Archives for July 2023

HawkEye 360 Inc. has been awarded a contract by the Commonwealth of Australia for a pilot program to provide greater maritime domain awareness in support of Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) efforts to detect and prevent Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The contract was awarded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for the provision of HawkEye 360’s satellite RF maritime analytics and training through 2023.

HawkEye 360 will work in collaboration with the FFA and its members to provide RF data, analytics, and training to identify illicit maritime activity within their waters and help secure the ongoing sustainability of the region’s tuna resources. This includes potential IUU fishing and the detection of maritime activity not detectable by Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The FFA, which was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in the Solomon Islands, assists its 17 member countries in the region with sustainably managing their tuna fisheries.

This award reflects Australia’s continued commitment and regional leadership for combating IUU fishing as part of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), an initiative focused on providing shared technology, training, and insight into activity in three critical regions: the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean. The leaders of the Quad nations—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—announced the initiative in 2022. The Quad is a diplomatic network between nations dedicated to supporting an open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

HawkEye 360 operates a growing constellation of 21 satellites that detect, characterize and geolocate radio frequency signals from a broad range of emitters used for communication, navigation, and security. HawkEye 360 will continue expanding the constellation to address clients’ increasing demands for RF Intelligence, aiming for a total of 60 satellites (20 clusters of three satellites) in 2025. HawkEye 360 anticipates the launch of two additional clusters in 2023 in a mid-latitude orbit to address the growing demand in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The Pacific Islands encompass a vast and highly trafficked region with rich fisheries resources that present complex challenges for maritime domain awareness. We are proud to partner with the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), through support from the Australian Government, to deliver a clearer picture of maritime activity that benefits all Pacific Island countries in their efforts to combat IUU fishing and respond to climate and humanitarian events.” — Alex Fox, Chief Growth Officer for HawkEye 360

On Sunday, July 9 at 11:58 p.m. ET (3:58 UTC on July 10) SpaceX is targeting a Falcon 9 launch of 22 Starlink V2 Minis to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. The Falcon 9 launch will set a new reusability standard.

The 22 satellites are V2 Minis, described as a newer and more powerful version of SpaceX’s broadband satellites. Gen 1 is round in shape, whereas Gen 2 is square or rectangular shaped. Secondly, Gen 1 is larger and heavier than gen 2 and has an ethernet port, while Gen 2 does not. Even though their name is Mini, these small sats are actually larger than the previous Starlink version.

Backup opportunities are also available on Monday, July 10 at 8:11 p.m. ET (00:11 UTC on July 11), 9:02 p.m. ET (1:02 UTC on July 11), 9:52 p.m. ET (1:52 UTC on July 11), and 11:33 p.m. ET (3:33 UTC on July 11).

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Cailabs and Astrolight entered into an agreement to launch a satellite mission hosting Astrolight’s space-to-Earth laser communication terminal ATLAS-1. The mutual objective of the mission is to establish laser communication downlinks and thereby demonstrate pointing, acquisition and tracking capabilities at gigabit per second data rates between ATLAS-1, manufactured by Astrolight, and Cailabs optical ground station (OGS).

This mission will increase the technology readiness level of both Astrolight and Cailabs systems and pave the way for further commercialization of both products. ATLAS-1 is a demonstrator version of Astrolight’s ATLAS product line. Future versions of ATLAS will achieve even higher downlink speeds of over 10 Gbps. ATLAS design is optimized for Earth observation satellites with specific attention to small size and low power consumption.

Cailabs is a manufacturer of turnkey and multimission-OGS. Having a space-to-Earth laser communication terminal (LCT) for testing optical ground stations represents an additional means of validation for the company and its customers.

“It is a great example of two companies joining forces in order to achieve a common goal — implement an optical communication system that will overcome the bottleneck of space-to-Earth data downlink”, explains Laurynas Maciulis, co-founder and CEO of Astrolight.

“We look forward to demonstrating reliable and stable pointing, acquisition and tracking between ATLAS-1 and Cailabs OGS over as many passes as possible. This is a fundamental prerequisite for developing a commercial data downlink solution that will be useful to our customers. Space-to-Earth optical communication is challenging and most of the missions so far have failed just in this first step”, he continues.

“We are delighted to be working with Astrolight on this ambitious project. Few players today offer high data rate laser communication terminals with a small SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) for nanosatellites. Cailabs is pleased to collaborate with an emerging European actor in this field”, concludes Pu Jian, Chief Product Officer and Deputy CEO at Cailabs.

OQ Technology has been awarded a 1.1 million euros contract to design, build, integrate, test and demo three, advanced smallsats that will feature multiple payloads, providing space-based, 5G, narrowband Internet-of-Things (IoT) communications services, an optical communications link as well as hyperspectral EO data to support precision agriculture as part of the ERMIS mission.

