News

Artel LLC a provider of secure network communication services to U.S. government agencies, has been awarded a Commercial Satellite Communications Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (p-LEO) contract  from the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and is partnering with Rivada Space Networks to provide the nexgen network critical to support U.S. Government (USF) comms.

Artel is a carrier-agnostic network integrator that allows the company to develop customized solutions for customers, providing cost-effective, on-time delivery of global terrestrial and satellite network communication services, cyber security, risk management, and information technology solutions.

Artel is already using 1stGen LEO constellations to deliver secure communications for government communications and the company will now work with Rivada Space Networks to ensure the latest innovation in secure space architecture is available for mission critical connectivity on a global scale.

Rivada’s global, low-latency, point-to-point connectivity network of 600 LEO satellites, the “OuterNET,” is a unique architecture that combines inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard processing that provides unique routing and switching capabilities to create an optical mesh network in space. This approach to “orbital networking,” wherein data stays in space from origin to destination, creates an ultra-secure satellite network with pole-to-pole coverage, offering end-to-end latencies much lower than terrestrial fiber over similar long distances. 

By routing traffic on a physically separated network, a layer of defense is provided for any organization that needs to securely share data over a large distribution of site. Together, it provides unique solutions for Government Services operations. The first satellite launch is set for 2025, with global service starting in 2026. 

“We are committed to delivering state-of-the-art technology solutions to the US Government. The Rivada constellation brings a new level of security, performance and global reach that will enable our customers to not only expand their current networks but also address new market opportunities. We are excited to partner with Rivada to provide the next generation of secure connectivity.” — Ed Spitler, Head of Satcoms Programs, Artel

“We are delighted to be working with Artel and honored to be one of a limited number of LEO solutions trusted to provide solutions to the USSF. By allowing satellites to go beyond their traditional role of “gap-filler,” and unlike other limited LEO systems which bridge the last mile between the satellite and the nearest gateway, Rivada’s OuterNET is a fully inter-connected space network which will become the technology of choice for secure data communications. Rivada’s OuterNET will solve essential connectivity and security challenges for government communications globally.” — Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada Space Networks

Rogue Space Systems has been selected by AFWERX for two STTR contracts through the agency’s Orbital Prime program.

These contracts support continued development of Rogue innovations that address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). Rogue designs satellite vehicles and subsystems to provide on-orbit services to satellite operators. To deliver these contracts, Rogue has partnered with The University of Utah and University of Illinois.

With the first Phase II STTR award, working with University of Illinois, Rogue plans to develop a functional, multi-purpose CubeSat dispenser system prototype that will solve the problem of frame style / dispenser system incompatibilities.

“Rogue is always seeking innovation in areas where the market falls short in delivering what the industry needs. For example, early in our Orbot design process, we had to adjust our design to fit with different types of deployment systems depending on the launch provider. Rogue seeks to resolve that with a more universal design. This technology will expand launch opportunities for all CubeSat launch providers and developers. This will help with keeping up with the growing demand of ground to space operations.” — Michael Pica, Chief Innovation Officer, Rogue Space Systems

The second Phase II award is for the development of technology for contactless manipulation of resident space objects (RSOs).

“Contactless detumbling will enable safe in-space servicing of all types. The ability to arrest angular momentum of client vehicles and debris makes servicing and debris mediation possible.” — Jon Beam, COO, Rogue Space Systems

Continuing the Phase I effort, Rogue is developing an Orbot system that integrates the University of Utah’s patented Omnimagnet to de-tumble, capture, or otherwise manipulate these RSOs.

“This is one of the most interesting technologies that we have under development. It inspires people’s imagination to the possibilities whenever we describe what it is and how it works. From a practical standpoint, being able to de-tumble an RSO remotely is a critical prerequisite to performing docking, transport, or repair operations; but the further reaching implications feels like we’re turning science-fiction into reality,” added Chief Innovation Officer Pica.

The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now with these July 2023 Phase II awards, Rogue Space Systems continues its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

RTX’s (NYSE: RTX) smallsat manufacturer and mission services provider, Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), has appointed Chris Winslett as General Manager.

In his role as GM, Winslett will drive all functions of the business toward a single vision with an emphasis on teamwork and collaboration, specifically focusing on financial performance, on-orbit performance and on-time delivery.

Formerly the program director for the Space Development Agency (SDA) Transport Layer program at Lockheed Martin, Winslett brings nearly 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry to BCT.

Prior to his position with Lockheed, Winslett was the director of programs for OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus. In this role, he was responsible for completing the design and development of the OneWeb constellation as well as standing up a factory that was able to produce 10 satellites a week and for developing a strategy to leverage that production to build a wider customer base.

AccelerComm, Radisys® Corporation, RFDSP Lower-Phy IP specialists and TTP are jointly formulating a high-performance, Regenerative 5G RAN reference solution and architecture based on 3GPP for deployment on LEO satellites.

