Comtech recently secured multiple orders for significant quantities of the company’s CDM-780 high-speed software defined modems — these modems will be delivered to satellite operators as well as to the DoD who will be assessing, evaluating, and fielding these modems in a variety of scenarios to enable broad scale government and commercial deployments to provide end users with access to high-speed connectivity in some of the hardest to reach places in the world.

Comtech’s CDM-780 is one of the highest capacity, Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) gateway SATCOM solutions available today. Through a software-defined architecture, the CDM-780 is designed to readily adapt and evolve over time to deliver SATCOM services that can transition across HTS and vHTS networks, as well as LEO/MEO/GEO constellations.

“Our CDM-780 is uniquely positioned to support the blending of communications services across multiple, diverse satellite orbits and networks. These contracts illustrate our continuing technology leadership and fluency in future networking capabilities that can help our customers democratize access to communications and empower individuals, communities, businesses, and governments across the globe.” — Ken Peterman, President and CEO, Comtech

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) recently completed a critical design review (CDR) for the firm’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL), part of Space Development Agency’s (SDA) LEO network designed to communicate vital information to wherever it’s needed to support U.S. troops on the ground, quickly and securely.

The Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) communication satellites will provide resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport supporting U.S. military missions around the world. Designed to connect elements of an integrated sensing architecture, the network will deliver persistent, secure connectivity, and serve as a critical element for advancing the U.S. Department of Defense’s vision for Joint All Domain Command and Control.

SDA formerly announced that Northrop Grumman is under contract to provide the agency with 56 satellites, including the 42 communication satellites in the Tranche 1 Transport layer and 14 for the Tranche 1 Tracking layer, which includes an infrared sensor payload. The Tracking layer program recently completed its preliminary design review. Northrop Grumman is also providing the ground system for both its Transport and Tracking constellations.

“We are leveraging our commercial marketplace partnerships to deliver a rapid, affordable, highly effective solution for SDA. Our T1TL solution builds on our decades of end-to-end mission expertise. We are uniquely capable of delivering a credible capability to support the warfighter.” — Blake Bullock, vice president, communication systems, strategic space systems, Northrop Grumman

The Norwegian Space Agency’s NorSat-TD satellite was successfully launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California — the satellite is fitted with a ThrustMe NPT30-I2 iodine fueled electric propulsion system.

Extending the satellites’ lifetime through collision avoidance and end-of-mission deorbiting soon will not be an option but the only solution to keep space activities. The tens of thousands of satellites to be launched in the next decade heighten global concerns about the need to manage both the growth of satellites and the potential for damaging debris from poorly managed space systems. The economic and environmental sustainability of the space industry will increasingly rely on efficient and effective propulsion solutions.

That the Norwegian Space Agency technology demonstrator mission NorSat-TD was successfully launched with the iodine electric propulsion system NPT30-I2 is evidence of the growing trend toward onboarding such systems on contemporary satellites. Committed to the safe and sustainable use of space, ThrustMe propulsion technology included on the NorSat-TD mission was selected for its technical merits and relevance to the mission parameters.

Designed for the next generation of streamlined satellites, the NPT30 is an intelligent, turnkey, electric propulsion system that uses solid iodine propellant. It provides the high total impulse required by these satellites for deployment, significant orbit changes, collision avoidance maneuvers, and end-of-life removal to minimize space debris and free up critical operational orbits.

With one more system on-orbit, ThrustMe enhances the Norwegian capacity to navigate and operate the NorSat-TD satellite in LEO. Highlighted goals of this mission include enhancing the space agency’s experience with propulsive satellite operations and improving its space safety capacity by supporting the development of space situational awareness and traffic management systems for Norway’s upcoming future missions.

Funding for the system on this mission was underwritten by the French space agency CNES as an institutional partner to the mission. Industrialization of ThrustMe’s NPT30-I2 product portfolio is supported by the European Commission via the EU-funded EMBRACE II project.

