Curt Blake, the CEO and President of Spaceflight Industries, has posted news that the company has signed a definitive agreement to sell their rideshare launch business to Mitsui & Co., Ltd., of Japan (via a partnership with Yamasa Co., Ltd.).

Blake wrote that the firm can now shift their focus to ensure they are setting up the infrastructure to support their growing commercial and government business.

The transaction is now subject to the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) review, as this transaction is not yet official. While that review process can take several months to complete, the company is researching and putting plans in place to ensure the firm hits the ground running when all is  approved—hopefully in 2Q 2020. Once approved, Spaceflight, Inc. will operate as an independently run U.S. company.

Blake wrote that the company is committed to building the necessary business infrastructure to ensure their customers, both commercial and government, are fully supported and poised for growth. While the transaction is under review, Spaceflight will explore the specific infrastructure recommendations. (We anticipate Spaceflight will be governed by a Board of Directors with a majority of U.S. persons. In addition, we will also be establishing a separate subsidiary with a Board of Directors composed of U.S. persons, to minimize any impact to our U.S. government customers’ launch experience.) The firm’s name, team, and the contracts will all remain the same. There will be the hiring of a handful of new positions this year to support the business operations and the ever-growing launch schedule.

The company engaged in this acquisition for the following reasons, according to Blake. The biggest, most obvious benefit is growth. The commercial space industry is evolving rapidly, and Spaceflight is 100 percent committed to providing the most innovative and cost-effective launch options for their customers. Now the firm is able to reinvest directly in the core launch business and have the financial and operational support from a large corporation to further expand Spaceflight services, technology capabilities and the partnerships.

With Mitsui’s backing, Blake write that the company will be able to expand even further, pushing the industry to new levels and making launch even simpler and more affordable for customers. He added that the firm truly believes there is no limit to the potential of space.

NewSpace Networks has raised $200 million to transform the industry from being hardware-focused to software-centric — the company will accomplish this through a combination of acquisition, investment and internal product development and lready has products under development that will be available later this year, along with key acquisition targets identified and in process.

Deploying aerospace infrastructure is currently slow, costly and highly proprietary, which limits its use to a small segment of the commercial and government market, stifling innovation and adoption. NewSpace is focused on changing this by addressing four areas: affordability, efficiency, scalability, and adaptability to multiple market segments. The founding team has unique acquisition and operational experience from aerospace and enterprise software companies such as Lockheed Martin, VMware, Citrix, RSA Security and Akamai.

According to some estimates in the press, $48 billion will be spent deploying more than 10,000 next-generation communication satellites which will connect to more than 15 million remote locations around the globe. These require a wide-ranging set of advanced two-way communication solutions in order to maximize network efficiency. Additionally, the explosion of remotely-generated data by a variety of devices will produce over 175 Zettabytes annually by 2025, stressing current Cloud connectivity and necessitating data reduction at the source (IDC, 2019). These two market dynamics will create significant new opportunities and the need for a more holistic approach to the way solutions are designed and built.

NewSpace has developed a targeted list of integrated innovations and investment areas. The company’s initial products will address the unique challenges of edge computing via space connectivity. Additional technologies will include:

• Data analytics and analysis
• Cloud integration
• Network optimization
• Virtualization and Hyperconvergence
• Space and air integration
• Security and encryption
• Application lifecycle management
• IoT enablement

NewSpace founders bring decades of experience across aerospace, cloud, information security, and networking. The company was co-founded by Shaun Coleman, John Metzger and Robert Cleave, who have collectively founded multiple startups resulting in acquisitions by Ungermann-Bass Networks, McAfee, and VMware. Coleman was the first investor and co-founder of space access company Vector Launch, Inc., and led its GalacticSky satellite division, which created the world’s first intelligent software-defined satellite. He co-authored, with Cleave and Metzger, more than 20 issued U.S. and international patents that Lockheed Martin is currently seeking to acquire.

NewSpace has partnered with GlobalView Strategic Advisors, a member of GlobalView Group, to assist with strategy, capital raising and M&A. GlobalView’s principals, David Orner and Ryan Orner, bring years of experience developed across top-tier finance and investment banking firms, including Merrill Lynch, CIBC World Markets, CIT Aerospace and Defense and ING Group.

