News

Phase Four, the creator of the radio-frequency thruster (RF Thruster) for satellite propulsion, announced that the company has finalized a lease for an expanded manufacturing facility to support high volume production of the firm’s Maxwell engine product line for commercial and government missions.

The new site, located in Hawthorne, California, will host a manufacturing facility more than 3x the size of Phase Four’s current facility in El Segundo. The facility will also house a dedicated environmental testing facility, which will continue to reduce the company’s industry leading, sub-4 month, lead times. As part of its expansion, Phase Four will also stand up a dedicated R&D cell to support the development of higher performance thrusters and higher power propulsion systems for larger spacecraft.

Phase Four’s Maxwell Block 1 engine gained flight heritage in 2021 and is currently operating on several commercial small satellites. The company is set to begin production of its Block 2 Maxwell engine in the second quarter of 2022. Block 2 uses the company’s second generation RF Thruster and offers significant performance improvement over the Block 1 engine.

Phase Four is also working to adapt the RF Thruster to operate on nontraditional propellants that are less expensive and more readily obtained than purified noble gases like xenon and krypton. The company is currently performing thrust measurements with its Maxwell engine adapted to operate on iodine on an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) sponsored program, and recently won a Space Force Pitch Day award to test on green propellant.

“With the increased demand for our high performance Maxwell engine to support the steadily growing number of small satellite constellations, we made the decision to first focus on our manufacturing process ” said Phase Four CEO, Beau Jarvis. “We demonstrated through several production runs in 2021 that Maxwell engines can be built, tested and delivered to customers in under four months. Now with a larger, dedicated manufacturing facility we will scale up production runs to support delivery of over 100 Maxwell engines annually.”

“Our aim is to catalyze industry in space by delivering a short lead time plasma thruster, and developing a thruster that can operate on next generation propellants. Phase Four’s Hawthorne site is essential to achieving these goals. Our new facility will allow us to vertically integrate flight unit manufacturing and testing, removing key throughput limiters in our engine production line. Furthermore, the facility will allow us to disaggregate shared vacuum chambers between R&D and production, removing internal competition for resources and thereby accelerating the development of our RF thruster,” said Phase Four CTO, Umair Siddiqui. “This comes at the right time; given the supply chain insecurity of legacy plasma electric propulsion systems. Both government and commercial customers need domestic propulsion systems with short lead times to support rapid constellation deployments.”

In addition to the new facility opening, which is set for early Q4 2022, Phase Four is also gearing up for a hiring push. The Company hopes to double its employee count by the end of next year, said CEO Beau Jarvis. “We are excited to grow the Phase Four family as we begin to realize our mission of catalyzing the space industry through mass manufacturing of our Maxwell engines and the introduction of engines that enable new missions by leveraging advanced propellants.”

Phase Four is a disruptive provider of next generation electric propulsion (EP) solutions for small satellites. The company was founded in 2015 to address the demands of the rapid proliferation of satellite constellations and to accelerate the advancement of its radio-frequency thruster (RFT). The Phase Four RFT represents a revolutionary new architecture that realizes lower cost, mass-manufacturability, miniaturized power electronics, and propellant agnosticism over incumbent technologies, without compromising performance. In 2021 Phase Four’s Maxwell turn-key propulsion system achieved flight heritage and is now being regularly utilized by small satellite operators.

Fleet Space launches its latest Centauri 5 satellite using the Space X Falcon 9 launch vehicle, making this Fleet’s 7th satellite on-orbit. This LEO satellite was produced using 3D printing technology and adds capacity, reduces signal delay and provides additional network redundancy in the existing Centauri smallsat constellation.

This was the company’s third launch with SpaceX, following the successful deployment of Centauri 4 on the Transporter-2 mission in June 2021.

Centauri 5 will be placed in LEO at an expected altitude of some 530 km. (330 miles). A 6U sized smallsat with a total weight of 12kg., this smallsat will add capacity, reduce latency and provide additional network redundancy in the existing six-strong Centauri constellation, which Fleet operates in collaboration with Tyvak International.

Upgrades to the Centauri 4 payload include enhancements that mitigate the effects of radiation in LEO, direct communication links to Fleet’s ground station as well as an extended S-band range, allowing uplink at standard, ground station frequencies.

