Arianespace’s tenth launch of 2021 with the seventh Soyuz rocket launched this year will place the OneWeb satellite passengers into LEO — the launcher will be carrying a total payload of approximately 5,797 kg. The launch was performed at Vostochny, in Russia.

Flight ST36, the sixth commercial mission from Vostochny in Russia, placed 36 OneWeb satellites into orbit. That brings the total fleet number to 358 satellites in a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. After separation, the satellites raised themselves to their operational orbit.

“Congratulations to all the teams who made this eleventh launch dedicated to OneWeb’s satellites a success,” said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace. “ST36 marks a new milestone in our common history. Precisely one hour and eighteen minutes after liftoff, during the first separation sequence, we officially crossed the halfway mark for OneWeb’s constellation deployment. By the end of 2022, we will proudly operate eight more Soyuz launches in order to complete full the deployment of the constellation.”

OneWeb’s mission is to deliver internet everywhere to everyone through the creation of a global connectivity platform via a next generation satellite constellation in LEO. OneWeb’s constellation of 648 satellites will deliver high-speed, low-latency enterprise grade connectivity services to a wide range of customer sectors including enterprise, government, maritime and aviation customers. Central to its purpose, OneWeb seeks to bring connectivity to every unconnected area where fiber cannot reach and, in so doing, bridge the digital divide.

The satellite prime contractor is OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture of OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space. The satellites were produced in Florida, USA, in the company’s satellite manufacturing facilities that can build as many as two satellites per day on a series production line that is dedicated to spacecraft assembly, integration and testing.

This launch was operated by Arianespace and the firm’s Euro-Russian affiliate, Starsem, under contract with Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Arianespace is responsible for the overall mission and flight-worthiness, with the support of Starsem for launch campaign activities including management of their own launch facilities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

RKTs-Progress (the Samara Space Center) is responsible for the design, development, manufacture and integration of the Soyuz launch vehicle as well as for the 3-stage Soyuz flight. NPO Lavotchkin is responsible for the launch preparation operations and flight of the Fregat orbital vehicle.

Once deployed, the OneWeb constellation will enable user terminals that are capable of offering 3G, LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi coverage, providing high-speed access globally & by air, sea and land.

As OneWeb’s constellation will ultimately consist of 648 satellites — this launch hits the mark of more than half of the constellation being on-orbit. The 324th satellite, deployed during the first separation, marked this milestone.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”) has completed their acquisition of Advanced Solutions, Inc. (ASI), a Colorado-based aerospace engineering firm delivering mission proven space software, mission simulation and test systems, and Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solutions, for $40 million, plus the potential for an additional $5.5 million performance earnout based on CY 2021 results.

ASI’s advances in flight software, mission simulation and GNC significantly strengthen Rocket Lab’s Space Systems portfolio, which encompasses the Photon spacecraft line and a growing suite of spacecraft hardware solutions, including those brought to the portfolio through the acquisition of Sinclair Interplanetary in April 2020.

ASI’s team of almost 60 people will continue to be led by John Cuseo in Colorado, enabling Rocket Lab to grow its presence within the nation’s second-largest aerospace economy and home to cutting-edge space programs, military commands and renowned research laboratories and universities. The ASI team will continue to serve its existing customer base, while leveraging the ability to scale by tapping into Rocket Lab’s resources, team, and technology.

Founded in 1995, ASI has developed an industry-leading suite of software and technology solutions for reliable space mission design and operation. It’s off-the-shelf spacecraft flight software, MAX, has been operating across more than 45 spacecraft for a cumulative 135 years in space. ASI’s customers include leading aerospace prime contractors, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. DOD organizations, NASA, and commercial spacecraft developers including several of the exciting new space start-ups.

The ASI team have supported some of the most ambitious Earth, interplanetary, and human spaceflight missions flown. These missions have explored distant planets, connected people on Earth, and pushed the boundaries of what is possible in space. Now, ASI’s engineers and space software products are enabling a wide variety of missions with speed, capability, and reliability.

“Both Rocket Lab and ASI have built leading space businesses with mission proven technology and have a shared vision of making it easier to get to space and do incredible things there, so we’re excited to welcome ASI aboard to further enhance our space systems portfolio and deliver enhanced end-to-end space solutions,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The ASI team revolutionized flight software and have enabled some of the most significant space exploration missions. For more than 20 years they have been delivering industry-first, off-the-shelf spacecraft flight software products that enable cost-effective and highly capable constellation and interplanetary missions. By joining forces, we believe it will have a transformative effect on the way spacecraft are designed, built, tested, launched, and operated, further unlocking space’s potential.”