Jim Simon, a former senior government official and industry executive, said NewSpace is applying modern enterprise software technology to the aerospace industry to horizontally integrate diverse air and space systems. This strategy positions it well to fundamentally change the industry. Quick and less expensive innovation is absolutely critical to not only commercial but government customers as well.”

NewSpace’s co-founder, Shaun Coleman, commented that digital terrestrial transformation would not be occurring without the internet and Cloud computing. The successful commercialization of space will only be achieved with similar software-based infrastructure to innovate upon. Yet, today, there is no purpose-built Amazon AWS, VMware or Cisco for aerospace deployments. NewSpace is building, partnering and acquiring this much-needed capability.

David Orner, Partner at GlobalView, said the company is thrilled to be working with the talented management team at NewSpace. They have developed a clear and actionable vision for the future of aerospace and satellite technologies.

SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. (SEI) will be releasing the 10th, and final, edition of its annual nano/microsatellite market forecast.  The report is available in presentation form as a free download here . The following provides information regarding the contents, and more.

SpaceWorks celebrates 10 years of the Nano/Microsatellite Market Forecast and turns their focus towards what lies ahead in the 2020s, SpaceWorks is also taking time to look back. This year’s forecast is filled with insights, both into the events that birthed that small satellite revolution, and the trends that promise to drive market growth in the future.  
 
As for 2020, SpaceWorks analysts project between 298 – 369 nano/microsatellites (1 – 50 kg) will launch globally as the industry seeks to rebound from a down-year in 2019. Successful fundraising efforts in the emerging IOT/M2M segment and a growing degree of diversification within the Earth Observation and Remote Sensing segment are both expected to contribute to industry growth in the near-term. Long-term, projections indicate as many as 2,400 nano/microsatellites will require launch in the next five years.  
 
A key observation from this year’s forecast is that satellite sizes in the nano/microsatellite segment are continuing to grow. The average satellite size has grown from <5 kg in 2015 to 7 kg+ in 2019 (an increase of over 30%). This trend is expected to continue in the near-term as operators find ways to capitalize on competition in the manufacturing and launch segments. 
 
“With increasing competition in the manufacturing and launch segments, operators have more choices than ever before. We’re starting to see the impact of this ‘buyers’ market’ with operators moving towards larger form-factors that have historically been cost-prohibitive,” says Stephanie DelPozzo, Economic Analyst at SpaceWorks. “As operators try to strike the balance between capability and affordability, the number of microsatellites and larger nanosatellites (6U+) is expected to increase.”  
 
Overall, the report finds that annual nano/microsatellite launches have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11% over the past 5 years. SpaceWorks estimates the market to grow in the future at a CAGR of 12% over the next 5 years.  
 
Since 2011, SpaceWorks has published the Nano/Microsatellite Market Forecast every year as a service to the small satellite community. With the release of this special 10th anniversary edition of the Nano/Microsatellite Market Forecast, SpaceWorks is also announcing that this report will be its last.   
 
“As SpaceWorks continues to strive to be the number one strategic resource for executives and investors across the space industry, we have made the conscious decision to move to a more continuous model of content delivery. This new approach will allow us to better respond to changing market dynamics and customer interests,” says Caleb Williams, Lead Economic Analyst at SpaceWorks. “Rest assured, our new online platform, SpaceWorks Insights, will feature plenty of interesting analysis on the small satellite industry, but also include new markets and topics such as satellite servicing, the future LEO economy, orbital debris, and much, much more.”
 
 

Luxemberg based Kleos Space S.A, has dispatched its four Scouting Mission nanosatellites to Chennai, India, in preparation for launch aboard their PSLV C49 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. As of December 2019, PSLV has launched 319 foreign satellites from 33 countries, the most notable among these was the launch of PSLV C37 on February 15, 2017 successfully deploying 104 satellites in sun-synchronous orbit.

