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The use of solid fuels and liquid oxygen simplifies the structure and has the advantage of enabling thrust control...

INNOSPACE, a South Korean space startup for small launch vehicles, unveiled the nation’s first civilian test launch vehicle, HANBIT-TLV. The company manufactures small satellite launchers to provide low-latency, low-cost, and reliable launch services and aerospace engineering expertise.

Previously, INNOSPACE installed a new portable Coalesced Launch System (CLS) at its Cheongju plant in South Korea where it performed to verify interface integrity and systems compatibility with its CLS and HANBIT-TLV on May 27.

The HANBIT-TLV’s launch, in December 2022 from the Alcântara Launch Center in Brazil, is to verify the flight performance of the 15-ton thrust single stage hybrid engine developed by INNOSPACE with its own technology. The launch will be followed by a suborbital test flight up to an altitude of 100 km, and will fall into open seas. HANBIT-TLV is a 15-ton thrust single stage hybrid rocket with a height of 16.3m, 1-meter-diameter, and weight of 9.2-ton.

The first civilian small satellite launcher, HANBIT, uses hybrid rocket engine technology that combines the features of liquid and solid rockets. The use of solid fuels and liquid oxygen simplifies the structure and has the advantage of enabling thrust control. In particular, HANBIT is applied with high-performance and non-explosive paraffin based propellants and the patented electric motor-driven oxidizer pump.

“We have approximately six months left before the first test launch scheduled for December this year. There are works to be done before the final launch and we will make all-out preparations to increase the success rate of the test launch for the rest of the time,” said Soo Jong Kim, CEO of INNOSPACE. 

He added, “INNOSPACE’s ultimate goal is that the small satellite launcher carries the satellites so that they can access the Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) in low cost. Starting with the test launch this year, we will continue to develop technologies to enter the global satellite launch service market as soon as possible, and keep strengthening strategic cooperation with the space industry and global commercialization capabilities.”

INNOSPACE has signed an agreement on May 3^rd with the Brazilian Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (“DCTA”) to launch SISNAV, an inertial navigation system, being carried onboard as a payload of HANBIT-TLV.

SatRev will manufacture numerous nanosatellites in a new factory that will be built in Legnica, Poland, close to the company’s headquarters — this is the result of an agreement signed with the Legnica Special Economic Zone (LSEZ). The factory is the first of its kind and will increase the capabilities of the European satellite market.

By the close of 2025, SatRev expects to be producing hundreds of smallsats each year.

SatRev intends to be the world’s first satellite manufacturer that uses 100% of the required energy for their production process from renewable sources. Once the requirements have been met, SatRev will receive public aid for their undertaking. The Legnica Special Economic Zone is not only for large, international matters, but also for domestic companies working on development projects.

From the beginning, LSEZ can offer tax exemptions of as much as 45% on investment outlays, decide case by case. Access to relief for those investing in state-of-the-art technologies is easier thanks to a reduction of 95% of the required expenditure. This is 20x less than the requirement for large investors.

At present, the preparation of the functional-utility program for the factory project is nearing completion. The next stage will involve acquiring land, financing, and selecting a contractor. Details will soon be presented by the Legnica Special Economic Zone. The factory plant has more than 1,100 m2, including 280m2 of cleanrooms and clean boxes following ISO7 and ISO5, and is expected to be delivered in 2023

“By 2026 we plan to create a constellation of 1,000 EO satellites. To achieve this goal, we needed a place to increase our production, and we found the needed support in the Legnica Special Economic Zone. The cooperation agreement is the next step in the development of both the company and the Polish space sector,” said Grzegorz Zwolinski, CEO and Co-founder of SatRev.

“We are now opening up to new technologies and even a space venture. We support Polish innovative technological thought leaders. Preferential tax allowances offered by us are ‘tailor-made’ and this attracts businesses — start-ups included,”” said Przemysław Bożek, President of the Board of the Legnica Special Economic Zone.

