Exolaunch has announced that the launch of a 3U cubesat, MeznSat, for the UAE Space Agency, will be performed aboard a Soyuz-2 rocket — the purpose of the satellite is to study and monitor greenhouse gases, specifically CO2 and Methane, over the UAE.

MeznSat is a smallsat for climate observation, manufactured by Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KUST) in partnership with the American University of Ras Al-Khaimah (AURAK) and funded by the UAE Space Agency. The satellite’s primary payload will be a shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectrometer that makes observations in the 1000-1650 nm wavelength range to derive atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

The secondary payload on MeznSat will consist of a VGA camera for post-processing that brings increased precision and accuracy to the SWIR spectrometer data. The combination of visible and SWIR bands will make MeznSat a unique CubeSat mission, specifically designed to generate a rich dataset for exploring atmospheric correction algorithms.

MeznSat is scheduled for launch in mid-2020. It is accommodated on one of the upcoming Soyuz-2 federal launches as part of the small satellite cluster launch contract between Exolaunch and Glavkosmos, the operator of international commercial activities for the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos. Glavkosmos has been a reliable partner for Exolaunch, and it is pleased that the partners from the UAE have chosen a Soyuz launch vehicle for delivering MeznSat into orbit.

Photo of a Soyuz-2 launch is courtesy of Roscosmos.

Exolaunch’s experience in cubesat launches, which includes the deployment of 89 smallsats into orbit to date, will ensure the success of this important launch and initiative.

Moreover, UAE Space Agency’s goal of developing student competencies makes this a particularly exciting collaboration, as Exolaunch will be able to use its educational background to lead students through the entire process of a launch arrangement. This Soyuz-2 mission serves as a milestone for both smallsat engineering and space education.

Jeanne Medvedeva, Commercial Director at Exolaunch, said the company is proud to apply the firm’s best-in-class launch services expertise and use the EXOpod deployer for this Soyuz-2 mission. The UAE Space Agency is nurturing some of the world’s brightest young minds who apply space-based solutions to tackle global issues. It is extremely rewarding for Exolaunch to support their vision.

Khalid Al Awadi, Director of Space Mission Management at the UAE Space Agency, added that the MeznSat project broadens the horizons of UAE’s satellite capabilities, which include remote sensing, Earth observation and communications. The key objective of the project is education, in keeping with our vision to contribute to the international space sector, strengthen scientific research methodologies and develop capabilities in the UAE. Seamless launch integration and deployment are crucial for the agency’s success, and Exolaunch has the flight heritage and proven successes that can be trusted. The UAE Space Agency is also excited to confirm the launch aboard a Soyuz-2 and continue this successful collaboration after sending the first UAE astronaut to space on the rocket last year.

An Australian team is using machine learning to tackle the threat of space junk wrecking new satellites.

Research to tackle the growing need to find, capture and remove junk from space is advancing at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning in Adelaide, South Australia.

Machine Learning for Space director Tat-Jun Chin and his Adelaide-based team have won a $600,000 grant from Australia’s SmartSat CRC to continue their work in detecting, tracking and cataloging space junk.

SmartSat CRC was established last year to work with the Australian Space Agency based in Adelaide, contributing to the Australian government’s goal of tripling the size of the space sector to $12 billion and creating as many as 20,000 jobs by 2030. The space junk project is based on developing a space-based surveillance network and tackling the growing challenge of crowding in space.

Associate Professor Chin said his team was one of the first to apply an effective machine learning approach to the problem of estimating the pose of space objects from an input image so it can be removed. He said that inn order to remove a piece of debris from another spacecraft, such as by casting a net, harpooning or grabbing with a robotic arm, it is vital to estimate the position and orientation of the debris relative to the approaching spacecraft.

The project involves University of Adelaide academics and researchers partnering with Inovor Technologies and a leading Australian space firm specializing in space situational awareness. It also includes scientists from the University of Queensland and the Australian National University.

Associate Professor Chin said the center was also waiting on the results of an application to partner with the giant European Space Agency (ESA) to find novel ways to approach and remove junk from space. He said the center, based in the city’s Lot Fourteen innovation neighborhood that also houses the Australian Space Agency, had capability in its lab to further the research more broadly with robotic manipulation.He hoped to work more closely with international agencies with the research, “for a fledgling space industry and a fledgling space economy, having that international connection is vital. Space presents novel problems for artificial intelligence, for example, a lot of AI algorithms require a lot of data.”

