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Skylark Nano III

Shetland in Scotland isn’t just for ponies … as of Saturday, June 13th, Edinburgh-based Skyrora successfully launched its Skylark Nano rocket from that remote land, in the Fethaland Peninsula at North Roe, on the Scottish island of Shetland. This was the first, ever, to take place in Shetland, which brought comments indicating that ‘UK’s space race is heating up’.

Skyrora, based in Edinburgh, plans to launch from one of the three proposed spaceports in Scotland and commercially launching from Shetland in the future is a potential option for them. 

Reaching an altitude of six kilometers, this marked the third time the two-meter (6.5ft) projectile took to the skies. The launch was completed for educational purposes, collecting meteorological data, measuring wind profiles, analyzing the vehicles trajectory and providing critical training in support of Skyrora’s future plans. 

Skyrora invited local journalists to attend the launch and to be a part of the education and learning process. All social distancing measures were met during the launch days. 

Robin Hague, head of launch at Skyroa, said that the launch signifies a vital step towards Skyrora’s ambitions to become the UK’s “go-to” satellite launch provider. They’re ecstatic and truly proud. This is a great success for Skylark Nano, and the Skyrora team in general. Launching from Shetland is very important for them because it’s a potential option for their Skyrora XL orbital commercial launch vehicle. To understand the local launch conditions learning more about the wind profiles in Shetland is critical.

He continued saying that Skylark Nano’s third successive launch is testament to the engineers who have worked tirelessly to bring to life a reusable rocket that can provide valuable intelligence for the future of the UK space program.

It comes after Skyrora successfully completed a full static fire test on their Skylark-L launch vehicle. 

Volodymyr Levykin, CEO Skyrora, said that with this successful launch from Shetland they are further closing the gap to making the UK a rocket launching nation again.

Continuing on saying that for Skyrora this test was all about learning and training. The innovation at Skyrora is enormous, not only are they producing high quality results, but they are doing so with minimum impact to the environment as they strive to develop eco-friendly technology in their launches. At a time of such uncertainty it is important they keep focusing on ingenuity and enterprise. They hope reaching space will inspire the whole nation and show the younger generation what the future of UK Space hold.

Skylark Nano’s first launch took place in Ross-shire in summer 2018, with the firm continuing to develop cutting-edge research and technology ahead of its first planned commercial orbital launches. Expanding their company across Scotland will allow them to leverage the highly skilled workforce available with their aim of creating 170 jobs by the end of 2023. Skyrora is developing launch vehicle technology that builds on previous rocket systems with the aim of reducing the cost of launches thanks to proven technology and advanced engineering methods.

The firm draws on Britain’s launch heritage and aims to build a robust supply chain while creating new employment opportunities to inspire the next generation of talent.

exactEarth Ltd. (“the Company”) and IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) have a new alliance agreement that will provide a new combined tracking service, AIS Platinum, offering unprecedented frequency and coverage of vessel movements worldwide.

The AIS Platinum solution will provide an exceptionally fast flow of real-time intelligence to assist organizations that require the most time-critical intelligence. The solution has been developed with exactEarth’s global, persistent real-time Satellite AIS service, exactView™ RT powered by Harris, which will consist of a system of more than 60 maritime satellite payloads.

exactEarth’s satellite coverage is coupled with more than 2,000 IHS Markit terrestrial AIS stations that will provide further geographical coverage in high-density areas along coastal locations and busy port locations around the world. Additional global trade intelligence from IHS Markit will provide insights on commodity movements, along with ship information, including details on the owner, the operator and technical manager, among other information, that will give customers a clearer picture of the operating and commercial structure of the movement of goods.

Stuart Strachan, SVP for maritime and trade at IHS Markit, said this unique partnership between two industry leaders in the vessel tracking sector will deliver major benefits to customers in the commodity, finance, security and government sectors. The combination of the firm’s capabilities means customers of AIS Platinum will experience significant enhancements to what is available today from combined terrestrial / Satellite AIS services in terms of coverage, frequency and latency. No other vendor in the market will be able to offer a combined AIS service of this quality and speed.

