Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) has partnered with Georgia Tech (Georgia Institute of Technology) to develop Monolithic Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) devices using silicon-germanium semiconductor hybrid material for its next generation of commercial Earth Observation (EO) radiometry instruments.

Working closely with the University’s Silicon-Germanium Devices and Circuits group, led by Professor John D. Cressler, OMS anticipates the single-chip solution will dramatically reduce the weight, size, and power consumption of its satellite-based instruments while taking advantage of the inherent radiation tolerance of silicon-germanium devices. Dr. Cressler is a renowned expert on silicon-germanium design and is the Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics and Ken Byers Teaching Fellow in Science and Religion in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Proprietary microwave sensor satellites.

OMS brings decades of successful design and miniaturization of microwave radiometers to the effort. The company’s recent launch of the first satellite in its Global Earth Monitoring System (GEMS) constellation employs the current generation of miniaturized instruments.

The GEMS constellation is planned to incorporate some 48 satellites operating in LEO gathering global temperature, humidity, and precipitation data. When fully complemented, the satellites will provide observations at a 15-minute revisit rate — a dramatic improvement over the infrequent observations from large government-owned weather satellites. Delivering more dense weather data to commercial and government customers through the International Center for Earth Data (ICED), OMS will address unmet needs in multiple areas including safety, security, and prosperity, as well as commercial transportation, insurance, and agriculture markets.

Michael Hurowitz, CTO for OMS, said that designing instruments for use in key weather and climate observations requires the firm to continuously innovate to achieve state-of-the-art capabilities while simultaneously optimizing for size, weight, power, cost, resiliency, reliability, sensitivity, and resolution. Working with esteemed colleagues at Georgia Tech will accelerate the company’s EO constellation mission and ultimately enable better weather and climate data collection for every point on the globe.

Dr. Cressler noted that the Georgia Tech team is delighted to support OMS’ mission to substantially improve the quality and frequency of EO data for government and commercial stakeholders, hopefully impacting hundreds of millions of lives around the globe.

The long wait finally came to an end for faculty and researchers in the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Space Systems Academic Group (SSAG).

Following several external delays to a launch that was originally scheduled for September of 2016, the university’s own NPSAT-1 was launched and deployed into a 720 km. orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 25, from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Space Systems Academic Group Chair Dr. Rudy Panholzer, left, and Research Associate Dan Sakoda stand near one of several structural pieces to NPSAT1 in the university’s clean room in Bullard Hall, January 11.

The satellite is the product of years of student and faculty research and will carry several experiments from both NPS and the Naval Research Laboratory into orbit when it launches later this year.

The mission was slated to be the “most difficult” undertaking by the Falcon Heavy to date, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during an interview prior to Tuesday’s spectacular night-time launch. The mission called for the release of 24 satellites during three individual deployment stages… each stage separated by a burn of the Heavy’s thruster.

Overall, the mission proved to be largely successful, especially for the NPS team who watched NPSAT-1 successfully release from the SpaceX craft and enter into its orbit within seconds of its planned deployment. Like much of the research at NPS, the satellite is ultimately about student experimentation and study. Over the course of the craft’s development, NPSAT-1 supported well over 40 student theses, noted SSAG engineer Dan Sakoda, with countless more students contributing via directed study.

On board NPSAT-1 are experiments developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to investigate space weather and support space situational awareness (SSA), including ionospheric electron density structures that cause radio scintillations impacting communications and navigation.

At the Advanced Television infosite, journalist Chris Forrester reports that Amazon has confirmed the company wants to launch 3,236 satellites into space.

Amazon’s ‘Project Kuiper’ has already received plenty of speculation, but now the Jeff Bezos-backed business has formally asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve the scheme, and to permit frequencies to be used.

Amazon used a July 4 filing to the FCC to specify that it wanted to fly the mega-constellation at heights of between 590-630 kms. and said that the system would offer fixed broadband communications to rural and hard-to-reach areas. Kuiper would also offer “high-throughput mobile broadband connectivity services for aircraft, maritime vessels, and land vehicles,” stated the filing.

