Approximately 2,000 artificial satellites orbiting Earth relay analog and digital signals carrying voice, video, and data to and from one or many locations worldwide.

Satellite communication has two main components: the ground segment, which consists of fixed or mobile transmission, reception, and ancillary equipment, and the space segment, which primarily is the satellite itself.

Both the commercial and military satellite communication industry is evolving, as evidenced by numerous trends that one can expect to see on the horizon over the coming 18 months and beyond. The increase in smallsats, the use of LEO, launches on reusable rocket launch vehicles and new use cases for 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) are some of the most important developments to watch.

Market Forecast’s latest report “Global Commercial and Military Satellite Communications Market and Technology Forecast to 2028” examines, analyzes, and predicts the evolution of satellite systems, technologies, markets, and outlays (expenditures) over the next 8 years – 2020 -2028 in the Global Commercial & Military Satellite Communication industry. It also examines commercial and military satellite markets geographically, focusing on the top 95% of global markets, in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The commercial and military satellite market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 76.6% during this period with a cumulative $195.11 billion over the period 2020-2028.

The report shows how satellite communication is used today to add real value. To provide the most thorough and realistic forecast, this report provides a twin-scenario analysis, including “steady state,” emergence of new satellite communication technology.

In this report, light is shed on major technologies and services in this domain. These include…

• Laser SATCOM Communications
• Terrestrial Based Fiber Optics
• Smallsats
• C-band
• Ka-band
• Ku-band

In particular, this report provides an in-depth analysis of the following…

Overview
Snapshot of the various satellite communication tech in the aerospace market during 2020-2028, including highlights of the demand drivers, trends and challenges. It also provides a snapshot of the spending with respect to regions as well as segments. It also sheds light on the emergence on new technologies

Market Dynamics
Insights into the technological developments in this market and a detailed analysis of the changing preferences of governments around the world. It also analyzes changing industry structure trends and the challenges faced by the industry participants.

Segment Analysis
Insights into the various Systems market from a segmental perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each segment.

Regional Review
Insights into modernization patterns and budgetary allocation for top countries within a region.

Regional Analysis
Insights into the Systems market from a regional perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each region.

Trend Analysis
Key satellite communication markets: Analysis of the key markets in each region, providing an analysis of the various Systems segments expected to be in demand in each region. Key Program Analysis: Details of the top programs in each segment expected to be executed during the forecast period. Competitive landscape Analysis: Analysis of competitive landscape of this industry. It provides an overview of key companies, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives and a brief financial analysis.

Frost & Sullivan forecasts in their Small Satellite Launch Services Market, Half-Yearly Update, HJ1 2019, Forecast to 2033 analysis and report, that the total number of satellites to be launched during the period 2019 to 2033 to be 20,425, with North America leading the way, followed by Europe.

Such demand could take the smallsat launch services market past the $28 billion mark by 2030 and present significant growth opportunities throughout the industry. To keep up with market requirements, Frost & Sullivan anticipates high-volume demand for component manufacturers, dedicated launch service providers and low-cost ground station services. Government agency investment in R&D, capacity purchase, public-private partnerships, and establishing the enabling regulatory framework will be significant enablers for new entrants and established players.

“With the successful launch of Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX)’s 60 satellites and One-Web’s six test satellites, momentum has been built for further constellation installations. In addition, H1 has witnessed favorable test launches of small constellation players like Astrocast and NSLCom,” said Prachi Kawade, Research Analyst, Space, Frost & Sullivan. He added, “Serial production and rapid manufacturing will play a pivotal role in meeting market demands. To ensure the success of the industry, it’s imperative that launch frequency, inventory and manufacturing capability are optimized.”

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Small Satellite Launch Services Market, Half-yearly Update, H1 2019, Forecast to 2033, tracks the number of small satellites, payload mass, and launch revenue on the basis of defined scenarios, satellite mass classes, and user segments. The study also includes the launch capacity forecast for both rideshare and dedicated launch services; it analyses the alignment between the small satellite launch demand and capacity supply across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America.

The company’s experts have identified the following areas that represent growth opportunities for market players:

The small satellite launch services market will keep expanding with a key upturn in 2024 due to the overlap of new installations and replacement satellites.

