Archives for May 2023

Teledyne e2v HiRel has released a New Space COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf), phase locked loop (PLL) designed to deliver exceptional performance and reliability in space applications.

The TDPL97240 is packaged in a small, 7×7 mm, non-hermetic, epoxy sealed, ceramic quad, no-leads, (QFN) flat package that offers 75% board size reduction vs. the standard space grade ceramic part. The TDPL97240 is radiation tolerant to 100 krad (Si) total ionizing dose (TID) and built on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology. This gives the PLL natural radiation tolerance and immunity to single-event latch-up (SEL) effects.

The offering also has a lock frequency range of 50 MHz to 5 GHz, dual modulus prescaler (5/6 & 10/11) for greater frequency flexibility and capability of either serial interface or direct pin programming.

The device is qualified in accordance with the NASA EEE-INST-002 specification and undergoes rigorous testing and validation to ensure that it meets the necessary space requirements. The cost-effective nature of the space COTS solution opens new opportunities for customers who may have previously been unable to afford more expensive traditionally qualified solutions.

“We are thrilled to offer our customers a cost-effective solution that delivers the high-reliability and high-performance needed for space applications. Our new space COTS PLL is the ideal solution for LEO applications that also require radiation performance.”
— Mont Taylor, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at Teledyne e2v HiRel

The UoBSat team from the University of Bristol in the UK recently completed their environmental test campaign for the PROVE-Pathfinder, a CubeSat imaging payload, as part of the Fly Your Satellite! “Test Opportunities” program at the CubeSat Support Facility (CSF) of ESEC-Galaxia.

From April 1 to April 21, 2023, the students worked at the CSF cleanroom to test their payload, named PROVE-Pathfinder. The team consisted of four students who participated in the first week, and another four who joined for the second and third weeks of the campaign.

The UoBSat team was the first to perform a test campaign as part of “Test Opportunities” program that is designed to provide university students with an opportunity to carry out environmental test campaigns at the CSF, where they gain access to professional testing facilities and expert support. The ultimate goal of this program is to complement the courses received at the university with practical experience in the space domain, and ultimately prepare them to tackle the challenges of tomorrow with more confidence.

To prepare, the students had to get acquainted with and apply the same standard processes followed by professional European space industry projects. This required a lot of studying and collecting information to plan the test campaign and prepare the test procedure. The team developed a newfound appreciation for the requirements and standards that shape the workflow of satellite qualification.

During the campaign, the team encountered a few hiccups while assembling the test setup on the electrodynamic shaker during the first week. However, with the help of the engineers of the CSF, they managed to complete the vibration test successfully.

The second week brought a new challenge for the team, as they discovered that the behavior of their test item in thermal vacuum was not as reliable as expected. However, the team did not allow this setback unsettle them. They worked hard to investigate the issues and were able to find the root cause of the problem.

By the third week, the team had a better understanding of the problem and executed some temperature cycling to characterize the thermal behavior of the camera in thermal vacuum; this data will be immensely useful to the team, as they will use it to improve the thermal model of their payload device.

The UoBSat team is only the first team to visit the CubeSat Support Facility as part of the Test Opportunities program the ESA expects more student teams to engage at the CSF later this summer.

Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has signed an agreement with Hello Space to carry a hosted payload of a demo deployer carrying four PocketQube satellites on the Vigoride-7 mission that is targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission no earlier than October of 2023.

Hello Space is a satellite IoT service provider company capable of creating hardware and software for ‘PocketQube’ smallsats that measure 10x5x5 cm in size. The company is already a part of the Lora-Alliance network, a global alliance working toward creating a global standard for low-power, long-range, very wide-area IoT networks. The company’s deployer, named “Hello Pod” launching with Momentus, is a test product prior to the start of full-scale manufacturing operations. The deployer will carry four PocketQubes and marks the first tranche of an 80 satellite constellation set by Hello Space.

Momentus currently has three Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicles on-orbit. The company launched its inaugural mission, Vigoride-3, in May of 2022 and deployed eight satellites to orbit from Vigoride and a third-party deployer. The Vigoride-5 spacecraft, launched in January, is providing hosted payload support for Caltech’s Space-based Solar Power Project payload and deploying a satellite with the Qosmosys Zeus-1 payload. The Vigoride-5 mission also marked a significant milestone for the Company as the firm MET system successfully completed a series of in-space tests. Vigoride-6, launched in April of 2023, is carrying satellites for NASA and commercial customers and a solar array developed by Momentus that will be demo’d in space.

