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SpaceX introduces the Starshield secured satellite network for government entities

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Starshield has debuted… this new effort by SpaceX leverages Starlink technology and launch capability in support of national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas:

  • Earth Observation: Starshield will launch satellites with sensing payloads and will deliver processed data directly to the user.
  • Communications: Starshield will provide assured global communications to government users with Starshield user equipment.
  • Hosted payloads: Starshield will build satellite buses to support the most demanding customer payload missions.
  • Security: Starlink already offers unparalleled, end-to-end, user data encryption and will employ additional, high-assurance, cryptographic capabilities to host classified payloads and will process data securely to meet the most demanding government requirements.
  • Modular Design: Designed to meet diverse mission requirements, Starshield satellites will be capable of integrating a wide variety of payloads, offering unique versatility to users.
  • Interoperability: Starlink’s inter-satellite laser communications terminal, which is the only communications laser operating at scale in orbit today, can be integrated onto partner satellites to enable incorporation into the Starshield network.
  • Rapid Development and Deployment: With the proven ability to iterate rapidly, SpaceX’s unique full-stack approach in developing end-to-end systems, from launch vehicles to user terminals, enables the deployment of capabilities at scale with unprecedented speed.
  • Resilient and scalable capability: Starshield’s proliferated LEO architecture provides inherent resiliency and constant connectivity to on-orbit assets, while SpaceX’s proven rapid launch capability provides expedient and economical access to space.
  • Proven Partnerships: SpaceX’s ongoing work with the Department of Defense and other partners demonstrates the company’s ability to provide in-space and on-ground capability at scale.

OroraTech raises €15 million for their space-based thermal-infrared climate solutions portfolio

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OroraTech has extended its Series A round with €15 million from private investors and public sector co-funding. With this fresh funding, OroraTech will expand the firm’s climate solutions portfolio by launching their second, thermal-infrared camera into space in May of 2023 to strengthen the company’s position as the first and only commercial provider of space-based, thermal-infrared insights. 

The investment round was led by Edaphon, a Belgium-based climate impact fund, alongside existing investors Findus Venture, Ananda Impact Ventures, Wachstumsfonds Bayern 2, ConActivity, APEX Ventures, SpaceTec Capital, as well as industry experts Ingo Baumann and Clemens Kaiser. Additionally, it was extended by non-dilutive, co-funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Free State of Bavaria.  

Since the Paris agreement of 2015, the goal of keeping the rise in global temperatures within 1.5° C has shaped climate policy worldwide. COP27 in Egypt revealed that it is not a goal the world will achieve. The Earth has a fever, resulting in natural disasters and corresponding monetary losses. For example, each year, wildfires emit 17–20 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions and cause an estimated $10Bn of insured damages. This severely impacts the possibility of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) related to biodiversity, water, health, land life, and climate.

Critical, space-based technologies are already reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Earth observation (EO) technology is making energy production more efficient. Information from ground sensors in combination with EO data is helping to improve air quality and forest health, and perform carbon credit verification for forest owners. 

Driven by the vision of “thermal intelligence for a sustainable Earth,” in early 2022, OroraTech launched the first, uncooled, thermal-infrared camera in space. This major achievement was a stepping stone toward a satellite constellation for a 12-hour revisit by 2024 and a 30-minute revisit by 2026 to provide actionable insights to clients worldwide.

The company’s current offering in the market, Wildfire Intelligence Solution, is leveraging existing third-party data for wildfire detection and monitoring and is used by clients worldwide, detecting more than 100,000 fires daily and protecting more than 160 million hectares of forest on six continents.  

As a result of the growing market demand for thermal-infrared data insights, OroraTech is already partnering with data analytics companies, industry solution providers and institutions. For example, urban heat island monitoring and mapping for better heat wave prediction and cooling degree day estimation, and industry activity monitoring for plume detection and gas flare volume estimation. 

Unlike other space-based solutions, OroraTech’s thermal-infrared camera shows the unseen world by providing data in two optical bands: long-wave-infrared (LWIR) and medium-wave-infrared (MWIR). LWIR is used as a commercial thermal-infrared camera; it captures the ambient temperature of an object (about -30 to +80°C). However, different extreme events, like fire, are scorching hot. OroraTech also uses the MWIR band, allowing hot objects to be determined exceptionally well against low temperatures. 

Due to its proprietary design, the camera does not require cooling, which saves significant costs and outperforms IoT sensors on the ground and drones in the air. The system is also equipped with AI-based onboard processing capabilities and inter-satellite communication to analyze the data in space and deliver insights in real time.