Journalist
Chris Forrester.

According to the application, which is unlikely to be rejected, there are still 21 million Americans who lack fixed, residential broadband and 33 million who do not have access to a speedy cellular service.

Amazon has also sought similar recognition for Project Kuiper from the ITU.

As yet, there is no commitment as to who might build the satellites, although it is assumed by most that Bezos will use his Blue Origin fleet of rockets to launch the constellation into orbit.

NSLComm‘s first satellite, NSLSat-1, is “go-for-launch” and has been successfully installed on the payload of the Soyuz launch vehicle that will take it into space. The launch is set for 1:42 AM ET on July 5 at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Far-Eastern Russia.

The company is pioneering privately-backed spaceflight and has designed fabric-like, flexible dish antennas that expand in space to offer high-throughput communications for smallsats that is up to 100 times faster than that of today’s best performing smaller satellites, while also offering substantial cost savings (around 10 times) for larger satellites.

Artistic rendition of NSLSat-1 on-orbit.

The technology permits antennas to be stowed during launch in a compact volume and deploy while in orbit, saving mass, volume, and supporting structures. Post deployment, the antenna has an innovative “smart” subreflector, the FlexoSub, enabling the antenna to compensate for any reflector shape imperfections and change ground patterns while on the fly.

According to the company, this technology is the only solution that can bring high-speed broadband connectivity to and from small terminals, allowing for a full array of applications around IoT and sensors, in areas such as agriculture, mining, oil & gas, shipping, government and more. The technology can also support large pipes of data for internet and video at costs that are significantly lower than current satellite communication technology offers.

The 3D model of NSLsat-1 (created by AOF-Maquettes.

The company is initially targeting the government, IoT and high-throughput and trunking markets, worth an estimated $50 billion annually. Once in space, NSLSat-1 will be tested with a number of tier-one partners from across the automotive, telecom and travel industries. Several weeks ago, NSLComm signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services for the use of AWS Ground Station, a network of ground stations for satellites.

NSLComm, in cooperation with its partners, expects to launch 30 satellites by 2021 and hundreds by 2023, enabling its network of nano-satellites to provide a high-speed worldwide communications for its customers network via an orbiting constellation.

NSLComm’s investors include Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), OurCrowd, Cockpit Innovation and Liberty Technology Venture Capital. The company is also supported by the Israel Space Agency and Kodem Growth Partners in New York City.

Raz Itzhaki, Co-Founder and CEO of NSLComm, said the launch of NSLSat-1 is a significant achievement for the company and what the firm believes to be a watershed moment for the entire satellite industry. NSLComm’s technology represents one of the biggest leaps in satellite antenna performance-to-weight ratios and, with this launch, the firm is on a mission to prove that high-speed satellite communications can be done faster, cheaper and more effectively than it has been to date.

Yoav Tzruya, General Partner at JVP, said NSLComm is changing the satellite communication market in a meaningful manner, providing two to three orders of magnitude improvement in cost per bandwidth, and unlocking a myriad of new applications for several multi-billion dollar markets.

Avi Blasberger, Director of the Israel Space Agency, added that the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Science & Technology supports innovative startup companies with cutting edge technology in order to increase their competitive capacity and to expand the Israel space ecosystem.

Khalifa University of Science and Technology students were celebrating with the welcome news that their second CubeSat development program, MYSAT-2, has completed its critical design review (CDR), achieving a key milestone for the university’s Space Systems and Technology Master’s Concentration program. Once launched, MYSAT-2 will test student developed algorithms to determine the CubeSat’s orientation in space; estimated to be 15 percent to 20 percent more power-efficient. The program aims to equip Emirati engineers with theoretical and technical skills to advance the UAE’s space agenda.

The program is supported by Al Yah Satellite Communications (Yahsat), a global satellite operator based in the United Arab Emirates and wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and global aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman.

