 smallsat family, it is the collaborative integration of the company’s mission electro-optical payload deck with a next-generation bus from Terran Orbital Corporation. LM LINUSS and other Lockheed Martin pathfinders are helping create a more sustainable future, safely adding mission life and more.

“The LM LINUSS pathfinder is an excellent example of how Lockheed Martin is investing in innovation in the real world. Agile development, cloud-based operations, and smallsat platforms came together at speed and in orbit, where the real test of technology occurs. Through the accomplishments of LM LINUSS, Lockheed Martin is pioneering how future small and medium class missions will be upgraded on-orbit, and continuing to develop critical, breakthrough technologies that keep our customers ahead of ready.” — Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin, vice president and general manager, Military Space

“This LM LINUSS demonstration was a success for many reasons, including the fact that our team navigated the inherent challenges of a novel technology and validated our software for future missions. We will leverage what our team learned from LM LINUSS’ design, development, and operations to continue advancing Lockheed Martin’s innovative vision for on-orbit satellite servicing and upgrades.” — David Barnhart, a technology director at Lockheed Martin Space

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI) has introduced a new line of easy to integrate Space Hardware Development Kits (HDKs) during the Space Foundation Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from April 17-20, 2023.

Ascent’s new offer packages technologies and approaches, matured previously in collaborations with NASA and JAXA, into easy to consume HDKs that simplify the design and integration of solar power generation, accelerate mission schedules and boost spacecraft performance while delivering significant mass efficiencies. Benefits of the HDKs include:

• Engineered for Space: Solar cells encapsulated in space-rated laminate with unrivaled on-orbit specific power and longevity, as demonstrated on-orbit with NASA.
• Plug & Fly Solar Integration: HDKs engineered to easily interface with proprietary and COTS components, including systems, subsystems and buses.
• Modular Mission-Enabler: HDKs configurable to mission power, mass and delta-v budget requirements, including solar arrays optimized for LEO/GEO, and that are cislunar and deep space-capable.
• Sustainable Space Solar Solution: Robust arrays that provide reliable power, even if impacted by micrometeoroid or orbital debris (without creating more space debris).
• Assured, On-Time Delivery: In-house produced solar modules, backed by MW of proven production capacity.

“Balancing spacecraft cost, power, mass, and delta-v budgets often presents a challenge for space mission managers. Ascent now simplifies this process with our new range of Space HDKs, an innovative space power generation solution that takes a holistic approach to maximizing benefits to the mission, and its budget constraints, instead of optimizing to a subsystem component requirement. The Space HDKs are designed for missions of today and the future and include cubesat, smallsat, and electric propulsion optimized arrays that provide both vehicle mass savings and increased performance. Ascent is also developing even higher power, higher voltage, and more efficient space HDKs to serve the next generation of space missions.” — Julian Miller, Business Development Manager of ASTI

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI) has introduced a new line of easy to integrate Space Hardware Development Kits (HDKs) during the Space Foundation Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from April 17-20, 2023.

Ascent’s new offer packages technologies and approaches, matured previously in collaborations with NASA and JAXA, into easy to consume HDKs that simplify the design and integration of solar power generation, accelerate mission schedules and boost spacecraft performance while delivering significant mass efficiencies. Benefits of the HDKs include:

• Engineered for Space: Solar cells encapsulated in space-rated laminate with unrivaled on-orbit specific power and longevity, as demonstrated on-orbit with NASA.
• Plug & Fly Solar Integration: HDKs engineered to easily interface with proprietary and COTS components, including systems, subsystems and buses.
• Modular Mission-Enabler: HDKs configurable to mission power, mass and delta-v budget requirements, including solar arrays optimized for LEO/GEO, and that are cislunar and deep space-capable.
• Sustainable Space Solar Solution: Robust arrays that provide reliable power, even if impacted by micrometeoroid or orbital debris (without creating more space debris).
• Assured, On-Time Delivery: In-house produced solar modules, backed by MW of proven production capacity.

“Balancing spacecraft cost, power, mass, and delta-v budgets often presents a challenge for space mission managers. Ascent now simplifies this process with our new range of Space HDKs, an innovative space power generation solution that takes a holistic approach to maximizing benefits to the mission, and its budget constraints, instead of optimizing to a subsystem component requirement. The Space HDKs are designed for missions of today and the future and include cubesat, smallsat, and electric propulsion optimized arrays that provide both vehicle mass savings and increased performance. Ascent is also developing even higher power, higher voltage, and more efficient space HDKs to serve the next generation of space missions.” — Julian Miller, Business Development Manager of ASTI

Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) launched three satellites on the SpaceX Transporter-7 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 14th — Spire Space Services, the Company’s Space as a Service business, launched two 6U satellites for their customers.

Spire launched a satellite developed for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which aims to collect high-quality and high-resolution data across global terrestrial, coastal and ocean ecosystems and to help observe and characterize natural resources.

The 6U satellite hosts a hyperspectral camera with advanced on-board processing capabilities in combination with Spire’s Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) sensor payload that will collect intelligence on soil moisture. The data collected will allow KAUST researchers to compile and analyze high-resolution imagery that can be used for mapping terrestrial habitats, monitoring vegetation health and condition, exploring coastal ecosystems and coral reefs, and advancing agro-ecological research, as well as many other Earth and environmental science applications.

