News

Orbital Sidekick (OSK) has revealed information regarding their upcoming launch of the firm’s newest and most powerful hyperspectral imaging satellite — Aurora.

Aurora leverages OSK’s previous experience collecting and analyzing hyperspectral data to provide action oriented insights on the world, with a broad focus on sustainability. The Aurora satellite will serve OSK’s customers in the energy, mining, and defense sectors, including expanding contracts and pilot program opportunities for oil and gas pipeline monitoring & methane mapping, clean energy resource exploration, sustainable mining practices, and wildfire risk mitigation.

The Orbital Sidekick Aurora Satellite is a 30 kg precursor to the six 100 kg ESPA class GHOSt satellites that are scheduled for launch in 2022. Spaceflight will be coordinating the launch with a total of 36 payloads onboard the SpaceX Transporter-2 rideshare mission, occurring on June 24, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida.

Aurora will capture more than 450 spectral bands in the visible to shortwave infrared light spectrum (400 to 2500 nm) with a pixel size of approximately 30 meters, making it the highest resolution commercial hyperspectral imagery available to date.

“We’re excited to be launching Aurora to help provide consistent monitoring services across all of our clients as well as further the exploration for clean energy sources globally. Working with Astro Digital, OSK will be able to focus on the payload and extract information from our unique and proprietary hyperspectral data with the utmost precision,” said Dan Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Orbital Sidekick.

The new French SATCOM operator Rovial SAS is unveiling their plan to develop, build and operate an European-centric, secure, end-to-end, high-capacity, and scalable satellite constellation.

Rovial leads a consortium that will include several, cutting-edge, European companies to realize the satellite network that will establish an independent European communications backbone in space and contribute to Europe’s economic growth, safety, and security.

The constellation will serve a range of applications, including Internet-of-Things (IOT), autonomous vehicles, video/rich-data communications, and defense and humanitarian missions.

The foundational members of the consortium will also include Mynaric, a provider of in-space laser communications, Reflex Aerospace, a designer and manufacturer of various classes of satellite systems, and Isar Aerospace, a launch service provider for small and medium satellites.

Rovial intends to broaden the consortium to include a second tier of European suppliers of subsystems and components. The consortium’s first major milestone is the launch demonstration satellites in 2022. The project has been designed to support the three great priorities of the European Commission:

• (1) “Autonomy and sovereignty”, by relying on European technology for key components such as
• (2) The “Green Deal“ by offering sustainability with a highly-scalable constellation capable of delivering early services with as few as eight satellites
• (3) “Digitization” by incorporating cutting edge and state of the art software engineering and other satellite and terrestrial technologies to ensure efficient, reliable, and low-cost services to customers and end users

“We are extremely excited to be progressing this opportunity with our highly-regarded consortium partners and other European companies and expect to address all technological and operational challenges and begin to launch our innovative commercial service in Europe in 2023-2024 in line with European Commission objectives” said Raghu Das, co-founder of Rovial, a Paris-based startup founded by commercial space industry veterans.

“Of course, this is not something that just came up overnight,” added Mynaric CEO Bulent Altan. “Matter of fact, there has been activity in the background on this ever since European Commissioner Breton started his initiative more than a year ago, and I am happy to see that the paths are converging today.”

Orbital Space has announced that QMR-KWT is due to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 24, 2021.

QMR-KWT – ‘Moon of Kuwait’ – translated from Arabic – is a 1U cubesat and will be Kuwait’s first smallsat. The smallsat’s functional testing has been completed at the EnduroSat facilities and the craft has been integrated with an ION Satellite Carrier, D-Orbit’s orbital transportation vehicle, as part of the plan to put it in orbit. QMR-KWT is now at SpaceX facilities waiting to be integrated with its Falcon 9 rocket in the coming days.

QMR-KWT mission control and ground station will be located at Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis as part of the collaboration agreement between Orbital Space and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) under the umbrella of MBRSC Space Ventures for startups. Established in August 2018, Orbital Space is the first company in the Arab World to provide access to space through cubesat technology. Orbital Space offers services to design, build, test and operate cubesats to students and amateurs to help them gain the know-how to build a satellite and to also support them if they want to engage in a space-related experiment.

“Our goal is to make space accessible to all, and as a startup, we are excited to work with other startups to meet our mutual objectives. Once in space, QMR-KWT will be the outcome of efforts from all young companies including Orbital Space, EnduroSat, D-Orbit, and even SpaceX, which is less than 20 years old company. The Falcon 9 mission — dubbed Transporter-2 rideshare mission — will carry several dozen satellites from the surface of the Earth to outer space at around 500 km above sea level in a sun synchronous orbit.” said Bassam Alfeeli, Founder and General Manager of Orbital Space.

