News

Get SAT and Hellas Sat have successfully demonstrated SATCOM capabilities on Hellas Sat’s network.

Hellas Sat and GetSAT’s partnership offers significant capability enhancements on Hellas Sat 4 satellite, with coverage over Europe, the Middle East and Southern Africa.

Using Get SAT’s MilliSAT-W terminal installed at Hellas Sat’s Kofinou, Cyprus, Earth Station and the Hellas Sat 4 Ku-Band satellite located at 39°E, the companies created a powerful comms link that exceeded expected parameters.

The satellite, which began commercial operations in Q3 2019, meets the growing capacity demand for applications including video, maritime connectivity, cellular backhaul, corporate networks and government services.

Artistic rendition of a Hellas Sat member of the firm’s constellation. Image is courtesy of the company.

Get SAT terminals provide highly versatile, mobile solutions for applications requiring smaller terminals. As the leading provider of new generation micronized terminals, they set new standards for lightweight, small-sized and low power consumption communication devices.

Their fast-tracking technologies, using a miniaturized interlaced flat panel antenna that combines receive and transmit elements and moves at speeds of 200 degrees per second, enable quick and easy access to broadband services.

Ilias Tsakalis, COO of Hellas Sat, stated that the company is proud to enhance Hellas Sat 4’s Ku-band capabilities via Get SAT’s terminals to our customers, including those requiring SATCOM-On-The-Move (SOTM). By expanding options for the customers’ applications, the company more closely aligns to their growing businesses and adds more capacity for their needs.

Kfir Benjamin, Get SAT CEO, added that Hellas Sat 4’s Ku-band has allowed the firm to fully demonstrate the capability of Get SAT’s exciting technologies. The cooperation between Get SAT and Hellas Sat technologies supports high data rates, adds value for their customers and enables us to pursue new potential users.

Kinéis has reached its capital-raising target of 100 million euros.

CLS, CNES, Bpifrance via the fund for Industrial Project Companies (SPI), financed by the ‘Investments for the Future’ Program and the European Investment Bank, Ifremer, Thales, CELAD, BNP Paribas Développement, HEMERIA and other industrial and financial partners are investing in and supporting Kinéis’ ambition to provide universal satellite connectivity.

Twenty-five smallsats will be added to complement the service which has been provided by the Argos system to scientific and environmental communities for more than 40 years. Kinéis will also develop its activity in the new markets opened up by the IoT.

Kinéis has completed an historic capital-raising campaign, established strategic commercial partnerships with Bouygues Telecom, Suez, the Wize Alliance and Arribada and filled their order book. This new French global connectivity provider, which already has eight operational satellites, has now become the first IoT satellite connectivity player to finance its development, from the construction of the firm’s constellation to the launch of its 25 nanosatellites, scheduled for 2022, and the development of its ground segment.

This young company is fulfilling its financial and industrial promises as well as their commercial and partnership commitments and is aiming to take their place in the NewSpace landscape.

Alexandre Tisserant

Alexandre Tisserant, who was appointed President of Kinéis, said the company is proud to have reached this major milestone. With the funds needed to launch the company’s constellation, the firm is now free to focus entirely on satellite manufacturing and commercial deployment. The unfailing support of CNES, the French space agency, underlines the project’s importance and signals that we are benefiting from major technical support.

The Kinéis constellation already consists of Argos operational payloads on seven satellites and a prototype nanosatellite, ANGELS, which was placed into orbit on December 18 last year. France’s first industrial nanosatellite, developed with the support of CNES and operated from the Toulouse Space Centre, carries technology similar to that of Kinéis.

Artistic rendition of the ANGELS smallsat. Image is courtesy of David Ducros.

The company stated that this launch and the first successful reception of messages bodes well for the future Kinéis system, which is being developed by the same industrial team: Thales Alenia Space (architect of the system, which is in charge of the development of payloads with Syrlinks, and which is responsible for ground stations and the mission control centre) and HEMERIA (which is responsible for the satellite platforms and integration).

The project is intended to be exemplary regarding environmental issues in that it uses smallsats which, in addition to complying with France’s Space Operations Act, are intended to avoid space debris. The Kinéis satellites, weighing less than 30 kg., will be equipped with an electric propulsion system that will secure end-of-life de-orbiting and enable collision-avoidance capabilities.

