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On Saturday, June 13, at 5:21 a.m. EDT, 9:21 UTC, SpaceX successfully launched their ninth Starlink mission, carrying 58 Starlink satellites and three of Planet’s SkySats — this mission marked SpaceX’s first SmallSat Rideshare Program launch.

Falcon 9’s first stage previously supported Dragon’s 19th and 20th resupply missions to the International Space Station. Following stage separation, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship.
Photo is courtesy of SpaceX.

One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously flew on the JCSAT-18/Kacific1 mission and the other half previously flew on SpaceX’s third Starlink mission. Planet’s SkySats were deployed sequentially beginning about 12 minutes after liftoff and then the Starlink satellites were deployed approximately 26 minutes after liftoff.

Artistic rendition of Planet’s SkySat smallsats.
Image is courtesy of the company.

Rocket Lab’s statement …

Rocket Lab, a space systems company and the global leader in dedicated small satellite launch, has successfully launched its 12th Electron mission and deployed satellites to orbit for NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space. 

The ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 05:12 UTC, 13 June 2020. The mission was Rocket Lab’s 12th Electron launch and continued the company’s record of 100 percent mission success for customers since Electron’s first orbital mission in January 2018. Rocket Lab has now deployed 53 satellites to orbit with the Electron launch vehicle.

This launch is the first conducted by Rocket Lab since Covid-19 national restrictions were eased earlier this month, demonstrating the company’s rapid launch and responsive space capability for small satellite customers.

The satellites deployed as part of this rideshare mission include NASA’s ANDESITE (Ad-Hoc Network Demonstration for Extended Satellite-Based Inquiry and Other Team Endeavors) satellite created by students and professors at Boston University to study Earth’s magnetic field as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI); three payloads designed, built and operated by the NRO; and the M2 Pathfinder satellite, a collaboration between the UNSW Canberra Space and the Australian Government, to test communications architecture and other technologies.

This latest mission marks the second time NASA and the NRO have launched payloads on Electron, following dedicated missions for each organisation in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Rocket Lab founder and chief executive, Peter Beck, said the mission highlighted Electron’s continued ability to meet the needs of government missions, whether payloads required a dedicated mission or could fly as part of a rideshare.

“It was a privilege to once again provide access to space for the NRO and NASA, and to welcome UNSW Canberra Space to orbit for the first time,” he said. “Missions like this one are testament to the flexibility we offer small satellite operators through our ability to deploy multiple payloads to precise and individual orbits on the same launch. This collaborative mission was also a great demonstration of Rocket Lab’s capability in meeting the unique national security needs of the NRO, while on the same mission making space easy and accessible for educational payloads from NASA and UNSW Canberra. I’m also incredibly proud of the way our team has quickly adapted to working safely and efficiently to ensure our customers remain connected to space through the challenges posed by COVID-19.” 

With Covid-19 restrictions now easing, Rocket Lab has also returned to full production of Electron launch vehicles and Photon satellites. Rocket Lab is now delivering a launch vehicle off the production line every 18 days to meet a busy launch manifest for the rest of the year. Final checks are being completed in the lead up to Rocket Lab’s first launch from its new U.S. launch site, Launch Complex 2 in Virginia — a dedicated mission in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program and the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Small Launch and Targets Division. The mission is scheduled for Q3 2020. Details of Rocket Lab’s next launch from Launch Complex 1 will be announced shortly.

Momentus recently signed a launch service agreement with NCKU Space Laboratory and ODYSSEUS Space.

The company is supporting the IRIS-A mission, which is of strategic importance to Taiwan and is the first of three satellite launches, with follow up missions IRIS-B and IRIS-C due to reach space in 2022 and 2023. IRIS-A will be equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to achieve a Doppler shift estimation and improve the quality of downlink signal, increasing the efficiency of future IoT constellations of smallsats intended to monitor objects from space.