Within the last year, the OroraTech team has grown significantly to 80 professionals. The team represents more than 20 nationalities with backgrounds in aerospace engineering, satellite data, and design, optics engineering, software development, business intelligence, sales, and marketing. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, in 2022, OroraTech expanded its footprint with experts in the US, Canada, and Luxembourg. 

“I am very proud of what we have achieved within a year – launching our first camera in space that has outperformed our own expectations and has no equivalent in the world, ” said Thomas Grübler, CEO of OroraTech. “The new funding will allow us to launch our second camera and accelerate our expansion strategy for different use cases. OroraTech’s fast growth is also appreciated by the investor community – I am thrilled to welcome our new investor Edaphon on board. Together with our existing investors and industry experts, we will fast-track OroraTech’s ambition to take the planet’s Earth temperature every 30 minutes and deliver thermal-infrared insights for transparency and better decision-making.” 

“We support companies that have the potential to create a positive impact on the environment at a large scale,” says Joost Van Laer, Investment Manager at Edaphon. “We were impressed by OroraTech’s first commercial Wildfire Intelligence Solution and the team’s great qualities and complementarity, as well as their ambition to continue developing high-impact solutions over the coming years.”

OroraTech’s first commercial Wildfire Intelligence Solution

UPDATE 2: SpaceX stands down from launch of the HAKUTOR-R mission to the moon and NASA’s Lunar Flashlight smallsat

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SpaceX was targeting Thursday, December 1st., for a Falcon 9 launch of ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1, however, after further inspections of the launch vehicle and data review, SpaceX is standing down from Falcon 9’s launch of ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A new target launch date will be shared once confirmed.

This is the first privately-led, Japanese mission to land on the lunar surface and will lift-off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Also onboard this mission is NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Lunar Flashlight.

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched SES-22 and three Starlink missions.

When the launch takes place, following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

A live webcast of this mission will start about 15 minutes prior to liftoff and may be viewed via this direct link…

Sidus Space’s and Capital C’s MOU blends maritime satellite design and security surveillance

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LizzySat™

Sidus Space, Inc., a Space-as-a-Service company focused on mission critical hardware manufacturing combined with commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Capital C.

As part of the agreement, Sidus will assist in developing, delivering, and maintaining surveillance and tracking systems with software that uses satellite imagery, sensor data, and data delivery. Sidus will provide continued access to LEO satellite communications systems as well as the design and manufacture of specialized marine parts as a preferred vendor to Capital C.

This partnership blends Sidus’ strategic growth including satellite technology and data subscriptions as it prepares to launch its proprietary, partially 3-D printed, LizzieSat™ satellites in 2023. The use of 3-D printing, as opposed to traditional manufacturing, is a sustainable method that reduces waste, resources, cost and time. Capital C is a design and technology company specializing in designing yachts that are at the forefront of sustainability and are Carbon Positive, incorporating advanced technology, robotics, safety systems and autonomous systems within its designs, which are also focused on environmentally friendly and greatly reduced emissions capabilities.

“We are excited to establish this relationship with Capital C, a leader in sustainability, capitalizing on both our maritime experience and our growing satellite vertical,” said Carol Craig, Sidus Space Founder and CEO. “Being part of creating a sustainable space economy is important to us and we are particularly excited by this partnership.”

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Sidus for providing us with sustainable satellite communication solutions. Sidus’ expertise in satellite communications and space-rated engineering and manufacturing will be a key component of our sustainable approach to design and build of our Sustainable Notation Yachts. As part of the development of Project Terra, it is our commitment to providing better communication and data solutions within SIDS and the emerging market. This collaboration with Sidus is an essential part to achieve this,” said Cindy Devina, Founder and Managing Director of Capital C.

LEO satellites are capable of enhancing global maritime security related to hazards in the marine environment and piracy activities which jeopardize safety and efficiency.

Sidus plans to support surveillance with the LizzieSat constellation that will monitor a variety of possible factors including piracy, changes in ocean currents, debris, and oil spillage. The plan to do this is with a combination of imagery, RF sensors, and compute at the edge technologies coupled with shipboard technologies to provide comprehensive enhanced situational awareness for Capital C products and services.

According to Euroconsult, the SmallSat (spacecraft with a mass of less than 500 kg) manufacturing market is expected to grow 258% to $55.6 billion in the next decade. The total space economy is forecast to surpass $1 trillion by 2040, up from $370 billion in 2020.

