Archives for August 2024

A UK satellite to support military operations has been successfully launched. Named Tyche, the satellite is UK Space Command’s first satellite which can capture daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface. The satellite will strengthen the UK’s Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.   

As the conflict in Ukraine has shown, the use of space is crucial to military operations. Tyche is the first satellite to be launched under the UK Ministry of Defence’s space-based ISR program, which will deliver a constellation of satellites and supporting ground systems by 2031.  

These satellites will support military operations as well as contribute to other government tasks, including natural disaster monitoring, the development of mapping information, environmental monitoring and tracking the impact of climate change around the world.   

Designed and built in the UK through a £22 million contract awarded by Defence Equipment & Support to Surrey Satellites Technology Limited (SSTL), Tyche is the first satellite to be fully owned by the Ministry of Defence.

SSTL received the first signals from Tyche – which is comparable in size to a washing machine – a few hours after lift-off, confirming the successful launch.

Operating in LEOover a five-year lifespan, Tyche will provide timely space-based imagery in support of the UK Armed Forces.  The design and build of the 150-kilogram satellite has supported around 100 high-skilled roles at SSTL since 2022.  

Tyche was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, by SpaceX, on their re-usable Falcon 9 rocket, as part of the Transporter 11 mission.

Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle, said.  “Tyche will provide essential intelligence for military operations as well as supporting wider tasks across government. Tyche also shows the UK’s commitment to support innovation in science and technology, stimulating growth across the sector and supporting highly skilled jobs in the UK.”  

UK Space Commander, Major General Paul Tedman, said,   “This is a fabulous day for UK space. The successful launch of Tyche has shown that UK Space Command, and its essential partners across defence and industry, can rapidly take a concept through to the delivery of a satellite capability on orbit. Tyche represents the first of a future constellation of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance satellites that we’ll launch over the coming years. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate everybody involved with Tyche and thank them for their support.”  

Paul Russell, DE&S Space Team Leader, said, “Working closely with UK Space Command, Dstl and industry to understand how to deliver in a new, complex and critical environment has been an exciting journey. To see Tyche – the first of a new generation of UK military capabilities – delivered into orbit is an incredibly proud moment and a tribute to everyone’s commitment to this key project.” 

On Friday, August 16, Hydrosat, a climate technology company focused on leveraging thermal imagery to measure water stress in agriculture and combat the effects of climate change, successfully launched VanZyl-1 — the company’s first proprietary satellite.

According to the company, this marks a groundbreaking achievement in global thermal imaging. VanZyl-1, equipped with a cutting-edge, thermal infrared camera, was carried on Loft Orbital’s YAM-7 spacecraft and launched via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California via the Transporter-11 rideshare mission.

This VanZyl-1 mission represents a significant advancement in delivering high-resolution thermal imaging technology across the entire planet. For the first time, Hydrosat’s proprietary commercial satellite will provide detailed thermal imagery and insights covering both land and water, offering an invaluable tool for growers, government agencies, and researchers. 

The data collected from VanZyl-1 will play a crucial role in enhancing agricultural and climate models – transforming how we understand and manage resources and enabling more precise and timely decision-making to address critical global issues. 

Multiple spacecraft and components designed by Blue Canyon Technologies were successfully launched on the recent SpaceX Transporter-11 rideshare mission.

Ridesharing is a cost-effective way for the company’s diverse customers to launch their crucial missions. Onboard this latest launch, Blue Canyon Technologies provided:

• Two 6U CubeSats

• A custom microsatellite for weather monitoring

• Seven high-performance FleXcore attitude control systems

• Two XACT attitude control systems

• Twelve flight sets of reaction wheels, four coarse sun sensors, six torque rods and
  a nano star tracker

Overall, the launch included more than 100, high-performance, Blue Canyon Technologies components, as well as the company’s 50th CubeSat, to orbit.

Blue Canyon’s vertically integrated structure and diverse product portfolio have allowed us to meet each customer’s unique mission requirements.

HawkEye 360 Inc. has announced that the company’s Cluster 10 satellites have successfully deployed to orbit after launching aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-11 Rideshare mission via launch integrator Exolaunch and HawkEye 360’s operations team has established communication with the satellites.

This trio of satellites will increase the company’s constellation to 31, significantly augmenting global RF monitoring capabilities. Cluster 10 will reinforce HawkEye 360’s capacity for frequent revisits to areas of strategic interest. Once operational, these satellites will enhance data collection, providing more comprehensive coverage and timely information across vital regions. Cluster 10 will advance HawkEye 360’s mission of delivering precise and actionable RF insights, ensuring expanded coverage and improved monitoring.

“Our team’s dedication and commitment to technological advancement have been the driving force behind reaching this significant milestone of 30 satellites built and launched,” said Rob Rainhart, President of HawkEye 360. “The successful launch and contact with Cluster 10 demonstrate our continuous efforts in engineering and operations, enabling us to enhance our global RF monitoring capabilities and provide more precise, actionable insights.”

Umbra has successfully launched a new pair of SAR satellites — Umbra-09 and Umbra-10 — aboard the Transporter-11 Rideshare mission with SpaceX on August 16, 2024.

Umbra launched their first mission that included two-satellite tandem operations, Umbra-07 and Umbra-08, aboard the Transporter-9 mission on November 9, 2023. Umbra will continue deploying its constellation to satisfy global commercial demand for high-resolution, densely spaced monostatic and multi-static imagery.

Umbra satellites capture seven times more images over high-demand areas and in higher resolution than any commercial competitor. The company has won several contracts with government and commercial organizations, such as the commercial satellite imagery provider, Maxar.