“The most common barrier to the growth of new technology businesses is simply a lack of space for development. Another obstacle is the lack of funds to build your own production hall, and even earlier to purchase expensive land. Therefore, we are preparing a special project to build production, storage, and logistics halls, which we will also want to make available in a subscription model, like the Spotify service. If everything goes according to plan, the first halls will still be made available in 2023. We want SatRev to be the first tenant,” said Ryszard Wawryniewicz, Vice President of the Legnica Special Economic Zone.

SatRev was founded in Poland in 2016 to focus on the emerging space market. With vertically integrated operations, the company specializes in the design, manufacture, and mission operation of optic satellites and space programs for Earth Observation. It is building a constellation of satellites expected to reach more than 1,000 satellites by 2026. Moreover, in October 2019, the company formed a consortium with Virgin Orbit and nearly a dozen Polish universities to design and conduct the world’s first dedicated commercial satellite mission to Mars. Current investors include Polish VC funds such as JR HOLDING, Infini, Newberg, Tech Invest Group, and Varko (part of NCBiR’s science start-up funding program).

The Legnica Special Economic Zone is located in South-Western Poland, within the Dolnośląskie voivodeship, one of the most dynamically developing areas in Poland. In 2022 it will celebrate its 25th anniversary. To date, the LSEZ has 77 investors from many corners of the world and nearly 1.4 thousand hectares of investment land. Furthermore, LSEZ has PLN 11 billion in investments and – above all – nearly 17 thousand jobs — twice as many as the investors planned. In over a quarter of a century, the area of the Legnica Special Economic Zone has almost quadrupled. Companies from many sectors invest here, e.g. automotive, food, chemical, and heating industries, and among them are well-known corporations such as Volkswagen Motor Polska, Brose Sitech, Winkelmann and BASF. Currently, construction work is also underway on a billion-dollar investment in Sroda Slaska – a plant for the global giant PepsiCo.

Speedcast has significantly expanded its Unified Global Platform (UGP), adding 13 Gbps of capacity to the network over the last month. Speedcast operates one of the largest technology agnostic networks in the world.

Following this latest expansion, the platform now includes 30 Gbps of total bandwidth, which the company leverages in the design and deployment of complete managed connectivity solutions for customers across energy, passenger and commercial maritime, and enterprise markets. Speedcast’s network size now significantly surpasses the company’s 2020 pre-pandemic levels. This record-setting growth was driven in part by the cruise industry, which is slated to add 51 ships back into service during the month of May alone. Many cruise line restart plans include vessels returning to 100% capacity, and with the May additions, just under 350 ships and over 550,000 berths will be in service globally.

Demand for high availability connectivity continues to grow on the energy front, as well, with global offshore rig reports published this month noting a strong rise in day rates for jack-ups and floaters alike, and overall rig utilization at its highest level in seven years. The rapid network expansion has been made possible in part by the company’s TrueBeam automated network management technology, which operates on the back of Speedcast’s UGP. TrueBeam enables truly proactive monitoring, automatically selecting the optimal network path for a remote site without human intervention by employing a quick and consistent process for fast and error-free switches.

Algorithmic technologies are critical to delivering the Speedcast network’s massive multi-path and multi-orbit capacity with high quality of service. The intelligent system understands, predicts, and mitigates network challenges based on changes in operating environment, giving remote sites the ability to switch among satellites and between routes to seamlessly maintain communications, even while moving in and out of a satellite beam’s coverage area. The company completed patent filings on the smart network management solution earlier this year.

Speedcast completed the extensive upgrade over a five-week period in April and May and expanded its ground network to include the addition of a new teleport to support the added capacity, enabling access to a broader range of satellite infrastructure. Speedcast’s UGP includes multi-orbit options for high-demand applications. The company’s future-ready SD-WAN service, delivered through its SIGMA platform, seamlessly blends multiple transmission paths into a single, optimized, secure service to substantially improve performance and evolve customer operations to maximize what remote sites can achieve.