• Small satellite payload mass demand is observed to be the highest in the 150-500 kg mass segment, accounting for 82% of the total.
   
• A 32-fold increase in the payload mass supply, from 249.42 tonnes in 2019 to 7,983.25 tonnes in 2030, will be mainly driven by the dedicated launch services attempting to have multiple launches per year, with improved manufacturing capability.
   
• The demand will continue to grow for communication applications in both replacement and new installation phases. The cumulative share of satellites for communication applications is 46%; Earth Observation (EO) accounts for 28% and IoT applications for 23%.

Dedicated launch services providers are still transitioning to continue to service their customer base in a timely manner. Transitions include serial manufacturing facilities and better methods for test and evaluation to increase inventory in line with demand.

Small Satellite Launch Services Market, Half-yearly Update, H1 2019, Forecast to 2033 is part of Frost & Sullivan’s global Space Growth Partnership Services program.

For further information on this analysis, please contact Jacqui Holmes on jacqui.holmes@frost.com

Spaceflight successfully executed nine missions during 2019, the most rideshare launches the company has performed in a single year, representing a 300 percent growth from the previous year.

The Spaceflight SSO-A mission aboard a SpaceX Dragon launch vehicle.

The company ended last year with its historic dedicated rideshare mission, SSO-A, and continued to execute many more firsts during 2019. This includes the most recent accomplishment of manifesting and managing three rideshare launches in one week on three continents.

The final missions of 2019 were SEOPS-2 (ISS SpX-19/NG-12) launched in the U.S., RL-2 (Rocket Lab’s “Running Out of Fingers”) launched in New Zealand, and PSLV-C48 launched in India.

The nine missions in 2019 were executed across four different launch vehicles, including the ISRO PSLV, SpaceX Falcon 9, Rocket Lab Electron and Northrop Grumman Cygnus. Spaceflight managed the launch and integration services of nearly 50 spacecraft from customers in Japan, Israel, Switzerland, Egypt, Australia, Mexico and the U.S., representing both commercial and government organizations, growing constellations, the first commercial lunar lander, technology demonstrations, university spacecraft, and more.

Other important milestones for Spaceflight during 2019 included:

• The first-ever rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), launching the first privately funded lunar lander, developed and operated by SpaceIL. (GTO-1)
   
• The execution of its first three missions with Rocket Lab, launching more than 10 customer spacecraft. (RL-1, RL-2, RL-4)
   
• The purchase of the first commercial launch of NSIL’s new small launch vehicle, SSLV, for a dedicated rideshare mission in 2020.
   
• Spaceflight’s first deployments with Hypergiant from the International Space Station. (SEOPS-1, SEOPS-2)
   
• Four launches across three continents in the span of 16 days. (PSLV C47, SEOPS-2, RL-2, PSLV C48)

For its achievements, both in 2019 and the record-breaking launch of SSO-A in 2018, Spaceflight and CEO Curt Blake received numerous industry awards and recognition. In 2019, Blake was selected as an Innovator of the Year by the Puget Sound Business Journal and named one of Seattle’s Most Influential People by Seattle Magazine.

Spaceflight was also awarded a Laureate for Launch Services in recognition of its pioneering work in bringing the rideshare business into the mainstream by Aviation Week.

During 2020, Spaceflight plans to manage approximately 10 rideshare missions across five different launch vehicles. The company anticipates reaching a cadence of monthly launches and remains dedicated to maximizing launch capacity on available missions and assisting its customers achieve their missions on time and on budget.

Curt Blake, CEO and President of Spaceflight, stated the firm’s team has supported a record number of missions, resulting in a busy and rewarding year. 2019 made it clear that the ‘new normal’ of rideshare is a high cadence of launches. With the variety and complexity of Spaceflight missions, the company has demonstrated its expertise and experience in mission management and integration services. Looking to the coming year, more launch vehicles will be added to the company’s portfolio to meet growing launch demand, while delivering increased launch flexibility through a breadth of launch options. Ultimately, Spaceflight aims to minimize the pain points of launch delays and ensure customers’ mission goals are achieved.