There are a growing number of satellites being launched into space with an exponential rise expected as private companies like American entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX one of several companies that intend to launch vast constellations of small satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Space junk is created by satellites continuing to orbit once they run out of fuel, run out of propulsion or their technology becomes obsolete and they are no longer required but remain in space.

Chin added that “If you have an autonomous car, relatively speaking, it’s not so hard to get that data, by capturing it from cars being driven. You can’t do that easily for a problem in space, as the cost of developing, launching and maintaining a satellite is much more significant. This presents fundamental challenges that motivate my team to look forward to work every day.”

South Australia has been a significant player in the nation’s space industry and is home to major Tier 1 defence companies, the SmartSat CRC and several emerging space start-ups, including Fleet Space Technologies, Inovor Technologies, Myriota and Southern Launch.

The Australian Space Agency officially opened its headquarters in Adelaide this year and will build a $6 million Mission Control Center for smallsat missions and an educational Discovery Centre at their Lot Fourteen site.

Article written by Belinda Willis, Contributing Author, The Lead

Rocket Lab has reached an agreement to acquire Sinclair Interplanetary, a provider of high-quality, flight-proven satellite hardware — the financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

The acquisition strengthens the satellite division of Rocket Lab, which produces the Photon spacecraft line and will enable Sinclair to tap into Rocket Lab’s resources, scale, manufacturing capability and innovative technology.

Founded in 2001 by Doug Sinclair, Toronto-based Sinclair Interplanetary develops reliable, best-in-class spacecraft hardware, including reaction wheels and star trackers that support rapid-schedule small satellite programs. More than 90 satellites incorporating Sinclair hardware have been launched to orbit, including Rocket Lab-launched satellites from AstroDigital, ALE, and BlackSky.

The Sinclair team has been entrusted with developing hardware for world-first missions: BRITE, the world’s smallest space telescope; and The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2, the first satellite in Earth orbit to be propelled solely by sunlight. Satellite communications company, Kepler Communications, has also selected Sinclair reaction wheels for its constellation of 140 Internet of Things (IoT) satellites currently in development.

Rocket Lab will look to leverage Sinclair Interplanetary’s strong brand and equally impressive heritage of innovation, quality, and execution. Sinclair products will be key features of Rocket Lab’s in-house designed and built Photon satellite platforms, and Rocket Lab will bring additional resources to grow Sinclair’s already strong merchant spacecraft components business.

Rocket Lab Founder and Chief Executive, Peter Beck, said that by combining the experience and capabilities of both companies, Rocket Lab will deliver reliable and flexible satellite and launch solutions that enable customers to do more, spend less and reach orbit faster. Doug Sinclair and his team at Sinclair Interplanetary are recognized as industry leaders and, like Rocket Lab, they produce best-in-class solutions that satellite operators know they can count on. Sinclair’s dedication to quality and reliability aligns perfectly with Rocket Lab’s commitment to mission success. The company is thrilled to welcome Doug and the entire Sinclair team to the Rocket Lab family.

Doug Sinclair added that Rocket Lab has played a pivotal role in making it easy for small satellites to access space. By operating as one company, there is now the opportunity to do the same for satellite manufacturing and make Sinclair hardware available to more customers globally. The firm will be able to supply larger constellations than before and take our hardware out to the Moon and beyond.

A new date has been established for United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) launch of AEHF-6 for the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. The launch to be postponed due to a mechanical malfunction.

ULA attributed the technical problem to a faulty booster valve.  The new sendoff date is Thursday, March 26. The team needed additional time to complete the booster valve replacement and retest. The two-hour launch window starts at 2:57 p.m. ET.          

United Launch Alliance will use an Atlas V 551 rocket to launch the sixth and final spacecraft in the Lockheed Martin-built Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) series for the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center. AEHF satellites provide global, survivable, protected communications capabilities for strategic command and tactical warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms. Atlas V rockets successfully launched the first five AEHF satellites between 2010 and 2019.

Also onboard will be TDO-2, the multi-manifest smallsat vehicle flying with the AEHF-6 mission, that is carrying multiple U.S. Government payloads that will provide optical calibration capabilities that will support space domain awareness through optical calibration and satellite laser ranging. TDO-2 was manufactured by Georgia Institute of Technology and sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

EZ-2 is integrated on the aft-end of the Centaur on the Atlas V 551 launch vehicle where it will deploy the TDO-2 multi-manifest satellite vehicle approximately 31 minutes after launch.