Kleos is a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company.  Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites will detect and geolocate maritime radio frequency transmissions to provide global activity-based intelligence, enhancing the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of governments and commercial entities, which is important when Automatic Identification System (AIS) is defeated, imagery unclear or targets out of patrol range. Used with other data sources, Kleos’ independent geolocation data will assist the detection of hidden maritime activity, such as piracy, drug and people smuggling and illegal fishing.

The dispatch starts the Kleos specific launch activity for the Scouting Mission satellites on PSLV C49, a rideshare mission conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that includes satellites from other organizations such as Spire Global. The satellites are being transported to the integration facility where they will undergo a system checkout and mechanical inspection prior to battery charging, and fuelling. The satellites will be armed for flight, inserted into their dispensers and finally integrated onto the PSLV launch vehicle. After launch, Kleos’ satellites will commence their Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), one of the most critical phases of a mission. Spacecraft operations engineers take control of the satellites after launch vehicle separation, up to the time when the satellites are safely established in their final orbit.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). PSLV has gained a reputation as a provider of rideshare services for smallsats, due to its numerous multi-satellite deployment campaigns with auxiliary payloads usually ride sharing along with an Indian primary payload.

The Scouting Mission satellites will be launched into a 37-degree inclination orbit, delivering information over crucial shipping regions including the Strait of Hormuz, South China Sea and East and West African coasts.

Kleos Space CEO Andy Bowyer said that their Scouting Mission satellites are the foundation of their future constellation, which will deliver unprecedented situational awareness at sea with near real-time coverage over key regions of maritime interest including the Strait of Hormuz, South China Sea and African coast.

A European company’s subsidiary in North America, GomSpace, has teamed up with the University of Arizona to deliver satellite elements and related services to support their CatSat high-gain antenna mission. The contract that they agreed upon is valued at 4.5 MSEK (Swedish Krona). The satellite, ‘CatSat’, has been named for the University of Arizona Wildcats.

The team will demonstrate a new ultra-lightweight, high-gain antenna developed by FreeFall Aerospace based on technology invented at and licensed from the University of Arizona (UA). Under the leadership of Professor of Astronomy, Dr. Christopher Walker, UA students and staff will provide a camera system and radio propagation experiment, integrate the science and communications payloads, deliver the flight system for launch, and lead mission operations. The mission was selected by the NASA Cubesat Launch Initiative for launch in early 2021. 

Steve Zylstra – CEO Arizona Technology Council, Doug Stetson – CEO FreeFall Aerospace, and Sandra Watson – CEO Arizona Commerce Authority. Photo by Tech Launch Arizona

The FreeFall Aerospace inflatable antenna system takes minimum space as it packages into less than 1.5U of the total 6U Cubesat volume and deploys in orbit to provide a lightweight one meter or larger aperture that can increase total data return by 10-100 times that of conventional technology, with less mass and power. 

Doug Stetson, CEO of FreeFall Aerospace said that this is an exciting step forward for FreeFall and the entire small spacecraft industry. Working with UA and GomSpace they’ll be able to help realize the full potential of small low-cost spacecraft by dramatically increasing their data return capability.   

GomSpace’s CEO, Niels Buus added that the satellite will be a 6U platform provided by GomSpace and delivered to the University of Arizona, the mission will utilize GomSpace’s space-proven 6U platform which provides the reliable foundation for many exciting in-orbit demonstrations proving the technology for tomorrow’s new applications.

Rincon Research will provide and program their advanced, compact, flight-qualified Software Defined Radio (AstroSDR) to complete the payload package. The AstroSDR will perform high-rate signal and image processing to support mission experiments and establish a high-bandwidth telecom link between the spacecraft and Earth.

Orbit Logic has announced that the company is a member of the Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Blackjack Pit Boss team.

The DARPA Blackjack program aims to demonstrate the capabilities of a Proliferated Low Earth orbit (P-LEO) system through a variety of on-orbit experiments using 20, low-cost smallsats, each carrying payloads relevant to select military missions.

Pit Boss is the computing and encryption hardware and modular software element of Blackjack that is intended to enable Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TCPED) to occur autonomously on-orbit within the P-LEO constellation at mission speed.