ODYSSEUS is a young startup based in Taiwan created by French professionals coming from the European space sector. They have experience and expertise both in Asia and in Europe to uniquely address the booming global market of small satellites applications.

ODYSSEUS has been working with National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) of Tainan, Taiwan, for many years now. IoT is a hot topic in Taiwan and Momentus is delighted to be working with leaders in the sector to bring the technology to space.

The Momentus Vigoride solution is highly innovative and provides smallsat developers, such as NCKU and ODYSSEUS, with long awaited flexibility in the choice of their orbit and their timeline.

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) of Tainan, Taiwan, team.

ASTERIA was deployed from the International Space Station on
November 20, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Long before it was deployed into low-Earth orbit from the International Space Station in Nov. 2017, the tiny ASTERIA spacecraft had a big goal: to prove that a satellite roughly the size of a briefcase could perform some of the complex tasks much larger space observatories use to study exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. A new paper soon to be published in the Astronomical Journal describes how ASTERIA (short for Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) didn’t just demonstrate it could perform those tasks but went above and beyond, detecting the known exoplanet 55 Cancri e.

Scorching hot and about twice the size of Earth, 55 Cancri e orbits extremely close to its Sun-like parent star. Scientists already knew the planet’s location; looking for it was a way to test ASTERIA’s capabilities. The tiny spacecraft wasn’t initially designed to perform science; rather, as a technology demonstration, the mission’s goal was to develop new capabilities for future missions. The team’s technological leap was to build a small spacecraft that could conduct fine pointing control — essentially the ability to stay very steadily focused on an object for long periods. 

Based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the mission team engineered new instruments and hardware, pushing past existing technological barriers to create their payload. Then they had to test their prototype in space. Though its prime mission was only 90 days, ASTERIA received three mission extensions before the team lost contact with it last December. 

The CubeSat used fine pointing control to detect 55 Cancri e via the transit method, in which scientists look for dips in the brightness of a star caused by a passing planet. When making exoplanet detections this way, a spacecraft’s own movements or vibrations can produce jiggles in the data that could be misinterpreted as changes in the star’s brightness. The spacecraft needs to stay steady and keep the star centered in its field of view. This allows scientists to accurately measure the star’s brightness and identify the tiny changes that indicate the planet has passed in front of it, blocking some of its light. 

ASTERIA follows in the footsteps of a small satellite flown by the Canadian Space Agency called MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars), which in 2011 performed the first transit detection of 55 Cancri e. MOST was about six times the volume of ASTERIA – still incredibly small for an astrophysics satellite. Equipped with a 5.9-inch (15-centimeter) telescope, MOST was also capable of collecting six times as much light as ASTERIA, which carried 2.4-inch (6-centimeter) telescope. Because 55 Cancri e blocks out only 0.04 percent of its host star’s light, it was an especially challenging target for ASTERIA. 

“Detecting this exoplanet is exciting, because it shows how these new technologies come together in a real application,” said Vanessa Bailey, the principal investigator for ASTERIA’s exoplanet science team at JPL. “The fact that ASTERIA lasted more than 20 months beyond its prime mission, giving us valuable extra time to do science, highlights the great engineering that was done at JPL and MIT.” 

Big Feat

The mission made what’s known as a marginal detection, meaning the data from the transit would not, on its own, have convinced scientists that the planet existed. (Faint signals that look similar to a planet transit can be caused by other phenomena, so scientists have a high standard for declaring a planet detection.) But by comparing the CubeSat’s data with previous observations of the planet, the team confirmed that they were indeed seeing 55 Cancri e. As a tech demo, ASTERIA also didn’t undergo the typical prelaunch preparations for a science mission, which meant the team had to do additional work to ensure the accuracy of their detection.

“We went after a hard target with a small telescope that was not even optimized to make science detections – and we got it, even if just barely,” said Mary Knapp, the ASTERIA project scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory and lead author of the study. “I think this paper validates the concept that motivated the ASTERIA mission: that small spacecraft can contribute something to astrophysics and astronomy.”