Digital beamforming provides extra gain, increasing the data rate and also allows the S-band frequency channels to be reused on the different beams. This combination increases by 2x the satellite’s data capacity. In a world first, the all-metal patch antennas are all entirely 3D printed.

The advances in 3D printing technology used in the construction of its patch antenna also feed into the development of the forthcoming, fully 3D printed, micro Alpha constellation, scheduled for launch during 2023. Together, the two systems will provide continuous coverage, data rates up to 520 kbps and tailored frequency bands servicing current and future generations of IoT devices.

The combined constellation also enables Fleet Space’s ExoSphere system. This is transforming mineral exploration by using ambient noise tomography to locate critical resources up to 100 times faster and with far less environmental impact than conventional methods such as explosives, vibroseis machines and drilling.

The Centauri 5 launch further strengthens Fleet Space’s position in the vanguard of the burgeoning Australian space technology industry, which the federal government predicts will be worth $12 billion and create an additional 20,000 jobs by 2030.

“This latest launch will see us put our pioneering Centauri micro satellite into low-earth orbit. It’s both a landmark technical achievement, and another significant milestone on our journey, which has seen us grow from promising start-up to a world-leading space technology company in just four years. We’ve built our business and reputation by consistently delivering on our stated goals, and developing technologies that address real human and commercial needs reliably and cost-effectively. Centauri 5 will bring important new capabilities to our existing constellation. It also supports the development of our forthcoming Alpha constellation, which enables our pioneering ExoSphere mineral exploration tool with transformational benefits for the exploration of critical energy transition materials. We’re delighted to be working in collaboration with Space X on this launch, a move that marks a major expansion of our presence in the US and strengthens Australia’s position as a genuine global player in the space industry,” said Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and Founder, Fleet Space Technologies

Fleet Space Technologies is Australia’s leading space company. It operates from a state-of-the-art HQ in Adelaide, South Australia, a region rapidly emerging as a global centre of excellence in space and advanced aerospace technologies. The company has designed, built and launched the country’s only commercial Satellites and has six satellites already in orbit as it works towards a mission towards building a constellation of 140 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit.

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.

On Wednesday, May 25th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-5 mission to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The 57 minute launch window opened at 2:35 p.m., ET, or 18:35 UTC. The Falcon 9 flew along Florida’s eastern coast over the ocean and may have been visible from the ground.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, one Starlink mission, and the Transporter-4 mission. After stage separation, the Falcon 9’s 1st stage returned to Earth and landed squarely on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-5 is SpaceX’s fifth dedicated, smallsat, rideshare mission. On this flight are 59 spacecraft, including cubesats, microsats, non-deploying hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs).

All imagery is courtesy of SpaceX.

In the company’s fifth rideshare mission with SpaceX and 16th mission in total, Exolaunch, a global provider of launch, in-space logistics and deployment services, completed the firm’s most demanding integration, with more than 1500 kg. of payload mass across 20+ satellites for the firm’s international customers from 11 countries and three continents.

Exolaunch’s customer satellites weighing 100+ kg. and cubesats, ranging up to 16U in size, will fly on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle on the SpaceX Transporter-5 mission scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Following the successful debut flight of the Exolaunch’s novel CarboNIX 8-inch separation system for smallsats on the recent Transporter-4 mission, this launch marks the premiere for EXOpod Nova, the company’s latest technology for optimized, cubesat deployment.

Nova’s first launch will proudly fly multiple satellites for Spire Global and its customers via a Multi-Launch Agreement between the companies. Nova increases the allowable satellite mass by up to 30 percent and the available side panel volume by a factor of four, when compared to traditional cubesat deployers. It also enables smallsat manufacturers to keep launch costs low while building larger, heavier and more capable cubesats. Exolaunch aims to further use the EXOpod Nova on its Reliant orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) next year to provide launch flexibility to cubesat constellations.

Nova joins the suite of Exolaunch’s reliable and cost-effective solutions to launch and deploy smallsats and is becoming the preferred and most flexible deployment technology for the existing cubesat constellations. The company’s customers can deploy their satellites into space by fully relying on Exolaunch’s separation systems, including CarboNIX, EXOpod, and now, EXOpod Nova.