“We’ve found a great fit with Rocket Lab and we’re thrilled to be teaming up with them to continue making space faster, easier and more affordable,” said John Cuseo, ASI Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The two companies complement each other very well. By coming together, we will continue to serve our customers and innovate in our areas of expertise, including space software and GNC, but now with more rocket fuel in the tank to play with. We look forward to also becoming an integral part of Rocket Lab’s Space Systems business, supporting Photon missions, satellite components, and space and ground software.”

Flight ST36, performed by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on October 14, 2021, at 6:40 p.m. local time (09:40 a.m. UTC), will put 36 of OneWeb’s satellites into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers.

The mission will have a total duration of 3 hours and 51 minutes and will include nine separations of four satellites each, which will raise themselves to their operational orbit.

This 61st launch of Soyuz operated by Arianespace, the 11th for OneWeb, will raise to 358 the number of satellites deployed for the global telecommunications operator. The constellation, once complete, will include 648 satellites. Thus, ST36 will be the launch taking OneWeb more than halfway to the finish line, with 358 of its satellites being on-orbit.

OneWeb’s constellation is designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity services to a wide range of customer sectors, including aviation, maritime, backhaul services, as well as governments, emergency response services and more. Central to its purpose, OneWeb’s goal is to bring connectivity to every area on Earth where fiber cannot reach, and thereby bridge the digital divide.

Once deployed, the OneWeb constellation will enable user terminals that are capable of offering 3G, LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi coverage, providing high-speed access globally – by air, sea and land.

OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space, is the constellation’s prime contractor. The satellites were built thanks to the company’s satellite manufacturing process that can build as many as two satellites a day on a series production line dedicated to the assembly, integration and testing of the satellites.

EnduroSat and Exolaunch have signed a launch agreements for sending two EnduroSat smallsats into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The 6U XL SharedSat smallsats, built by EnduroSat for customers, will be launched via Exolaunch in H1 2022 as part of SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program. 

The SharedSats are 6U XL smallsats with several multi-purpose payloads on a single bus.  By simplifying access to space services through shared missions for a range of commercial, exploration and science customers, EnduroSat aims to significantly lower the entry barrier of operations in orbit.

The two SharedSats are part of the commercial EnduroSat’s  Missions. They foresee integration, validation, and testing, launch and operations of the satellite and hosted payloads. Direct access to the payload data will be made available in the cloud through EnduroSat’s Digital Mission Control. The software-centric smallsat architecture allows for multiple payloads to operate together reliably on a single platform with access to on-demand processing, power and pointing capability.

Exolaunch will ensure comprehensive rideshare mission management, satellite integration and deployment services for both EnduroSat missions. The launches are arranged by Exolaunch under its Multi-Launch Agreement with SpaceX. The new launch agreements mark the expansion of EnduroSat’s Shared Satellite Service and pave the way to the continued cooperation between the companies on future launches.

For both missions, Exolaunch will use their proprietary deployment  technologies — the EXOpod, a next-gen cubesat deployer with half a decade and 100+ of released satellites flight heritage, to deploy the EnduroSat’s satellites into their target SSO above 500 km, and the EXOport, a flexible, multi-satellite adapter designed to optimally accommodate several satellites on a single Falcon 9 port. 

“We’re really pleased to have signed a launch agreement with Exolaunch, as it is another step in our mission to provide easy access to space. The Shared Satellite Service goal is to help drive innovation at the final frontier for visionary entrepreneurs, scientists, and technologists. At EnduroSat, we are eager to see the innovations that our customers will accomplish in space and are happy to support them every step of the way,” said EnduroSat’s Founder and CEO, Raycho Raychev.

“We’re proud to support EnduroSat with a variety of launch options and flexible mission management to address all their ongoing launch needs for the Shared Satellite Service program. Exolaunch has acquired outstanding flight heritage with Falcon 9 after signing a multi-launch agreement with SpaceX and is pleased to become a trusted launch partner for EnduroSat,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, VP of Launch Services at Exolaunch. “It’s our common vision to make space accessible for everyone and we are honored to contribute to EnduroSat’s mission.”

F

HawkEye 360 Inc. has secured new contracts totaling more than $50 million in potential value since the start of the year as the firm’s next generation satellites have become operational.

