Aerospace and Defense Review : News

Founded in 2017, SteamJet, a United Kingdom propulsion startup, builds water-fueled resistojet propulsion for small satellites and cubesats. SteamJet Space Systems is the most recent customer to sign up for Momentus' Vigoride space transportation service. Momentus announced its plans to deploy a SteamJet cubesat on its Vigoride demonstration mission, which is scheduled to launch later this year on a Russian Soyuz rocket. They announced this plan at the SmallSat Symposium on 4th February. Founded in 2017, SteamJet, a United Kingdom propulsion startup , builds water-fueled resistojet propulsion for small satellites and cubesats. SteamJet Space Systems is the most recent customer to sign up for Momentus' Vigoride space transportation service. "It's a pleasure to be working with Momentus on launch integration and using their technology for our final orbital placement," SteamJet CEO Pavel Savin said in a statement. "Momentus has created a fantastic efficiency-to-cost ratio. We look forward to continuing the relationship with future SteamJet satellites ." The 1.5-unit cubesat of SteamJet will be integrated into a deployer designed to fit several cubesats built by Innovative Solutions in the space of the Netherlands. After integration, the deployer will then be mounted on Momentus' Vigoride transfer vehicle, Dawn Harms, Momentus chief revenue officer, said. During orbit, SteamJet intends to display an impulsion system that uses water or another low pressure, non-corrosive, non-toxic fluid propellant to create thrust. SteamJet houses its propulsion system in a component shaped like a tuna can that attaches to the exterior of a cubesat. Momentus has a total of five customers signed up for shuttle flights in the next two years i.e., 2020 and 2021. Five more customers, including Exolaunch and Deimos, have signed up for Momentus charter flights to destinations not served by shuttle flights. See Also :-  Top Aerospace Tech Solution Companies ...Read more

The Argos system collects one-way data from maritime beacons, including humidity, temperature, and sea level. However, it is limited in terms of throughput and the kinds of services it can provide Occitanie-based Internet of Things startup Kinéis raised USD 110.5 million from private and public investors to fund its ambition of providing universal satellite connectivity by launching a constellation of 25 CubeSats by 2022. The funding round was led by Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), a French maritime and environmental monitoring company, with participation from the French space agency CNES, the French National Institute for Ocean Science (Ifremer), and several others. The round was also participated by French industrial partners Thales Group, CubeSat builder Hemeria and software engineering company Celad. "We are very proud to have reached this major milestone. With the funds needed to launch our constellation, we are now free to focus entirely on satellite manufacturing and commercial deployment," said Alexandre Tisserant, President of Kinéis. "The financing was all equity-based and fully funds the buildout of the company's constellation, including manufacturing, launch, ground infrastructure, and insurance. The money will also allow Kinéis to grow to 45 people from 25 by the end of the year," he added. Until date, Kinéis has been running on revenue from Argos, a system of seven hosted payloads and one experimental smallsat which it inherited from CLS last year, and funds which CLS pre-committed as part of the investment round. The Argos system collects one-way data from maritime beacons, including humidity, temperature, and sea level. However, it is limited in terms of throughput and the kinds of services it can provide. Kinéis's new constellation will consist of a more powerful CubeSat that can replace Argos with a two-way connectivity system that can link devices in multiple industries. "We are going from an eight- satellite constellation that is working today with limited capacity to full capacity with a performance of a new constellation starting 2022,” said Tisserant. “This is really what will help us to scale and to go from 20,000 beacons today to millions, we hope, in several years.” See Also:  Top Aerospace Tech Solution Companies ...Read more

Initially, the company relied on AAC Clyde to build its first two prototype satellites, consisting of three-unit CubeSats that were launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in 2018. AAC Clyde is also working on Kepler's third prototype, a six-unit CubeSat that is scheduled to launch this spring Kepler Communications has decided to build its 140 CubeSats in a 5,000-square-foot facility, which was commissioned last year, at its Toronto headquarters. According to Kepler CEO Mina Mitry, the company took the decision after an exhaustive analysis of the supply chain for smallsats. It came to the conclusion that the industry had a significant challenge ahead in maturing the supply chain for smallsat components. Kepler took around ten different smallsat manufacturers into considerations before deciding to manufacture it in house. Initially, the company relied on AAC Clyde to build its first two prototype satellites , consisting of three-unit CubeSats that were launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in 2018.AAC Clyde is also working on Kepler's third prototype, a six-unit CubeSat that is scheduled to launch this spring. Despite this, the company decided not to opt for AAC Clyde to build the constellation as they could not offer the right mix of price, schedule, and technology. Kepler's first two in house satellites are already under construction ad is expected to launch on a Soyuz rideshare this summer, arranged by Glavkosmos. Currently, less than ten of Kepler's 50 employees have been dedicated to building these satellites. The company has received help in designing its CubeSat bus from the Canadian Space Agency , the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies' Space Flight Laboratory , and Sinclair Interplanetary. Kepler's two prototype satellites, which are currently in orbit, have demonstrated the capabilities of its technology by delivering a high-speed internet data connection to the North Pole for the first time late last year. Kepler believes that the new facility will help them to be able to vertically integrate the development, production, and testing of its future spacecraft. This works in favor of the company as it will help the startup achieve its goal of producing, launching and operating a constellation of 140 satellites in total, to provide high-bandwidth connectivity aimed for use in a range of industries, including agriculture, transportation , and maritime shipping and logistics. See Also:  Top Supply Chain Tech Companies ...Read more