Transporter-5 will launch Exolaunch’s new and returning customers, including Spire Global, Satellogic, ICEYE, NanoAvionics, Omnispace, Thales Alenia Space, Satlantis, EnduroSat, Plan-S, Spacemanic, Aalto University and Space Products and Innovation. The customers’ payloads will enable space application technologies, such as Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observation, Maritime Surveillance and IoT communications.

“Exolaunch is proud to launch on Transporter-5, as it marks our biggest mission to date and pays homage to the commitment and dedication we make our customers with the launch of their state-of-the-art technology,” said Jeanne Allarie, VP Launch, Exolaunch. “The trust and recognition we’ve gained from the industry through each launch are not possible without our incredible work with SpaceX. Together, our teams’ technical grit and creativity take our shared customers to new horizons and heights.“

This mission is the fifth Transporter in a series of rideshare launches Exolaunch manifests on Falcon 9 under a Multi-Launch Agreement with SpaceX. For each Falcon 9 launch procured, Exolaunch provides a turnkey solution encompassing comprehensive rideshare mission management, satellite integration, environmental testing and deployment services.

Exolaunch has deployed more than 100 smallsats on SpaceX’s first four rideshare Transporter missions.

Exolaunch (Germany, USA) is a global leader in rideshare launch, deployment, in-space logistics, and integration services for the NewSpace industry. With a decade of flight heritage and 210 satellites launched across 15 missions on launch vehicles around the world, Exolaunch has an industry insight it can leverage to develop one-stop-shop solutions tailored towards meeting customer needs and addressing market trends. Exolaunch executes launch contracts for NewSpace leaders, the world’s most innovative startups, research institutions, government organizations, and space agencies. Exolaunch manufactures lightweight and flight-proven separation systems to deliver integration and deployment services for small satellites. The company is also developing a line of environmentally-friendly orbital transfer vehicles named Reliant for the satellite last-mile transportation, in-space logistics and space debris removal. Exolaunch is committed to making space accessible for everyone and to promoting safe, sustainable and responsible use of space.

TinSky Connect has successfully completed the installation of 15 OneWeb antennas and customer provided equipment at a Satellite Network Portal (SNP) or gateway facility in Accra, Ghana.

OneWeb is a global communications network powered through space, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. Tinsky Connect was selected as OneWeb’s technical engineering partner for its first west African SNP. The gateway is located in Tema on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, on a site of six hectares. The site is owned and run by ComSys, who will continue to host the gateway on behalf of OneWeb.

OneWeb’s first SNP gateway in Africa, located in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa is also nearing completion, with others in Senegal and Mauritius currently under development.

Alan Geldenhuys, Executive Director of TinSky Connect Group, said, “The site is now commissioning and will be ready for service later in 2022. Tinsky understood the complexity of the multiple satellite ‘hand offs’ each gateway has to achieve per second and deployed a highly experienced team of field engineers that provided advanced system engineering and technical services addressing OneWeb’s mission critical SNP gateway needs, at low risk and within budget. The teamwork between OneWeb and TinSky resulted in the project successfully completed and all SNP gateways handed over within the schedule.”

TinSky Connect is a leading provider of converged communication solutions to Africa’s satellite, wireless and land/airborne mobility markets. With 21 years’ experience, the company has played a major role in developing several leading first-to-market satellite solutions and managed service offerings, including managed service platforms, radio telescopes and land/air mobility solutions.

NanoAvionics has been contracted by Gama for a demonstration of Gama’s solar sails propulsion system in LEO.

Under the mission agreement, NanoAvionics will provide its 6U smallsat bus, payload integration services, a satellite testing campaign, launch services and satellite operations. The launch of the “Alpha” smallsat is scheduled for the second half of this year.

Gama’s range of solar sails are aimed at commercial companies and research organisations looking for a cost-effective and less complex setup and propulsion system to explore deep space through smallsats. Using nano- or microsatellites propelled through space by solar sails would allow them to travel greater distances without requiring large amount of stored fuel. They can also be launched with smaller and less expensive rockets, making shuttle trips between planets less expensive and more practical than conventional chemical rockets.