The SIGMA cloud-based platform recently received technical validation by Amazon Web Services (AWS), designating Speedcast as an AWS Software Path partner. Speedcast also recently announced that it will integrate LEO connectivity into its UGP as an official Distribution Partner to OneWeb, ensuring that customers in the maritime, energy and enterprise industries benefit from a multi-path, multi-orbit future. Customer demonstrations and trials of the low latency solution are due to begin next month.

“The fast ramp-up of capacity Speedcast achieved really shows the power of software-defined networks,” said Joe Spytek, Chief Executive Officer at Speedcast. “We’re able to deliver on the concept of ubiquitous connectivity to a remote site for the best user experience. We’re incorporating all available technologies and network options – multi-path and multi-orbit – to offer the most cost-effective connectivity solutions with the highest levels of availability and flexibility. Being technology-agnostic, we can also shield the customer from the risks of technology obsolescence and loss of service that come with dependence on a specific network.”

Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB) has entered flight preparation mode for the company’s forthcoming launch, Straight Up, that will support the United States Space Force’s STP-28A mission. After departing Virgin Orbit’s Long Beach rocket factory on Thursday, April 28, 2022, the rocket arrived at the Mojave Air and Space Port. It will support the Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) and will carry payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP).

Integration testing with airplane and ground equipment will take place followed by a full launch rehearsal and final mating to the customized 747 that serves as Virgin Orbit’s flying and fully re-usable launch pad and mobile mission control room. Launch is expected no earlier than June 29. The launch window is projected to open at 8 pm local time, representing the first night mission for the responsive launch company. The target orbit is approximately 500km above the Earth’s surface at 45 degrees inclination – an orbit that no other system has reached from the West Coast.

Playing a key role in the Straight Up launch will be the Virgin Orbit National Systems team, which has developed and provided services to the national security community, focused on defense and the protection of the United States and its allies through Virgin Orbit’s responsive space capabilities. To date, Virgin Orbit has launched three successful back-to-back launches, including eight DoD Science and Technology demonstrations across two flights.

“Virgin Orbit has been rising ‘straight up’ since we began commercial launch operations 18 months ago,” said Virgin Orbit CEO, Dan Hart. “More and more, we are seeing the importance of space to the security of the U.S. and allied countries. We are honored and committed to supporting the Space Force at this critical time.”

Mark Baird, President of the newly renamed Virgin Orbit National Systems (formerly VOX Space) added, “We believe this launch will demonstrate the significant maturation and operationalization of a unique capability. I’m excited to see Straight Up, wheels up.”

The U.S. Space Force procured this launch for the Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP), with payloads provided by the DoD Space Test Program (STP). The launch will carry seven satellites from multiple government agencies that are experiments intended to demonstrate novel modular satellite bus, space domain awareness, and adaptive radio frequency technologies. The Straight Up launch will support the United States Space Force’s STP-28A mission. The contract to launch STP-28A was awarded to Virgin Orbit National Systems on April 2020 by the United States Space Force.

The company’s fully mobile LauncherOne system will conduct the flight from what is currently a bare concrete pad at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The target orbit is approximately 500 km. above the Earth’s surface at 45 degrees inclination

Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU), a Space-as-a-Service satellite company that is focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection, has selected L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) InControl and OnTime software for command and control (C&C) and mission planning for the company’s LizzieSat (LS) constellation.

InControl will provide satellite command and control software for on-orbit, factory test and ground system monitor and control. InControl supports the full range of command and control system requirements, including telemetry processing, data display and analysis, constellation monitoring and control, onboard system management and ground equipment monitoring and control. It is designed to support a fleet of satellites, treating each satellite and ground station as its own mission.

OnTime is modular space mission planning software framework designed to plan, simulate and track mission success from inception to execution with user-specified levels of detail and plug and play capability with external tools. It is designed to aid mission planners by coordinating daily activities through a single user interface.