Thirty-four satellites for the OneWeb constellation are ready for launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. 7

The satellites, which arrived in two shipments that included one last week, have been tested and have now been fitted into the dispenser of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket. OneWeb’s upcoming launch of these satellites has been scheduled for Thursday, February 6, at 21:42 (GMT) / Friday, February7, at 02:42 (local time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The satellites, which are manufactured at 1/50th of the cost of a traditional spacecraft, are all fitted with plasma thrusters that enable them to reach their correct position in LEO at 1,200 km.

The flight readiness team at Baikonur with the OneWeb satellites.

Photo is courtesy of the company.

The OneWeb constellation will provide global connectivity with an initial 650 satellites. OneWeb’s mission is to provide affordable, high-speed internet connectivity everywhere for everyone, by 2021. After this first launch from Baikonur, OneWeb is planning to launch around 30 satellites via Soyuz rockets every month.

Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Airbus Space Systems, stated that this launch will be a massive step forward for OneWeb – one step closer to the ambition of improving global connectivity. These 34 satellites will join the six that are currently flawlessly operating on-orbit. The company’s joint venture OneWeb Satellites produces two satellites a day.

Tony Gingiss, CEO, OneWeb Satellites, said watching the first batch of the firm’s factory-built satellites launch from the Soyuz will be the realization of a four-year journey… and just the beginning. OneWeb Satellites’ factory continues to ramp up and streamline the production to deliver the next batch… and the next… and the next…

Space Flight Laboratory’s (SFL) expertise has been enlisted by Kepler Communications to design and build Kepler’s first operational nano satellite that will be the beginning of a constellation of communications satellites. In addition, SFL will assist Kepler in establishing a production facility in Toronto where nanosatellites will be mass produced based on the design of this first satellite by SFL. 

As the first operational satellite is developed, SFL personnel will provide training and technical support to Kepler as it creates a manufacturing workflow capable of assembling and integrating the additional operational nanosatellites. This mass production will occur in a 5,000-square-foot facility Kepler has built at its headquarters in Toronto, which will enable Kepler to build and maintain its planned constellation of 140 satellites.

SFL currently is exhibiting in Booth 17 at SmallSat Symposium 2020 from February 3-6 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Working with Kepler on design specifications, SFL is developing a new 6U-XL nanosatellite platform tailored to accommodate the communications payload. The operational nanosatellites, referred to by Kepler as its Gen1 cluster, will incorporate significant upgrades from the demonstration satellites and offer higher data capacities. Established in 1998, SFL has built more than 25 distinct nano- and microsatellites with over 115 cumulative years of successful operation in orbit.

Kepler Communications’ headquarters is in Toronto, where for more than 21 years the company has developed next-generation satellite communication technologies and provides global data backhaul services for wideband and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. With two demonstration satellites in orbit and another planned for launch this year, Kepler specializes in providing affordable high-capacity connectivity to underserved geographic areas.

SFL Director Dr. Robert E. Zee stated that their collaboration with Kepler is an excellent example of how a microspace company can support the business model of a newspace organization. Kepler is able to leverage the extensive design expertise, heritage, and on-orbit performance of SFL and combine that with the cost benefits of inhouse manufacturing.

Kepler’s CEO and co-founder Mina Mitry added that SFL’s abundant experience and heritage in the small satellite industry lends them confidence in the new developments and allows them to establish a baseline of technical credibility and assurance for the spacecraft that they can continue to build upon in the years ahead.

Dr. Zee continued that they are designing the Gen1 cluster with the reliability, performance, and capabilities needed to meet the demands of fully commercial operations and the newspace business model.

Drew Klein, the VP for C-COM Satellite Systems, will be participating in the Ground Equipment Innovations panel on Wednesday, February 5th, starting at 10:15 a.m. at the SmallSat Symposium now underway at The Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, California

C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures mobile, auto-deploy, motorized antenna systems for the delivery of broadband internet to any location via satellite. The company manufactures their iNetVu® brand in Driveaway (vehicle mount), Flyaway (transportable), Manpack (backpack) and FMA (fixed motorized) format.

With more than 8,500 systems deployed in over 100 countries, C-COM is a leader in commercial grade mobile antenna sales.