TDO-2 will deploy after Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) 2 and prior to the anchor AEHF satellite, which is only the second time this event has occurred during a National Security Space Launch mission. Previously, a hosted payload was deployed prior to AEHF-5 successfully separating.

The AEHF-6 launch will mark the 83rd Atlas V mission since the inaugural launch in 2002 and the 11th in the 551 configuration.

Kleos Space S.A (ASX:KSS, Frankfurt:KS1), a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, announced that the mission team will be traveling to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Chennai, India on March 18, to carry out the final preparation steps prior to launch approximately six days prior to handing Kleos’ nanosatellites over to New Space India (NSIL) for integration with the launch vehicle. Kleos awaits the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the launch provider, to announce the upcoming launch date. 

Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites will detect and geolocate maritime radio frequency transmissions to provide global activity-based intelligence irrespective of the presence of positioning systems, in spite of unclear imagery and if targets are out of patrol range. These initial satellites form the foundation of a larger constellation that will deliver near real-time intelligence over key regions of maritime interest.

The preparation activities include carrying out spacecraft checkout, battery charging, fueling, setting the final spacecraft flight configuration and overseeing the dispenser integration.

Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard PSLV C49, a rideshare mission conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and featuring satellites from other organizations including Spire Global.

Kleos’ satellites will launch into a 37-degree inclination orbit, providing unprecedented situational awareness over crucial shipping regions including the Strait of Hormuz, South China Sea and East and West African coasts.

CEO of Kleos Space, Andy Bowyer said that the launch of their Scouting Mission satellites from Chennai is imminent. Their combined team is undertaking final preparations for their satellites to be integrated with the PSLV launch vehicle. Following launch, spacecraft operation engineers will guide the satellites from launch vehicle separation until they are established in their final orbit. This is an important milestone for Kleos as it will enable us to commence data delivery and revenue generation from early adopter contracts.

Bowyer continued saying they are seeing increasing demand for their global maritime geolocation intelligence data, which will enhance the ISR capabilities of governments and commercial entities. Their independent intelligence will complement existing datasets to enable the detection of hidden maritime activity such as drug and people smuggling, piracy, pollution and illegal fishing.

Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS) is a space enabled, activity-based intelligence, data as a service company based in Luxembourg. Kleos Space aims to guard borders, protect assets and save lives by delivering global activity-based intelligence and geolocation as a service. The first Kleos Space satellite system, known as Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM), will deliver commercially available data and perform as a technology demonstration. KSM will be the keystone for a later global high capacity constellation. The Scouting Mission will deliver targeted daily services with the full constellation delivering near-real time global observation.

HawkEye 360 Inc. has named Dennis Burnett as the firm’s Executive Vice President (EVP) and General Counsel.

Burnett joins HawkEye 360 with several decades of experience advising high-growth domestic and international space and technology companies in transactional, regulatory and national security matters.

Dennis Burnett

Previously, Burnett served as Consulting Principal at LMI Advisors; Chief Counsel of Regulatory and Government Affairs at Kymeta Corporation and as Vice President of Trade Policy and Export Control for EADS North America. Burnett also currently serves as the Director and Treasurer of the International Institute of Space Law and as the Chair of the Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Advisory Board for the University of Nebraska College of Law. He is a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska College of Law and the Georgetown University College of Law.

Burnett said he is extremely pleased to contribute to the HawkEye 360 team as the company forges a new commercial frontier in space. The wave of new smallsat technology is revolutionizing commercial, scientific and defense applications in the space domain.

John Serafini, CEWO, HawkEye 360, added Dennis has molded legal strategy for many complex technologies and space-based solutions. His insight will prove invaluable, as HawkEye 360 continues to break new ground providing commercial RF signal data and data analytics from space.

TriSept Corporation has completed the integration activity for NASA’s ELaNa 32 ANDESITE mission, a rideshare set to launch Boston University’s groundbreaking scientific study of the Earth’s magnetic field on a Rocket Lab Electron from New Zealand later this month.

The culmination of an eight-year collaborative research program among BU’s talented electrical and mechanical engineering students and professors, NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) will lift the university’s 6U cubesat into LEO. Once in space, this smallsat will initiate measurements of the magnetosphere with onboard sensors, later releasing eight smallsats carrying small magnetometer sensors to track electric currents flowing in and out of the atmosphere.

Josh Semeter, an electrical engineering professor with Boston University’s Center for Space Physics who first conceptualized the ANDESITE mission, said this mission with NASA will demonstrate how cubesats can play a vital role in providing an unprecedented view into the variations of electrical activity racing through space and its impact on lives here on Earth.