UPDATE 1: SpaceX to drive the HAKUTOR-R mission to the moon — launch now set for December 1st — also onboard is NASA’s Lunar Flashlight smallsat

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SpaceX is targeting Thursday, December 1st., for a Falcon 9 launch of ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1.

This is the first privately-led, Japanese mission to land on the lunar surface and will lift-off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Also onboard this mission is NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Lunar Flashlight.

The instantaneous launch window is at 3:37 a.m. ET (08:37 UTC)

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched SES-22 and three Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

A live webcast of this mission will start about 15 minutes prior to liftoff and may be viewed via this direct link…

UPDATE 1: Ready for Falcon 9 push — NASA’s Lunar Flashlight smallsat now set for December 1st launch

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This illustration shows NASA’s Lunar Flashlight using its four-laser reflectometer to search for surface water ice as it makes a close approach over the Moon’s South Pole.
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

When NASA’s Lunar Flashlight launches, the smallsat will start a three month journey, with mission navigators guiding the spacecraft far past the Moon. The smallsat will then be slowly pulled back by gravity from Earth and the Sun before settling into a wide, science-gathering orbit to hunt for surface water ice inside dark regions on the Moon that haven’t seen sunlight in billions of years.

Earlier this year, NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission underwent tests to prepare it for launch in November 2022. The solar-powered small satellite is shown here with its solar arrays extended in a Georgia Tech clean room.
Photo credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

No larger than a briefcase, Lunar Flashlight will use a reflectometer equipped with four lasers that emit near-infrared light in wavelengths readily absorbed by surface water ice. This is the first time that multiple colored lasers will be used to seek out ice inside these dark craters.

Should the lasers hit bare rock or regolith (broken rock and dust), the light will reflect back to the spacecraft. But if the target absorbs the light, that would indicate the presence of water ice. The greater the absorption, the more ice there may be.

The spacecraft’s orbit – called a Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) – will take it 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the Moon at its most distant point; at its closest approach, the satellite will graze the surface of the Moon, coming within 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the lunar South Pole.

Smallsats carry a limited amount of propellant, so fuel-intensive orbits aren’t possible. A near-rectilinear halo orbit requires far less fuel than traditional orbits and Lunar Flashlight will be only the second NASA mission to use this type of trajectory. The first is NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, which arrived at its orbit on November 13th., making its closest pass over the Moon’s North Pole.

Lunar Flashlight will use a new kind of “green” propellant that is safer to transport and store than the commonly used in-space propellants such as hydrazine. In fact, Lunar Flashlight will be the first interplanetary spacecraft to use this propellant — one of the mission’s primary goals is to test this technology for future use. The propellant was successfully tested on a previous NASA technology demonstration mission in Earth orbit.

The science data collected by Lunar Flashlight will be compared with observations made by other lunar missions to help reveal the distribution of surface water ice on the Moon for potential use by future astronauts.

“We are bringing a literal flashlight to the Moon – shining lasers into these dark craters to look for definitive signs of water ice covering the upper layer of lunar regolith,” said Barbara Cohen, Lunar Flashlight principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “I’m excited to see our mission contribute to our scientific understanding of where water ice is on the Moon and how it got to be there.”

Lunar Flashlight is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on December 1st — see this SatNews posting…

Ready for launch — NASA’s Lunar Flashlight smallsat on November 30th

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This illustration shows NASA’s Lunar Flashlight using its four-laser reflectometer to search for surface water ice as it makes a close approach over the Moon’s South Pole.
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

When NASA’s Lunar Flashlight launches, the smallsat will start a three month journey, with mission navigators guiding the spacecraft far past the Moon. The smallsat will then be slowly pulled back by gravity from Earth and the Sun before settling into a wide, science-gathering orbit to hunt for surface water ice inside dark regions on the Moon that haven’t seen sunlight in billions of years.

Earlier this year, NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission underwent tests to prepare it for launch in November 2022. The solar-powered small satellite is shown here with its solar arrays extended in a Georgia Tech clean room.
Photo credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

No larger than a briefcase, Lunar Flashlight will use a reflectometer equipped with four lasers that emit near-infrared light in wavelengths readily absorbed by surface water ice. This is the first time that multiple colored lasers will be used to seek out ice inside these dark craters.

Should the lasers hit bare rock or regolith (broken rock and dust), the light will reflect back to the spacecraft. But if the target absorbs the light, that would indicate the presence of water ice. The greater the absorption, the more ice there may be.