Orbit Logic is contributing software and engineering services for both ground software and flight software portions of SSCI’s Pit Boss solution.

Orbit Logic will provide space system autonomy software expertise to the SSCI team with knowledge derived from development of their Autonomous Planning System (APS) flight software and SpyMeSat ground software. APS enables autonomous onboard planning and re-planning in response to data requests and events, including coordination between satellites.

Orbit Logic’s SpyMeSat is a commercially available mobile app that enables users with the ability to browse and request commercial imagery data products and request new imagery tasks, while providing situational awareness of all on-orbit assets.

SSCI VP of Research and Development, Dr. Owen Brown, said that the company is incredibly fortunate to have Orbit Logic as a part of the team. Their proven space software products and innovative, highly experienced engineering staff are vital assets for the firm’s development of a complex, first of its kind, autonomy system for satellite constellations.

Alba Orbital has unveiled AlbaConnect, a new Rapidly Deployable combined UHF/S Band Ground Station System for a global satellite network that allows clients to control satellite communications and process data without having to worry about building, leasing or managing their own satellite ground station infrastructure.

The AlbaConnect service provides secure satellite access and an affordable turn-key solution to satellite communications optimized for smallsats in LEO using UHF/S Band frequencies, democratizing access to space in the process.

Customers can either buy access to Alba Orbital’s own infrastructure or can purchase their own Rapidly Deployable Ground Station at a competitive price.

The features and benefits of AlbaConnect include…

• A complete ground station solution for those looking to communicate with LEO satellites
• A steerable UHF/S-Band antenna system
• Compact, portable and rapidly deployable setup
• Capable of delivering telemetry, tracking and control to users during the complete satellite lifespan

Tom Walkinshaw, CEO and Founder at Alba Orbital Ltd, said that as accessing ground stations or other ground infrastructure is expensive, the company aims to provide a commercially viable alternative to this at a competitive price by developing and supporting global satellite ground infrastructure development. AlbaConnect fills in the gaps for teams looking to deploy their MVPs in orbit for the first time.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (Firefly) has executed a Launch Services Agreement with SATLANTIS, a provider of high-performance payload technologies for Earth Observation (EO) and remote sensing.

Starting in 2022, SATLANTIS will use the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle to deploy a constellation of satellites with breakthrough high-resolution multi-spectral cameras with four bands of 80 cm. native resolution.

Firefly CEO Dr. Tom Markusic said SATLANTIS is constantly developing cutting-edge technologies to support the growing need for high-accuracy and high-revisit Earth Observation. The Firefly Alpha was specifically designed to support the new wave of LEO observation constellations and the company is  pleased to be selected by SATLANTIS to provide launch services for their constellation.”

SATLANTIS CEO Juan Hernani noted that the company’s efforts are aimed at providing governments, national space agencies and industries seeking space capabilities with unparalleled access to high-quality Earth Observation data, without the need to develop costly programs of their own. This partnership with Firefly complements SATLANTIS strategy to deliver these products – by providing cost-efficient, on-demand launch services to meet the stringent orbit and revisit requirements of the SATLANTIS constellation.

A year after orbiting the first six OneWeb satellites, Arianespace has launched another batch — involving 34 satellites this time — to help its customers offer global internet access to all.

Arianespace will carry out 19 more Soyuz launches — along with the Ariane 62 version’s first flight — at the service of OneWeb, with these flights performed from three different space centers and occurring primarily during 2020 and 2021.

Today’s mission was the 50th Soyuz launch operated by Arianespace and Starsem, as well as the second successful mission for Arianespace in 2020. The cluster of spacecraft — produced by the OneWeb Satellites joint venture of OneWeb and Airbus — was deployed into a circular low Earth orbit during a flight lasting 3 hours and 45 minutes from liftoff to final payload separation. It was conducted by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate.

After an initial powered phase of Soyuz’ three lower stages, the flight — designated ST27 in Arianespace’s numbering system — included two burns of the Fregat upper stage to place its passengers at their targeted deployment points. Total lift performance was estimated at 5,504 kg.