HawkEye 360 successfully launched three satellites (Cluster 2) in January, introduced the Mission Space platform for analysis of RF geospatial intelligence in February, and launched three more satellites (Cluster 3) in June. The next launch is planned no earlier than January 2022 and will carry six satellites (both Clusters 4 and 5) into orbit, simultaneously. The company has 15 additional satellites under production for launch to reach a total of 30 satellites on-orbit, with average global revisit around 30 minutes.

The company’s formation-flying satellites can detect, characterize as well as geolocate devices such as radars and push-to-talk radios, which improves visibility of human activity and patterns of life. This new data produces actionable insights for national defense and homeland security operations, maritime domain awareness, environmental protection and a growing number of commercial applications.

“HawkEye 360 is experiencing an exceptional year, with record growth in customer engagements and bookings,” said HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini. “We’re building depth of customers across the United States, Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia, including transitioning from pilot programs into programs of record. We are rapidly launching satellites to have sufficient capacity to meet our rapidly growing backlog of customer demand. And our team has demonstrated resiliency even during the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The company has been doubling revenue each year and we expect this year to be no different.”

Eutelsat’s CEO Rodolphe Belmer, in a meeting with a French parliamentary committee, told delegates that the OneWeb satellite consortium is now a “European asset” and that it was likely to be the only mega-constellation not owned by the US.

Eutelsat has a 17.5 per cent investment stake in OneWeb, with the British Government owing a similar amount. However, India and Japan are also major investors, as is Hanwha of South Korea.

Belmer told the parliamentarians that with the Eutelsat investment it meant that it was a very competitive asset in the low-latency world that is coming. He added that OneWeb would have priority satellite transmission rights, but also referred to Elon Musk’s Starlink and Telesat (of Canada) and its Lightspeed broadband by satellite service as likely to launch.

Moving on to the Egyptian Satellite Company, that firm is already serving some 56 million homes and 270 million viewers across the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf regions. With the launch next year of Nilesat 301, it is intent on adding more homes and viewers from Africa.

“Being the mainstay satellite of the Arab world, Nilesat has always been present in each and every home, this fact has made an imperative commitment to deliver an unrivaled top-class service from our facilities in Cairo by the highest experienced team,” said CEO Ahmed Anis.

Nilesat’s existing fleet operates from 7 degrees West (while Eutelsat’s adjacent craft operate officially from the same positions, but with their own frequencies). There have been comments from Eutelsat which suggest that the close cooperation between Eutelsat and Nilesat might be coming to an end. Eutelsat’s upcoming results statement on October 27th might update the market on this relationship.

Nilesat 301 is due to be in position in Q2/2022 and will be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX. Nilesat 201, launched in August 2010, is still good for operations until 2028.

“We look into the future with many strategic partnerships among our fellow African countries, and for this Nilesat has built its vision towards its natural expansion in the sub-Saharan Africa with the new Nilesat 301 satellite. Nilesat 301’s design reflects the aim to introduce our services into the African market while upgrading our current and future services in the MENA region,” added Anis.

Key additional potential from Nilesat 301 includes “providing Ka-band over Egypt,” said the company, as well as adding extra capacity for high-definition broadcasts as well as 4K. The 301 will carry 6 Ka-band transponders (for broadband) and 32 Ku-transponders. Dedicated transponder beams will cover sub-Saharan Africa and also the Nile Basin of Ethiopia, Kenya, the Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia and the DR of Congo.

On to Intelsat… A large set of documents have been sent to all parties involved in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction of the company.

Back on September 7th, the bankruptcy court handling Intelsat’s affairs issued an order that the Confirmation Hearing on Intelsat’s ‘Disclosure Statement’ and latest ‘Plan of Reorganization’ from bankruptcy will commence on November 8th.

The documents are contained in a USB flash drive sent to interested parties. The plan calls for a reduction of Intelsat’s debt burden from some $15 billion to about $7 billion. Some 75 percent of Intelsat’s debt-holders have already agreed to the debt reduction.

The main thrust of the documentation calls on all holders of financial claims to enter their ballot votes, accepting or objecting to the exit plan. Votes have to be filed by October 29th.

Meanwhile, on September 29th, the bankruptcy court will hear a Motion for the appointment of an Examiner (along with objections to the appointment). Intelsat says, in essence, the request is a last-ditch attempt to gain some leverage by equity holders who are expected to see little to nothing under the plan.

The sponsors of the Motion – who hold a modest 2 percent of Intelsat’s equity – say Intelsat has completely ignored valuable net operating losses and potential causes of action that it believes could provide some recoveries to shareholders.