While it would be impossible to pack all the capabilities of a larger exoplanet-hunting spacecraft like NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) into a CubeSat, the ASTERIA team envisions these petite packages playing a supporting role for them. Small satellites, with fewer demands on their time, could be used to monitor a star for long periods in hopes of detecting an undiscovered planet. Or, after a large observatory discovers a planet transiting its star, a small satellite could watch for subsequent transits, freeing up the larger telescope to do work smaller satellites can’t. 

Astrophysicist Sara Seager, principal investigator for ASTERIA at MIT, was recently awarded a NASA Astrophysics Science SmallSat Studies grant to develop a mission concept for a follow-on to ASTERIA. The proposal describes a constellation of six satellites about twice as big as ASTERIA that would search for exoplanets similar in size to Earth around nearby Sun-like stars. 

Thinking Small 

To build the smallest planet-hunting satellite in history, the ASTERIA wasn’t simply shrinking hardware used on larger spacecraft. In many cases, they had to take a more innovative approach. For example, the MOST satellite used a camera with a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, which is common for space satellites; ASTERIA, on the other hand, was equipped with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) detector — a well-established technology typically used for making precision measurements of brightness in infrared light, not visible light. ASTERIA’s CMOS-based, visible-light camera provided multiple advantages over a CCD. One big one: It helped keep ASTERIA small because it operated at room temperature, eliminating the need for the large cooling system that a cold-operating CCD would require. 

“This mission has mostly been about learning,” said Akshata Krishnamurthy, co-investigator and science data analysis co-lead for ASTERIA at JPL. “We’ve discovered so many things that future small satellites will be able to do better because we demonstrated the technology and capabilities first. I think we’ve opened doors.” 

ASTERIA was developed under JPL’s Phaeton program, which provided early-career hires, under the guidance of experienced mentors, with the challenges of a flight project. ASTERIA is a collaboration with MIT in Cambridge; MIT’s Sara Seager is principal investigator on the project. Brice Demory of the University of Bern also contributed to the new study. The project’s extended missions were partially funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.

Artistic rendition of the Telesat Phase 1 LEO smallsat.
Image is courtesy of Surrey Satellite Technology.

Telesat and Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS) have completed live, on-orbit testing across a wide range of applications on Telesat’s LEO Phase 1 satellite.

With a mission to increase agility and improve operational efficiencies, TIWS partnered with Telesat on a rigorous testing campaign to explore the performance and feasibility of leveraging LEO satellites for high-end services. Testing demonstrated that Telesat LEO could be a viable option for wireless backhaul and presents a substantial improvement in performance over geostationary orbit (GEO) links, without the use of compression or TCP acceleration techniques that are typically required in 650ms latency GEO environments.

Applications tested over Telesat LEO resulted in observed round trip latency of 30-60 msec without any packet loss.  Test scenarios included:

• High definition video streaming, without interruption
• Video conference with teams, demonstrating consistent fluidity of movement and voice transmission with user experience matching terrestrial and cellular connections
• Remote desktop connection to seamlessly manage a remote computer
• VPN connection without any delay or outages
• FTP encrypted file transfers of 2 GB in both directions. IPSec tunnel encryption with no reduction in the performance of the link

Gustavo Arditti, TIWS Satellite Business Unit Director, said that the company is eager to explore how cutting-edge technologies, such as Telesat LEO, can integrate with the firm’s global connectivity infrastructure. Across every application tested, Telesat LEO delivered an outstanding performance, with significant improvements over what TIWS can achieve via GEO satellites today.

Erwin Hudson, VP, Telesat LEO Network, added that the ability to demonstrate fiber-like performance via satellite across a number of applications that perform poorly on GEO satellite backhaul is a testament to the capabilities of the Telesat LEO network. With its high-throughput links, ultra-low latency, and disruptive economics, Telesat LEO offers an unparalleled value proposition to expand the reach of 4G and 5G networks.