“The intersection of lower launch costs, Momentus’ ability to flexibly and cost-effectively carry and provide robust on-orbit services, and smarter small satellites is where opportunities and possibilities open up for customers. Our hosted payload service will provide Hello Space with the opportunity to focus their resources on their engineering and scientific objectives while entrusting us with their in-space logistics needs like power, data, and communication.“
— John Rood, Momentus Chief Executive Officer

“We initiated the design of our deployer in October 2022, and with Momentus, we’re looking to be on-orbit in October 2023. Their flexibility and speed were appealing, united with our scalable hi-tech satellite IoT services to offer. We are thrilled about the potential of this great collaboration.“
— Muzaffer Duysal, Hello Space Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) recently launched their new Deep Navigation Analytics (DNA) Platform, a centralized, space-powered hub that delivers essential insights to maritime stakeholders through three layers: maritime weather data APIs, actionable intelligence APIs, decision support solutions and visualizations.

The platform uses radio occultation (RO) data acquired by the company’s fully deployed satellite constellation and proprietary weather forecasting model that assimilates RO data to generate 15 day global weather forecasts, ensuring that users have access to the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available.

Maritime Weather Data APIs
Spire’s platform enables quick and easy access to highly accurate maritime weather information via reliable APIs that sync with its other global datasets, including global maritime AIS positional data, vessel characteristics and port events, to provide a holistic view of the seas. A recent study by Spire in collaboration with a customer projected approximately $11 billion annual global savings in fuel costs and a reduction of 57 million tons of carbon emissions by vessels that optimize their voyages to avoid unfavorably windy conditions.

Actionable Intelligence APIs
Spire’s multi-objective routing algorithm, powered by a partnership with a leading maritime tech company Theyr, generates recommended vessel route options based on vessel-specific constraints and the desired outcome (e.g. best time charter equivalent, minimum fuel, best time, just-in-time arrival and more). Unlike other existing traditional weather routing algorithms, Spire’s actionable intelligence for voyage optimization can deliver multiple insights within a single calculation to help maritime stakeholders reduce fuel consumption, minimize emissions, and enhance safety.

Decision Support Solutions and Visualizations
Spire’s DNA platform can empower decision makers by offering a holistic view of global fleet positional data while visualizing current weather conditions within ShipView, an online dashboard built for the maritime industry. ShipView provides real-time tracking of fleet performance, validation of conditions impacting vessels, and monitoring of rapidly evolving weather forecasts that can keep crews, cargo, and vessels out of harm’s way.

Ocean shipping accounts for 80 to 90 percent of global trade and is estimated to hit roughly $25 trillion in 2022. Governments, the 800 container ports, shipping companies and fleet operation managers that handle around 55,000 merchant vessels, data scientists, application developers and solution providers can leverage the DNA platform to receive the operational intelligence needed to increase profitability, reduce emissions, and maximize crew safety — all accessible in one place with multi-format delivery. It also provides highly granular, continuous datasets to train artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.

The introduction of the Deep Navigation Analytics Platform follows the November 2022 launch of Spire’s dark shipping detection solution.

“With unparalleled global weather coverage from space, particularly in under-observed areas like the open oceans and other remote regions, the launch of Spire’s Deep Navigation Analytics Platform, provides the maritime world with one suite to facilitate a broad range of maritime use cases. We are partnering with leading innovative entities to co-develop cutting-edge solutions, such as the one with Theyr to provide multi-objective voyage optimization, which no other player in the industry is currently offering.”
— Mike Eilts, General Manager of Weather and Earth Intelligence, Spire

Spire (NYSE: SPIR) is a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, offering unique datasets and powerful insights about Earth so that organizations can make decisions with confidence in a rapidly changing world. Spire builds, owns, and operates a fully deployed satellite constellation that observes the Earth in real time using radio frequency technology. The data acquired by Spire’s satellites provides global weather intelligence, ship and plane movements, and spoofing and jamming detection to better predict how their patterns impact economies, global security, business operations and the environment. Spire also offers Space as a Service solutions that empower customers to leverage its established infrastructure to put their business in space. Spire has eight offices across the U.S., Canada, UK, Luxembourg and Singapore.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has developed and delivered a spacecraft simulator to the University of Colorado (CU) Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in support of the Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor- 2 (TSIS-2) spacecraft program.