ThrustMe is the go-to provider of high-performing on-orbit space propulsion and space hardware testing solutions for customers across the globe. It offers a portfolio of disruptive, deeply integrated and smart in-orbit space propulsion solutions designed for the emerging industrialized constellation space era. The company was the world’s first to demonstrate an iodine-fueled electric propulsion system in space and in so doing achieved a goal the space industry had pursued for over 60 years. Today, ThrustMe is delivering propulsion systems to major satellite constellations backed with support from ground testing to in-orbit maneuvering strategies.

Blue Canyon Technologies, a Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) subsidiary, will design and manufacture three smallsats to support NASA’s Investigation of Convective Updrafts, or INCUS, mission. The principal investigator is Susan van den Heever of Colorado State University.

The INCUS mission — led by Colorado Stare University and managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – aims to better understand the complex dynamics of thunderstorms and their impact on Earth’s climate and weather models.

Blue Canyon’s smallsats will fly in tandem coordination, each displaying a dynamic atmospheric radar and dynamic microwave radiometer measuring the atmospheric conditions of Earth.

Blue Canyon’s work will be performed at the firm’s Crescent Constellation Factory located in Lafayette, Colorado.

“BCT’s successful science exploration programs and our experience controlling large flexible structures will be key to supporting this critical science mission.” — Jeff Schrader, President, Blue Canyon Technologies.

Orbital Sidekick (OSK) recently engaged in the successful launch of GHOSt 1 and 2, the first satellites in the company’s planned GHOSt() (Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite) constellation — this was accomplished aboard the Transporter 7 rideshare mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

OSK will deploy four more satellites later this year aboard the Transporter 8 and Transporter 9 rideshare missions to complete the company’s initial constellation. By year’s end, GHOSt will consist of six equivalent, hyperspectral imaging smallsats, each featuring a proprietary hyperspectral imager unique to OSK.

Now in orbit, these first two GHOSt satellites will capture nearly 500 bands of light across the electromagnetic spectrum, with 20x greater sensitivity than traditional monitoring. The payload will produce the highest resolution, commercial, hyperspectral imagery ever in orbit, with a ground sampling distance of eight meters. This advanced imaging capability will support OSK’s Spectral Intelligence Global Monitoring Application (SIGMA) platform, which provides access to OSK’s data archive, analytics engine, and intelligent satellite tasking system for commercial and inherently governmental applications.

OSK’s current customers include major energy companies Energy Transfer, Williams, ONEOK, and Colonial Pipeline Co. (CPC). The company is also a partner of the intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program (iPIPE) which supports emerging technologies for improved pipeline integrity and leak detection. Further, OSK will advance its mineral exploration efforts, leveraging its advanced, hyperspectral sensor and analytics to support sustainable operations in the industry. The launch of GHOSt is enabling frequent monitoring of global oil and gas pipeline assets, and mineral exploration initiatives, through its SIGMA() intelligence platform and will enhance the industry’s ability to meet and exceed compliance and regulatory obligations while supporting environmental sustainability pursuits and a low carbon future.

In addition to the energy and mining sectors, the company has secured government contracts to supply hyperspectral data to the United States Department of Defense through its partnerships with In-Q-Tel, the U.S. Air Force (U.S.A.F.) and U.S. Space Force (USSF). In March, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) selected OSK for its latest focus area study of commercial, space-based, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) capabilities under the agency’s Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), further strengthening OSK’s relationship with the defense and intelligence communities.

GHOSt builds on the constellation’s satellite precursors, named Aurora and HEIST, which launched in June 2021 and September 2018, respectively. These space-based technology demonstrator sensors established the company’s capability to operate in space while providing enhanced data sets for commercial, government, and scientific entities.

Today, OSK’s market-leading sensing capabilities will enable its customers in the energy, government and defense, extraction, infrastructure, agriculture, and forestry industries to make vital decisions with expansive coverage, rapid revisit times, leading-edge spatial resolution, and greater spectral capability than any competing service.