TriSept’s Jason Armstrong, center, and the Boston University integration team perform the final procedures during the integration of the ANDESITE payload with the mission dispenser device.

GPS services, for example, can be directly affected. If all goes as planned, the cubesat will release eight smallsat sensors into space to form a first-of-its-kind, free-flying, mesh network capable of delivering uniquely comprehensive data mapping of magnetic fields and space weather to smart phones here on campus.

Like many scientific missions, Boston University’s ANDESITE mission spacecraft and hardware will feature standard electronics components. The mission team estimates the network of satellite sensors, which will drift further apart in space during the experiment, will communicate and deliver data maps of the magnetic field and electric currents in the area for at least two to three weeks and possibly much longer.

When it comes to the name of their mission, students and faculty jokingly claim ANDESITE is one of the longest acronyms they know – Adhoc Network Demonstration for Extended Satellite Inquiries and other Team Endeavors.

Jason Armstrong, TriSept’s Director of Launch Integration Services, added that the company, the University spacecraft team and NASA have completed the initial integration of the ANDESITE mission by installing the cubesat into the dispenser device and preparing the spacecraft for shipment to Rocket Lab in New Zealand. This is an especially gratifying mission that demonstrates what NASA’s ELaNa missions are all about – opening up space access to academia and other scientific groups that otherwise might not be able to fulfill their vision and allow their students to put their experiments to the ultimate test.”

Brian Walsh, a mechanical engineering professor at Boston University who spearheaded the effort to secure the NASA rideshare, remarked that this incredible research and educational opportunity wouldn’t exist without NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), and students and programs would be left to speculate how their missions would perform in space. Long before this upcoming milestone mission launch, ANDESITE has helped to launch the careers of Boston University students who contributed countless hours to this breakthrough experiment. Many have gone on to head and support smallsat programs for some of the biggest government agencies and corporations leading the space industry today.

Scott Higginbotham, NASA LSP ELaNa Mission Lead, noted that the agency recently celebrated the monumental deployment of the 100th CSLI selected cubesat mission into space – and that’s amazing. Hundreds of students have benefited from the real-world hands-on experience that designing, building and launching a cubesat provides. This initiative is a critical part of NASA’s efforts to engage with and prepare the next generation of space explorers, and the success and longevity of this program underscores that commitment.”

Scotland’s first student-led cubesat project made a critical step toward reaching space this week, when the University of Glasgow’s GU Orbit team signed an agreement with launch brokerage firm Responsive Access to finalize their ground-breaking mission plans.

GU Orbit is a multi-disciplinary, student-led society with the objective of developing their own satellite technology to encourage students into the world of space systems and to enable researchers to play an active role in the growing UK space industry. Glasgow already produces more satellites than any other city in Europe, with companies such as Spire and Clyde Space placing the city at the forefront of the European sector.

With Minister Ivan McKee last year announcing that the Scottish space sector could be worth as much as £4 billion by 2030, the work being done around space technology and data by Universities such as Glasgow, Strathclyde and Edinburgh, will play an important part in equipping students with the transferable skills to provide the nation with the next generation of aerospace engineers and rocket scientists.

Responsive Access, based at Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory building, is a participant in the ESA BIC UK, a prestigious business incubation program funded by the European Space Agency and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. The company aims to simplify access to space for cubesats and to play a critical role in supporting the vibrant satellite production industry by handling their customers’ mission management planning, essentially acting as a “one stop shop” to alleviate challenges around logistics, testing, insurance, and selecting the most suitable rocket to carry each payload into orbit.

Responsive Access’ Chief Executive, Andrew Paliwoda, stated that the organization is pleased to have signed an agreement with GU Orbit and the team has already started the process of identifying a suitable launch opportunity for their cubesat through one of the many available launch vehicle partners.
     He added, “It’s been an exciting few months for us, with financial backing for our project coming from the European Space Agency, Heathrow Airport, and the Department for International Trade, while our team has also had the opportunity to visit the facilities of potential rocket partners, such as Virgin Orbit and Relativity Space in California, as well as launch vehicle developers here in Scotland. For us, the key to success is to match our satellite customers with launch opportunities that best align with their needs.”

Responsive Access Ltd. aims to simplify access to space through the use of innovative software and key partner relationships that provide a one-stop-shop for the launch of CubeSats and other small payloads into orbit.