GA-EMS is under contract with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to build the TSIS-2 spacecraft, which will provide measurements of solar irradiance and high-quality data for the long-term climate record. CU LASP is providing the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) and Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM) sensors for TSIS-2.

The TSIS-2 spacecraft simulator provides capabilities to send and verify commands, receive health and status telemetry, and receive science and analog thermistor data and specific command file uploads. The spacecraft simulator provides valuable capabilities to test system performance, payload interfaces, and functions pre-flight in preparation for on-orbit mission operations.

GA-EMS has designed and is manufacturing the TSIS-2 satellite based on its modular and scalable GA-150 ESPA-class bus architecture. GA-EMS is also performing TSIS-2 payload integration and testing and will provide mission operations support. Once launched, the satellite will operate in a SSO, with the TSIS-2 payload providing NASA with continuous solar monitoring capabilities throughout its mission life.

“This represents the first complete end-to-end spacecraft simulator we have designed, programmed, built, and delivered to a customer, adding another significant capability to our space systems and technologies portfolio. The spacecraft simulator allows us to check the communication and functionality of the TSIS-2 payload onboard our GA-150 satellite bus in preparation for satellite operations. Although the delivered simulator is specific to TSIS-2, we have an experienced team in-house to develop and build simulators to support new customers and satellite programs.”
— Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS

“We provide an agile approach to satellite design, test, manufacturing, and payload integration to help customers access space and execute their missions. Simulation is a critical step in satellite design to help maximize risk mitigation. Not only does this allow us to evaluate spacecraft and component performance under various scenarios prior to launch, it is also a valuable tool for troubleshooting and resolving any issues that might arise while the satellite is on orbit.”
— Gregg Burgess, vice president of GA-EMS Space Systems

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) Group is a global leader in the research, design, and manufacture of first-of-a-kind electromagnetic and power generation systems. GA-EMS’ history of research, development, and technology innovation has led to an expanding portfolio of specialized products and integrated system solutions supporting aviation, space systems and satellites, missile defense, power and energy, and processing and monitoring applications for defense, industrial, and commercial customers worldwide.

Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU_ has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SkyServe, Inc., an in-space edge computing solutions company that offers satellite-based insights for core industries and solution providers through their Insights-as-a-Service platform.

Under the terms of the MOU, Sidus will be integrating and deploying SkyServe’s edge computing software on LizzieSat and provide on-orbit testing in a space environment to provide insights, increase the overall Technology Readiness Level, and establish integration processes for future collaborative missions. Sidus and SkyServe collaboratively aim to build a foundation of services that will support various customer segments for both companies.

SkyServe’s sensor analytics platform processes satellite imagery data and provides customized solutions to customers, allowing them to gain real-time insights into their operations and make informed decisions based on the actionable intelligence provided.

“We are very pleased to have signed this MOU with SkyServe at this year’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. We believe this agreement will expand our ability to leverage the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning-based analytics to provide our customers with the most advanced satellite imagery services available today.”
— Carol Craig, Sidus Space Founder and CEO

“This is a great opportunity to work with Sidus Space which has a proven track record in the industry. Our upcoming flights on the LizzieSat constellation will give us a unique advantage with on-demand tasking and rapid revisit when delivering critical insights across Optical and RF sensors to customers at low-latency.”
— Vinay Simha, SkyServe Founder and CEO

The launch of NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission is delayed due to a weather front that headed toward Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-1 in Mahia, New Zealand.

Originally, Rocket Lab was targeting 9:00 p.m. EDT, Sunday, April 30 (1:00 p.m. New Zealand Standard Time, Monday, May 1) for the launch.

Rocket Lab will assess the weather as it evolves and will shortly confirm a new target date for the launch.

This launch is the first of two planned launches, each sending a pair of smallsats to LEO.

TROPICS will provide data on temperature, precipitation, water vapor, and clouds by measuring microwave frequencies, providing insight into storm formation and intensification.