Peter Mabson, CEO at exactEarth, said that when measured by vessel detection, update rates, reliability and expected longevity, exactView RT is the premium high-performance service in the satellite AIS industry. We are extremely pleased to be partnering with IHS Markit to expand our market footprint and to provide such improvements to the customer experience. High density areas in the Gulf of Mexico and South China Sea have always been difficult for detection rates, due to the volume of vessels in close proximity. Moving forward, with the combined coverage of both terrestrial and exactView RT satellite AIS services, customers will see far greater detection rates than any other service on the market.

AIS Platinum has been created for customers requiring real-time vessel position information and intelligence, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Quant Analysts: Vessel position information within computer algorithms and programs enables the identification of, and capitalization on, available trading opportunities. Historical data can also assist with identifying profit opportunities.
• Commodity Traders: As commodity markets move and change throughout the world, verified intelligence on commodity shipment activities helps commodity traders stay ahead of markets and capitalize on trading opportunities.
• Compliance Officers: Information can help reveal whether a company is conducting its business in full compliance with all national and international laws and regulations that pertain to the financial sector, ensuring that business operations are not conducted with sanctioned countries, companies, or individuals.
• Defence Intelligence Analysts: Information can give visibility within a maritime domain to understand the potential risks that vessels may pose. Analysts can use the information to understand anything associated with the maritime domain that could impact the security and safety of a country.
• Customs & Border Agents: Help agents evaluate the impact of illegal importing and exporting of commodities through seaborne activity. Track and trace irregular behavior that could indicate drug trafficking, illegal arms importation and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Sateliot will invest more than 100 million euros ($113 million) through 2022 to launch their first constellation of smallsats.

The company, led by Jaume Sanpera and other founders of the Eurona satellite telecommunications company, will deploy a constellation of up to 100 nanosatellites over the next two years that will function as low-latency telecommunications towers for mobile operators who are deploying IoT services in remote areas where terrestrial networks do not reach.

The first two smallsats, which will be the size of a microwave oven, will provide low-latency IoT services from LEO after they are launched in late 2020. The rest of the constellation will be launched by the end of 2022 to provide global coverage to IoT operators. Sateliot’s British partner, Open Cosmos, will manufacture the satellites and manage their launch and operations.

The objective of Sateliot’s business plan is to close 2022 with a turnover of around 400 million euros ($453 million) and a total workforce of more than 100 people. To make this possible, Sateliot has completed its first capital raise of 2.4 million euros ($2.7 million) contributed by the company’s founders and business angels. Sateliot is currently negotiating a financing round with several interested international funds for an amount in excess of 10 million euros ($11.25 million).

Sateliot is working with various partners to demonstrate the service and sign user agreements. Those partners include a technology laboratory in Asia and an operator in the United States with which Sateliot plans to create a consortium. The European Space Agency is providing advice on the development and execution of the project.

Sateliot believes the IoT market with satellite connectivity will offer ample potential in the coming years. According to estimates by Riot Research, this market will be worth more than 5.4 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in 2025. Forecasts also indicate that 60 billion connected objects worldwide will be reached in that year.

Sateliot’s technology is complementary for IoT operators, to whom it can offer an extension of coverage for communications services in areas such as maritime, railway, aeronautics, connected vehicles, oil and gas exploration, electrical services, critical infrastructure, agro-technology and environmental monitoring.

Sateliot will be the first satellite telecommunications operator that will provide global and continuous connectivity to all IoT elements under a 5G architecture. Thanks to a constellation of the latest generation nanosatellites, Sateliot will provide large telecommunications companies with the necessary infrastructure in areas where terrestrial technologies do not reach.

“Only 10% of the land surface has mobile coverage, the remaining 90% does not, that is where the latest generation infrastructure of Sateliot comes into play as a complement to traditional operators to make possible the hyper-connected universe of the IOT with the arrival of 5G,” company CEO Sanpera said.

Rocket Lab has announced their next Electron mission, which is scheduled to launch three weeks after their most recent mission in a demo of the company’s rapid launch capability.