Momentus has been awarded of a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to accelerate innovations for in-space transportation services and satellite upper stage technologies.

The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the SBIR process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants and decrease bureaucratic overhead. Beginning in SBIR 18.2, and now in 19.3, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has begun offering “Special” SBIR topics that are faster, leaner and open to a broader range of innovations.

A graduate of the prestigious Y Combinator program, and based in Santa Clara, California, Momentus raised $40M of equity funding, including a $25.5M Series A in 2019. Momentus has created new patent-pending and proprietary technologies, including a water plasma propulsion system that eliminates HAZMAT concerns and provides rapid, affordable, and revolutionary launch deployment technologies and in-space shuttle services. A 16U demonstration mission, “El Camino Real”, was launched and tested in 2019. Two demo missions of the Vigoride transfer vehicle will fly in 2020, paving the way for commercial mission beginning in 2021 onward.

Mikhail Kokorich, CEO of Momentus, stated that the company is honored to have been selected by the U.S. Air Force for this SBIR 19.3 award. By partnering with the Air Force through the SBIR program, Momentus can bring unique in-space transportation solutions to the Air Force for faster deployment of new missions and new ways to improve space resiliency and space access. The company’s Phase I study will identify Air Force missions where Momentus’ space vehicles can be used to transport satellites to unique and/or more precise orbits.

Rocket Lab announced their first flight for the new year. They are targeting the launch no earlier than 12:00 am, Friday, January 31, UTC for the launch of ‘Birds of a Feather’, a dedicated launch for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Rocket Lab’s first launch of 2020. 

The launch will take place from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. 

A four hour window has been allocated for launch. 

Launch Window Timezone Conversion: 

• UTC: 00:00 – 04:00 (31 Jan)
• NZDT: 13:00 – 17:00 (31 Jan)
• PST: 16:00 – 20:00 (30 Jan)
• EDT: 19:00 – 23:00 (30 Jan)

If Rocket Lab needs to stand down from launch for any reason, they have back-up launch days available through February 13. 

Birds Of A Feather is a dedicated mission for the NRO. It is Rocket Lab’s 11th mission overall, and the first Electron launch of 2020. The NRO competitively awarded the contract under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract vehicle, which allows the NRO to explore new launch opportunities that can provide a streamlined, commercial approach for getting small satellites into space.

For this mission, they’ll once again be attempting a guided re-entry of Electron’s first stage through Earth’s atmosphere — a successful maneuver they achieved during their most recent mission, Running Out Of Fingers, in December 2019.

A reaction control system on the booster will orient the first stage 180-degrees during its atmospheric re-entry, to better enable it to survive incredible heat and pressure during its descent. For this mission, a camera on stage one will attempt to document the re-entry view.
This view will be available during the launch webcast, however a telemetry dropout is expected at approx. 30km altitude, resulting in an anticipated loss of video. Other aspects designed to support recovery efforts on this mission include updated guidance and navigation systems, including S-band telemetry and onboard flight computer systems, to gather and transmit data throughout the first stage’s descent.

You can find more information about the mission in the press kit attached and at: www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/
Watch Live:
A live webcast will be available approximately 15-20 minutes prior to the target T-0 time at www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream. 

The mission will demonstrate Rocket Lab’s unique capability to provide frequent and rapidly-acquired launch opportunities for U.S. government small satellite missions 

The NRO competitively awarded the contract under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract vehicle. RASR allows the NRO to explore new launch opportunities that can provide a streamlined, commercial approach for getting small satellites into space.

Rocket Lab’s Senior Vice President – Global Launch Services, Lars Hoffman, says the Electron vehicle is uniquely placed to deliver the kind of frequent, rapidly-acquired launch opportunities required by the NRO and other government agencies to ensure resiliency in space.

Mr. Hoffman says said that they are honored the NRO has selected Rocket Lab as the launch provider for this dedicated mission. The Electron launch vehicle is perfectly positioned to provide the kind of rapid and responsive access to space that puts the NRO in complete control over their own launch schedule and orbital requirements. As the industry shifts toward the disaggregation of large, geostationary spacecraft, Electron enables unprecedented access to space to support a resilient layer of government small satellite infrastructure.”