“From day one, OSK’s strategy has been about commercializing the highest resolution hyperspectral imagery and intelligence available. The successful launch of our first two GHOSt constellation satellites signifies our team’s ability to execute on this vision, while scaling our commercial product and establishing our leadership position in the market.” — Dan Katz, CEO, Orbital Sidekick

“It’s gratifying to see our goal of commercializing this cutting-edge technology come to fruition. The GHOSt constellation will now offer unparalleled insights into critical infrastructure and areas of the planet, enabling us to reach new heights in supporting sustainability and safety efforts, anywhere in the world.” — Tushar Prabhakar, COO, Orbital Sidekick

Blue Canyon Technologies, a Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) subsidiary, will design and manufacture three smallsats to support NASA’s Investigation of Convective Updrafts, or INCUS, mission. The principal investigator is Susan van den Heever of Colorado State University.

The INCUS mission — led by Colorado State University and managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – aims to better understand the complex dynamics of thunderstorms and their impact on Earth’s climate and weather models.

Blue Canyon’s smallsats will fly in tandem coordination, each displaying a dynamic atmospheric radar and dynamic microwave radiometer measuring the atmospheric conditions of Earth.

Blue Canyon’s work will be performed at the firm’s Crescent Constellation Factory located in Lafayette, Colorado.

“BCT’s successful science exploration programs and our experience controlling large flexible structures will be key to supporting this critical science mission.” — Jeff Schrader, President, Blue Canyon Technologies.

Argotec has placed an order with GomSpace for power systems at a value of 845,000 euros to be delivered over the coming 12 months, to be completed by Q1 of 2024.

“We are happy that GomSpace technologies and expertise in power systems are recognized by a company like Argotec. NanoPower P80 and BP8 are our latest releases of power systems building our track record in managing on-orbit energy. NanoPower product series can be used in a multitude of configurations, which allows our customers to benefit from product reliability strategy, while building specific use cases.” — Carsten Drachmann, CEO, GomSpace.

Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster is an educational program for university student teams that have a preliminary CubeSat design — ESA offers the students support and expert advice, guiding them through the stages necessary to develop an initial idea into a robust final plan.

A key milestone within this process is a Baseline Design Review, which helps flag issues and ultimately empowers students to make effective design choices.

The Baseline Design Review is tailored from the ESA standard review process to fit the scope of university student projects. Six teams incorporating more than 200 students have now reached this stage with meetings between students and ESA experts taking place between April 3 and 21, 2023:

• 6S Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• AlbaSat Università degli di Studi di Padova, Italy
• BIXO University of Vigo, Spain
• ROSPIN-SAT-1 Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania
• SAGE ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• ST3LLAR-Sat1 Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

Ever since the official program kick-off last November, each participating team has been working hard on a key document called a CubeSat Project File. This contains a detailed description of the satellite, project management, and assembly, integration and verification (AIV) plans.

These CubeSat Project Files were sent to ESA experts and the Fly Your Satellite! team in advance, who studied them carefully to identify potential issues. Every point flagged is known as a Review Item Discrepancy (RID), and these form the foundation of the Baseline Design Review. During a series of online meetings, dubbed “colocations meetings,” ESA and Fly Your Satellite! experts are currently discussing RIDs with the teams, enhancing students‘ knowledge of the topics, and allowing them to interpret and implement solutions to their CubeSat design.

Upon completion of the Baseline Design Review, the students will be tasked with completing the actions identified in these RIDs. It is normal for there to be a long list and teams will have about one year to make enhancements, consolidate their detailed designs, and test prototypes.

The Final Design Review will then take place, which will conclude with the teams presenting their fully refined CubeSat mission design.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) will launch NASA’s TROPICS constellation across two dedicated Electron missions lifting off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, scheduled for May of 2023.

The TROPICS constellation (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Small Sats) will monitor the formation and evolution of tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, and will provide rapidly updating observations of storm intensity. This data will help scientists better understand the processes that effect these high-impact storms, ultimately leading to improved modelling and prediction.