The mission, ‘Pics Or It Didn’t Happen,’ is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 Pad A on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula no earlier than July 3, 2020, UTC — just days after the successful launch of Rocket Lab’s most recent mission, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now,’ on June 13, 2020, UTC. The back-to-back missions will represent Rocket Lab’s fastest turnaround between missions to date.

‘Pics Or It Didn’t Happen’ will deploy seven smallsats to a 500 km circular LEO for a range of customers that include Spaceflight Inc.’s customer Canon Electronics as well as Planet and In-Space Missions.

The primary payload aboard this mission, Canon Electronics Inc.’s CE-SAT-IB, was procured by satellite rideshare and mission management provider Spaceflight Inc. The mission objective for the CE-SAT-IB satellite is to demonstrate Canon Electronics Inc.’s Earth-imaging technology with high-resolution and wide-angle cameras, as well as test the smallsat for mass production.

Photo of Canon Electronics Inc.’s CE-SAT-IB satellite
is courtesy of the company.

The next five spacecrafts manifested for this mission are the latest generation of SuperDove satellites manufactured by Planet, operator of the world’s largest constellation of EO satellites. Planet’s satellites are capable of imaging the Earth’s entire landmass on a near-daily basis. This unprecedented dataset helps researchers, students, businesses and governments discover patterns, detect early signals of change, and make timely, informed decisions. These five SuperDoves, Flock 4v, are equipped with new sensors to enable higher image quality with sharper, more vibrant colors and accurate surface reflectance values for advanced algorithms and time-series analysis.

Planet’s Dove smallsats.

The final spacecraft aboard Electron for this mission has been supplied by British small mission prime, In-Space Missions. The Faraday-1 6U cubesat is a hosted payload mission providing a low-cost route to orbit for start-ups, institutions and large corporate R&D groups.  In addition, the satellite provides a first flight demonstration of In-Space’s own software-defined payload that will enable uploadable payload capabilities on future missions.  Faraday-1 is the first flight of the Faraday service with four future satellites already under contract.

With a new Electron launch vehicle built every 18 days, Rocket Lab remains on target to deliver monthly launches for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021, including the company’s first launch from Launch Complex 2 for the U.S. Space Force in Q3 and a mission to the Moon for NASA aboard Electron and Rocket Lab’s spacecraft bus platform Photon in 2021.

Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO, said that launching the next mission so quickly after the last one demonstrates Rocket Lab’s unique capability to provide dedicated and responsive space access to small satellite customers. He noted that Rocket Lab has eliminated the smallsat waiting room for orbit and that the company has focused heavily on shoring up rapid launch capability in recent years and the firm is proud to be putting that into practice for the smallsat community with launches just days apart. Rocket Lab is excited to continue expanding the firm’s responsive space capability with this third launch pad coming online before the end of the year, as well as the continued growth of the company’s Photon satellite program that enables smallsat operators to do more, spend less and get to orbit faster.

Rocket Lab Electron Vehicle #13.
Photo is courtesy of the company.

The ESAIL satellite mounted on Arianespace’s new launch adapter.

The ESAIL smallsat for tracking ships worldwide – developed under an ESA Partnership Project – has completed its accommodation on Vega’s new dispenser for small satellites and is ready for launch.

The Vega launch campaign at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, resumed three weeks ago, following an interruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

ESAIL is due to be delivered into a SSO at an altitude of more than 500 km on Arianespace’s first Vega Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) rideshare flight. The launch will deliver seven microsatellites and 46 cubesats into orbit, using a new satellite dispenser that spreads the cost of launch between many customers.

Europe’s next Vega launch will premiere a new dispenser called the Small Spacecraft Mission Service, or SSMS. It will transport more than 50 satellites at once into orbit on the first rideshare mission dedicated to light satellites.
Image is courtesy of ESA.

The ESAIL high-performance smallsat was built by LuxSpace under an ESA Partnership Project with the Canadian operator exactEarth. The project was supported by the Luxembourg Space Agency and other ESA member states. ESA’s Partnership Projects aim to develop sustainable end-to-end systems, right up to in-orbit validation.