Arianespace personnel are utilizing smart glasses during certain payload checkout activities for Flight VV16 at the Spaceport in French Guiana, enabling customers to remotely monitor operations performed on satellites that will be orbited this month by the Vega light-lift launcher.

While preparations for the upcoming Vega launch were put on hold due to the Corona virus, Arianespace has now once again resumed activities for the next mission, which will be the proof-of-concept flight with the Vega launcher’s “ride-share” configuration — known as the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS).

Scheduled for the middle of June from the Spaceport in French Guiana, it will loft 53 micro- and nanosatellites for the benefit of 21 customers, deploying these payloads into Sun-Synchronous orbit.

For the mission, designated Flight VV16 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system, Vega will carry seven microsatellites weighing from 15 kg. to 150 kg., along with 46 smaller CubeSats. These spacecraft are to serve various applications, including Earth observation, telecommunications, science, technology and education.

The maiden flight for Europe’s SSMS

Avio, the Italian company that is production prime contractor for Vega launch vehicles, also developed the SSMS ride-share concept. Design authority for the multi-payload dispenser system is SAB Aerospace, an independent Italian SME (small/medium enterprise).

The SSMS program, initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) with the European Commission’s contribution, will further Arianespace’s ability to offer ride-share solutions tailored for the growing small satellite market.

The SSMS dispenser is composed of modular components that are assembled as needed to serve as the interface with grouped payloads composed of microsatellites and CubeSats. Capable of accepting a full range of payload combinations, the SSMS configuration has been designed to be as responsive as possible in meeting the launch service market’s needs for both institutional and commercial customers.

Avio members of the launch team for Arianespace Flight VV16 were flown from Rome to Cayenne aboard a chartered jetliner.

Launch team members arrive from Europe

Assembly of Flight VV16’s light-lift Vega launcher was performed during February on the Spaceport’s SLV launch pad, but was followed in mid-March by an operations stand-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to fully implement sanitary protective measures.

With the decision to restart operational activities at the Spaceport, a team of some 70 people — led by engineers and technicians from Avio, and including personnel from other companies — was flown aboard a chartered jetliner from Europe to French Guiana.

After arriving at Félix Eboué Airport near the capital city of Cayenne, the team members underwent a quarantine period before being authorized to work at the launch site.

Thierry Wilmart, who heads the Missions & Customers Department at Arianespace said that they are delighted to have resumed operations. Protective measures relating to COVID-19 have been taken throughout the launch site’s facilities, and mission personnel have received instructions on respecting the sanitary guidelines.

Wilmart noted that among the first activities was an evaluation of using smart glasses during payload preparation activities with several of the spacecraft passengers on Flight VV16. Adding that the results are very positive, and this efficient means of being connected enables customers to remotely monitor operations conducted by Arianespace personnel on their satellites.

The Vega launcher for Arianespace Flight VV16 is shown taking shape during integration activity at the Spaceport in February. This photo sequence shows the solid propellant stages being “stacked” at the Vega Launch Complex (SLV), with the Zefiro 23 second stage’s integration on the P80 first stage (at left), followed by installation of the Zefiro 9 third stage atop them (center). In the photo at right, Vega receives its liquid-propellant Attitude and Vernier Upper Module (AVUM).

Artistic rendition of the ViaSat-3 satellite.

The cause de rigueur for industry actors these days encompasses smallsats due to their efficacy and viability in accomplishing numerous tasks which were once the purview of larger spacecraft.

Now add Viasat to the list of companies planning LEO constellations that are comprised of hundreds of satellites. Gone, apparently, is the company’s plan for a MEO constellation, opting now for the infusion of LEO smallsats into orbit.

One key for the company’s plans revolves around some subsidy funding from the $16 billion RDOF (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) established by the Federal Communications Commission for direct monetary injections into broadband programs. This potential government payout certainly affords Viasat with an enticing move into the LEO constellation market segment.