Robert Sproles, Director of Ground Stations and Launch at Spire Global, noted that Spaceflight continues to provide smallsat operators frequent access to space, proving the importance of rideshare in the space industry. Spaceflight’s diverse launch portfolio, depth of skills and knowledge and commitment to providing a first-class launch experience has helped many smallsat organizations such as Spire successfully achieve their missions.

Isar Aerospace has closed a 15 million euros Series A investment round led by Earlybird and Airbus Ventures to develop low-cost launch vehicles dedicated to deploying and resupplying satellite constellations.

Existing investors Vito Ventures and UVC Partners participated in the round with Bulent Altan, who served 12 years at SpaceX including Vice President positions as well as Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investment Group.

Isar Aerospace was founded in 2018 by Daniel Metzler, Josef Fleischmann, and Markus Brandl, all of them having studied at the Technical University of Munich and all have backgrounds in Aerospace Engineering. The company is leveraging advanced manufacturing to enable high performance, yet low-cost, access to space, serving small and medium satellite manufacturers who drive innovation and digitization with data from space.

Over the past year, Isar Aerospace has been developing its Spectrum rocket, with the development fully on track for a first launch in late 2021, while key milestones such as propulsion system hotfire testing and agreements for launch site access have been achieved.

The Isar Aerospace launch manifest is also picking up momentum with governmental and commercial customers including a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus Defence and Space for multiple satellite constellations launches.

Daniel Metzler, CEO of Isar Aerospace, said that space is becoming the new internet and its commercialization is in full swing. This funding round enables the company to progress substantially in the development of sustainable, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles and further deliver on the firm’s vision to make space access affordable for everyone.

Airbus Ventures Financial Officer and EMEA team member, Claas Carsten Kohl, at Airbus Ventures stated the company is de Isar Aerospace to the firm’s global portfolio of innovative launch systems.

Mathieu Costes, also at Airbus Ventures Partner, added the firm is pleased to entrust Daniel and his outstanding team, bringing impressive new technologies and approaches to the challenges of Low Earth Orbit, to represent this first deal in Germany for the company. Together with this investment round co-leader Earlybird, and under the continuing guidance of Bulent Altan, Airbus Ventures Partner is pleased to help draw together the ecosystems of new space excellence in both Germany and in the wider Airbus universe.

Bulent Altan noted that he has been able to watch Isar Aerospace’s progress closely and they have made impressive progress in their quest of building a cost-effective medium-sized launcher and differentiating themselves in this ever-growing launcher market by targeting the correct segment with solid engineering. As such, this investment decision was an easy one to make.

Hendrik Brandis, partner at Earlybird, commented that there is a new spirit of optimism in aerospace. The firm sees the New Space segment as a business of the future around rockets and satellites. Isar Aerospace convinced Earlybird with its professional, motivated and highly talented team. This is the company’s first investment in this field are proud to support Isar Aerospace as their Series A lead investor and look forward to accompanying them on their journey as investors and supporters.

Rocket Lab has flown a fully Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) for the first time on an Electron launch vehicle.

The AFTS flown on the company’s most recent mission, ‘Running Out Of Fingers,’ makes Rocket Lab one of only three U.S. launch companies to fly with an autonomous system.

The Electron launch of Rocket Lab’s “As the Crow Flies” mission. Photo is courtesy of Sam Toms and Simon Moffatt.

AFTS is a GPS-aided, computer-controlled system designed to terminate an off-nominal flight, replacing traditional human-in-the-loop monitoring systems. AFTS is crucial to increasing launch frequency and providing responsive launch capability, while maintaining the highest industry safety standards. It reduces the turnaround time between missions and provides greater schedule control by eliminating reliance on ground-assets and human flight termination operators.

‘Running Out Of Fingers’ hosted the first fully autonomous system on Electron. The launch followed four ‘shadow’ flights where the AFTS unit was flown on the vehicle for testing while traditional ground-based flight termination infrastructure remained in place. With the first fully autonomous mission now complete, all future Electron missions from Launch Complexes 1 and 2 will fly with the AFTS.

Flight termination systems are a vital part of launch operations. Traditionally, flight termination infrastructure is a ground-based system that involves a human making the decision to terminate a mission in the event of a launch vehicle straying from a pre-determined flight path. By contrast, the AFTS is an independent, self-contained subsystem mounted on-board the Electron launch vehicle. It eliminates the need for a ground-based infrastructure by moving the flight termination function to the launch vehicle.