L3Harris will work with the Sidus team on full implementation of the two products at Sidus Space’s Cape Canaveral facility in the coming weeks in preparation for the LizzieSAT-1 International Space Station (ISS) Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital Payload Systems (SSIKLOPS) deployed mission planned for Q4 2022.

LS are partially 3D manufactured LEO, multi-mission smallsats that are focused on rapid, cost-effective development and testing of upcoming innovative spacecraft technologies for multiple customers. LS is a 100 kg. (220-pound) satellite with space to rapidly integrate customer sensors and technologies.

“During our selection process we evaluated and received demonstrations of several existing and in development platforms,” John Curry, Chief Mission Operations Officer said. “The team determined that InControl provides the best solution for our Ground Operations, Training, Assembly, Integration & Test currently, while OnTime provides robust support for our mission planning, and both will scale easily as we deploy and manage our 100+ satellite constellation,” he said. “With our Space as a Service business model we must offer our diverse customer portfolio cost-effective, individualized operation of each satellite. With InControl’s ability to support each satellite and ground station as its own mission, we will be able to deliver on that commitment,” Curry noted. “The flexibility and scalability paired with the robust capabilities allow greater autonomy and allow for us to customize operations, expanding, when necessary, with less hardware and less complexity than other solutions which significantly reduces our overall operational cost.”

Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU), located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, operates from a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing facility focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection. The company’s rich heritage includes the design and manufacture of many flight and ground component parts and systems for various space-related customers and programs. Sidus Space has a broad range of Space-As-a-Service offerings including space-rated hardware manufacturing, design engineering, satellite manufacturing and platform development, launch and support services, data analytics services and satellite constellation management. Sidus Space has a mission of Bringing Space Down to Earth and a vision of enabling space flight heritage status for new technologies while delivering data and predictive analytics to domestic and global customers. Any corporation, industry, or vertical can start their journey off-planet with Sidus Space’s rapidly scalable, low-cost satellite services, space-based solutions, and testing alternatives. More than just a “Satellite-as-a-Service” provider, Sidus Space is a trusted Mission Partner–from concept to Low Earth Orbit and beyond. Sidus is ISO 9001:2015, AS9100 Rev. D certified, and ITAR registered.

For decades Earth observation satellites have been monitoring the ever-changing home planet; the next step is to enable them to recognize what they see.

The latest public challenge for the machine learning community from ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team is to train satellite software to identify features within the images it acquires — with the winning team getting the unique opportunity to load their solution to ESA’s OPS-SAT nanosatellite and test it in orbit.

“A satellite that learns to interpret its data would be much more autonomous and efficient,” comments ACT scientific crowd-sourcing expert Marcus Märtens. “It will be able to make decisions without having to continuously rely on human oversight — knowing for instance that images of rivers or agricultural fields should be downlinked to the ground, but others can be safely dumped to conserve scarce onboard memory.”

Edge computing expert Gabriele Meoni of ESA’s Ф-lab at ESRIN, focused on Earth Observation, which has developed this challenge jointly with the ACT – explains, “ESA’s AI-equipped Ф-sat-1, aboard the Federated Satellite Systems (FSSCat) CubeSat, has already demonstrated the benefits of AI on-board – it is able to detect images filled with cloud cover and set these aside.

“With our new ‘OPS-SAT case’ competition, we seek to take this approach further. Participating teams receive 26 full-sized images acquired by the OPS-SAT CubeSat, which include small 200×200-pixel crops or ‘tiles’ identified with one of eight different classifications – Snow, Cloud, Natural, River, Mountain, Water, Agricultural, or Ice – with a total of ten examples of each type, representing a baseline for feature identification.”

Dario Izzo, heading the ACT, says, “This challenge is an example of AI ‘few-shot learning’. As humans we don’t have to see a lot of cats to learn what is or isn’t a cat, just a few glimpses will be enough. What is needed for future space missions is an AI system that can form a concept from only limited examples given. This is a very challenging and modern problem from the AI point of view, and there is no commonly recognized way of achieving this.”