While the search for a suitable rocket gets underway, GU Orbit are focusing on the technical development of their satellite, which is set to become the first ever to be fully built by a Scottish university. The University of Glasgow’s satellite could be set for launch by as early as next year, creating the possibility for it to be one of the first payloads to reach space from a developing UK spaceport.

GU Orbit’s President, Philip Voudouris, explained that thanks to the tremendous effort from the team members, significant progress on the cubesat, Astraeus-01, has been made, finally bringing ideas and ambitions to life as prototypes are manufactured and tested. The University of Glasgow has a strong reputation regarding its involvement in space technology and having opened its first space lab just last year, it has shown that it is prepared to push the boundaries of human presence in space. With Responsive Access helping to plan the mission ahead and selecting a suitable launch vehicle for Astraeus-01, the company is now one large step closer to seeing this satellite reach orbit and subsequently opening an exciting new frontier for students and researchers with a passion in space.

On March 6, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Launch Enterprise Mission Manifest Office (MMO) delivered a fully tested and integrated multi-manifest smallsat vehicle (TDO-2) to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) for integration on the AEHF-6 mission, which is the first U.S. Space Force Launch.

TDO-2 is the multi-manifest small satellite vehicle flying with the AEHF-6 mission. TDO-2 supports space domain awareness through optical calibration and satellite laser ranging.

Photo is courtesy of SMC.

TDO-2, the multi-manifest smallsat vehicle flying with the AEHF-6 mission, is carrying multiple U.S. Government payloads that will provide optical calibration capabilities that will support space domain awareness.

The Mission of TDO-2 is to support space domain awareness through optical calibration and satellite laser ranging. This capability will assist the nation’s warfighters in performing their critical missions. TDO-2 was manufactured by Georgia Institute of Technology and sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

EZ-2 is integrated on the aft-end of the Centaur on the Atlas V 551 launch vehicle where it will deploy the TDO-2 multi-manifest satellite vehicle approximately 31 minutes after launch.

TDO-2 will deploy after Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) 2 and prior to the anchor AEHF satellite, which is only the second time this event has occurred during a National Security Space Launch mission. Previously, a hosted payload was deployed prior to AEHF-5 successfully separating.

EZ-2 is integrated on the aft-end of the Centaur on the Atlas V 551 launch vehicle where it will deploy the TDO-2 Multi-manifest satellite vehicle approximately 31 minutes after AEHF-6 launches.

Photo is courtesy of SMC.

The MMO is increasing space warfighting domain flexibility by enabling the “swap-out” capability of multi-manifest satellites late in the integration process.

The AEHF-6 mission will demonstrate this “swap-out” capability by having two qualified and compatible multi-manifest satellites vehicles ready to be substituted, if needed, as late as one month prior to launch.

Considering the historical integration timeline for traditional satellites is approximately 24 months, this is just another example of how SMC is driving integration flexibility and responsiveness into the National Security Space planning process and rapidly delivering capability to the warfighter.

Part of SMC’s Launch Enterprise, the MMO is blazing the way for innovation in the space warfighting domain and continuing the SMC tradition of innovation in space.

Hiber is celebrating a successful start to 2020 — in addition to receiving EU funding and achieving Dutch National Icon status, Hiber is also excited to announce the appointment of three eminent industry leaders to its advisory board: George Coelho, Co-Founder of Balderton Capital and advisor to European and South East Asian firm Finch Capital; Drew Caplan, a senior telecommunications executive and Lt. General Lawrence Farrell, a US military veteran and previous President and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association.

These strategic hires come after a successful 2019 that witnessed Hiber launch their IoT network, Hiberband, that already has a portfolio of 50 global customers from a diverse range of sectors, including agriculture, oil, gas and logistics.

Identified as an innovative startup by the EU last year, in 2020 Hiber is also set to receive part of the European Innovation Council Accelerator’s grant of €278 million and direct equity investment.

Additionally, Hiber has been selected as a Dutch National Icon, a prestigious Dutch government backed initiative, whereby dutch companies with major social and economic potential are selected to receive government support. As part of its National Icon status, Hiber will receive support and expert counsel from the Dutch cabinet member, State Secretary Keijzer, for three consecutive years.

Hiber (formerly Magnitude Space) is a ‘NewSpace’ startup, founded and led by a dream team of satellite experts and tech entrepreneurs. These ‘Hibernauts’ are working on a moonshoot goal: to launch and run a smallsat constellation in space — 50 employees work on the patented technology behind Hiber and Hiberband at the firm’s offices in Amsterdam and Delft.