This information comes on the heels of Viasat’s announcement of their ninth consecutive quarter of growth, bringing in Q4 2020 revenues to just over $591 million and a y-o-y of $2.3 billion and $212.4 million in revenues derived from the firm’s satellite services… that’s a y-o-y of 10.5 percent.

Now look for Viasat to request the FCC’s prior approval of the firm’s 20 MEO satellites to be transitioned to their LEO constellation. However, nothing is a given, due to the FCC’s rules regarding how the initial $16 billion of the RDOF’s total $20.4 billion initial funding will be allocated to Phase 1 or even if firms, such as Viasat, can meet the agency’s broadband performance tiers. (See the FCC’s “Measuring Fixed Broadband — Eighth Report at this direct infolink — www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broadband-america/measuring-fixed-broadband-eighth-report“)

Mark Dankberg

Company CEO Mark Dankberg realizes this will be an uphill battle for Viasat and is hopeful that Phase 2 reserved RDOF funding of $4.4 billion in subsidies will encompass eligibility for LEO activities. Phase 2 will kick in after new broadband maps are developed to mark underserved areas.

Still on the Viasat development table are the ViaSat-3 and ViaSat-4 satellites. Dankberg stated that a LEO constellation would find realization sometime around 2026, if all comes to fruition.

Rocket Lab has resumed launch operations for the firm’s next Electron launch, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Rocket Lab’s 12th Electron launch was postponed from its original date of March 27th following the implementation of the New Zealand Government’s Alert Level 4 Covid-19 national response, which required most businesses to close, restricted travel and instructed people to stay home.

With COVID-19 restrictions now eased, a new launch window for this mission has been scheduled to commence June 11, 2020, NZT, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The mission will loft payloads for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space.

The Electron launch vehicle and the Launch Complex 1 ground systems have remained in a state of readiness throughout the Covid-19 lockdown in preparation for a quick return to launch operations. Enhanced health and safety processes will be implemented for this launch in line with government health advice to protect Rocket Lab personnel. These measures include physical distancing, split shifts, maintaining contact tracing registers, limiting interaction between team members, enhanced cleaning, and stringent hygiene standards.

Payloads onboard ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’: NASA’s ANDESITE (Ad-Hoc Network Demonstration for Extended Satellite-Based Inquiry and Other Team Endeavors) satellite will launch as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). Created by students and researchers at Boston University, ANDESITE will conduct groundbreaking scientific study into Earth’s magnetic field.

This mission also carries three payloads designed, built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission was procured under the agency’s Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract vehicle. RASR allows the NRO to explore new launch opportunities that provide a streamlined, commercial approach for getting small satellites into space, as well as provide those working in the small satellite community with timely and cost-effective access to space.

The final payload onboard is the M2 Pathfinder satellite built in a collaboration between the University of New South Wales Canberra Space and the Australian Government. The M2 Pathfinder will test communications architecture and other technologies that will assist in informing the future space capabilities of Australia. The satellite will demonstrate the ability of an onboard software-based radio to operate and reconfigure while on-orbit.

NetSat: Four satellites in formation at an altitude of 600km.

Four NetSat smallsats will autonomously control — for the first time — a three-dimensional configuration in space to enable new observation methods for climate research as well as for innovative future telecommunication systems.

To capture an object without blind spots, it needs to be imaged from different directions and by sensor data fusion, from which information is then derived. In NetSat, four nano-satellites will demonstrate relevant techniques for optimum self-organization of a satellite formation in three-dimensional space. This opens new perspectives in Earth Observation (EO) as well as for future telecommunication networks. In addition, there are strategies for collision avoidance.

The four smallsats (each one possesses a mass of 4 kg) are currently being finalized at the research center Zentrum für Telematik (ZfT) in Würzburg (Germany. In August of 2020, they will be delivered to orbit via a Russian Soyuz-rocket at a 600 km altitude.