The spacecraft’s orbit – called a Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) – will take it 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the Moon at its most distant point; at its closest approach, the satellite will graze the surface of the Moon, coming within 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the lunar South Pole.

Smallsats carry a limited amount of propellant, so fuel-intensive orbits aren’t possible. A near-rectilinear halo orbit requires far less fuel than traditional orbits and Lunar Flashlight will be only the second NASA mission to use this type of trajectory. The first is NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, which arrived at its orbit on November 13th., making its closest pass over the Moon’s North Pole.

Lunar Flashlight will use a new kind of “green” propellant that is safer to transport and store than the commonly used in-space propellants such as hydrazine. In fact, Lunar Flashlight will be the first interplanetary spacecraft to use this propellant — one of the mission’s primary goals is to test this technology for future use. The propellant was successfully tested on a previous NASA technology demonstration mission in Earth orbit.

The science data collected by Lunar Flashlight will be compared with observations made by other lunar missions to help reveal the distribution of surface water ice on the Moon for potential use by future astronauts.

“We are bringing a literal flashlight to the Moon – shining lasers into these dark craters to look for definitive signs of water ice covering the upper layer of lunar regolith,” said Barbara Cohen, Lunar Flashlight principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “I’m excited to see our mission contribute to our scientific understanding of where water ice is on the Moon and how it got to be there.”

Lunar Flashlight is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 30th — see this SatNews posting…

AAC Clyde Space’s first Kelpie satellite Supporting ORBCOMM’s AIS Service to Cape Canaveral launch site

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Kelpie satellite

AAC Clyde Space has delivered the first Kelpie satellite to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for its planned launch onboard the SpaceX Transporter 6 mission expected in December 2022. The 3U EPIC nanosatellite will deliver data to the U.S. company ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, under an exclusive Space Data as a Service (SDaaS) deal. It is planned to be followed by the launch of a second Kelpie satellite in the first half of 2023.

The project will leverage a SDaaS model in which AAC Clyde Space owns and operates the satellites to deliver Automatic Identification System (AIS) data exclusively to ORBCOMM and its government and commercial customers, which is used for ship tracking and other maritime navigational and safety efforts. The state-of-the-art satellite weighs just 4 kg and features an advanced antenna concept developed by Oxford Space Systems to maximize AIS detections of all message types.

“The Kelpie satellite is one of the most innovative satellites AAC Clyde Space has ever built. It hosts advanced low-noise core avionics for reliable, high-performance space data handling as well as the company’s first payload development. Our joint mission with an established, leading data services company like ORBCOMM represents a major milestone for AAC Clyde Space in solidifying our strategic move to a Space Data as a Service model,”says AAC Clyde Space CEO Luis Gomes.

“Through the Kelpie mission focused on enhancing our global AIS data services, ORBCOMM’s government and commercial customers will benefit from more comprehensive global coverage and enhanced performance as well as the highest expected vessel detection rates in the industry over the long term,” says Greg Flessate, ORBCOMM’s SVP of Government and AIS. 

Currently, the group owns and operates a constellation of four satellites dedicated to SDaaS through its U.S. subsidiary AAC SpaceQuest. In addition to the Kelpie satellites, AAC Clyde Space plans to enhance its constellation with two satellites in the fourth quarter of 2023. Moreover, AAC Clyde Space has won a contract to deliver hyperspectral data from an additional three satellites, bringing the total number of satellites owned by the group for SDaaS purposes to eleven.

The two Kelpie satellites will join the other satellites in the constellation, dedicated to delivering AIS data used in maritime operations, and will support many applications, including domain awareness, search and rescue, environmental monitoring and maritime intelligence. ORBCOMM processes over 30 million AIS messages from more than 200,000 vessels per day for government and commercial customers to deliver a complete situational picture of global vessel activity.

Cobham Satcom’s ‘click’ solution enables multi-band that optimizes maritime operations

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Cobham Satcom, provider of radio and satellite communications solutions to the maritime and land mobile sectors announced Sea Tel 1500, a 1.5-meter dual-band, multi-orbit VSAT antenna solution.

Available in single Ku- or Ka-band, or as a ‘two antennas in one’ dual Ku-Ka-band configuration, the Sea Tel 1500 is a cutting-edge antenna system enabling vessels to seamlessly switch from Ku- to Ka-band in a simple click, ensuring that they benefit from the best available satellite offering to optimize their operational expenses and ensure always-on connectivity.