Smallsats on orbit artistic rendition is courtesy of LuxSpace.

ESAIL will track ships worldwide by detecting messages that ships radio-broadcast with their automatic identification systems (AIS). As part of exactEarth’s satellite-based AIS constellation, ESAIL will provide data also to the European Maritime Safety Agency for the next generation of global maritime traffic services.

Artistic rendition is courtesy of exactEarth.

ESAIL enables fisheries monitoring, fleet management, environmental protection and security monitoring for maritime and government authorities and industry – making the seas safer.

Bradford Space and ECAPS manufacture and deliver the high performance (HPGP) 1N thruster for the firm’s satellite customers’ attitude and orbit control needs.

The company has a large number of these thrusters on order, in production and at the customer. These include:

Preparatory activities for Moog’s first SL-OMV mission out of the United Kingdom with a scheduled delivery of 6 units in Q3, 2020. For more information about this mission, see Small Launch Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle will Enable UK Launched Small Satellite Missions.

SL-OMV ready to deploy six payloads to their optimal orbits.
Image is courtesy of Moog.

Procurement and manufacturing begun on 100 thrusters for Boeing.

Eight 1N HPGP High Throughput systems for the first Astranis micro-GEO mission. Targeting delivery by Q3 and ready for launch Q1, 2021 this program will feature an innovative combined HPGP / EP system.

Bradford ECAPS’s 1N HPGP Thruster.
Image is courtesy of the company.

Twelve thrusters delivered to VACCO in Q4 2019 and the latest four have been delivered in March 2020 for use on Millennium Space Systems ALTAIR spacecraft.

Millennium Space Systems
ALTAIR™ spacecraft.
Image is courtesy of NASA.

Four thrusters delivered to NanoAvionics in early May 2020.

The NanoAvionics smallsat bus.
Image is courtesy of the company.

A double-capacity SkySat-like system is being engineered and built at Bradford Space in the Netherlands for York Space Systems, US, with a scheduled delivery in Q2, 2021.

SkySat Systems Ready for Launch
The Bradford ECAPS propulsion systems for SkySats 16 – 18 are fueled and ready for lift-off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station USA onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 8 mission. Three other systems, for SkySats 19 – 21, will be launched later this summer on another SpaceX Falcon 9. For more details on this SkySat Block 3 mission go to Planet’s announcement SkySats 16-21 To Launch On SpaceX Falcon 9 Rideshare Missions.

Artistic rendition of Planet’s SkySats on-orbit.
Image is courtesy of the company.

The SkySat propulsion is a highly compact system originally designed by ECAPS for Skybox Imaging, now Planet. The SkySat spacecraft are powered by four 1N HPGP thrusters and ADN propellant, providing the highest performance in the liquid monopropellant market.

To date, 19 propulsion systems have been delivered to Planet of which 13 have been successfully deployed and are operating in orbit. Earlier successful launches in this series are:

• SkySat 3 – Launched in June 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre,
  India (Antrix’s PSLV, C-34)
• SkySats 4-7 – Launched in September 2016 from Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana (Arianespace’s Vega, 007)
• SkySats 8-13 – Launched in October 2017 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA (Orbital ATK’s Minotaur-C, 010)
• SkySats 14-15 – Launched in December 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA (SpaceX’s Falcon 9, 064)

Other Upcoming Missions Equipped with ECAPS Thrusters

• The Astroscale ELSA-d, launching in October 2020 (TBC), will have eight 1N HPGP thrusters
• Fueling of the ArgoMoon subsystem, built by VACCO and powered by one ECAPS 100mN thruster with ADN propellant, is scheduled to be “fueled at the factory” at one of the ECAPS facilities in Sweden in Q4, 2020
• One tailored SkySat system, comprising four ECAPS 1N HPGP thrusters on the Blue Canyon Tetra-3 mission for launch in Q1, 2021

5N and 22N HPGP Thruster Development
These larger thrusters, designed for attitude, trajectory and orbit control on small, medium and larger satellites, are in development and almost ready for production. ECAPS is working with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to characterize the performance of each system for use on future NASA observatory and/or interplanetary missions. The 22N is on track to be flight qualified by the end of this year, and the 5N will be fully qualified by early 2021.