The two missions are expected to launch within approximately two weeks of each other in May 2023. The first launch, named ‘Rocket Like a Hurricane,’ is expected to launch as soon as May 1 NZST (30 April EDT) and the second mission, named ‘Coming to a Storm Near You,’ is expected to follow around May 16 NZST (May 15 EDT).

The constellation, which is part of NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program, consists of four CubeSats that require launch to a specific orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometers and inclination of about 30 degrees. All four satellites need to be deployed into their operational orbit within a 60-day period, making Electron the ideal launch vehicle as it enables dedicated launch to unique orbits on highly responsive timelines.

The two missions were initially scheduled to lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia but will now take place at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand to support a Q2 launch window that will see the satellites reach orbit in time for the North American 2023 hurricane season.

Rocket Lab was selected to launch the TROPICS missions as part of NASA’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.

“The need for improved climate and weather data from space is acute and growing. Hurricanes and tropical storms have a devastating effect on lives and livelihoods, so we’re immensely proud to be entrusted by NASA to launch the TROPICS missions which will enable scientists and researchers to accurately predict storm strength and give people time to evacuate and make plans. With the 2023 hurricane season fast approaching, time is of the essence for these missions. Because we operate three launch pads across two countries, we can constantly assess the launch manifest and adapt launch schedules and locations based on customer and mission requirements.” — Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck

“The ability to advance our understanding of tropical cyclones from space has been limited by the ability to take frequent measurements, particularly from microwave instruments that see into the storms. Historically, satellites have been too large and expensive to provide observations at a time-frequency that is consistent with the timescales at which tropical cyclones can evolve. The CubeSat era has allowed for smaller, less expensive satellites. With modern small satellite design, we designed a constellation that optimizes the scientific utility of the mission in a way that we can launch in a cost-effective manner. These factors enable TROPICS to provide a new understanding of tropical cyclones by decreasing the time by which a given storm is revisited by the satellites.” — Will McCarty, Program Scientist for the TROPICS Mission

ClearSpace, the in-orbit satellite servicing company announced today a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with LeoLabs, a commercial provider of low Earth orbit (LEO) Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) services. The MOU recognizes the two companies’ shared vision of a safe and sustainable space ecosystem and their mutual efforts in making this vision a reality.

This strategic partnership comes at a time when both companies are finding commercial success within government and industrial markets. As examples, in 2022 ClearSpace received a Phase B demo contract from the UK Space Agency to demonstrate its active debris removal technology and LeoLabs received a contract to help support the development of a U.S., civil-led STM prototype from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The partnership announced today signals a desire to build on this mutual success and previous collaborative efforts, such as the joint LEO Kinetic Space Safety Workshop — hosted in May 2022 at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne). The MOU also serves as a formal declaration of ClearSpace and LeoLabs’ intent to work together on several new initiatives. These initiatives include thought leadership opportunities that promote space safety and responsible stewardship of the space environment, as well as business opportunities that promote their services and programs. In addition, they have agreed to exchange advisory board appointments, with Dr. Timothy Maclay from ClearSpace becoming a member of LeoLabs’ Commercial Strategic Advisory Board and LeoLabs’ Dr. Darren McKnight joining ClearSpace’s Advisory Board.

“With the acceleration of commercial space activity, the industry is developing approaches to create a more circular space ecosystem,”  said ClearSpace CEO and Co-founder Luc Piguet. “LeoLabs is providing data and services that are critical to operational safety, and we are excited to be working with them to address comprehensively the complex challenges of space safety and sustainability.”

“As the traffic in low Earth orbit grows, innovative, scalable solutions are needed, including active debris removal technologies and in-orbit servicing,”  said LeoLabs CEO Dan Ceperley. “ClearSpace is an industry leader in both, and we’re proud to kick off a partnership with them to build a safer, more sustainable future in space.”

This strategic partnership between ClearSpace and LeoLabs will catalyze the development of effective, multi-faceted strategies to address the growing debris problem in space and mitigate the risks posed to operational spacecraft.