Flight ST27 was Arianespace’s second launch on behalf of the global satellite operator — following the February 2019 Soyuz mission from French Guiana that successfully orbited OneWeb’s first six satellites. The company’s initial constellation is based on approximately 650 satellites and will scale to more than 900 as it grows to meet demand around the world.

Following the launch, Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace, said: “With this second successful mission for OneWeb, Arianespace reaffirms its role as the operator’s strategic partner and prepares itself for numerous other launches. They will allowed our customer to achieve its goal of providing truly global internet coverage. Thanks to its complete family of launchers, both current (Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega) and future (Ariane 6 and Vega C), Arianespace ensure a predominant role in the fast-growing market for constellation launches — whether for navigation, communications or Earth observation satellites.”

Today’s launch, the 27th Soyuz mission carried out by Arianespace and Starsem from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, injected 34 OneWeb satellites into orbit, bringing the total to 40. Liftoff was on Friday, February 7, 2020 at 2:42 a.m. local time (21:42 UTC on February 6).

The first six satellites in the OneWeb constellation were successfully orbited by Arianespace a year ago, in February 2019. Nineteen more Soyuz launches for this constellation will be carried out from three space centers (Kourou in French Guiana, Baikonur and Vostochny in Russia), along with the first Ariane 62 launch — with the missions taking place primarily in 2020 and 2021.

OneWeb will start customer demonstrations in 2020 and will offer global 24/7 coverage starting in 2021.

The OneWeb satellite operator intends to provide communications services across the planet by utilizing its constellation of new-generation satellites, which will provide seamless connectivity for everybody, anywhere in the world. 

OneWeb therefore is deploying a network of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide low-latency broadband services to a wide array of markets, including the aeronautical and maritime sectors, cellular network links, community Wi-Fi and emergency communications services. The operator’s primary objectives include providing connectivity for schools and reducing the digital divide around the world.

OneWeb Satellites — a joint venture founded by OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space — is prime contractor for the constellation. Built in Florida on a dedicated production line, the payloads for this latest launch are the seventh to 40th OneWeb satellites orbited by Arianespace.

The 27th Soyuz launch (using a Soyuz-Fregat version) performed by Arianespace and Starsem from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan also was the 50th carried out by these two companies since 1999, and the 1,917th flight overall for the Russian launch vehicle since its introduction in 1966.

This new launch brings to 147 the number of satellites launched by Arianespace for constellations: 56 for the operator Globalstar, 40 for the OneWeb system, 20 for the O3b constellation, four for the company Planet, and one for the Orbcomm network. The total also includes the launch of 26 satellites for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission within the scope of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation program.

In addition to the OneWeb satellites, Arianespace’s order book backlog includes 16 other constellation satellites for the following operators: Spire (8), Airbus Defense and Space (4), ESA and the European Commission (4). 

Firefly Aerospace will be providing launch services for SATLANTIS which beginning in 2022, SATLANTIS will use the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle to deploy a constellation of satellites with breakthrough high-resolution multispectral cameras with four bands of 80 cm native resolution. SATLANTIS provides high-performance payload technologies for Earth observation and remote sensing. 

Space Imagers: A broad catalog of high resolution multispectral cameras

Firefly CEO Dr. Tom Markusic said that SATLANTIS is constantly developing cutting-edge technologies to support the growing need for high-accuracy and high-revisit Earth observation. The Firefly Alpha was specifically designed to support the new wave of low Earth orbit observation constellations and they are pleased to be selected by SATLANTIS to provide launch services for their constellation. 

SATLANTIS CEO Juan Hernan said that SATLANTIS efforts are aimed at providing governments, national space agencies, and industries seeking space capabilities with unparalleled access to high-quality Earth observation data, without the need to develop costly programs of their own. Their partnership with Firefly complements SATLANTIS strategy to deliver these products — by providing cost-efficient, on-demand launch services to meet the stringent orbit and revisit requirements of their constellation. 

Alona Kolisnyk, Firefly Director of International Business Development, added that the have worked closely with SATLANTIS to ensure that they will be able to structure the multiple missions required to deliver their spacecraft to the inclinations of their choosing, on the schedule they require in order to achieve their business goals. They look forward to many successful missions together.