Gabriele comments, “What the teams have to ed satellite-sized neural network to accurately identify a further set of image tiles we have prepared from the images. The challenge is to achieve this with the relatively sparse set of examples we give them. The preferred route in machine learning is to use copious amounts of data – meaning thousands or even millions of images in practice – to train neural networks.”

The challenge is based around ESA’s OPS-SAT mission, launched in 2019 as a flying software laboratory that is also a working Earth observation satellite. Despite being smaller than a shoebox, at just 30x10x10 cm in size, this CubeSat-class mission hosts an experimental computer that is 10 times more powerful than any of the ESA missions before it. The dataset the teams receive will be raw, unprocessed images from OPS-SAT’s imager, including the annotated tiles.

This is the latest in a series of public competitions aimed at the AI and machine learning community and hosted on the ACT’s Kelvins website.

Dario explains, “This is different from what has come before because it is a deliberately data-centric challenge. The teams do not have to develop a software model, because this comes already in the form of the neural network aboard the satellite. What they have to do is devise a way to train this neural network so it can learn to classify the image tiles in an effective manner. They have to ask themselves: how can we present the data so that the neural network will adapt in the best possible way?”

Marcus adds, “There are lots of constraints to the challenge, fitting with the idea of operating in space, and moving the decision-making process out to the edge, into orbit aboard the satellite, as much as possible. It’s a very experimental and risky challenge, with lots of room for interpretation, but we think it is possible and look forward to seeing what we get back.”

For more information on the challenge and how to take part, click here. The competition commences on Friday, July 1.

Open Cosmos has announced their latest contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the NanoMagSat mission concept.

The NanoMagSat mission concept consist of a smallsat constellation to monitor the Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment with an innovative revisiting time strategy and combination of instruments (one self-calibrated absolute scalar/vector magnetometer combined with star trackers on an optical bench, one high frequency vector magnetometer, a multi-needle Langmuir probe and two, dual frequency, GNSS receivers for recovery of Total Electron Content and ionospheric radio-occultation data).

The mission concept is proposed by a consortium from European entities. Open Cosmos, is responsible for the satellite and mission concept aspects. The French technology research institute CEA-Leti is focused on overseeing the payload and developing the magnetometers; University of Oslo is providing the Langmuir probes; and Spanish engineering companies Comet Ingenieria and Prosix Engineering are providing the deployable boom and optical bench. The Université Paris Cité’s IPGP, is the scientific lead of the mission.

NanoMagSat was selected as an ESA Scout candidate for an initial feasibility consolidation phase in 2020. The aim of this new activity is to de-risk all critical technical elements with the aim to propose NanoMagSat as a mission candidate in potential future calls of SCOUTs. These critical elements include a deployable boom, electronic components of the magnetometers and Langmuir probes, as well as the development of a satellite with a low electromagnetic signature. All these are key to ensuring that the payload matches the requirements to detect the targeted signals and meet the mission’s goals.

The activity will develop new technologies for expanding the roles smallsats can play in such missions: For instance, the boom needs state-of-the-art mechanical engineering to provide long arm deployment, compact packing, and very specific materials to maximise magnetic cleanliness. Similarly, all elements of the small satellite platform also need to be optimised for this.

Once these elements are de-risked, this will help Open Cosmos and the consortium to propose a mission concept aiming to cost less than €30 million and to be developed within three years, a fraction of the cost that such important complementary scientific missions have been in the past.

The current ESA Swarm satellites have been monitoring Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment since 2013. They have helped researchers make a large number of scientific discoveries in regards to the dynamics driving their evolution, solar storms, the way the magnetic field organises the magnetosphere and ionosphere, the geology of what’s beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets, and even the migratory patterns of animals.