According to Nada Alshammari, Director of Educational Programs at Orbital Space, QMR-KWT is an educational space mission and is already inspiring and empowering students to become the future professionals in the space sector. The main education mission of QMRKWT is ‘Code in Space.’ Nada added. “Code in Space is an opportunity for students to develop and test new software solutions by writing software code to be uploaded and executed on the satellite’s onboard computer – for the first time ever. We have been receiving proposals from students around the world and we invite students from everywhere to challenge themselves and connect with this unique opportunity.”

Relativity Space, the first company to 3D print an entire rocket and build the largest metal 3D printers in the world, has closed a $650 million Series E equity funding round.

The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC with participation from investors including Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue, K5 Global, Soroban Capital, Tiger Global, Tribe Capital, XN, Brad Buss, Mark Cuban, Jared Leto, and Spencer Rascoff, among others. Following the announcement of its fully reusable, entirely 3D printed rocket, Terran R, the company’s latest round of funding enables the scaling of the Terran R program and long-term infrastructure development.

As a two-stage, 216-foot-tall rocket with a 16 foot diameter, and a 5 meter payload fairing, Terran R will be entirely reusable and capable of launching 20,000 kg to LEO, starting in 2024 at the company’s launch site at Cape Canaveral. Created in Relativity’s Factory of the Future, by the same printers and the same team as Terran 1, Terran R has unique aeronautical features, complex structures, and has the ability to launch 20X more payload than Terran 1.

Terran R will be outfitted with seven, 3D-printed, Aeon R rocket engines capable of 302,000 lb. thrust each, while its upper stage houses one Aeon 1 vac engine. Terran R also represents a large leap towards Relativity’s mission to build humanity’s multi-planetary future, eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions between Earth, Moon and Mars.

Within the last six months, the company has continued to execute on commercial and technical milestones, including signing its first anchor customer for Terran R, the company’s fully reusable, entirely 3D-printed launch vehicle. Relativity has now completed printing of over 85% of the first Terran 1 orbital rocket, including its first and second stage, keeping momentum for its launch end of this year from Cape Canaveral.

Terran 1 continues to garner commercial traction, including recently announced customer contract with TriSept, its first launch contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, and a Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract with NASA. Over the last year, despite COVID-19’s impact on the overall economy, Relativity has accelerated its pace of hiring, now at 400+ employees with plans to hire an additional 200 team members this year.

Relativity’s simplified supply chain enables the company to build its rockets, including the world’s first entirely 3D printed rocket Terran 1 and its fully reusable, entirely 3D-printed rocket, Terran R, with 100x fewer parts in less than 60 days. By fusing 3D printing, artificial intelligence, proprietary software, and autonomous robotics, Relativity has created an entirely new value chain for aerospace, starting with orbital launch.

With 3D printing production, Relativity has created a new tech stack for aerospace that uses software-driven manufacturing, exotic materials and unique design geometries that are not possible in traditional manufacturing, driving unprecedented innovation and disruption in the industry. With continued high demand for Terran 1, Relativity has secured nine launch contracts from both private and government customers, and with satellite constellations representing the largest part of the growing market, Terran R helps the company serve its growing pipeline of commercial interest.

“From our founding days in Y Combinator just five years ago, we planned on 3D printing Terran 1 and then Terran R – a 20X larger fully reusable rocket – on our Factory of the Future platform,” said Tim Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Relativity. “Today we are one step closer to this goal. Together with our first rocket Terran 1, our second product, Terran R, will continue to take advantage of Relativity’s disruptive approach to 3D printing – reduced part count, improved speed of innovation, flexibility, and reliability – to bring to market the next generation of launch vehicles. Relativity was founded with the mission to 3D print entire rockets and build humanity’s industrial base on Mars. We were inspired to make this vision a reality, and believe there needs to be dozens to hundreds of companies working to build humanity’s multi-planetary future on Mars. Scalable, autonomous 3D printing is inevitably required to thrive on Mars, and Terran R is the second product step in a long-term journey Relativity is planning ahead.”

Kernow Sat 1 aims to bring the value of space close to home by engaging audiences across Cornwall — from academia to local businesses to charities and school children.

Cornwall’s intention is that this G7 legacy project become a historic payload – the first satellite designed, manufactured and launched in Cornwall – with the intention of it forming part of Virgin Orbit’s first UK launch next year from Spaceport Cornwall.

In line with the Spaceport’s missions of democratizing space and championing the use of satellites for environmental monitoring, the satellite will bring together the community to problem solve issues around Cornwall’s marine health and its Blue Economy.