The system makes flight termination decisions autonomously by using redundant computers that track the launch vehicle using Global Positioning System and on-board sensors, combined with configurable software-based rules, that identify where the rocket can safely fly. If a rocket goes off course the AFTS will issue a command to terminate the flight by shutting down the engines. The AFTS also delivers faster response times and improved monitoring as launch vehicle travels downrange, providing over-the-horizon tracking capabilities that are not limited by line-of-sight tracking such as that required by ground-based instrumentation at the launch site.

Rocket Lab Founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said the AFTS is yet another way Rocket Lab is innovating to increase the pace of launch and support responsive launch capability for small satellites. As the company moves to an autonomous system, Rocket Lab thanks the dedicated teams from White Sands Missile Range and Alaska Aerospace Corporation who have provided ground-based flight termination system support for Electron missions since the firm’s first launch in 2017. Their support has ensured the safety of every Electron mission and they have contributed to Rocket Lab’s record of mission success for customers.

Naomi Altman, Rocket Lab’s Avionics Manager and Project Lead for the AFTS program, added that for AFTS to be part of Electron’s 10th launch was the cherry on top of a monumental year for the entire team. Reaching this milestone is also testament to the ongoing support of government agencies and contractors who worked closely with Rocket Lab to bring the AFTS online.

Deployment of a CubeSat from ISS. JAXA/NASA

It’s a first for the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala as their team prepares for the university’s first satellite under the KiboCUBE program run by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

These are the winners of the second round of the program handed over the cube satellite (cubesat) to JAXA on December 3, 2019 to be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) in Spring 2020. 

Guatesat 1 (Quetzal 1) [UVG]

The Guatemalan satellite, called Quetzal-1, will be used for multispectral remote sensing. This can lead to the acquisition of data for a variety of peaceful and natural resource management purposes. The sustainable management of natural resources and the preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity are essential for fighting climate change and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

KiboCUBE offers institutions from developing countries the opportunity to deploy cubesats from the Japanese Kibo module of the ISS.

In 2018, the program led to the successful deployment of Kenya’s first ever satellite. Now Guatemala is set to follow Kenya’s footsteps, joining the community of space-faring nations.

The KiboCUBE initiative, launched by UNOOSA and JAXA in 2015, introduces new entrants to the space sector leading to innovation and capacity building in the development and deployment of cubesats. The program is now in its fifth round, for which applications recently closed. The sixth round of KiboCUBE is expected to open soon.

SA Catapult CEO Stuart Martin (l) and TriSept CEO Rob Spicer (r) seal the deal with a handshake.

Photo is courtesy of Tom Deininger.

TriSept Corporation has signed a comprehensive teaming agreement with Satellite Applications Catapult to explore and accelerate new innovations, missions and space access across the UK space industry and beyond.

Satellite Applications Catapult, part of The Catapult network and one of dozens of firms based at the Harwell Space Cluster, provides facilities and expertise for the benefit of the UK space sector. TriSept also announced its alliance with SA Catapult includes a full-time presence on the Harwell campus, where TriSept will expand its global launch integration services business in 2020. 

As part of the collaborative alliance, the two companies will leverage their complementary strengths to package TriSept’s deep launch integration, planning, engineering and brokerage competencies with Catapult’s engineering expertise and growing test, clean room and logistics coordination facilities. Together, the duo expects to build a mission manifest for new vertical and horizontal launch sites in England and Scotland.

TriSept has enabled the launch of more than 200 satellites on 70 different missions and 20 different launch vehicles from 13 launch sites around the world, including the NASA VCLS ELaNa XIX mission that lifted 10 cubesats into orbit aboard the Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia, New Zealand in December of last year.

Satellite Applications Catapult is keenly focused on driving new space infrastructure and applications that support and accelerate the growth of the UK space industry, projected to capture a 10% share of the global space market by 2030.

Rob Spicer, TriSept President and CEO, said the company is going global to help drive space access in promising new space markets like the UK, where the firm can join its proven and trusted launch integration and brokerage skillset with companies like Catapult to contribute to new possibilities in space. By launching this international presence with Catapult within the Harwell Space Cluster, TriSept is extremely well positioned to broker and support exciting new missions in the UK. This partnership with Catapult will ultimately have a significant impact on the traditional and new space industries in the UK, Europe, and the U.S.