An examiner is necessary to probe the full value of the company’s assets because it has so far been “ignored or devalued without explanation” in the plan, the group said in documents filed to the court.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”) has signed a dedicated launch contract with Astroscale Japan Inc. (“Astroscale Japan”), a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”).

Scheduled for lift-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in 2023, the Electron rocket will launch the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) satellite, which has been selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for Phase I of its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration Project (CRD2), one of the world’s first technology demonstrations of removing large-scale debris from orbit.

Once deployed to a precise orbit by Electron’s Kick Stage, the ADRAS-J satellite is designed to rendezvous with a piece of orbital debris, a long abandoned upper stage rocket body. ADRAS-J aims to demonstrate proximity operations and obtain images of the rocket body, delivering observational data to better understand the debris environment. A planned second phase of the mission, which has yet to be competed, intends to demonstrate the de-orbit of the debris.

“The ability to actively remove satellites and debris from orbit at the end of their operational life will likely play a key role in ensuring a sustainable space environment for the future, so we’re delighted to enable Astroscale to demonstrate new and innovative solutions in this field,” said Rocket Lab Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Beck. “Rendezvousing with a piece of debris on orbit, travelling at around 27,000 km per hour, is a highly complex task that requires absolute precision when it comes to orbital deployment. Electron’s Kick Stage has demonstrated this precision across 18 missions, providing in-space transportation to place our customers’ satellites exactly where they need to go.”

“Reliable and commercially viable launch vehicles like Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket enable frequent and flexible access to space, allowing us to advance our on-orbit services which are fundamental to the growth of the space infrastructure and economy,” said Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale. “Rocket Lab and Astroscale have become leaders in our respective markets and I am thrilled to collaborate on ADRAS-J, a ground breaking mission that will shape the technologies and policies needed to drive space sustainability forward.”

A visualization of the ADRAS-J mission can be viewed at this direct link…

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I guess you know as well as I do that vast opportunities await in space right now. LEO (low earth orbit) connectivity is gaining momentum, propelled by reusable infrastructure solutions that have brought the launch cost of a satellite down to somewhere between one hundred thousand and a million dollars. The new layers of LEO connectivity promise a tantalizing array of public and enterprise services – but one big question looms large. How can we overcome the remaining challenges and seize maximum value from the sector?

In this article, I’m going to explore the three key emerging areas that I think represent high value for ambitious innovators in the space ecosystem. They are the provision of enhanced connectivity, the collection of novel data and the analysis of novel data sources. I’ll unpack the challenges associated with each and identify the key technologies that have the capabilities to overcome them.

But first, let’s set the scene in this new world of satellite launch economics, where you can even book your SpaceX rocket launch online. Once in low earth orbit, satellite connectivity has the potential to deliver fast, low latency connections anywhere on the globe. The opportunities are endless: from providing highly reliable broadband for truly remote working, to collecting large amounts of data from the earth’s most out-of-the-way places.

These new horizons are also allowing a range of start-ups to launch satellites into LEO for a range of use cases. Seraphim Capital, a VC led accelerator program focused on space, recently went public with its space investment fund that backs start-ups. Companies within the fund are building solutions across a range of fascinating areas – including the collection of new types of data and novel analytics solutions for data from space. 

Providing enhanced connectivity

A number of organizations are jostling to get ahead with the provision of enhanced connectivity. SpaceX and OneWeb both have established plans, but Amazon and Telesat are also entering the scene, the latter having recently secured Canadian government funding. While much of the focus of new LEO constellations is on providing broadband connectivity to rural areas, a significant amount of the potential value is likely to accrue to connectivity solutions which transport valuable commercial data. This will mean that LEO constellations will need to provide different connectivity characteristics depending on the use case.

The changes in launch infrastructure have transformed the economics of creating LEO broadband constellations, making these new connection types possible. Previously, operators were limited in the number of satellites they could launch due to the high costs. Now, they can launch significantly more satellites and – crucially – replace satellites more frequently. Low-cost satellite replacement is a powerful lever for operators to use when designing new networks. 

The ability to regularly update satellite hardware, by deorbiting satellites and launching new ones, means that the system can be constantly updated in the constellation, in addition to updating the ground-based gateways and terminal devices. This allows system level improvements to take place as technology advances, allowing systems to be optimized for particular connection types. 