This partnership combines expertise and IP from these companies, together with additional technology from partners, to propose a 5G regenerative gNodeB solution that is tailored to support high-performance 5G services in the challenging environment of a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN).

In a typical LEO deployment, a constellation of fast-moving satellites covers a wide geographical area using a large number of beams per satellite to cover a multitude of subscribers. The 5G Regenerative NTN solution includes Option-2 split gNB with a distributed unit (DU) on the satellite payload with a ground-based, centralized unit (CU) and 5GC.

The solution handles unique regenerative NTN-specific requirements of extremely high mobility with frequency re-association between the DU, GW and CU serving a region and large-sized cells spanning multiple countries requiring country-specific CN routing. Moreover, any gNodeB platform for space applications will be highly constrained in size, weight, and power, and must be able to work in a hostile space environment.

The joint, LEO Regenerative reference solution will be designed to meet the growing demand for satellite-based eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) and IoT (Internet of Things) services. This makes it an ideal solution for businesses and organizations that need to connect people and devices in remote locations, or for governments looking to provide internet access to all citizens.

The solution will support a large number of beams and high subscriber density and will be delivered on a space-hardened platform optimized for low power and size. It includes a range of advanced developments in the areas of beam-to-cell mapping, beam forming, NTN beam management and well-defined interfaces to SATCOM infrastructure.

The O-RAN compliant gNodeB leverages Radisys’ split, NTN-capable CU, DU software with AccelerComm’s LEOphy and RFDSP’s Low-Phy, a Layer 1 modem that delivers enhanced performance for LEO satellite communications combined with TTP’s DFE and Beam Scheduler. Radisys’ CU/DU supports optimized mechanisms for handling signaling load due to high mobility, along with a power-optimized scalable software that manages the varying system requirements of beams and users.

LEOphy boasts the lowest error rates, with dedicated features to overcome the specific challenges of NTN channels, such as high path losses, differential delays, Doppler shift, long propagation delays, and rapid fluctuations in signal amplitude and phase caused by atmospheric effects. As a result, it ensures a high-reliability link without having to resort to lower coding rates and low-order modulation schemes, thereby maximizing spectral efficiency.

TTP’s DFE supports Crest Factor Reduction (CFR) to improve the efficiency of the RF power amplifier and its Beam Scheduler enables optimized beam hopping and switching functionality to maximize network capacity based on real-time traffic demands.

The 5G Regenerative gNodeB is combined for an end-to-end, NTN solution, with Radisys’ 5GC, available on Kubernetes container platform and small form-factor x86, ARM, and which can handle both NR-NTN and IoT devices.

“Deploying 5G gNodeB on a LEO satellite payload, brings a unique set of challenges for satellites passing over at extremely high speeds, including large cell coverage optimization, high doppler handling and users’ mobility. With onboard regenerative deployments, the complexities compound. Onboard power and resource constraints require low compute, storage footprint CU, DU software and performance-efficient beam hopping that goes beyond 3GPP specifications. Radisys is excited to partner with AccelerComm, RFDSP and TTP to define and develop an NTN solution addressing the regenerative gNodeB challenges and enable their customers to deploy LEO constellation satellite services.” — Munish Chhabra, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Software and Services, Radisys

“There has been an explosion in interest around combining satellite and traditional mobile communications systems. However, for satellite 5G to be truly successful there are a number of performance and efficiency challenges which have to be overcome. Solving these requires building on the existing 3GPP technologies to create a tailored solution built to deal with the unique challenges of operating around a thousand kilometres from Earth at speeds of over 7km per second, all while dealing with power and resource constraints. We are delighted to be working with our partners Radisys, RFDSP and TTP to develop this high-performance solution which will open-up a whole new market for delivering 5G services from space.” — Rob Barnes, Chief Marketing Officer, AccelerComm

“A 5G NTN LEO regenerative gNodeB deployment presents unique challenges when compared to Terrestrial gNodeB. In order to serve the number of beams and support the density of subscribers required, the gNodeB will have to be heavily optimised and tightly integrated with the overall payload functionality.TTP is pleased to partner with AccelerComm, RFDSP and Radisys to define a highly scalable and low power gNodeB solution, that will enable LEO operators to efficiently deliver 5G NTN services.” — Peter Kibutu, TTP’s Advanced Technology Lead NTN

“Recognizing the growing demand for 5G physical layers for non-terrestrial applications and their unique requirements, based on our conformance-tested 5G NR low PHY for terrestrial networks, we built a fully-featured 5G low PHY solution for NTN including a unified interface with high PHY for both options 6 and 7.2x, Doppler shift compensation, digital front-end design, beamforming, and control of multiple simultaneous beams for maximal spectral efficiency. We are happy to be a part of the 5G NTN ecosystem.” — Prof. Ping Liang, founder and CEO, RF DSP Inc.

