Triton-X is a new competitive and multi-mission European smallsat platform product line currently under development as part of ESA’s program of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) and is designed to give low-cost and fast-track access to LEO for commercial and institutional applications.
The first satellite developed under the Triton-X multi-mission platform program for LEO is now on its way to be integrated onto the launcher for the upcoming inaugural flight.
Developed under an ESA Partnership Project with LuxSpace, the Triton-X Genesis smallsat will demo the performances of newly developed and highly innovative elements that include the avionics architecture that embeds a high-performance on-board computer, a telecommunications system that will enable to command, control and monitor the satellite as well as a star tracker that will provide pointing accuracy of the satellite.
The satellite was built in less than 10 months using generic, off-the-shelf building blocks, high-performance field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and micro-controllers.
The Triton-X platform can accommodate payloads up to 90 kg for a wide range of applications including telecommunications, Earth Observation (EO), situational awareness and on-orbit demonstration and validation.
Tailored to be compatible with the new generation small launchers, rideshare and hosted payload mission architectures, Triton-X Genesis is due to be launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 in October.
Six ESA member states have subscribed to Triton-X Partnership Project. The program is led by LuxSpace in Luxembourg together with six industrial partners and ten suppliers in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, and across Europe.