Nevertheless, operators still face challenges in terms of cost, size, weight and power (CSWaP) constraints of terminal hardware. Currently, the terminal manufacturing costs for SpaceX’s Starlink constellation are high and ultimately passed on to consumers in a one-off charge for hardware and ongoing subscriptions. But what if terminals can be optimized to the size of a cellphone or small sensor, while still being able to connect to low earth orbit at a suitable cost point? This represents a significant opportunity for the satellite industry.

The key challenge is keeping the power level in the device suitably low, to ensure it is both safe for the user and can run on battery power for a suitable amount of time, but also powerful enough to connect to a satellite. Enhanced beamforming, as deployed in the antenna we recently designed to deliver 5G from a high-altitude platform in the stratosphere, is a potential solution to the problem. 

New antenna technologies that can transmit hundreds of beams simultaneously offer the opportunity to create very narrow beams which focus the available power in a specific direction. This can allow a connection to be optimized for a particular use case without greatly increasing the overall power level of the solution.

Additional challenges for LEO satellite connectivity include tracking moving satellites and correcting for the corresponding Doppler shift in RF. Unlike geo-stationary satellites, which are fixed relative to a point on earth, LEO satellites move very quickly relative to ground-based terminals and will regularly need to handover connections between satellites and user terminals due to the rapid movement. This creates significant challenges when attempting to offer reliable low latency communications. 

Constellation operators need to design the overall system in a way that creates good CSWaP trade-offs while providing reliable low latency communication links. This challenge is made even more difficult when mobile terminals have movement at both ends of the communication link. Innovation in terminal antennas may be the answer here. Small, flat panel electronically steered antennas can compensate for terminal pitch and roll, allowing terminals to track the satellites even in extreme conditions. To enable this, a combination of sophisticated RF and digital signal processing techniques, which go beyond what is currently commercially available, will be required – both active areas of R&D that we are engaged in.

Collecting novel data 

In the same way that Starlink and the other mega constellations are poised to revolutionize communications, a new generation of earth observation satellites are benefitting from the lower launch costs.  As new infrastructure allows an increasing number of satellites to be launched, companies are starting to consider what data can be collected from this entirely new perspective of planet earth. A significant amount of the new start-up activity is looking at what new data can be collected and what insights it can offer. 

For example, Satellite Vu, a company in Seraphim’s portfolio, is providing monitoring services using high resolution thermal imagery. This is being used to monitor assets such as building efficiency and oil pipeline flows. This type of sensing would not be possible without the new perspective provided by satellites. 

But significant innovation is still required in sensing technologies and connectivity solutions to ensure that data is collected at a suitable resolution and also can be transmitted in a useful timeframe (i.e., does the data need to be close to real-time?) This will require strong integration with the connectivity layer to ensure connections are appropriate for the use case. This then becomes a system engineering problem requiring expertise across a number of different areas to get right. 

We’ve seen through our own work in developing telecom and satellite systems that latency is not just impacted by the distance the data has to travel. The fundamentals of the transport layer including data packet frame size, data integrity techniques and of course security protocols all come into play. Intelligent data compression and optimization techniques, along with data processing at the edge, are all innovation opportunities that can deliver enhanced system performance. 

Analyzing novel data sources 

As is always the case, data is only as valuable as the analysis that is applied to it and the insights that are drawn. So, we can expect artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to become increasingly valuable in the new space ecosystem. As companies use satellites to collect more and more data from the unique vantage point of space, there is an increased opportunity to drive new and enhanced insights. Using AI and ML to fuse outputs from a variety of sensors from different satellites has the potential to offer significant value for a range of different use cases. For example, ChAI offers a commodity price forecasting service by applying AI to data such as satellite imagery alongside other data inputs. Pixxel is also proposing to use hyperspectral imaging to unearth problems which it claims current satellites are unable to address, its data platform offers near real-time insights based on the data.

Additionally, Microsoft has recently partnered with SpaceX to connect the Starlink constellation to Azure’s new Modular Datacenter to allow data to be processed. The plan is to extend this to connect to Azure edge devices, which highlights the shift towards increasingly intelligent processing taking place at the edge on smaller, less expensive devices. Understanding what data is available and then creating algorithms that can draw insights from a range of different data sets is a key challenge. But it is one that promises to offer significant value to companies which are able to collect and analyze new data. 

Again, this will require a system engineering perspective across data collection to data transport and data analysis. Consideration to how the space network interacts with other network types and where data processing takes place are all key decisions for new emerging architectures which leverage the increased access to space.

