The second Lijian-1 launch vehicle (Lijian-1 Y2 , 力箭一号遥二) launched 26 small satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, China, on 7 June 2023, at 04:10 UTC (12:10 local time). The satellites will be mainly used for technology verification and commercial remote sensing information services.

The Lijian-1 rocket, also known as ZK-1A and Kinetica-1, is a four-stage solid-propellant launch vehicle jointly developed by the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CAS Space (Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.). According to CAS Space, the second Lijian-1 mission has successfully launched 26 small satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/CAS Space Kinetica-1 launch

The Satellite Applications Catapult and Open Cosmos have signed an agreement to build and launch a key demo satellite to join the Open Cosmos OpenConstellation — the satellite will be launched as early as Q1 of 2024

The satellite will host a miniaturized Earth Observation (EO) payload, with integrated onboard processing capabilities able to acquire, process, compress, store and forward medium-resolution hyperspectral imagery for Atlantic coastal and maritime areas. The mission will demonstrate a concept of operations for a constellation performing pole-to-pole observation of the Atlantic Ocean involving systematic acquisition of images from pre-defined land and maritime targets, and on-board image processing.

The OpenConstellation is a global shared satellite infrastructure built and managed by Open Cosmos to provide diverse, frequent and reliable data of our changing planet. Countries, institutions and companies are contributing satellites to create the world’s biggest, mutualized constellation. Open Cosmos is already delivering satellites to the OpenConstellation, which have been contributed by leading space organisations in the UK, Spain and Portugal, and with Satellite Applications Catapult being a key UK partner. The constellation will provide key insights to address the climate emergency and monitor a sustainable use of natural resources.

This satellite will also demonstrate, on-orbit, some of the capabilities and solutions that a future constellation to monitor the Atlantic will deploy at scale. This constellation is an ambitious project to use data collected from satellites to deal with the challenges in the Atlantic Ocean from ocean pollution to illegal fishing. Data and imagery gathered from this satellite and others in the constellation will be used for marine ecosystem research and climate change monitoring, based on fast coverage and frequent revisits of areas of interest. Scientific organisations, commercial businesses and national and international governments will all be able to access this essential data.

The satellite is part of the Catapult’s In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) program that is funded by Innovate UK and the UK Space Agency. The IOD program offers partners a fast-track, low-cost opportunity to test their service or technology on a CubeSat mission launched into LEO, accelerating the time to market for innovative products and services from space.

Open Cosmos had previously been selected as the satellite platform provider for IOD. Today’s announcement confirms that Open Cosmos will also provide the payload, ground segment, operations systems and data processing and distribution for the mission.

“We are delighted to have the Satellite Applications Catapult joining the OpenConstellation. This satellite will be instrumental in better understanding global environmental challenges – especially the ones affecting the Atlantic Ocean and coastal areas. Our mission is to make space more accessible and I am sure that together with the Catapult we can help a lot more organisations to have access to this critical information.”
— Rafel Jordá Siquier, CEO, Open Cosmos

“Open Cosmos continues to innovate and make exceptional progress as one of our leading small satellite companies. It’s testament to their success that they have not only been selected to provide the platform for this mission, but the payload as well, and that is down to the strength of their idea and their long-term goals for the OpenConstellation project. The IOD programme was designed for exactly this kind of mission and for companies leading the evolution of the sector like Open Cosmos.”
— Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult

MDA Ltd. (TSX:MDA) has been awarded a contract from L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) as part of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer program.

MDA will design and build 14 flight sets of Ka-b,and steerable antennas and control electronics for L3Harris as part of SDA’s LEO constellation. The antennas and control electronics will be designed, built, assembled and tested at MDA’s state-of-the-art high-volume, satellite production facility in Montreal.

MDA technology has been integrated into more than 350 satellite missions to date, with more than 2,000 antenna subsystems and 3,000 electronic subsystems on approximately 850 satellites currently in orbit.