An aerial view of the Harwell Space Campus in Oxford, UK.

Photo is courtesy of the Harwell Space Campus.

Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult, said this collaborative partnership between Catapult and TriSept is a significant milestone in the firm’s overall mission to stimulate innovation and economic growth across the UK space industry. TriSept’s decades of launch integration and brokerage experience combined with Catapult’s rapid-prototyping, manufacturing and testing facilities will bring unparalleled benefits to the UK space market.

On its ninth and final mission of 2019 — the third this year with the Soyuz medium-lift launcher from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana — Arianespace will perform a multiple launch for European institutional needs.

The COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation satellite for the Italian Space Agency and Minister of Defence will be the primary passenger of this flight, along with the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). Three auxiliary payloads also will be on board: ANGELS and EYESAT for the French CNES space agency; and OPS-SAT for Tyvak on behalf of ESA.

Flight VS23 will be performed from the Soyuz Launch Complex (ELS) in Sinnamary, French Guiana. Liftoff is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, at exactly:

03:54:20 a.m. in Washington, D.C.
05:54:20 a.m. in Kourou, French Guiana
08:54:20 Universal Time (UTC)
09:54:20 a.m. in Paris
09:54:20 a.m. in Rome
11:54:20 a.m. in Moscow

The nominal duration of the mission (from liftoff to separation of the satellites) is: 4 hours, 13 minutes and 14 seconds.

The targeted orbits are…

• COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation satellite in SSO with a semi-major-axis at 6,997 km. with an inclination of 97.81 degrees
   
• CHEOPS in SSO with a semi-major-axis at 7,078 km. with an inclination of 98.22 degrees
   
• Three auxiliary payloads: OPS-SAT / EYESAT / ANGELS, in SSO at an altitude of approximately 500 km.

The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) will occur on Saturday, December 14, 2019, in Kourou to authorize the start of operations for the final countdown.

The satellites…

COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation

Artistic rendition of one of two, second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed radar reconnaissance satellites. Image is courtesy of Thales Alenia Space.

This satellite is an Earth Observation (EO) spacecraft and will be the fourth satellite launched by Arianespace for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the ninth performed in total for Italy (comprising ASI, the Italian Ministry of Defence and Telespazio). Manufactured by Thales Alenia Space (Italy), COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation will be the 162nd satellite manufactured by this constructor to be launched by Arianespace.

An artistic rendition of the CHEOPS satellite. Image is courtesy of ESA.

The  is an ESA mission implemented in partnership with Switzerland. This 74th satellite to be launched by Arianespace for ESA will mark the 52nd mission conducted by the launch services provider at the service of this space agency.
     CHEOPS is the first mission dedicated to studying bright, nearby stars that  are already known to host exoplanets to make high-precision observations of the planet’s size as it passes in front of its host star. The spacecraft will focus on planets in the super-Earth to Neptune size range, with its data enabling the bulk density of the planets to be derived — a first characterization step toward understanding these alien worlds. Airbus in Spain is prime contractor for the mission, with the University of Bern being responsible for the telescope.

Three, auxiliary, smallsat payloads will also be on board the Soyuz launcher for Flight VS23:

ANGELS

(Argos Néo on a Generic Economical and Light Satellite)
Angels is a12U cubesat, and is the French industry’s first smallsat.
     It is jointly financed and developed by the French CNES space agency (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) and Hemeria, an innovative industrial group active in the aerospace, defense, energy, rail and automotive markets (which is an affiliate of Nexeya).

EyeSat

EyeSat is a 3U cubesat designed to study the zodiacal light and image the Milky Way. The EyeSat is being financed and developed by the French CNES space agency within the scope of the Janus project (Jeunes en Apprentissage pour la réalisation de Nanosatellites des Universités et des écoles de l’enseignement Supérieur), which is designed to encourage students in universities and engineering schools to develop their own smallsats.