The consortium proposes a novel approach using a new constellation concept and low-cost small satellites to increase the temporal resolution at which the various components of Earth’s magnetic field can be recovered, as well as using a well-chosen payload to initiate new ways of sounding the ionospheric environment.

The innovative orbital strategy of combining a satellite in polar orbit together with two orbits inclined at 60° would provide an improved temporal revisit (the time it takes to return to and acquire data from the same location at the same time) of a little more than one month for latitudes within 60°N/S. It is also designed to work in conjunction with Swarm, should Swarm still be in operation at the time of launch. The approach is fully scalable with additional satellites that could be added to further increase this performance.

The Earth’s magnetic field protects our planet from damaging incoming energetic charged particles such as those coming from the Sun. The Earth’s magnetic field also organizes the way the near outer space (the magnetosphere) and the ionized upper layers of the atmosphere (the ionosphere) respond to solar activity.

This response can produce strong magnetic signals that can affect ground technology such as power transmission networks or, potentially, internet networks. It can also create radiation hazards affecting satellites in near outer space, and multiple ionospheric perturbations that can severely perturb radio transmissions, radars and GNSS systems – a group of hazards collectively known as space weather hazards.

Monitoring Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment is key for investigating these phenomena, understanding their evolution and unraveling the underlying mechanisms, so we can better prepare for them in the future. It is also essential to aid accurate navigation, reveal properties of the shallow and deep Earth, and provide key information for geophysical surveying of minerals.

Florian Deconinck, Vice President of Institutional Partnerships & Future Missions at Open Cosmos, said, “This contract is a landmark for Open Cosmos and for the NanoMagSat mission concept. It is a concrete step towards making this mission concept feasible which if implemented would complement and expand on the results from renown missions like Oersted, CHAMP or Swarm. More generally it illustrates how ESA, the industry and academia can work together to show the potential of future micro-satellite constellation missions to significantly contribute towards big scientific challenges.”

Gauthier Hulot, PI of the project, Deputy Director for Science and Space at IPGP, Université Paris Cité, said, “It is crucial that monitoring of Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment currently achieved by the ESA Swarm mission is maintained and improved beyond this very successful mission. This contract is a major step towards ensuring NanoMagSat can be launched soon enough to achieve this and demonstrate the possibility of permanently maintaining such observations with the help of low-cost scalable small satellite constellations.”

Open Cosmos designs, manufactures and operates satellites to solve the world’s biggest challenges. Open Cosmos is the perfect partner for those who want to monitor changes on Earth at a global scale, those who want to provide telecommunications services based on satellite constellations and those who want to test innovative space technologies in orbit. For more information visit www.open-cosmos.com, our Twitter and LinkedIn.

General Dynamics Mission Systems (NYSE: GD), and Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) have been awarded a contract by the Space Development Agency in the amount of $324,516,613, including a base amount of $162,954,122 and $161,562,491 in options, to establish the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).

Together, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium will build ground entry points and operations centers for the NDSA as well as provide network operations and systems integration services for the SDA’s next tranche of proliferated LEO satellites.

The core operations and integration functions include enterprise management, network management, mission management, payload data management, and constellation monitoring that spans the ground, link, space, and user segments of the architecture. Working with partners at KSAT USA (KSAT Inc.), Raytheon and EMERGENT, the General Dynamics Mission Systems-Iridium team will develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain state-of-the-art, commercial-like operations centers, acquire and operate ground entry points, and lead ground-to-space integration efforts.

“We are incredibly proud to bring our long heritage of mission-critical space and ground communications and networking expertise to the Space Development Agency,” said Chris Brady, president, General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Together with our partners, we’re excited to build the foundation for the SDA’s initial warfighting capability and backbone of Joint All-Domain Command and Control.”

“Iridium, General Dynamics Mission Systems and the U.S. government have a long and successful history of working together and partnering on this project is a natural evolution of our relationship,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “Iridium’s 25 years of experience operating in LEO makes us uniquely qualified for this opportunity, and we’re honored to take on this tremendous responsibility in support of this next generation network.”