MYSAT-2 is the second nano-satellite developed by the students of Khalifa University within the institution’s Yahsat Space Lab. The MYSAT-2 project enables students to expand their knowledge and technical capabilities in all phases of satellite development, operation, and exploitation through practical research and development.

Designed and built by a team of nine students pursuing a Master’s degree with Space Systems and Technology Concentration, MYSAT-2 features significant upgrades from MYSAT-1. Its primary mission is to enable students to design, implement, and test new Attitude Determination and Control (ADC) Algorithms, developed by the Khalifa University students. The algorithms help determine a CubeSat’s orientation in space, and are estimated to be 15 to 20 percent more power-efficient, in comparison with similar algorithms implemented on other spacecrafts. If successful, the new algorithms will establish the UAE as a contributor to the global space industry.

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi,  Exec. VP of Khalifa University of Science Technology

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University commented that the successful completion of critical design review signifies another momentous occasion in the development of MYSAT-2 by their Space Systems and Technology Concentration students at the Yahsat Space Lab, with support from Northrop Grumman and Yahsat. They believe, like its predecessor, MYSAT-2 will represent their contribution to the UAE’s commitment to developing indigenous aerospace scientists, while establishing their students’ contributions to developing energy-efficient algorithms that determine the CubeSat’s orientation in space. This will help Khalifa University develop next generation satellites even more efficiently, and market the software systems to other satellite developers.

Mona Al Muhairi, Chief Human Capital Officer at Yahsat

Mona Al Muhairi, Chief Human Capital Officer at Yahsat added that MYSAT-2’s critical design review is a milestone for Yahsat Space Lab and the CubeSat program. Working alongside Khalifa University and Northrop Grumman to support the program, Yahsat aims to equip the rising generation with the skills they need to advance the UAE’s space agenda. Our focus now turns to the next stages of the program and the launch of MYSAT-2, which promises to be another leap forward for the UAE’s space ambitions. 

Frank DeMauro, VP and Gen Manager, Space Systems, Northrop Grumman

Frank DeMauro, Vice-President and General Manager, Space Systems, Northrop Grumman said MYSAT-2, the second satellite from their joint collaboration with Khalifa University and Yahsat, promises to open up new research avenues in spacecraft attitude control. The company congratulates the Khalifa University students in reaching the important milestone of the Critical Design Review and look forward to working with them as they prepare the satellite for a launch on the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in 2020.

The CDR review panel included experts from Yahsat, Khalifa University, and Northrop Grumman. The collaborative review panel assessed the program’s readiness and confirmed that the technical efforts are on track to proceed into fabrication, demonstration, and testing, with performance requirements being met, on budget and on schedule. Full-scale fabrication of MYSAT-2 will now begin with several intermediate internal reviews, including a software demonstration, and the flight readiness review.

MYSAT-1, the first CubeSat developed by Khalifa University students, has successfully captured an image of earth earlier in March, following its launch to space in November 2018.

Located at Khalifa University, the Yahsat Space Lab was launched through a collaboration between Yahsat, Khalifa University, and Northrop Grumman to complement the jointly established Space Systems and Technology Concentration program, providing high-end facilities that enable students to conceptualize, design, assemble, integrate, test, and operate nano-satellites. The lab aims to nurture the UAE’s space-literate workforce, contributing towards the nation’s growing space sector.

Exolaunch has confirmed successful payload integration for an upcoming Soyuz launch from the Vostochny launch site.

Photo is courtesy of EXOLAUNCH.

In total, Exolaunch has contracted and integrated to launch 28 commercial and educational satellites from Germany, France, the USA, Israel, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Thailand, Ecuador, the Czech Republic and Estonia. Listed below is the complete list of smallsats payloads.

The smallsats will be launched on a single mission — this will be one of the largest and most technically challenging clusters ever delivered by a single smallsat integrator. All smallsats are diverse, including 25 cubesats ranging from 0.25U to 16U, two commercial smallsats and Exolaunch’s technological payload with a new shock-free separation system.