Satellogic Inc. (NASDAQ: SATL) and SkyWatch are partnering to bring Satellogic’s highest resolution, commercially available EO data to EarthCache customers.

Satellogic’s EO data is now available via SkyWatch’s EarthCache platform. EarthCache provides an intuitive interface and robust API that enables customers to browse archive data, as well as task new satellite imagery by using a variety of criteria.

SkyWatch’s core mission is to make remote sensing data accessible, affordable, and standardized. The company’s TerraStream infrastructure powers integrated services for EO satellite operators, including the EarthCache portfolio, to accelerate the distribution and monetization of satellite data by making it accessible and discoverable.

Satellogic is working toward the goal of delivering daily global remaps. The company designs, manufactures, and operates its own constellation of high-resolution EO satellites. The firm believes in the power of EO data to enhance decision-making at every level, fostering a greater understanding of our changing planet as well as opportunities for a more sustainable future.

“We are thrilled to announce that EO data from Satellogic is now available to the thousands of organizations that depend on SkyWatch for their remote sensing needs. Satellogic’s constellation is unparalleled, offering our customers industry-leading capacity for high-quality, high-resolution imagery. We are also delighted to collaborate with an organization that echoes our values for the Earth Observation industry: data that is easily discoverable, widely available, and affordably priced.” — James Slifierz, Co-Founder and CEO, SkyWatch

“In alignment with our mission to increase access and use of EO data, SkyWatch is committed to simplifying access and offering transparent pricing. This partnership was a natural fit for both companies; Satellogic increases access to its EO data while SkyWatch increases options and opportunities for its EarthCache platform customers.” — Caitlin Kontgis, Senior Vice President of Commercial and Growth, Satellogic

HawkEye 360 Inc. has debuted an RFIQ product that introduces flexible spectrum collection options — customers can use RFIQ unprocessed in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) data to analyze signal characteristics or survey RF activity over large regions of the Earth.

HawkEye 360 collects the broadest range of RF frequencies among commercial RF sensing satellite operators, with coverage as low as 70 MHz and as high as 18 GHz.

With RFIQ, customers gain access to a detailed spectral data set that supplements other collection approaches and improves their understanding of spectrum activity in regions of interest. Customers can optimize collections for specific needs, such as detecting and geolocating known emitters or discovering new signals within a wider spectral bandwidth. HawkEye 360 can collect signals across the VHF, UHF, L-, S-, C-, X-, and Ku-band frequencies.

RFIQ data is derived from HawkEye 360’s RF sensing constellation of satellites, which fly synchronously in clusters of three, enabling broad regional coverage and high geolocation accuracy. HawkEye 360 currently operates 21 satellites and is continuing to expand the constellation to address clients’ increasing demands for RF intelligence, with two more clusters expected to launch this Fall 2023 into a mid-latitude orbit.

“Our RFIQ product, combined with new collection modes and commercially available analytics tools, unlocks valuable insights into the RF spectrum across a country-wide footprint, giving our customers the ability to analyze a wide range of signals important to their mission. RFIQ provides the ultimate flexibility and insight into RF activities that our customers around the world require.” — Alex Fox, Chief Growth Officer,HawkEye 360

Ubotica Technologies is developing the infrastructure to extend the Mobile App Store ecosystem into space and unlock Live Earth Intelligence.

This new infrastructure will enable developers to easily deploy AI applications to satellites equipped with Ubotica’s CogniSAT technology. Opening space AI to developers will drive a surge in innovation, such as the transformative impact of the millions of applications built via the App Stores for mobile phones.

The ever-changing world contrasts sharply with today’s static EO methods. Traditional EO is akin to a Polaroid from the past—a singular, fixed moment requiring Earth-based post-processing to reveal an image. While valuable, EO today is inadequate for real-time decision-making in urgent situations like changes in the environment, natural disasters or security threats.

Enter SPACE:AI, a game-changing approach that transforms EO into actionable, Live Earth Intelligence. Replacing static snapshots, SPACE:AI delivers a continuous live stream of actionable insights processed onboard through advanced edge AI (eAI) technology. SPACE:AI can take in a broad range of inputs including optical, hyperspectral, and radar observations to create real-time insights. Inter-satellite communications ensure real-time delivery of these insights directly to individuals and systems on Earth.

Our goal is to unlock innovation.

With SPACE:AI, developers can deploy a wide range of innovative applications and models on satellites featuring Ubotica’s CogniSAT technology. The outcome is a wealth of proactive Live Earth Intelligence beneficial to humanity. This includes, for example, early detection of forest fires, monitoring methane emissions, identifying suspicious oil tanker activities in international waters, or alerting to potential dam breaches. With an open infrastructure and easy deployment, the innovation of the developer community can be unleashed to bring new applications that have not been conceived of as of this writing.