“Working with Spire Space Services has allowed us to fast-track our satellite mission, which will provide unique insights to monitor, protect and preserve precious terrestrial and ocean systems in Saudi Arabia,. Spire’s expertise in GNSS-R paired with the hyperspectral instrument will yield valuable new information on both the state of existing ecosystems and for observing and characterizing changes resulting from ambitious national scale restoration and conservation strategies.” — Matthew McCabe, Director of the KAUST Climate and Livability Initiative

Spire also launched ADLER-2, the second satellite developed in partnership between the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF), a national space research organization, and Findus Venture GmbH, an Austrian investor in new space technology. ADLER-2 continues the mission of ADLER-1, which was launched in January 2022, to provide insights into space debris in LEO and expand novel atmospheric sensing capabilities to study clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. ADLER-2 carries three payloads that detect and track orbital debris and perform air quality measurements around the globe, and it is expected to increase the debris detection rate.

“Space debris is a challenging issue we must address as quickly as possible. To develop solutions, we first need a better overview of the current situation in Earth orbit. To that end, the Austrian Space Forum has teamed up with Spire Global, an expert when it comes to tailor made satellites and swiftly adjustable projects. With the successful launch and operation of ADLER-1, we now have proof of concept, and ADLER-2 will provide further valuable insights into space debris in Low Earth Orbit.” — Dr. Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum

Spire also launched one satellite to support their own data solutions business, which encompasses the tracking of maritime, aviation, and weather activity from space. Spire’s data solutions constellation is fully deployed with high asset use and only requires about $10-12 million per year of capital expenditures to maintain. This satellite is furthering Spire’s competitive advantage while leveraging a technology improvement curve that is delivering 10X performance improvements every five years.

This satellite is equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensors to collect radio occultation (RO) and polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) data. These GNSS sensors gather precise data about the Earth’s atmosphere, including measurements on temperature, humidity, and precipitation, as well as ionospheric electron density. RO and PRO data can be assimilated into weather models to enhance the value and accuracy of global weather forecasts. Spire launched its initial PRO payloads, which were the first sent to orbit by a private company, in January 2023. Spire is the largest producer of radio occultation data, which is leveraged by government agencies such as NOAA, NASA, ECMWF, and EUMETSAT to drive global weather predictions.

The satellites were manifested on the mission through a multi-launch agreement between Spire and Exolaunch, which includes access to the Transporter missions through Exolaunch’s long-term launch arrangements with SpaceX. Spire will launch additional satellites on SpaceX Transporter missions later this year.

Spire Space Services, with a $39 billion total addressable market, allows organizations to deploy and scale their own satellite constellation at maximum speed and reliably, all through a subscription model that eliminates the high upfront cost of building and maintaining infrastructure in space. Commercial and government organizations can deploy and operate a constellation of satellites, a hosted payload, or a software application in space with Spire’s infrastructure.

“With Spire Space Services, our goal is to simplify space and make it accessible so that anyone is able to benefit from the insights and intelligence that can be garnered from the ultimate vantage point,. Both KAUST and ADLER-2 are prime examples of organizations that have leveraged our platform to build space-based applications and gather intelligence to promote sustainability on Earth and beyond.” — Frank Frulio, General Manager of Space Services, Spire

D-Orbit has launched Guardian, the 10th commercial mission of the firm’s proprietary orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) — ION Satellite Carrier (ION).

The OTV lifted off on April 14th, 2023, at 23:48 p.m. PDT (April 15th, 2023 at 06:48 UTC) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and was successfully deployed at 1:05 a.m. PDT on April 15th into an approximately 500 km altitude polar orbit.

ION is a versatile and cost-effective OTV designed to precisely deploy satellites and perform orbital demonstrations of third-party payloads hosted onboard. After the first commercial mission in September 2020, D-Orbit has completed nine more missions.

During the mission, ION SCV010, dubbed “Masterful Matthaeus,” will host five satellites onboard, one of which remains undisclosed, as well as two, third-party payloads.

Kepler 20 and 21, two CubeSat by Kepler Communications, are a continuation of Kepler’s first-generation communications constellation. Kepler’s two newest satellites will provide additional test and validation for payload technology planned for their next generation of satellites. The company is on a mission to build the Internet for space to provide real-time, continuous connectivity for space communications.

VCUB1, developed by Visiona Tecnologia Espacial, is the first Earth Observation (EO) and Data Collection satellite developed by the Brazilian private industry showcasing the Company’s ability to create high-performance space systems. The 12 kilogram smallsat boasts a sophisticated architecture and employs cutting-edge equipment. Its high spatial resolution camera captures images with superior radiometric and geometric qualities compared to similar class commercial satellites, making it ideal for agricultural and environmental protection applications. Additionally, VCUB1 features a UHF data collection system based on radio-defined software technology. Initially used for hydrological and meteorological data collection, the system also offers the potential for in-orbit updates to deliver IoT solutions. Lastly, the satellite will validate Visiona’s in-flight Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) and On-board Data Handling (OBDH) software, which are critical for managing satellite operations.