ERMIS [Hellenic Cubesat Demonstration Mission] is a pathfinder demonstration of key space connectivity capabilities linked to Greece’s 200M€ national small satellite project using a constellation of small satellites.

OQ Technology Hellas is a subcontractor and a key member of the ERMIS consortium that is led by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Other members of the consortium include the University of Patras, the University of the Aegean and the National Observatory of Athens.

ERMIS-1 and ERMIS-2 cubesats built by OQ Hellas will host the payloads of OQ Technology Luxembourg to demonstrate 5G internet-of-things non-terrestrial network (5G-IoT-NTN) connectivity and additionally incorporate Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) to enhance its coverage.

The importance of 5G technology in satellite IoT rests in its ability to provide high-speed, reliable, and low-latency connectivity to a wide range of devices, including those in remote and difficult to reach locations. In satellite IoT, 5G technology enables the integration of satellite networks with terrestrial networks, creating a seamless and unified network that can support a wide range of applications, including smart agriculture, pipeline monitoring, transportation tracking, and much more. Moreover, 5G technology enables satellite IoT devices to operate in challenging environments, such as harsh weather conditions, remote locations, or disaster areas, where traditional communication networks may not be available.

Demonstrating and testing ISL for 5G IoT NTN will enable OQ Technology to offer enhanced coverage and faster speeds in delivering data to its customers reliably and seamlessly. The two smallsats will join OQ Technology growing 5G NB-IoT fleet. The technology is based on 3GPP Release 17 standardized 5G connectivity.

ERMIS-3, co-built by OQ Hellas with NKUA, will host payloads from the other members of the consortium to demo optical communications link and hyperspectral EO data to support precision agriculture.

The initiative underpins efforts – led by ESA on behalf of the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance – to expand the nascent space industry in Greece, enabling the digital transformation of society while creating jobs and generating prosperity, as part of the nation’s EU-funded Recovery and Resilience Facility. The ERMIS 4.8 million euros project is funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU and by the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance.

“We are very pleased that Greece’s first small satellite constellation will be using game changing technologies in telecommunications, IoT/5G, hyperspectral imaging. A key and important aspect of our project is the cooperative nature of academia and industry leaders such as OQ. Working with a world innovator such as OQ will push national and European leadership in 5G/IoT and foster growth, new jobs and unique space applications which come with the use of 5G/IoT.” — Vaios Lappas, Department Head, Aerospace Science & Technology, University of Athens

“OQ Technology group companies are collaborating together on an European but also global level to leverage the capabilities and opportunities in these markets but also build new partnerships and skills – We work with global satellite manufacturers, nevertheless to accelerate our satellite 5G constellation deployment it is essential also to have the capability to deploy the ERMIS platforms carrying 5G NB-IoT payloads in the near future – We are very grateful to the European Space Agency (ESA) for granting our consortium the ERMIS opportunity, we are thankful to our trusted Greek consortium partners who made this proposal a success and we look forward to working together to bring ERMIS satellites to orbit soon.” — Omar Qaise, Founder and CEO, OQ Technology Group

Fleet Space has appointed Dr. Matteo Genna as the firm’s new, Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Matteo has been building space and near-space systems for almost 30 years. After gaining his Ph.D. in Physics from University of California, Berkeley, he joined Palo Alto-based SSL (now part of Maxar), where he led teams designing and building high-power, GEO communication satellites, LEO imaging satellites and interplanetary spacecraft and systems. Prior to joining Fleet, he headed the Remote Sensing business unit at World View Enterprises, building High Altitude Platforms Systems (HAPS) that are designed to image and measure the Earth from the stratosphere.

Matteo’s three decades’ technical and commercial experience in satellite systems will be crucial to Fleet’s long-term growth strategy for the ExoSphere product, which is already operational with more than 30 customers around the world. Following a hugely successful C Series funding round, which raised A$50 million, Fleet’s next growth phase is focused on the North American market, where ExoSphere is currently deployed on nickel exploration projects in Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario, Canada.

Matteo will be based in Tucson, Arizona, adding to Fleet’s existing presence in North America, centered on the company’s HQ in Houston, Texas. The company’s first international office outside Australia, this was established following Fleet’s oversubscribed Series B funding round ($26.4 million) in November 2021.

“I am very excited and proud to be part of the Fleet team. Building space systems that positively impact our lives on Earth is a lifelong passion and it’s clear that in ExoSphere, Fleet has something very special – a genuinely transformative technology that addresses some of humanity’s most profound and urgent challenges. Fleet Space is not only at the forefront of satellite-enabled services, but it also boasts a highly dynamic team with big bold ambitions and clever minds that are determined to make it happen. I’m eager to leverage my experience and expertise gained over nearly 30 years in the industry to drive the development of groundbreaking solutions that will shape the future of our planet. With the exceptionally talented team at Fleet Space, we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and deliver exceptional value to our customers.” — Dr. Matteo Genna, Chief Technology Officer, Fleet Space