Momentus Inc. has a status update regarding the company’s first demo mission. Momentus has established two-way contact with the Vigoride Orbital Transfer Vehicle and, as is often the case with a new spacecraft, there have been some initial anomalies.

The company is using an unplanned frequency as they work through this ‘challenge’ and are applying for a Special Temporary Authority (STA) with the FCC to address this situation to help command the vehicle back to nominal configuration. The Momentus engineering and operations team is diligently working to address the anomalies. Additional information will be provided when available.

Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) (“Momentus” or the “Company”) has launched their first demonstration flight of the Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) to LEO aboard the SpaceX Transporter-5 mission. Momentus also announced that it has placed its first customer satellite in orbit and plans to conduct more deployments of customer payloads in the coming days.

The versatile Vigoride spacecraft, designed to support a range of transportation and in-space infrastructure services, is slated to perform a series of operations in space to test and demonstrate the performance of the vehicle and its subsystems. Under the company’s license from the Federal Communications Commission, the mission is scheduled to last up to 180 days. The mission will also feature the deployment of several customer satellites and the testing of hardware for another customer.

A key part of the Vigoride vehicle is the Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET) that uses water as a propellant. The MET produces thrust by expelling extremely hot gases through a rocket nozzle. However, unlike a conventional chemical rocket engine, which creates heat through a chemical reaction, the MET heats propellant using solar microwave energy. Using the MET offers cost-effective, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly propulsion to meet the demands for in-space transportation and infrastructure services.

On this first flight, Momentus welcomes FOSSA Systems and Orbit NTNU among its customers. FOSSA is deploying multiple smallsats as part of a constellation to provide global and real-time Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity for industrial applications. Orbit NTNU will be using its payload, SelfieSat, to take a selfie from a satellite in space (the payload has an external screen, displaying pictures sent up by the public while a camera mounted on an arm photographs the screen with the Earth in the background.)

In addition to Vigoride, Momentus used a second port on the Falcon 9 to fly a third-party deployer from a trusted partner. Momentus used this deployer to place its first customer satellite from Bronco Space at the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona on-orbit. Four other satellite payloads that are customers of the deployer system partner were also placed into orbit.

“Today’s launch was the culmination of months of work to conduct an extensive ground test campaign, ready the spacecraft, and obtain the necessary government licenses and approvals for our first flight of the Vigoride vehicle,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer, John Rood. “We’re excited to see our vision of providing transportation and space infrastructure services and being an early provider of these key services to the growing new space economy starting to be realized. MET technology has been researched in academia since the 1980s, but we’re pioneers in bringing it to market. Testing the MET on this first Vigoride flight is one of the important tasks that we plan to conduct as we continue to refine and improve its performance. Our journey to space was only made possible by our team’s dedication, focus, and considerable talent. I’m proud of how Momentus employees responded to the many challenges we faced. It would have been easy to believe that our initial challenges were insurmountable, but the fact that Momentus didn’t quit speaks to an emerging culture that will be the true foundation of our success over time.”

Momentus is a U.S. commercial space company that plans to offer 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 planned in-space transfer and service vehicles that will be powered by an innovative water plasma-based propulsion system that is under development.

Astrocast has signed an agreement to acquire Hiber, a Netherlands-based, IoT-as-a-Service provider.

Under the agreement, Astrocast agreed to acquire all of Hiber’s shares in exchange for the issuance of new Astrocast shares, representing 16.5% of Astrocast’s share capital, calculated prior to its previously announced public offering on Euronext Growth Paris. Hiber’s shareholders also agreed to invest €10.45 million in Astrocast’s public offering.

Hiber provides asset monitoring and tracking solutions to industrial customers, through satellite-connected devices that allow customers to monitor and track assets in remote locations. Its services include wellhead monitoring for major oil and gas companies and asset tracking for off-grid worksites in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and mining. Its business model is based on multi-year subscriptions covering sensors, network hardware, satellite connectivity and a dashboard.