OPS-SAT

This smallsat is a 3U CubeSat, is the world’s first free-for-use, on-orbit testbed for new software, applications and techniques in satellite control. OPS-SAT was developed by the Graz University of Technology with subcontractors from Austria, Germany, Poland and Denmark. The smallsat will be operated by ESA from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany.

Exos Aerospace has officially opened an office in Adelaide Australia on December 5th — the Adelaide office setup is an enabling step to developing a second National Charter Enterprise, this time in South Australia.

A launch of the Exos Aerospace SARGE rocket.

Image is courtesy of the company.

Exos Aerospace developed the Exos National Charter Enterprise program with PricewaterhouseCoopers and INVITALIA as a way to bring reusable space hardware technologies to the world through a high-tech apprenticeship program. Exos Aerospace has targeted four National Charter Enterprise locations to mitigate risk as their transition from the SARGE (SRLV) Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle program to their Jaguar LEO launcher.

The Australia National Charter Enterprise is key to bringing reusability to the launcher business and is enabled by the strong technical training environment in Southern Australia. Exos Aerospace AU targeted LOT 14 to be the training center with mission support at Equatorial Launch Australia (for vertical launch) and the planned South Australia Spaceport for horizontal launch capability. Exos Aerospace AU and Fenix Space, Inc. intend to serve both commercial and government customers to refine the world of horizontal launch capability.

Shortly, Exos Aerospace AU will apply for a grant to support opening a training facility to supply Australians with technical, operational training for building and operating liquid-fueled rocket technologies. While primarily focused on providing additional skilled workers to the Australian aerospace industry, the machining skill sets taught for aerospace will cut across many industrial sectors.

In the first year, Exos Aerospace aims to train 24 people and commence growth with a year five target to train 200 high-tech workers per year. Educational growth will all be made possible by working with universities and educational facilities. The training will directly support ELA’s weekly launch initiatives and, naturally, make space research an integral part of core curriculums. The company envisions students seeing their training through to a hands-on launch experience through a proposed launch services agreement with ELA.

Fenix Space, Inc., is an offshoot of Kelly Space & Technology, Inc., a privately-held aerospace, defense, technology, and testing services company. Fenix is co-located with Kelly Space at its Aerospace Research and Development Center at the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. Fenix Space’s training model, coupled with the Exos Aerospace rocket training experience, will blend together a “space twist” hands-on technical training. Fenix Space, Inc. will also support advancing airborne launches using a tow plane and autonomous glider as a way to increase the rocket’s capability and launch flexibility.

Government policymakers don’t always know how to integrate commercially available capabilities, but they have brilliantly set the stage for us at LOT14, said John Quinn, the COO of Exos Aerospace. Exos Aerospace AU has commenced the ITAR work to bring a proven technical training center (partnered with Fenix Space) that will leverage Australia’s highly technical industrial base, Quinn said, adding that the company wants Australia to see how a small company can join with select Nations to “Charter” their way around the world, relying on key core strengths of the strategically selected Nations to bring us all together in the name of Space.

With thoughts of Electron rocket re-use firmly in mind, Rocket Lab successfully launched their “Running Out of Fingers” mission on December 6 at 3:19 a.m., EST, from the firm’s Mahia Peninsula launch site in New Zealand.

An Alba Orbital smallsat.

Photo is courtesy of the company.

Six smallsats manufactured by Alba Orbital were passengers on this tenth expulsion of the Electron launch vehicle from Earth’s gravitational forces.

Of interest to the smallsat’s creators are the smallsat’s data collection regarding comms between satellites, the viability of thermal insulation in space as well as studying electromagnetic leakage from Earth.

Also a passenger scheduled for orbit ejection aboard the Electron was the 75 kg. ALE-2 satellite from, appropriately enough, the ALE company based in Japan. The goal of this smallsat is to create a five color shooting star panorama in the sky during the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020 — this mission is known as the Sky Canvas Project.

Artistic rendition of the ALE-2 smallsat.

Image is courtesy of ALE.

Rocket Lab continues to expand their operations with a new launch site to be commissioned in the U.S. If, and when, rocket reusability is viable, the firm plans to increase the frequency of their launches to a weekly schedule. There were several sensors aboard the Electron to gather re-entry data to continue the formulation of rocket re-use in the not-too-distant future.