The Government funding will be used for the research, design and build of cubesat: Kernow Sat 1. The research will be undertaken by the University of Exeter that will be running a Think Tank with experts in the marine field to establish the exact data requirements to effectively research and implement activities surrounding the health of Cornwall’s coasts and associated economy.

To engage and inspire the next generation Spaceport Cornwall’s SPINTERN (Space Intern), recently awarded by the UK Space Agency, will be working alongside consultancy KISPE Space on the design of the specific optical payload. The build will be undertaken in collaboration with Oregon State University’s Open Source CubeSat and KISPE Space, who will share expertise and knowledge with Spaceport Cornwall’s Outreach Team. The team will work alongside Truro and Penwith College, using their new Space Technology Training program to build the Kernow Sat 1 in Cornwall.

Once complete, Cornwall’s intention is that this payload will be one of the first payloads to be processed at Cornwall Airport Newquay.

This innovative community approach to space will set a precedent for future missions, fostering collaboration across industry and bringing space closer to local communities – all while collecting key data to inform local environmental policies.

Melissa Thorpe, Head of Spaceport Cornwall, said, “We are thrilled that this payload could be part of the first launch from Spaceport Cornwall. Engaging with the community and protecting the environment through Earth Observation are an integral part of Spaceport’s mission and we hope to create a framework for community launches, helping influence local policy through key data collection.”

Will Pomerantz, Vice President of Special Projects, Virgin Orbit, added, “Virgin Orbit exists to make space for everyone from everywhere. We’re very excited about the potential opportunity to carry Kernow Sat 1 as part of our first launch from Spaceport Cornwall, and we hope that this is the first of many payloads designed and built here in Cornwall. When innovators have the power to launch their own satellites close to home, there’s a clear pathway to harnessing the ideas and applications that will have the most impact for the local community.”

Glenn Caplin-Grey, Chief Executive of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, said, “Kernow Sat 1 will be a real team effort, designed, built and launched right here in Cornwall, with its data used to inform decision-making on the ground. It’s a hugely exciting project that will inspire a new generation about the importance of space and the environment, while bolstering our space economy.”

Ian Annett, Deputy CEO, UK Space Agency, said, “Space-based technology is at the heart of national and global efforts to understand and minimise the effects of climate change. From next year small satellites such as Kernow Sat 1 will launch from UK spaceports and play a vital role in driving forward the UK’s efforts to protect our environment and build back greener from the pandemic. Kernow Sat 1 is a hugely exciting project. It will not only help improve the environment but also inspire communities about the importance of space, demonstrate the strong UK academic interest and is an exemplar of how space is becoming increasingly accessible to help shape a better future for everyone.”

Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE: RTX), has promoted Chief Technical Officer, Stephen Steg, to Chief Executive Officer — he succeeds George Stafford, who will remain with the company in an advisory capacity.

A co-founder of Blue Canyon, Steg has served as CTO since the company was founded in 2008 and he oversaw the development of BCT’s spacecraft and component designs. He also guided BCT’s vertical integration with in-house products for nearly all spacecraft subsystems.

Steg has nearly 25 years of experience in the space industry with the design and analysis of spacecraft, mechanisms, and instruments. Prior to co-founding Blue Canyon, Steg spent 18 years at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was responsible for the mechanical design and analysis for optical instruments and space mechanisms on NASA programs. His designs include more than 75 space mechanisms on-orbit and he holds three patents for BCT products. Steg holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Blue Canyon reports into the Raytheon Intelligence & Space business of Raytheon Technologies following their purchase by Raytheon Technologies last December.

Joining Steg on the new Blue Canyon senior management team is Matt Magaña, who continues to serve as BCT President following his appointment to the position upon the completion of the company purchase by Raytheon Technologies. BCT’s current chief operating officer and co-founder Matthew Beckner has stepped into an advisory position for continuous improvement, opening and supporting the path for Steve Schneider to assume the role of COO, a promotion from his current role of Executive Director of Manufacturing, Test and Components. Matt Baumgart steps into Steg’s previous position of CTO following his promotion from Executive Director, Research & Development.

“Steve Steg brings the ideal combination of leadership, experience and vision as the new Blue Canyon CEO for this next chapter in the evolution and growth of the company,” said Roy Azevedo, President, Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “His expertise in the business of small-satellite systems and technologies will be invaluable to the broad range of solutions we offer to support our customer’s space missions. We thank George Stafford for his contributions as co-founder and CEO, and his legacy of leadership at Blue Canyon.”

“Blue Canyon is primed for growth and marketplace opportunity in the small-satellite systems sector of the new space economy,” Steg said. “With a strong senior management team at my side and the resources, synergies and talents provided to us by the backing of Raytheon Technologies, I look forward to guiding Blue Canyon into its next phase as an industry leader during these exciting and competitive times for the business.”