The acquisition of Hiber is expected to bring a number of key benefits for Astrocast:

• Expands Astrocast’s distribution strategy by establishing a direct-to-end user sales channel
• Accelerates Astrocast’s OEM strategy by increasing the development of additional satellite-enabled IoT devices
• Expands Astrocast’s portfolio of products and services by adding the HiberHilo remote oil well monitoring solution and Hiber Easypulse asset tracking solution
• Adds coverage of the Americas region, based on Hiber’s access to L-band spectrum, through its agreement with Inmarsat. Astrocast has no plans to replace Inmarsat completely and intends to leverage this relationship to complement its offering.
• Brings onboard 50+, highly skilled and experienced IoT specialists, who have unique technical capabilities and understanding of customer IoT needs across multiple verticals
• Expands Astrocast’s sales team by adding Hiber’s sales force and creating cross-sell opportunities
• As Hiber’s customers include ExxonMobil, Shell, Oil Search, NAM and ENI, the combined group will also have additional exposure to clients in the energy industry and the ability to support their transition to renewable energy production

In addition, Astrocast’s sales and go-to-market strategy will be expanded by adding a direct-to-market sales channel in select verticals. This will complement Astrocast’s existing partner sales strategy. Hiber’s expertise within oil & gas will enable Astrocast to further penetrate this market. By combining Astrocast and Hiber’s technical expertise, Astrocast will also be able to better leverage end-users and accelerate its OEM strategy.

Fabien Jordan, Astrocast’s CEO, said, “We’ve carefully monitored Hiber’s impressive shift in strategy over the past few years. Hiber is recognised as a powerful IoT scale-up within the market. Hiber’s focus on satellite-enabled IoT solutions, innovation and production aligns with Astrocast’s strategic go-to-market priorities for 2022 and beyond. We’re excited to welcome Hiber to the growing Astrocast team.”

Jordan added, “We’re excited about the positive implications of the transaction for our investors. With this acquisition, Astrocast will gain access to customer segments that we have historically had little traction with. These segments complement Astrocast’s current sales effort. In addition, this acquisition will strengthen financing opportunities for Astrocast, benefiting investors, and accelerating the total fundraising plan for Astrocast.”

Roel Jansen, CEO of Hiber, said, “Hiber brings IoT solutions to its customers located in the most remote locations on Earth; we are democratizing data for industries that previously did not have access to affordable and easy-to-use solutions via satellites. We are excited to join forces with Astrocast to continue developing and providing world-class IoT solutions that are unrivalled in service excellence and product innovation within the IoT space.”

Astrocast SA operates a leading, global smallsat IoT network, offering services in industries such as Agriculture & Livestock, Maritime, Environment & Utilities to name a few. The Astrocast network enables companies to monitor, track, and communicate with remote assets from anywhere in the world. It relies on superior L-band spectrum through a strategic alliance with Thuraya. In partnership with Airbus, CEA/LETI and ESA, Astrocast developed Astronode S, an ultra-low power and miniaturized module compatible with inexpensive L-band patch antennas. Founded in 2014 by a renowned team of experts, Astrocast develops and tests all its products in-house, from the satellites to the terminals. Astrocast is listed on the Euronext Growth Oslo.

Hiber offers end-to-end IoT solutions for remotely monitoring off-grid assets located anywhere in the world using reliable, affordable satellite connectivity to help customers to reduce costs, increase safety and operational efficiency. Its solutions include HiberHilo for oil and gas well monitoring, and HiberEasypulse for asset tracking and fleet monitoring in the transport, mining, construction, agriculture and forestry industries. Hiber was founded in 2016 and has its office in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In 2021, Hiber secured €26 million in EU and private investment, and has been recognised by Wired and Amazon Web Services as a leading European startup. Learn more at hiber.global.