EPICHyper-1 is a 6U EPIC CubeSat, designed and built by AAC Clyde Space. The spacecraft, the first of three, will deliver Hyperspectral data exclusively to their partners at Wyvern Inc., a Canadian Earth observation company. The 6U EPIC VIEW satellites dedicated to Wyvern are designed as ‘application specific’ and feature increased data downlink and enhanced control capabilities and will deliver hyperspectral data, a method for capturing images of Earth across multiple bands, providing much more information than the three main color bands that the human eye captures. Under their Space Data as a Service agreement, AAC Clyde Space manufactures, operates, and owns the 6U EPIC satellites equipped with hyperspectral payloads, while Wyvern Inc. commits to subscribe to the data service. Wyvern, specializing in Earth Observation (EO), will first offer the data to the agricultural sector where it will help optimize yields, and detect invasive plants, pests and changes in soil makeup.

SCORPIO, a payload for Electronic Intelligence activities, is an in-house developed CubeSat created by Elt‘s Space EW Team, leveraging more than 70 years of experience in Electro Magnetic Spectrum (EMS) management. The system is designed to intercept, identify, and locate terrestrial electromagnetic sources, such as RF signals, from space. By determining the characteristics of these signals and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms, SCORPIO enables automatic categorization and data storage. During its current mission, SCORPIO will gather data relevant to monitoring maritime traffic and land-based emitters. This information can be valuable in the civilian sector, aiding in the prevention of suspicious activities in maritime areas near blue borders.

MicroCMG is VEOWARE‘s first Control Moment Gyroscope to be tested in space. This In-Orbit-Demonstration mission is a crucial milestone that will advance the development and commercialization of VEOWARE’s unique high-agility Attitude Control technology. Designed to support spacecraft weighing between 50 and 250 kg, MicroCMG enhances data capture capabilities, enables new in-orbit applications, and increases downlink time. D-Orbit’s mission control team is now performing a series of tests and diagnostics in preparation for the operational phase.

Guardian is ION’s fourth mission in 2023. D-Orbit launched its first ION in September 2020 aboard an Arianespace VEGA launcher, then 9 further missions aboard SpaceX Transporter missions. With this launch, the Company will have collectively transported to space more than 100 payloads.

“Every new mission brings along new challenges, new milestones to be achieved, new opportunities to grow as a company, as well as a team. The beginning of this year has been very intense, we have launched several new missions, closed important institutional contracts, we have pushed the team hard and I could not be more proud and grateful for what their passion and dedication is allowing us to achieve.” — Renato Panesi, Ph.D., D-Orbit’s co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer

Founded in 2011, D-Orbit is the first company addressing the logistics needs of the space market. ION Satellite Carrier, for example, is a space vehicle that can transport satellites in orbit and release them individually into distinct orbital slots, reducing the time from launch to operations by up to 85% and the launch costs of an entire satellite constellation by up to 40%. ION can also accommodate multiple third-party payloads like innovative technologies developed by startups, experiments from research entities, and instruments from traditional space companies requiring a test in orbit. The whole, fully redundant ION can be rented for edge computing applications and space cloud services to provide satellite operators with storage capacity and advanced computing capabilities on-orbit. D-Orbit’s roadmap includes becoming a relevant player in the in-orbit servicing market, which is forecasted to become one of the largest, growing markets within the space sector.

TrustPoint, an aerospace startup providing next-generation GNSS products and services, has launched the firm’s first satellite. The satellite, named “It’s About Time,” will allow TrustPoint to mature and demo core technologies as they progress toward delivering GPS-independent global time and positioning services.

Maverick Space Systems supported the launch of It’s About Time on SpaceX’s Transporter-7 Mission from Vandenberg Space Force base in California late Friday evening, August the 14th. This first mission will focus on testing, calibration and optimization of TrustPoint’s, smallsat-compatible, GNSS payload technology. After an initial commissioning period, TrustPoint will take control of the satellite and operate the spacecraft through a series of tests and demonstrations.

In a very few years, TrustPoint’s constellation will deliver secure, high precision, time and positioning services at a fraction of the cost of comparable offerings. This capability will help fortify existing critical applications and enable the proliferation of nascent use cases in autonomous navigation, national security and smart infrastructure.

“This launch marks a pivotal moment for aerospace innovation. TrustPoint’s new platform is the first commercially-funded, purpose-built PNT microsatellite. With this mission, we are expediting the impact of commercial technologies and innovation cycles on the world of timing and navigation, arguably one of the most far reaching and critical satellite services today.” — Patrick Shannon, CEO of TrustPoint

“TrustPoint has shown that New Space strategies enable rapid execution for even the most critical space capabilities. The team delivered a spacecraft in eight months, an incredible feat achieved during a challenging economic climate, at the peak of the silicon shortage. This is a key milestone as we scale our production, constellation, and capability.” — Chris DeMay, TrustPoint COO

TrustPoint is developing next-generation fully commercial GNSS services, to achieve the performance, security, and availability required for autonomous navigation, vital infrastructure management and augmented reality.