Umbra recently expanded its business by launching a Mission Solutions line, leveraging its vertical integration and remote sensing expertise to develop custom satellite solutions for governments and large multinational corporations.

Since its establishment in 2015, Umbra has become a leader in remote sensing. Umbra’s innovative SAR imaging and patented satellite technology solutions offer all-weather, day-and-night monitoring, setting new standards for reliability, precision, and intelligence gathering.

“Umbra already delivers the largest volume of high-resolution SAR imagery in the concentrated areas of highest demand,” said Todd Master, Chief Operating Officer of Umbra. “These additional satellites will unlock even more imagery over high-demand areas for our customers, and our paired operations offer the ability to generate incredible data products uniquely enabled by Umbra.”  

Umbra is a vertically integrated space technology company providing satellite technology solutions and intelligence data as a service to commercial and government customers. Our cutting-edge products help customers solve complex business, environmental, and security challenges. Umbra is founded, funded, built and operated in the USA with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California, and has a presence in Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) has revealed that the company’s first announced hyperspectral satellite, Tanager-1, along with 36 SuperDoves (Flock 4BE) were successfully launched into orbit during the Transporter-11 Rideshare mission with SpaceX, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday, August 16, 2024 — the Planet team has successfully made contact with Tanager-1 and has started the commissioning process.

Tanager-1 is made possible by the Carbon Mapper Coalition , a philanthropically-funded effort to develop and deploy satellites designed to detect and track methane and CO2 super-emitters at a level of granularity needed to support direct mitigation action.

Tanager-1 combines Planet’s cutting-edge agile aerospace and smallsat bus technology with the state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer design developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has accounted for around 30 percent of atmospheric warming since 1750. In order to slow and ultimately halt global warming, methane emissions must be slashed this decade along with a sustained program to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Future Tanager imagery will be analyzed by expert scientists at Carbon Mapper for methane and CO2 source detection and quantification, meanwhile Planet will commercialize the hyperspectral data for a variety of use cases including defense and intelligence monitoring, biodiversity assessments, mineral mapping, and water quality assessments.

In addition to Tanager-1, the Transporter-11 rocket delivered 36 SuperDoves to orbit to contribute to Planet’s flagship daily, global monitoring mission (please see www.planet.com/pulse/36-planet-superdoves-successfully-launch-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket/). PlanetScope data is used by hundreds of customers in defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial markets to take informed action, and better contextualize events they’re seeing on the ground now. Planet’s daily scan and deep archive of data across the globe is unique within the industry and provides customers with a continuous and comprehensive view of their areas of interest. Further, the archive acts as a rich training ground for predictive machine-learning and advanced artificial-intelligence models, accelerating users’ ability to draw insights from the terabytes of data collected by Planet each day.

“This is an amazing all California effort! A Planet satellite carrying a JPL payload on a SpaceX rocket, from Vandenberg Air Force Base for a California charity Carbon Mapper to help the State of California! We’re proud to be a part of it,” said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet. “Delivering innovative space-based solutions to our customers that improve environmental conditions is core to our mission. Placing cutting-edge imaging spectrometer technology in a smallsat bus platform is a remarkable achievement for this Coalition. I’m incredibly proud of our team and everyone who helped bring this satellite to life.”

“The successful launch of Tanager-1 is a testament to the power of collaboration,” said Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Our partnership with Planet and Carbon Mapper exemplifies how we can come together to develop innovative solutions that address our most urgent climate challenges. JPL has a long history of developing advanced instruments and the imaging spectrometer onboard Tanager-1, combined with Planet’s expertise, will drive impact for environmental monitoring and mitigation. We’re excited to see the continued success of this coalition and are proud to be part of it.”

“Any serious effort to tackle climate change must include a focus on minimizing high emission point sources, particularly methane ‘super-emitters’ where a small fraction of infrastructure contributes disproportionately to total emissions,” said Riley Duren, Co-Founder and CEO of Carbon Mapper. “There are solutions at hand today that are capable of eliminating unnecessary leaks and wasteful practices but until now most emission sources have remained unobserved at the granular scales necessary to guide mitigation action. We’re incredibly excited to apply Tanager’s unique capabilities to make methane and CO2 emissions visible at high resolution globally—translating data into transparent and actionable information to help decision makers act now. There’s no time to waste.”

Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc. has signed a rideshare agreement with Alba Orbital, a global leader in PocketQube launch services, to launch its first icMercury PocketQube satellite via SpaceX in Q1 2025.

PocketQubes represent a revolutionary advancement in satellite technology, offering a compact and cost-effective solution for space research and exploration. Despite their small size of 5 cm x 5 cm x 5 cm per unit (‘P’), PocketQubes retain impressive capabilities, making them ideal for a wide range of scientific, commercial, and educational applications. By leveraging these compact satellites, organizations can access space more affordably and efficiently than ever before.

The 1.5P PocketQube satellite is scheduled to launch with Alba Orbital aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle in Q1 2025. This announcement marks a significant milestone for Interstellar Communication as it prepares to demonstrate icMercury service from space for the first time. With this mission, icMercury will showcase what users can access through the icMercury App via personal satellite service in the future.

“The Alba Orbital team is excited to welcome icMercury as our new rideshare customer,” said Tom Walkinshaw, Founder and CEO of Alba Orbital. “This collaboration is a great example of how we’re enabling more innovative projects to reach orbit and creating new opportunities for exploration and discovery.”

“In partnership with Alba Orbital, icMercury’s upcoming satellite launch via SpaceX represents a pivotal step toward making space more accessible and eco-friendly,” said Lijie Zhu, Chair of Interstellar Communication Holdings. “As your personal messenger to space, icMercury connects people to the wonders of the cosmos.”