The objectives of NetSat are to produce scientific breakthroughs for control of the three-dimensional configuration to provide optimum observation conditions. For this purpose, each satellite carries a highly efficient, electric propulsion system (developed by the Austrian company, Enpulsion) and a high-precision attitude control system composed of extremely small and power-efficient reaction wheels (from S4–Smart Small Satellite Systems and Wittenstein Cyber Motors).

The telecommunication link between the satellites supports data exchange on position, attitude and planned maneuvers. In combination with advanced control methods, the coordination of these four smallsats can be realized. While the long-term task planning is done by the space control center in Würzburg, the reaction on deviations and the fine tuning of the formation is handled autonomously by the smallsats onboard software.

The NetSat mission is sponsored by an ERC Advanced Grant and by the Bavarian Ministry of Economics. In 2012, the European Research Council (ERC) honored Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling with the highly valued European research award to promote scientific pioneer research in space technology and control systems. The independent research, institute Zentrum für Telematik (ZfT) in Würzburg, was selected as the host institution for NetSat due to that organization’s outstanding test infrastructure for multi-satellite systems. (https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/stories/small-cooperative-future-spacecraft-systems )

The NetSat results will be directly transferred to the follow-up smallsat Eo missions: TIM – Telematics International Mission:

• The ZfT coordinates, within the RLS partnership from 5 continents, the implementation and use of 9 satellites for innovative 3D-EO for volcano eruptions, earthquakes and environment monitoring. (launch expected in 2021; www.rls-sciences.org/small-satellites.html)
• In CloudCT, the self-organization of 10 smallsats will be used to characterize, via computed tomography methods, the interior of clouds, obtaining… for the first time… important parameters for climate models. (launch expected to occur in 2022; cordis.europa.eu/project/id/810370)

Measurement networks composed of smallsats will provide quickly improved decision support for emergency situations as well as address challenges in climate change.

Integration of a NetSat satellite at Zentrum für Telematik.

Virgin Orbit has announced that their Launch Demo mission starts on Sunday, May 24th, and extends through Monday, May 25th, with an opportunity to launch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Pacific (17:00 – 21:00 GMT), each day.

The 747 carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl will prepare to take off from Mojave Air and Space Port, fly out over the Pacific ocean and release our two-stage, orbital rocket, LauncherOne — which will then proceed to ignite its engine in mid-air for the first time.

This Launch Demo marks the apex of a five-year-long development program. On this journey to open up space for everyone, Virgin Orbit has conducted hundreds of hotfires of the engines and the rocket stages, performed two dozen test flights with the carrier aircraft and conducted countless other tests of every bit of the system that could be tested on the ground.

Launching from the Earth to space is difficult — thousands of components all need to function as planned, while controlling high energy and flying at incredibly fast speeds. The vehicle’s structures must be robust enough to tolerate traveling at up to 18,000 mph without disintegrating; the temperatures and pressures of its propellants can’t be too high or too low; every internal valve must click open and closed in perfect synchronicity…  there’s a long list of factors that need to line up in order to make it all the way. The company is mindful of the fact that for the governments and companies who have preceded us in developing spaceflight systems, maiden flights have statistically ended in failure about half of the time.

In the future, the goal of the launches will be to deploy satellites for a new generation of space-based services. For this Launch Demo, though, the goal is to safely learn as much as possible and prove out the LauncherOne system the company has worked so hard to design, build, test and operate.

The instant the Newton Three engine ignites, Virgin Orbit will have done something no one has ever done before — lighting an orbital-class, liquid-fueled, horizontally-launched vehicle in flight. If LauncherOne reaches an altitude of 50 miles on this mission, it will be the first time this kind of launch system has reached space.

The mission will continue for as long as possible. The longer LauncherOne flies, the more data can be able to collect. Should the historical odds be defied and if this becomes one of those exceedingly rare teams to complete a mission on first attempt, the company will deploy a test payload into an orbit, take the data and then quickly de-orbit so as not to clutter the heavens.

For near real-time updates, follow the company on Twitter (@Virgin_Orbit).