The first ever Mauritian smallsat — MIR-SAT1 — has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX CRS22 Dragon mission on Saturday, June 5, 2021.

The spacecraft traveled for 26 hours before reaching the ISS after the takeof from from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Thursday, June 3, at 17:29 UTC (21:29 Mauritian time – GMT+4). The Mauritian smallsat will be sent into LEO from ISS no later than June 22.

The MRIC has established a ground station at its premises in Ebène to receive data from MIR-SAT 1. The data will be used for various purposes, including maritime surveillance of Mauritius’ vast, exclusive, economic zone, climate change adaptation, weather forecasting and road traffic management.

This is a historic move for Mauritius, which has plans to engage in space and satellite technology as part of the country’s national development agenda. The Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr. Deepak Balgobin, and other dignitaries, watched the SpaceX-CRS22 Cargo Dragon rocket take off from the Government House in Port Louis. Among those present were members of the Board of Directors of the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC), the Government agency that is operating the smallsat project in Mauritius.

Minister Deepak Balgobin stated that, “After two years of hard work, the nanosatellite has now reached the ISS. This springboard to space opens up new opportunities and initiatives for our country through space and satellite technology and gives new impetus to our socio-economic development. Mauritius made a first big step into space science and technology. This is a momentous achievement and reflects the vision of the Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, of a knowledge-based economy. Even if the satellite is small in size, just like our island, today’s launch indicates that the giant leap has been successful and poses Mauritius high in the sky.”

A team of scientists from the MRIC, an agency that operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, has developed the smallsat and the related facilities with the technical support from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Kepler Communications has raised an oversubscribed $60 million Series B to provide the firm with a capital injection for the continued scaling of their on-orbit satellite communications network.

This Series B fundraising round was led by Tribe Capital and includes participation from a host of new investors that include Canaan Partners. Existing investors including IA Ventures and Costanoa Ventures. This brings the total funding raised to date by Kepler to more than $90 million.

Kepler is charging forward in the space race to develop a LEO SATCOM network that will provide internet outside of Earth for the booming space economy. Kepler designs, builds, and operates satellites that are 1/10th the size and cost of alternatives to provide SATCOM services. The firm’s network provides much needed capacity to the Maritime, Aviation, and Government markets on Earth and will soon extend coverage outside of Earth for applications such as Earth Observation (EO) and Space Tourism.

Kepler has made many significant advancements in the past year despite the challenges presented by COVID-19. The company completed its vertical integration by bringing satellite production in-house, and designed, built, and launched a dozen GEN 1 satellites. They now boast the capability to produce 10 satellites per month.

Leveraging their production, Kepler has grown to become the largest satellite operator in Canada with 15 satellites now on-orbit serving customer needs as far as the North Pole as well as demonstrating world record data rates with a wide variety of end-user equipment enabling customers to reap the advantages of LEO without the need to adopt new hardware. The funds raised will help Kepler introduce their next generation satellites as they increase the size of their network.

Additionally, the funds from the Series B will be used to enhance the size and caliber of the team at Kepler Communications. Kepler has doubled in size over the past year to 80 people and shows no signs of slowing down. The current growth and expansion plan is to increase the team size to 150 by the end of 2021.

Kepler Communications is also planning to establish a presence in the United States. A US-based entity and office will be created with immediate hires in sales, marketing, and engineering. The US entity joins the presence Kepler established in the United Kingdom shortly after the Series A round and continues the company’s international expansion. The US presence moves Kepler closer to US-based customers for Global Data Service and future customers and partners for the Internet in Space service. These roles and future updates will be announced on Kepler’s website.

Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder, commented, “This new funding not only allows us to continue our revenue growth using existing satellites, but also enables us to introduce new services in support of our growing customer base. We are pleased to have Tribe Capital leading the round given the deep domain expertise they’ve built through investments like Relativity Space. We are also seeing increasing demand for our products and services within the US market and by creating a local entity we will be better positioned to provide value, and boots-on-the-ground support for current and future customers in the US. The US market is obviously a particularly important one for us, especially as we develop the internet in space due to the high level of innovative space activity from private entities.”

Wen Cheng Chong, CTO and Co-Founder, added, “Building the internet in space is the guiding mission at Kepler. Our next generation of satellites will expand our coverage beyond Earth providing internet connectivity people, devices, satellites and more in orbit. There is a growing need to get data generated in space back to earth, and this is a need Kepler is uniquely qualified to address. This is an exciting time for those of us at Kepler as we create an essential part of the infrastructure needed for humanity to look toward a future beyond Earth’s atmosphere.”