All of the smallsats on this launch are integrated into 12U and 16U EXOpod cubesat deployers provided by Exolaunch. EXOpods have already successfully flown on multiple missions and deployed dozens of cubesats. The deployment process and sequence of cubesats will be controlled by Exolaunch’s electrical management unit EXObox to ensure safe and timely deployment.

CarboNIX, the company’s new, shock-free separation system for smallsats from 15 to 150 kg., will be qualified on this launch. CarboNIX will be widely used for the smallsat constellations deployment after successful qualification in space.

The smallsat cluster was adapted to the Fregat upper stage by NPO Lavochkin through the cluster launch contracts with Glavkosmos.

The Fregat upper stage will initially deploy the primary satellite into its dedicated orbit and then change the altitude to deploy all smallsats into two different SSOs — 580 and 530 km., followed by the upper stage de-orbit.

With more than 50 microsatellites and cubesats launched, the Exolaunch’s team looks forward to the upcoming launch of these 28 smallsats and is preparing for a number of new launch campaigns for smaller satellites later this year, throughout 2020 and beyond.

Detailed customer payloads include…

Momentus  (USA) – The “El Camino Real” mission will demonstrate key elements of Momentus’ Vigoride orbital shuttle, including microwave electrothermal plasma propulsion, power systems, avionics and sensors. To minimize cost and streamline launch process, the Vigoride pathfinder integrated inside the largest ever launched 16U cubesat structure.

Spire Global (USA) –  one of the world’s largest space to cloud analytics companies — 8 Lemur class satellites. Spire’s 3U cubesats are designed for collecting Automatic Identification ship tracking data, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast airplane tracking data and GPS Radio Occultation weather data.

NSLComm (Israel) – NSLSat-1, built by the UK’s cubesat developer Clyde Space, will deploy an expandable high-performance antenna and sub-reflector system that will demonstrate highly disruptive technology in Ka-band communications.

German Orbital Systems (Germany) – Three satellites on board, one of which, JAISAT-1, is built by the company for the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand, the other two are EXOCONNECT и D-Star ONE (LightSat). The company will serve the needs of the amateur radio community, and test in-orbit verification and demonstration of in-house developed satellite systems.

Berlin Technical University (Germany) –  Beesat-9 and Beesat-10,11,12,13 cubesats built to demonstrate communication in the UHF band and novice technologies of attitude determination.

Munich Technical University (Germany) will demonstrate their innovative cubesat bus by launching MOVE-IIb.

Tallinn Technical University (Estonia) — an educational satellite TTU101 developed to test Earth observation cameras and a novel high speed X-band communication system.

Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial (Ecuador) — a university’s mission Ecuador — UTE that will monitor space weather and conduct ionospheric research.

Royal Institute of Technology KTH (Sweden) — SEAM-2.0 scientific spacecraft for measuring the magnetic field of the Earth.

University of Montpellier (France) – MTCube satellite will be launched for the technology demonstration.

University of Wuerzburg (Germany) – SONATE, a cubesat for technology demonstration, and orbital verification of various satellite components and autonomous payloads.

SkyFox Labs (Czech Republic) – Lucky-7 cubesat will demonstrate innovative solutions for 1U cubesat platform.
   

Two European Earth Observation smallsats.

A Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 04:30 UTC, Saturday, June 29, 2019 (16:30 NZST).

The Make It Rain mission launched seven satellites to orbit for rideshare and mission management provider, Spaceflight.  

Rocket Lab successfully launches seventh Electron mission, deploys seven satellites to orbit.

Photo is courtesy of the company.

At approximately 56 minutes after lift-off, the Make It Rain payloads were successfully delivered to their precise individual orbits by Electron’s Kick Stage. Among the satellites on board were BlackSky Global-3, two U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Prometheus, and Melbourne Space Program’s ACRUX-1.

The mission was Rocket Lab’s seventh launch of an Electron rocket and the company’s third launch for 2019. The mission took the total number of satellites deployed by Rocket Lab to 35 and continues the company’s record of 100% mission success for its customers.