“We are very pleased to work with L3Harris on this important space security program as the need for space-based capability increases. This award from one of the largest U.S. defence industry primes is a strong endorsement of MDA’s best-in-class design and manufacturing capabilities and another example of our strategy in action as we expand MDA’s share of the growing global LEO constellation market.”
— Mike Greenley, CEO, MDA

Speedcast and OneWeb have launched OneWeb’s maritime LEO connectivity service — following successful engineering trials, OneWeb’s maritime terminals have been installed on the RV Polarstern, in partnership with Reederei F. Laeisz and Speedcast, delivering the first fully managed service and support.

Speedcast customer Reederei F. Laeisz is a leading German shipping company with a diverse fleet of more than 30 vessels, with experience in conducting remote operations in the polar regions for more than 25 years.

The Research Vessel Polarstern, managed by Reederei F. Laeisz and operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is a key player in Germany’s polar research and the designated resupply vessel for AWI’s Neumayer Station III, the base for German Antarctic Research. It has been in operations for more than 40 years in the Polar regions.

OneWeb’s maritime LEO connectivity service enables delivery of a high-speed, low-latency, globally consistent experience for customers – even in the most remote sea lanes and maritime communities.

In addition to the OneWeb LEO service, as part of a hybrid connectivity solution deployed on the Polarstern, Speedcast is also providing additional, LEO-based and L-band services – integrated via Speedcast’s SIGMA network management platform for complete traffic prioritization. The fully managed solution is deployed to offer the Polarstern’s crew, as well as the scientific expedition participants from around the world, with high-throughput services for their operations in the North Sea, Arctic regions and all the way up to the North Pole.

In order to provide OneWeb’s low-latency broadband mobility service, Speedcast has deployed Intellian’s latest maritime user terminal, the OW70M. These terminals are some of the most network efficient in the OneWeb portfolio with the technology to deliver the highest bandwidth packages available to cruise, superyacht, energy, fishing and commercial shipping customers. The OW70M’s additional heating module allows it to withstand extreme temperatures of up to -40oC, ideal for Polarstern’s Arctic expedition. Speedcast and Intellian previously announced a multi-year partnership agreement in 2022.

OneWeb and Speedcast signed a distribution partnership agreement last year, provisioning the addition of OneWeb’s enterprise-grade, high-speed LEO connectivity to Speedcast’s Unified Global Platform (UGP), which is one of the largest technology-agnostic networks in the world. This integrates LEO as a connectivity pathway, joining GEO, MEO and 4G/5G for high-demand applications. Since then, successful customer trials have solidified the LEO service now offered for Speedcast’s maritime customers.

OneWeb’s maritime service offers +100 Mbps and more of enterprise-grade connectivity for applications at sea. The solution’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) model offers customers added flexibility, underpinned by guaranteed service levels defined by straightforward CIR (Committed Information Rate) and MIR (Maximum Information Rate) package options.

“We’re excited to partner with OneWeb on the first live deployment of its LEO maritime connectivity network for our customer, supporting the research efforts of AWI and international scientists aboard the RV Polarstern. This project represents an important step forward in a changing industry landscape, where customers now have more options than ever to ensure reliable and seamless connectivity while operating in the most remote places on earth. We’re proud to work with innovative partners, such as OneWeb and Intellian, to deliver critical connectivity solutions as customers continue to embrace the benefits of multi-path, multi-orbit technologies.”
— Andre Eerland, Vice President, Commercial Maritime at Speedcast

“Fittingly, in the light of Nor-Shipping’s overarching theme of #PartnerShip, OneWeb is launching its LEO connectivity services at sea hand-in-hand with our industry partners, who have years of experience in developing, deploying and servicing certified, scalable and responsible connectivity solutions to the maritime industry. OneWeb is working collaboratively with the industry and connecting customers via established industry expert distribution partners such as Speedcast.”
— Carole Plessy, VP Maritime and Europe at OneWeb

The first satellite developed under the Triton-X multi-mission platform program for low Earth orbit is on its way to be integrated onto the launcher for its inaugural flight. Developed under an ESA Partnership Project with LuxSpace, the small satellite, called Triton-X Genesis, will demonstrate the performances of newly developed and highly innovative elements including: the avionics architecture that embeds a high-performance on-board computer; a telecommunications system that will enable the ability to command, control and monitor the satellite; and a star tracker that provides high 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 and micro-controllers.

