The University of Georgia‘s Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL), located in the basement of the Physics building, is developing two satellites that will be sent into orbit to map and image oceanic and coastal ecosystems.

SSRL was created, thanks to funding from two grants for the design, integration, and testing of cubesats. These smallsats are comprised of units(U), each one under 1.33 kg and measuring 10x10x11 cm in size. Both projects, one funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) University Nanosatellite Program (UNP), and the other funded by NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP), are for building two, 3U cubesats.

The projects are supervised by Dr. David L. Cotten with physics faculty members Dr. Susanne Ullrich and Dr. William Dennis, along with 12 other faculty across five departments at UGA, creating a truly interdisciplinary group. As a result of these funding opportunities, SSRL established an official Space Act Agreement with the NASA Ames Research Center for testing of satellite components and sharing of information.

The primary scientific goals of these cubesat missions are to develop and operate the first moderate resolution coastal ecosystem and ocean color CubeSats in Georgia.

The AFRL mission, the Mapping and Ocean Color Imager (MOCI) will use an onboard RGB camera to take images from multiple perspectives to create a 3D point cloud of land features.

The NASA mission, the SPectral and Ocean Color Satellite (SPOC Sat), will generate hyperspectral moderate resolution imaging products to monitor coastal wetlands status, estuarine water quality, and near-coastal ocean productivity in compliance with some of the NASA’s strategic objectives. The designing and building of the hyperspectral imager for SPOC is being done in house and will have 60 bands to acquire image data between 400 and 850 nm. In addition, the SPOC mission has been chosen as a candidate of NASA’s eight CubeSat Launch Initiative, meaning that SPOC will be launched to the International Space Station for deployment between 2018 and 2020.

Both 3U cubesats will contain all relevant flight systems such as: S-band and UHF/VHF communications, Electrical Power Systems, an On Board Computer (OBC), Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS) with reaction wheels and sun sensors, and data storage. The two missions and the establishment of the lab have the primary goals of teaching and developing students for STEM careers by training undergraduates in a broad range of fields through hands-on, experiential learning and creating a pipeline for high school students to attend UGA through the Physics and Astronomy Department. While the majority of members in the lab are undergraduates, there are graduate students that serve as mentors. The team currently consists of 45 students from around campus.

The student groups have already been through multiple reviews with the Air Force and NASA regarding communications, engineering, orbital parameters, power specifications, data management, temperature regulation, attitude control, project management, and budgeting. The team is divided into 5 subteams: Mechanical, Electrical, Mission Operations, Research, Testing, and Lab Operations in order to address the many aspects of the missions.

The undergraduate students have also been very active in outreach activities: giving a three day workshop in SSRL with NSF-funded LISEL-B teachers to help communicate science to middle and high school students, serving as guest lecturers at Cedar Shoals High School presenting on orbital mechanics, giving four guest lectures around campus, and will be giving a series of workshops related to empowering women in STEM with Chick Tech Atlanta.

These and future projects in the lab will provide a unique opportunity to enhance the growth of UGA educational programs by exposing undergraduates to the challenges of space exploration, creating more experiential learning opportunities for classes, helping students transition into the STEM related workforce, and attracting new students to the University. More information about these projects can be found at this direct infolink…

The lab is currently equipped with a 140 sq ft clean room rated ISO 7, a 200-liter vacuum chamber capable of reaching 10-6 torr and multiple Electrostatic Discharge workstations, all of which are suitable for the integrations and testing of flight ready equipment. The lab is leading the way in developing a Small Satellite Course that will form the foundation of an aerospace-based curriculum at UGA. This program will have all levels of students from undergraduate to doctoral, with faculty based in numerous departments.

SSRL aims to teach, to develop, and to discover through undergraduate involvement. For years to come, the lab hopes to continue: teaching students how to build and use space ready equipment, developing the local community by getting local K-12 students interested in both space exploration and the University, and discovering, by using space based equipment to observe phenomenon on Earth from an orbital perspective through national funding opportunities, creating new technologies that can be used on future missions, and demonstrating how small satellite systems can make large scientific discoveries.

Article source: Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Georgia.

Exolaunch has signed a wide-ranging MOU with Germany-based launch service provider, Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA), to provide end-to-end launch services for smallsats, with Exolaunch procuring launch capacities from RFA.

Exolaunch provides launch services, mission management, and smallsat deployment systems, whose customers include startups, universities, scientific institutions, and space agencies from around the world. Since 2017, Exolaunch has helped launch nearly 100 smallsats into orbit, with 50 additional smallsats to be launched before the end of 2020.

Rocket Factory, a start-up backed by the German satellite maker OHB as a strategic investor and Venture Capital firm Apollo Capital Partners, currently is developing a launcher system called RFA One for small satellites with a payload performance of up to 300kg to low earth orbit (LEO). The first launch is scheduled for 2022. The company recently qualified the upper stage tank system during cryogenic tests and currently is preparing hot-fire tests of the main engine in Esrange, Sweden.