Rocket Lab’s next mission is yet to be announced, but is scheduled for lift-off from Launch Complex 1 in the coming weeks. Rocket Lab’s manifest is booked with monthly launches for the remainder of 2019, scaling to a launch every two weeks in 2020.

Rocket Lab Founder and CEO, Peter Beck, congratulated the teams behind the payloads on this mission for another flawless Electron launch. It’s a privilege to provide tailored and reliable access to space for small satellites like these, giving each one a smooth ride to orbit and precise deployment, even in a rideshare arrangement.

Phase Four has introduced Maxwell, the first turnkey plasma propulsion solution for smallsats.

Maxwell combines a complete propellant management system and Phase Four’s proprietary RF (radio frequency) plasma thruster into a compact form factor.

Maxwell expands what’s possible for smallsats and combines simplicity with the powerful performance of complex traditional electric engines. Maxwell eliminates bulky, high voltage components and electrodes, simultaneously reducing cost and removing supply chain barriers that have long plagued traditional satellite engines.

According to the company, Maxwell is the most powerful electric propulsion system of its size, delivering up to 10 mN of thrust and up to 1,400 s of specific impulse, with total impulse of up to 14,000 Ns. Maxwell is ideal for smallsats (20 to 500 kg.) with 300 to 500 W power budgets.

Maxwell is an instant startup propulsion unit with no delays and no need to warm and condition cathodes. Equipped with a flexible interface, Maxwell can finely tune thrust parameters on-orbit to accommodate changing mission needs.

With a full 1 kilogram tank of xenon, Maxwell weighs in at just 8.4 kilograms and takes up a modest volume of 7.5 x 7.3 x 5.3 inches. First deliveries of flight-qualified Maxwell start in 4Q19

Beau Jarvis, Phase Four CEO, said the company believes that customers shouldn’t have to decide between thrust and efficiency when it comes to propulsion. Maxwell provides the best of both worlds, delivering simple plug and play delta-V. Maxwell will enable rapid ROI for LEO smallsat constellations looking for four to six year operational lifetimes.

Airbus has enlarged their high-resolution imagery portfolio following an agreement to leverage capacity from the S1-4 satellite built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) — this new imagery offer, called Vision-1, delivers full end-to-end imaging operations to Airbus’ customers.

Photo of the SSTL S1-4 satellite is courtesy of the company.

Vision-1 provides 0.9 meter resolution imagery in the panchromatic band and 3.5 meter in the multi-spectral bands (NIR, RGB), with a 20.8 km. swath width. These specifications are ideal for defence, security and agriculture applications, while this extra revisit opportunity further strengthens Airbus’ satellite fleet.

A VisionOne image capture of Melbourne, Australia.

Image is courtesy of Airbus.

Vision-1 operations will be coordinated by Airbus in the UK, following integration into the UK Mission Operation Center, which already operates the commercial imaging of the DMC Constellation. This is an important step for UK sovereign imaging capability, adding sub-meter data to the existing UK imaging capabilities. As Vision-1 was launched in September 2018 together with NovaSAR, this opens significant opportunities for applications combining optical and radar satellite imagery.

Along with Vision-1, Airbus offers commercial access to the largest fleet of EO satellites: Pléiades, SPOT 6/7, DMC Constellation and the weather-independent radar satellites TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and PAZ.

François Lombard, Director of Intelligence Business at Airbus Defence and Space, stated that this new asset will reinforce the company’s monitoring capabilities for sub-meter imaging and feed the Airbus OneAtlas digital platform to provide increased freshness.

Please note — less than three weeks remain to take advantage of early registration incentives for the Satellite Innovation event — register now and save $200.

Satellite Innovation enables attendees to…

• Join leading satellite executives in Silicon Valley.
• Gain critical market data and technical knowledge from leading experts.
• Network with market dominant innovators, and gain exposure to leading satellite exhibitors and sponsors.

The Satellite Innovation agenda is viewable at this direct link…

To learn more about Satellite Innovation, access this direct link…

To take advantage of the Early Bird Discount, access this direct link…

Exhibitors and sponsors of the 2019 Satellite Innovation event include…