Rocket Lab has been launching to orbit since January 2018 and is now the world’s leading dedicated small satellite launch provider. Rocket Lab remains the only launch provider capable of meeting the rapid-acquisition and launch requirements of dedicated small satellite missions for the U.S. government. Rocket Lab has delivered 47 satellites to orbit on the Electron launch vehicle, enabling operations in space debris mitigation, Earth observation, ship and airplane tracking, and radio communications

OneWeb has confirmed the company’s upcoming launch of 34 satellites for Thursday, February 6, at 2142 (GMT) / Friday February 7 0242 (local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

This event marks the start of a regular launch campaign during 2020 that will rapidly grow OneWeb’s first phase constellation of 648 satellites and represents one of the largest civilian satellite launch campaigns in history. Each satellite forms an integral part of the high-speed global satellite broadband network and together will activate OneWeb’s first customer demos by the end of 2020 to provide full commercial global services for sectors such as maritime, aviation, government and enterprise in 2021.

In this first OneWeb launch of 2020, 34 satellites will be aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle. Arianespace will perform the launch, which will place the satellites into a near polar orbit at an initial altitude of 450 kilometers from where they will rise to their final orbit of 1,200 kilometers and form part of OneWeb’s global communications network. All the satellites are manufactured by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space.

OneWeb has selected the theme Space for Everyone for the first launch of its 2020 Launch Program, showing how Space is becoming more relevant to everyday life as an important source of connectivity. In collaboration with governments, investors and distribution partners, OneWeb will bring its customers a new experience of connectivity together with social, educational and sustainability benefits. OneWeb’s vision is to see every school connected and it continues to be committed to tackling the digital divide that exists between the connected and unconnected.

Follow #OneWebLaunch on OneWeb social media channels: YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

Webcast For live transmission of the launch (with English commentary) go to: www.oneweb.world or OneWeb on YouTube

Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) has delivered the first mesh network inter-satellite crosslink solution for smallsats.

TUI’s SWIFT-LINQ™ network is a software ‘app’ that runs on TUI’s SWIFT® flight-heritage software defined radios to connect satellite constellations, clusters, and formations together with a resilient, adaptable mesh network.  SWIFT-LINQ supports standard TCP/IP protocols to enable seamless, straightforward data transfer between satellites.

TUI’s SWIFT-LINQ network enables smallsats to easily share data and resources.

Image is courtesy of the company.

Satellites connected via SWIFT-LINQ can share resources and data, empowering groups of low-cost small satellites to perform missions that traditionally would have required large, very expensive satellites.  TUI delivered the SWIFT-LINQ app to a confidential customer, loaded on three S-band SWIFT radios that will fly on a trio of small satellites scheduled for launch in 2020.

The SWIFT-LINQ mesh networking functionality supports communications resiliency for satellites. With SWIFT-LINQ, each satellite becomes a node in the network, with a unique IP address. Satellites that are out of range of one another can use other satellites to bridge together and continue communicating and sharing data with one another.

Additionally, the mesh network adapts to changing conditions, such as when satellites come in and out of range, automatically rerouting traffic to ensure timely data delivery. Unlike traditional satellite communications that require a direct link with a ground antenna to communicate, SWIFT-LINQ can provide redundant communications paths and act as a data relay to extend ground contact windows.  SWIFT-LINQ uses TCP/IP and UDP/IP protocols to route information from one node to the next, making satellite interconnectivity as easy as connecting a laptop to WIFI. All messages are secured with encryption to ensure only the proper node gets the correct information.

Dr. Rob Hoyt, TUI’s CEO, stated that now that the SWIFT Software Defined Radio is mature and demonstrated on-orbit, the company is building out a family of ‘apps’ that will increase the utility of the platform to satellite operators as well as enable the firm to roll out new services for resilient, secure, and efficient satellite communications. The recently-delivered solution will connect three satellites into a mesh network with data transfer at rates of 48 kbps and work is underway to enable future SWIFT-LINQ systems to network together hundreds of satellites, UAVs, and ground systems.

TUI GM, Seckin Secilmis, added that the company is upgrading the system to even higher speeds and deliver even more capability. The modern smart phone had to start somewhere and these humble beginnings are a very necessary step to allowing the company to understand the interactions between wirelessly connected nodes in space.