RFA is engaged in global, new-space, launch vehicle development, with their state-of-the-art staged-combustion engine technology. This high-performance engine technology, coupled to lowest-possible-cost production techniques, is essentially new to Europe, and through the support of OHB, RFA managed to acquire key technologies and key talent that will propel the business case of the RFA One launch vehicle to allow it to compete on a global scale.

Recently, RFA won the first round of the German micro-launcher competition of the German Space Agency DLR, which granted RFA with a letter of support to receive 500.000 € of funding within ESA’s C-STS program. In the next round of the competition, DLR and ESA will award a launch contract worth 11,000,000 euros for institutional payloads.

Executive Comments

“Exolaunch and Rocket Factory share a common mission that places the customer at the center of every launch service experience,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, Commercial Director at Exolaunch. “The agreement between our companies not only expands access to commercial space opportunities, but also reinforces Germany’s leadership position in the space industry in Europe and beyond.”

“RFA is looking forward to launching the first RFA One vehicle, using separation and payload deployment systems supplied by Exolaunch. We are optimistic that this partnership will generate a win-win situation for all parties involved, in particular our customers,” said Dr. Stefan Brieschenk, Chief Operations Officer at RFA. “This marks the beginning of a new era, where the space domain is transformed into a commercial market in Europe.”

ATLAS Space Operations has imparted that BlackSky has selected the company to provide telemetry, commanding, and data support for its fifth and sixth satellites in that firm’s high revisit, Earth imaging, satellite constellation — ATLAS is providing support through their ground station sites in Guam and Japan, using their Freedom software.

BlackSky helps organizations observe and understand global events by integrating a diverse set of sensors and data, including satellite images, to provide sensitive monitoring and alert services. On August 7th, the company launched two additional satellites (of a planned 60) into LEO.

These newest satellites provide 1 meter resolution color imagery and increases global revisit rates — already among the best in the world. These advancements will further enhance Blacksky’s access to reliable, secure, and fast space-based data, allowing them to provide improved intelligence and analysis capabilities to their customers.

ATLAS operates a global network of ground stations, powered by their Freedom platform. Freedom allows users to seamlessly integrate with ATLAS’ robust network. Through ATLAS integration, BlackSky will gain access to mission critical data, analytics, and automated scheduling — all through a single, secure VPN. This process further enables BlackSky to provide their customers with near real-time data, revisiting a single location up to six times in one day, all while retrieving secure data efficiently, safely, and reliably through Freedom.

Executive Comments

“ATLAS Space Operations is a key partner in our promise to make our customers the first to know about areas and events important to them,” said Nick Merski, VP, Space Operations. “Our companies share similar DNA which includes great people creatively solving important problems.”

“Both ATLAS and BlackSky have worked diligently to continue their work amidst the ongoing COVID-19 health emergency,” added ATLAS CEO Sean McDaniel. “ATLAS is proud to support BlackSky and the value that they deliver to the world through their mission. It is a testament to the teamwork and resiliency of both teams that this launch has gone off successfully during a global health crisis. The seamless transition by everyone involved to continue to get critical assets into space, and to retrieve consequential data for use on Earth, says a lot about the dedication and adaptability of the people working behind the scenes on these crucial projects. ATLAS stands ready to continue to provide support in whatever way is necessary.”

BlackSky has completed initial system checkouts and has begun delivering imagery from its fifth and sixth satellites, 58 hours after launch.

Taking full advantage of the advanced analytics offered by the company’s Spectra AI platform, BlackSky is now providing customers with high velocity insights that were previously unattainable.

The addition of these satellites to the BlackSky constellation increases opportunities for intraday observation of customer targets and reduces decision-making timelines. In collaboration with satellite manufacturing partner LeoStella, BlackSky has an active assembly line delivering two satellites per month.

BlackSky’s latest two satellites were launched into an inclined orbit at 1:12 a.m. EDT on August 7 via SpaceX’s Starlink mission. The satellites provide panchromatic and color imagery with sub-meter resolution. BlackSky now has six satellites on-orbit and plans to launch six, additional satellites by the end of Q1 2021, advancing the firm’s dawn-to-dusk global monitoring capability.

Executive Comment

“The rate and volume at which our customers are consuming global monitoring information is increasing dramatically,” said Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “To help customers immediately access critical information, BlackSky has developed GEOINT technologies combined with machine learning to rapidly deploy and seamlessly integrate satellites into our product suite. The speed with which we were able to reach first light, demonstrates our ability to move industry benchmarks forward so our customers are always the first to know.”

Kleos Space (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1) has announced that, as part of the expansion of the firm’s constellation, a contract has been signed with rideshare provider Spaceflight Inc. to manifest a cluster of Kleos satellites on the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that is scheduled for mid-2021.

This will be the second cluster to be launched by Kleos, following the first four Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites that are in the Sriharikota Range in India, awaiting launch on PSLV C49 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

This mission will be named Polar Vigilance Mission and is a cluster of four satellites, launching into a 500 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The Polar Vigilance Mission will enhance the company’s RF geolocation data delivered by the Kleos Scouting Mission by covering areas North and South of the Scouting Mission 37-degree inclined orbit in addition to increasing overall coverage time in the equatorial region.

Kleos’ objective is to own, launch and operate up to a maximum of 20 clusters of satellites creating a constellation that provides critical coverage for monitoring global events and key locations of interest.