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.

The Triton-X platform can accommodate payloads up to 90 kg for a wide range of applications including telecommunications, Earth observation, situational awareness and in-orbit demonstration and validation.

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 10 suppliers in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, and across Europe.

Triton-X is a new competitive and multi-mission European small satellite platform product line currently under development as part of ESA’s program of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). It is designed to give low-cost and fast-track access to space for both commercial and institutional applications in low Earth orbit.

Neumann Space has signed a contract with smallsat manufacturer, Space Inventor, that will enable the firm to gain greater access to space as part of their in-orbit demonstration (IOD) program.

As part of the contract, Space Inventor will provide Neumann Space with the opportunity to integrate the nexgen Neumann Drive® as an IOD payload on board a 6U EDISON smallsat scheduled for launch in the second half of 2024.

The EDISON Mission is a part of the European Space Agency’s Pioneer program, designed to support emerging companies seeking to provide new and innovative satellite communications technologies and services.

The companies will collaborate to test, demonstrate, and verify ease of integration, ease of operation and the performance of the Neumann Drive® whose unique propulsion technology uses solid metallic propellant. Space Inventor’s new mission and payload operations will provide Neumann Space with access to the data of the Neumann Drive® automatically, enabling it to more rapidly analyze and assess the technology to further its commercialization approach.

Neumann Space currently has a series of on-orbit demonstrations planned for 2023 and 2024 with its first flight scheduled for this month, supporting its commercialization endeavor.

“We are pleased to be working with Space Inventor, our first official European partner, and to be on board their high-performance satellite platform as part of the EDISON Mission. It is also our first mission under the European Space Agency umbrella. Our program of in-orbit demonstrations is growing in both size and breadth, with a broad range of Australian and International satellite manufacturers now collaborating with us to test and refine the Neumann Drive’s performance as we together seek to deliver better mobility in space.”
— Herve Astier, CEO, Neumann Space

“I am pretty excited that we will host Neumann Space’s propulsion system on our EDISON satellite. When I first met the Neumann team at the SmallSat conference in 2022, their choice of technology and deep technical knowledge convinced me that this company and its people would succeed – succeed in turning the science into a product and succeed in bringing the product to a market starving for a reliable thruster for small satellites.”
— Karl Kaas, CEO of Space Inventor

Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has signed an agreement with Apogeo Space to provide orbital transportation services for nine satellites that are part of Apogeo’s planned, 100-satellite, Internet of Things (IoT) constellation.

Apogeo Space aims to build a constellation of smallsats that are capable of providing connectivity to IoT devices across the globe. The delivery with Momentus represents the second batch of nine satellites and another key step toward the creation of the 100-satellite network. The constellation is scheduled to enter service by the second half of 2023.

“We are thrilled to start this collaboration with Momentus, which will allow us to launch an additional nine picosats shortly and permit us to anticipate our road map of the deployment of a global telecommunication service for the Internet of Things. Since our first deployment of satellites, data can be retrieved from IoT devices anywhere in the world. We anticipate full coverage will be achieved by 2027 with almost 100 satellites with successive launches approximately every three months.”
— Guido Parissenti, CEO Co-Founder, Apogeo

“IoT satellites are a model of using space to benefit life on Earth,” said . “Use of the Momentus Orbital Service Vehicle is an efficient and effective way to support the deployment of large satellite constellations like Apogeo’s. We look forward to supporting them as they work toward full deployment of their constellation.”
— Chris Kinman, Chief Commercial Officer, Momentus