Missions for smallsats with solar sail technology could include getting data about Neptune’s atmosphere or Uranus’ magnetosphere, performing low-cost asteroid reconnaissance missions, carrying cargo to the Moon or Mars, sending rovers to Titan or Venus, and helping to remove space debris.

This mission contract with Gama is the second solar sail mission for NanoAvionics, following an earlier contract to build a satellite bus for NASA’s ACS3 solar sail propulsion demonstration.

Louis de Gouyon Matignon, CEO of Gama Space, said, “Our solar sails will greatly advance the possibilities of deep space access for companies and research organisations across the globe. Drawing on their experience with integrating solar sail technology in small satellites and their modular buses, NanoAvionics is the ideal partner for this mission. With sunlight being free and unlimited, solar sail-propelled spacecraft could travel greater distances without requiring large amounts of stored fuel.”

Vytenis J. Buzas, co-founder and CEO of NanoAvionics, said, “While the payloads are similar in nature, NASA’s ACS3 and Gama’s Alpha are two very different satellites, with different customization requirements. Being able to integrate solar sails, a new promising spacecraft propulsion method, into our nano- and microsatellites opens an entire new market for us, way beyond the mission limits of low Earth orbit. Over the years, NanoAvionics engineering team has faced and solved many technical challenges while matching our customers’ mission requirements and integrating different payloads, instruments and novel propulsion systems to our satellite busses. It allowed our engineers to greatly develop and advance NanoAvionics’ technology. Of course, the modularity of NanoAvionics versatile buses and components are a major advantage for a successful integration. Based on these prior experiences, we are able to transfer a lot of know-how not only to the Gama’s Alpha satellite but to every future satellite mission.”

Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) has delivered the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for integration ahead of SpaceX’s Transporter-5 mission.

PTD-3 is a 6-unit (6U) cubesat built and integrated by Terran Orbital to host and support launch and on-orbit operations of the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload funded by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program and developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MITLL). The TBIRD mission is the second mission in the PTD series funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

The mission will demonstrate a space-to-ground data transfer capability at orders of magnitude faster than previously demonstrated technologies. This technology could open doors to large volume data communications and data accessibility for advanced space exploration — delivering multiple terabytes of data per day to a single ground station.

Each PTD mission consists of a 6U cubesat weighing approximately 12 kilograms and measuring 36 cm × 23 cm × 10 cm. Each PTD spacecraft will also be equipped with deployable solar arrays that can provide a peak power of 120 watts while on-orbit.

“Terran Orbital is thrilled to deliver pioneering satellite solutions that are changing the space landscape,” said Terran Orbital Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Marc Bell. “PTD-3 will not only disrupt the way our Earth receives data, but also fine-tune future mission capabilities. We look forward to fostering our relationships with NASA, MITLL, and SpaceX as we continue to deliver groundbreaking technologies.”

Terran Orbital is a leading manufacturer of ssmallsats primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry. Terran Orbital provides end-to-end satellite solutions by combining satellite design, production, launch planning, mission operations, and in-orbit support to meet the needs of the most demanding military, civil, and commercial customers. Learn more at www.terranorbital.com.

Rivada Space Networks GmbH continues to work toward their launch of a constellation of 600 LEO communications satellites for enterprise data communications.

Rivada Space Networks was established by U.S.-based Rivada Networks, with wireless technology entrepreneur Declan Ganley forming the company to deliver a unique solution for secure, global, end-to-end enterprise and government connectivity that will respond directly to specific customer needs that are not being met by today’s technology.

The company will offer access to secure satellite networks with pole-to-pole reach, offering end-to-end latencies similar or better than terrestrial fiber. The Rivada network will operate like an optical backbone in space, using lasers to interconnect satellites to deliver an ultra-secure and highly reliable global data network for business operations in the telecom, enterprise, maritime, energy and government services markets. The constellation’s unique architecture, high speed and low latency, combined with Rivada’s dynamic pricing and open access technology, will also make it possible to bring internet access to remote and underserved areas where no backhaul is currently available.