The space opportunity is significant and extremely exciting. It is clear that the value of the sector will grow strongly as companies continue to evolve and leverage the new infrastructure layers to create new services and draw insights from data. It remains to be seen who will innovate quickest to derive the most value… but the race is on. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you’d like to hear more about our research and discuss the technologies that are emerging. It’ll be great to continue the conversation. 

About the author

Oli Matthews (oliver.matthews@cambridgeconsultants.com) is a consultant in the technology strategy group at Cambridge Consultants, part of Capgemini Invent. He works with clients to explore the impact of new technologies on their business strategy. Oli has experience across a range of sectors including automotive, artificial intelligence, semiconductor and telecoms. 

This multi-launch contract finds Rocket Lab contracted to deploy 25 Internet-of-Things (IoT) satellites across five dedicated missions via the company’s Electron launch vehicle for Kinéis, a global Internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity provider.

Scheduled for launch beginning in the second quarter of 2023, the constellation will enable Kinéis, a company backed by private and public investors that include the French government’s space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) an international space-based solutions provider, to improve its global IoT connectivity.

The multi-launch contract with Kinéis, which is subject to standard termination and launch rescheduling provisions, follows a similar bulk buy of launches earlier this year to deploy nine satellites across five dedicated Electron missions as part of a constellation for BlackSky, a provider of real-time geospatial intelligence and global monitoring services.

The proven accuracy and reliability of Electron’s Kick Stage in successfully deploying 100+ satellites to date was a decisive factor in Kinéis selecting Rocket Lab as its launch partner. The Kick Stage will act as an orbital transfer vehicle to deliver each satellite in the Kinéis constellation to their precise orbital planes at a 650 km altitude, allowing Kinéis to avoid sacrificing spacecraft mass for propulsion and to begin a fully operational service as quickly as possible.

Kinéis currently operates the Argos system, an international scientific collaboration between CNES, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to monitor wildlife, fisheries, and to collect data about Earth’s climate and environment through CLS. Kinéis’ new constellation will complete the current system with more powerful 30 kg-class smallsats that integrate IoT technology and a ship-tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS). Once deployed, this technology will allow Kinéis to expand across multiple industries and scale from 20,000 devices connected to millions.

In addition to these missions, Rocket Lab will further contribute to the international Argos system with another upcoming Electron launch. Rocket Lab is the launch provider for the Argos-4 mission for General Atomics, which is developing the satellite for the United States Space Force on behalf of NOAA. That mission is currently scheduled to launch early 2022.

Kinéis CEO, Alexandre Tisserant, said, “We are glad to entrust our constellation of 25 satellites to Rocket Lab. They are the leaders in small satellite launch and the obvious choice as launch partner to activate our constellation at such a pace. We designed and developed our 25 satellites in record time with the support of CNES, Thalès Alénia Space and HEMERIA in order to deliver a full new operational service to our existing and future customers – we are now eagerly counting down to first launch in 2023.”

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, “We’re thrilled to be Kinéis’ launch partner and look forward to delivering their constellation across five dedicated missions in quick succession. Deploying an entire constellation and having it operational quickly requires each satellite to be deployed to exactly the right orbit. Rocket Lab’s track record of exceptional orbital deployment accuracy provides Kinéis with that assurance. By taking care of in-space transport, the Kick Stage makes life much easier for satellite constellation operators, enabling them to maximize spacecraft mass for their payload.”

About the company…

Kinéis is a satellite operator and global connectivity provider. It inherited 40 years of expertise in the Argos system, founded by CNES (French space agency) and historically operated by CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites). Its mission is to develop reliable technology that provides easy access to useful satellite data. To make life easier for professionals and individuals and encourage them to use its products and services, Kinéis locates and connects objects wherever they are on the planet. Thanks to its technological innovation capabilities, Kinéis forges links between New Space and IoT and connects hundreds of customers with satellite IoT. In Q2 2021, Kinéis won two projects funded by the European program Eurostars: Forestens (forest fire prevention) and Catset (a decision support toolset eartag for extensive cattle farming). In 2020, Kinéis has raised €100 million in equity (CLS 32%, CNES 26%, Bpifrance 20%, Ifremer, Thalès, HEMERIA, CELAD, BNP Paribas Développement, ETHICS Group, MJKD, Consuls Développement, Invest Marel, and others) and generated €7 million revenues (a 40% increase compared to 2019). In 2021, Kinéis has been listed on the highly-selective French Tech Next40 company index.