Spaceflight Inc. has been acquired by Mitsui & Co., Ltd., in partnership with Yamasa Co., Ltd. — this acquisition is now complete with the final review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In February 2020, Spaceflight’s parent company, Spaceflight Industries, announced it had signed an agreement with the Japanese companies for the sale of the launch service provider, pending the CFIUS review. The review was completes in April and the acquisition finalized on June 12, 2020. Mitsui & Co. and Yamasa will have 50/50 joint venture ownership in Spaceflight, but the launch service provider will continue to operate as a privately held, independent U.S.-based company.

The acquisition is a unique opportunity for Spaceflight to further invest and expand its commercial and government rideshare launch services while Mitsui & Co. expands its portfolio to offer space services.

Since its founding in 2013, Spaceflight has launched a record-setting 271 satellites via 29 rocket launches, establishing itself as the leading rideshare service provider. The company offers comprehensive launch and integration services across a global portfolio of vehicles, including Falcon 9, PSLV, SSLV, Electron, Antares, and Vega.

Spaceflight successfully executed nine missions in 2019, the most rideshare launches the company has performed in one year, with four launches spanning 16 days across three continents. In 2018, Spaceflight executed its historic dedicated rideshare mission, SSO-A, which deployed 64 satellites from 17 different countries from a Falcon 9. The company also completed the first-ever rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) in 2019, launching the first privately funded lunar lander.

Spaceflight headquarters will remain in Seattle with Blake continuing to serve as the CEO and President, reporting to a newly formed board of directors established with a majority of U.S.-based persons.

Curt Blake, the CEO and President of Spaceflight, said the completion of this deal is an exciting step for Spaceflight. Joining the high-growth Mitsui & Co. portfolio positions Spaceflight to deliver and expand on the comprehensive launch services the company offers. The firm is exploring the development of new, standardized, deployment systems, new digital initiatives, and other programs that further help the company’s customers reliably and affordably access space, in the most flexible way possible. Spaceflight’s biggest priority, as always, is ensuring all customers are fully supported through this transition and the necessary steps are being taken to establish infrastructure to meet their needs.

Tomohiro Musha, GM of Transportation & Machinery Business Div. IV in Mitsui & Co., added that Spaceflight has contributed significantly to the space industry, pushing boundaries and achieving great success making rideshare a credible and reliable option for smallsat launches. The acquisition of this industry leader will allow the company to expand business in exciting new ways.

Planet’s Dove smallsats.
Image is courtesy of the company.

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service, or Copernicus EMS, uses Planet data to help provide emergency response mapping services for a variety of disaster situations, ranging from geophysical and meteorological hazards to humanitarian and man-made crises.

When events occur, authorized users can alert Copernicus EMS to an emergency location, and the service provides satellite-derived products for quick and effective response. It also provides information that can aid in disaster preparedness, prevention and recovery.

Copernicus EMS is managed by the European Commission and operated by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The European Space Agency (ESA) is responsible for providing satellite data for the requested products, both from Sentinel missions and from commercial data providers. Planet and ESA entered into an agreement allowing ESA to access both PlanetScope and SkySat as one of the Copernicus Contributing Missions—with the aim of combining Planet data with information gleaned from Sentinel satellites.

As Copernicus EMS has access to Planet’s SkySat constellation—which will have increased rapid revisit capabilities due to the upcoming launch of more SkySats—the service is able to provide governments and other organizations with critical geospatial information within hours or days of a disaster, charting changes in near-real time. With access to Planet’s extensive PlanetScope and SkySat imagery archive, Copernicus EMS is also able to supply organizations with imagery of a location before an event occurs. This allows the service to provide risk and recovery maps and an early warning and monitoring component, which includes support in case of droughts, wildfires and floods.

The service connects decision-makers with the critical geoinformation they need, empowering them to assess situations with more clarity and make educated decisions.