Rivada Space Networks will leverage the terrestrial wireless technologies of parent company Rivada Networks Inc. to optimize network utilization and facilitate the buying and selling of broadband capacity. The company’s patented technologies including Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage and Open Access platform will enable efficient use of spectrum and provide customers with ultimate flexibility.

Based in Germany, Rivada Space Networks is rapidly moving forward with procurement of an LEO network of 600 Ka-band communications satellites. The company is currently undertaking an RFI with major satellite manufacturers to finalize the system design and manufacturing plan, paving the way for the production and deployment of the entire constellation.

Rivada Space Networks Founder Declan Ganley said, “Our goal is to leverage the unique strengths of low-latency satellite communication to provide an enterprise-grade on demand experience anywhere in the world from any platform. Rivada Space Networks will not only provide a competitive advantage, it will help to expand these markets by enabling new opportunities through previously unavailable levels of performance combined with global reach. When wireless technologies converge with satellite over a single, highly secure network – you are going to get the best of both worlds.”

Rivada Space Networks GmbH is a disruptive new company set to establish and operate the first truly global low latency point-to-point connectivity network of LEO satellites. By connecting its satellites with lasers, Rivada Space Networks will provide resellers and B2B customers with the ability to securely connect any two points on the globe with low latency and high bandwidth. The constellation of 600 low-earth-orbit communications satellites will represent a fundamental change in the availability of secure, global, end-to-end enterprise-grade connectivity for Telecom, Enterprise, Maritime, Energy and Government Services markets. Founded by Declan Ganley, Rivada Networks, Inc. is active across North and South America as well as Europe. Rivada holds a multitude of patents relating to spectrum sharing, digital spectrum arbitrage, prioritized messaging, open access services and other wireless communications technologies. For more information:

Satellogic Inc. (NASDAQ: SATL) is enhancing the company’s operations in the Australian market to strengthen regional customer relationships and provide local support for a growing APAC space economy — the regional presence will be overseen by Ken Fritschel, Vice President, International Sales, Satellogic.

Currently, Satellogic operates 22 high resolution satellites and expects to grow its constellation to 34 satellites by Q1 2023. By 2025, the Company expects to have more than 200 satellites on-orbit to provide daily remaps of the entire surface of the Earth and up to 40 revisits of points of interest per day.

Satellogic recently announced a Multiple Launch Agreement (“MLA”) with SpaceX, reserving launch capacity for the firm’s next 68 satellites. This new MLA, which follows the current MLA covering 2022 launches, confirms that SpaceX continues to be Satellogic’s preferred vendor for rideshare missions, meeting the capacity demands of the Company’s constellation roadmap and providing shorter periods between satellite development and deployment. Satellogic’s rapid and consistent launch cadence enables the company to continually test new technology, refresh and augment its constellation and differentiate from competition.

The announcement is made in tandem with Satellogic’s participation at a key Australian event: Locate 2022, taking place May 24-26 in Canberra. Thomas VanMatre, VP of Global Business Development at Satellogic, will be delivering a presentation on “Multi-Sensor Constellations” at 3:45 p.m., AEST, on Tuesday, May 24th.

Satellogic is also planning to attend Asia Satellite Business Week in Singapore, June 1-3. Brian Lantier, EVP of Global Revenue at Satellogic, will participate on the “Revolutionizing Earth Observation: From Data to AI and Analytics” panel at 3:30 p.m., SGT, on Thursday, June 2nd.

“Our growing presence in Australia, overseen by one of our key executives, will provide a direct connection to the APAC region so we can more easily work with our commercial customers and close public sector allies across Oceania and Asia,” said Emiliano Kargieman, CEO and Co-Founder of Satellogic. “Australia is committed to keeping supply chains open and believes in the democratization of space, which is the core of our mission. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with organizations in the country and across the region as we further expand access to Earth Observation data worldwide, in order to help solve the biggest global challenges that we are facing.”

“We are focused on developing our partnerships with the public sector throughout APAC, in particular Australia, with its strong security alliances across the Indo-Pacific region,” said Matt Tirman, EVP and GM, Global Public Sector, at Satellogic. “Thi’s announcement is an important step forward in this area and we expect that our operations will accelerate the new space industry across APAC and further support our key Oceanic, European, and North American partners.”