Ubotica Technologies has also unveiled a strategic partnership with IBM as part of building out the infrastructure to realize this vision. This collaboration uses IBM’s cloud infrastructure and watsonx.ai components to streamline the deployment process for developers aiming to run applications on satellites. With a single-click interface, developers can securely upload their AI models to satellites operating on Ubotica’s CogniSAT platform. These orbital AI applications will generate real-time autonomous decisions and insights in space, removing the need to downlink and process copious amounts of data on Earth. The initiative delivers significant capital and operational expenditure savings for satellite constellation operators and will foster innovation within the Space AI ecosystem.

This partnership provides mutual customers with a framework to deploy their Space AI Applications directly to CogniSAT on-board processing systems and forms part of Ubotica’s strategy to enable Space AI for all.

More details are available on this partnership blog post on IBM’s website.

Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) has reported the successful deployment of 10 smallsats that incorporate the firm’s buses to LEO, following a September 2, 2023, launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

These 10 satellites are part of the Tranche 0 Transport Layer of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). Terran Orbital manufactured the buses for Lockheed Martin for payload integration and delivery to SDA.

Currently, Terran Orbital is producing 42 satellite buses for Lockheed Martin, which will deliver 42 Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites for SDA. These 42 satellites are scheduled to launch in 2024.

These satellites will have various capabilities, including optical communications links, Link-16 mission communications, a Ka-band RF communications payload, and a BMC3 module that enables on-orbit data processing. These features will support missions for global warfighters.

“It is a great honor to contribute to this important mission by delivering our 10 satellite buses to Lockheed Martin. We are thankful to Lockheed Martin for their collaboration and the opportunity to leverage our small satellite solution expertise and to support their missions.” — Marc Bell, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Terran Orbital.

Late last month, Rubicon Space Systems received a NASA contract to deliver ASCENT propulsion systems for use in a technology development effort to advance dual-mode propulsion.

Dual-mode propulsion (sometimes called multi-mode propulsion) is when both chemical and electric thrusters operate using the same propellant. The Sprite propulsion module uses the Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic Propellant (ASCENT) propellant. ASCENT monopropellant based propulsion provides missions with a high performance and low toxicity alternative to hydrazine. As ASCENT is an ionic liquid, it can be used in electric thrusters, as well. NASA will use the Sprite module for the chemical propulsion side of the demonstration but will also siphon propellant from it to feed several electric thrusters.

In development since early 2022, Sprite is a fully enclosed, plug-and-play propulsion system for SmallSats, and is also useful for collision avoidance and deorbit maneuvers. Sprite can deliver more than 1200 Ns of total impulse, the equivalent of 100 m/s of delta V to a 12U CubeSat, and features Rubicon’s flight qualified 0.1N thruster, fully integrated flight controller, and valves. Nearly all components have spaceflight heritage. The Sprite propulsion system passed its Critical Design Review (CDR) in December 2022 and its first four engineering development units (EDUs) are expected to complete qualification efforts in Q3 2023.

Over the next several months, Rubicon will complete structural qualification of the additively manufactured propellant tank and begin assembly of the protoflight unit.

The award, worth up to $645,000, is made through a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III contract. The NASA technology project is led by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Science and Technology Office (STO), and is funded by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technologies (SST) program in the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

“By March 2024, we will deliver the first flight ready Sprite module to our NASA customer. Dual-mode propulsion is considered the zenith of in-space propulsion. It’s the combination of high impulse and high efficiency in one package. It would allow spacecraft to move with agility and precision. We think this will be commonplace in the near future and the chance for us to be part of this work is terribly exciting for us. We’re glad to be working with NASA to continue innovation and infusion of ASCENT propulsion technologies”  — Daniel Cavender, Director of Propulsion, Rubicon Space Systems

Working with Network Innovations, OneWeb and Zixi, Open Broadcast Systems will deliver a live, broadcast quality video feed from the Network Innovations facility in Essel, Netherlands, to the IBC Show floor. This demo follows the company’s world-first use of OneWeb to deliver a UEFA Champions League match from the Faroe Islands in July.

In addition to the company’s RIST (Reliable Internet Stream Transport) implementation, the company is announcing an in-house, high performance, SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol implementation. Built around modern, event-driven software development practices, the SRT implementation is interoperable with existing third-party solutions at very low CPU loads.

“It’s great to be able to demonstrate the power of OneWeb at IBC. OneWeb provides the global coverage of satellite with the flexibility of IP at the high and consistent data rates required for international sports transmissions. Our customers expect the most technically advanced and stable SRT implementation out there from our encoders and decoders so that they can deliver to SRT-capable endpoints. Our in-house implementation gives them unmatched confidence that they can interoperate with the wide range of SRT endpoints with the highest reliability.” — Kieran Kunhya, Founder and CEO, Open Broadcast Systems