The Kleos business model is to create subscription-based revenues from delivery of essential data to government and commercial entities around the globe. Kleos will be the first company to fly clusters of four satellites to accurately detect and locate the usage of the RF spectrum by legitimate and illegitimate actors.

The data is collected and downlinked from the satellites then processed through the Company’s proprietary algorithms. Once ‘packaged’ into data products and transferred to Kleos’ licensed subscribers ‘as-a-service,’ the same data can be sold unlimited times creating annuity type revenues.

Kleos will ultimately aim to provide refresh rates of near real-time which will require a small constellation of no more than 20 satellite clusters delivering highly useful operational capability. The timeline for building up to a constellation will be driven by customer demand, i.e., required revisit times or geographic areas of interest.

Executive Comment

Andy Bowyer, CEO of Kleos, said, “Our vision is to deliver a trustworthy, cost effective, reconnaissance data product with revisit rates that will help disrupt illegal activities, protect borders and save lives. The launch of the Polar Vigilance Mission means we take another step on that journey, collecting more data, over new areas opening additional markets whilst also providing a higher value product for our existing customer base.”

Recent Kleos Space news…

Kleos Space Receives Financial Commitments

Kleos Space SDR Payload for In-Space Missions Faraday-1 Smallsat

Rocket Lab has welcomed a new member to the firm’s Board of Directors, former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffin.

Griffin joins Rocket Lab’s board with more than 35 years of space industry experience spanning roles in the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the commercial sector. Prior to joining Rocket Lab’s board, Griffin served as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, overseeing the establishment of the Space Development Agency (SDA). In this role he was responsible for research, development, and prototyping activities across the DoD enterprise, mandated with ensuring technological superiority for the Department of Defense.

He also oversaw the activities of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Strategic Capabilities Office, the DoD Laboratory enterprise, and the Under Secretariate staff focused on developing advanced technology and capability for the U.S. military. Griffin also served as the 11th NASA Administrator, a role in which he initiated the first development of commercial cargo delivery service to Earth orbit in the agency’s history.

Griffin previously held numerous executive positions in industry, including President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel, CEO of Magellan Systems, and EVP/General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group. He also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schafer Corporation, a professional services provider in the national security sector.

He has also served as the King-McDonald Eminent Scholar and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and as the Space Department Head at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Today, Griffin serves as Co-President and Co-Founder of LogiQ, Inc., a company providing high-end management, scientific, and technical consulting services.

Griffin joins existing Rocket Lab board members Sven Strohband of Khosla Ventures, David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners, Matt Ocko of DCVC (Data Collective), and Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck.

Executive Comments

“We are honored to welcome Mike to Rocket Lab’s board of directors,” said Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Peter Beck. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from the civil, defense, and commercial space sectors that will be invaluable to our team as Rocket Lab continues to grow and meet the ever-evolving launch and space systems needs of the national security community and commercial sectors alike.”

“Rocket Lab has established itself as the leader in dedicated small satellite launch, and it’s a privilege to be joining the board at an exciting time for the business as it continues to increase launch cadence and expand into satellite manufacturing and operations,” said Griffin. “Space continues to be a highly contested domain crucial to our national security, and it’s also a domain that presents significant commercial opportunity. The Rocket Lab team has a proven track record of executing on a clear vision to make space accessible to these diverse communities, and I look forward to supporting that vision.”

Note: Watch the Satnews Perspective’s interview video of Peter Beck at this direct link…

Rydberg Vacuum Sciences (RVS) have joined the Orbital Transports partner network and will offer their 6UB and 6UC Thermal Vacuum Systems product line in the Space Catalog.

RVS Thermal Vacuum Systems provides space simulation systems of exceptional value for flight qualification of small satellites and components. The advanced and affordable thermal vacuum bake-out and thermal vacuum cycling products are designed specifically for the small satellite community, providing a standard test platform sufficient for nanosatellites up to 6U in size.

Executive Comment

“RVS knows that Thermal Vacuum Testing is the last thing you want to worry about as your launch date approaches,” said Joshua Gurian, President of RVS. “Our line of small satellite test systems can provide you with drop-in-place solutions for compliance with GSFC-STD-7000 or MIL-STD-1540 test standards.”

Also joining Orbital Transports’ Space Catalog is Alén Space and the company will make its smallsat products available through this channel. Alén Space provides ready-to-launch hardware and software solutions supporting satellite-based communications for Internet of Things, asset tracking, and signals intelligence.

Executive Comment

“We keep expanding beyond Spain and Europe. The Space Catalog will help us extend our reach globally,” stated Guillermo Lamelas, Alén’s CEO. “We are eager to work with Orbital Transports to connect with new customers and partners.”

The Space Catalog is Orbital Transports’ digital portal for the smallsat industry showcasing some of the industry’s most innovative and reliable companies. Featuring smallsat buses, COTS hardware components, ground station services and mission operations software, orbital transfer services, hosted payloads, and satellite servicing and refueling technologies, the Space Catalog provides a convenient go-to resource to check out the latest and greatest that the smallsat industry has to offer.