Fully operational readiness and business continuity today and tomorrow

In a world of communication technology transition marked by the emergence of new satellite constellations, what the cruise, offshore energy, government, and superyacht sectors really require is the flexibility to take advantage of the most reliable, highest performing satellite communication the future may bring. As a future-ready multi-orbit satcom solution, Sea Tel 1500 allows vessels to use their antennas within multiple satellite operator networks thanks to its ability to switch to different frequencies and networks on forthcoming non-geosynchronous satellite constellations, such as LEO, MEO and HEO.

In order to optimize vessel and business operations using the large pool of digital services and opportunities available today, Sea Tel 1500 VSAT unlocks significant gains in network, service flexibility and reliability offering customers the highest performing antenna and network. It is an easy-to-manage end-to-end satcom antenna solution that optimizes Total Cost of Ownership and provides ultimate performance for vessels demanding high bandwidth for business-critical applications.

Sea Tel 1500 is the first 1.5-meter maritime VSAT antenna to provide electronic Ku-Ka band switching without manual intervention, positioning it as a unique platform for dependable connectivity using established and forthcoming Ku-band services as well as high power Ka-band services. Because Sea Tel 1500 provides Ku-band operation on current GEO services in locations where Ka-band services are not available, it ensures full operational continuity regardless of a vessels’ navigation route.

“With the introduction of unique push-button electronic switching between Ka- and Ku-band, the new Sea Tel 1500 VSAT is effectively a two-in-one antenna designed to ensure full business continuity as a vessel transits between different regions and satcom services. We are delighted to bring this flexibility to our customers looking to combine Ku-band coverage with high power regional Ka-band services, while optimizing lifetime costs and simplifying operations. All in a compact footprint,” said Peter Kiær, Senior Vice President, Maritime at Cobham Satcom.

First delivery of Sea Tel 1500 Ku-Ka Dual Band VSAT Antennas is expected during Q4 2022.

Contract signed by Momentus to deploy the CUAVA-2 smallsat for the Australian Research Centre

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Momentus Inc. has signed a contract with the CUAVA Training Centre at the University of Sydney to deploy the CUAVA-2 cubesat to LEO in October 2023.

CUAVA is the Australian Research Council Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, and their Applications and is a partnership centered at the University of Sydney that aims to fundamentally change the capabilities and applications of cubesats to create major, commercial value, with wide applications.

CUAVA-2 is a 6U cubesat with two primary payloads…

(1) A Hyperspectral Imager developed by the Space Photonics group (SAIL) in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney to demonstrate a novel imager and provide high resolution spatial and spectral data for applications across agriculture and forestry, coastal and marine environments, urban areas, water hazards and mineral exploration

(2) A GPS Reflectometry payload developed by the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales. CUAVA-2 will be the second satellite to be launched by CUAVA, targeted for deployment from a Momentus Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle that will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Artistic rendition of the Momentus OTV — Vigoride, courtesy of the company.

CUAVA-2 also carries multiple secondary payloads and technology demonstrations, including the Charge Exchange Thruster (CXT), the wide field-of-view CROSS star tracker, the Electron Density and Debris Instrument (EDDI), the Electro Permanent Magnetorquer, the Perovskites in Orbit Test (Port) payload of advanced solar cells, and a Radiation Counter and Data over Power-bus payload. These payloads were developed at the University of Sydney.

“Momentus is proud to partner with CUAVA, a leading Australian research center,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer, John Rood. “Innovation and pushing the boundaries of technology is what we love to do at Momentus. We look forward to supporting CUAVA’s mission to use leading edge capabilities in space to improve life on Earth.”

“The CUAVA-2 CubeSat is the culmination of several years of hard work by the satellite team and our partners,” said CUAVA Director, Professor Iver Cairns. “We are looking forward with great excitement to the launch with Momentus, and to gathering unique data from the many advanced payloads and technology demonstrators on CUAVA-2 once in orbit.”

Momentus is a U.S. commercial space company that offers in-space infrastructure services, including in-space transportation, hosted payloads and in-orbit services. Momentus believes it can make new ways of operating in space possible with its in-space transfer and service vehicles that will be powered by an innovative water plasma-based propulsion system that is under development.

CUAVA is funded by the Australian Research Council. Working with Industry Partners, its mission is to train the next generation of workers in advanced manufacturing, commercial space, and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. In doing so, CUAVA will develop new instruments and technology to solve crucial problems, and develop a world-class Australian industry in CubeSats, UAVs, and related products. CUAVA has been in operation since December 2017, with headquarters at the University of Sydney.