Exolaunch flawlessly deployed 21 satellites on SpaceX’s
Transporter-7 mission on April 14,
2023. Lift-off of the SpaceX
Falcon 9 launch vehicle occurred at
11:48pm PT and was the first Transporter mission to launch from
Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. This is the 19th
mission in Exolaunch’s flight heritage, bringing it to a
well-rounded 290 satellites launched and taking us ever closer to
the 300 satellites milestone.
Exolaunch launched a combined mass of over 550 kilograms for
multiple international customers hailing from the USA, Canada, the
United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, Spain, France, the Netherlands,
Bulgaria, Monaco, Lithuania, Denmark, Argentina, Colombia, the UAE
and Kenya. In total, Exolaunch safely delivered 16 CubeSats and 5
microsatellites carrying various Earth observation and
communication payloads into a sun-synchronous orbit above an
altitude of 500 km. During the flight, all customer satellites
separated seamlessly from the Falcon 9 upper stage via our
EXOpod and EXOpod Nova
CubeSat deployers and
CarboNIX
microsatellite separation systems.
This mission’s manifest reflects a rapidly broadening customer
base for Exolaunch. Indeed, the Company welcomed new customers
from government, academia and commercial space, including
Canada’s
Space Flight Laboratory
on behalf of
the Norwegian Space Agency,
TÜBİTAK UZAY, the
Kenya Space Agency
with
SayariLabs
and EnduroSat,
ISILAUNCH
on behalf of
Orbital Solutions Monaco (OSM)
and
Laboratoire Athmosphères, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), the
Stanford Student Space Initiative
at Stanford University,
Bronco Space
at Cal Poly Pomona, UK-based
OrbAstro
for
AstroForge, and the
Colombian Air Force. Additionally, long-standing customers such as NewSpace power
houses
Spire Global,
Kongsberg NanoAvionics
on behalf of the
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
and an undisclosed customer,
Unseenlabs,
GomSpace,
EnduroSat
on behalf of
Sateliot,
Plan-S
and
Satellogic
successfully deployed their satellites via Exolaunch on
Transporter-7.
Exolaunch fully managed the missions of all customer satellites
clustered on a Falcon 9 launch port,
and supplied hardware, integration, and deployment services for
Satellogic on another port. All these satellites were mounted on
two
EXOport
multi-satellite adapters, including the brand-new Europa-type
which is capable of mounting no less than 6 different separation
systems. Transporter-7 marks the
maiden flight of the EXOport Europa on
Falcon 9.
Capacity on this Falcon 9 launch was
provided for all customers through our Multi-Launch Agreement
(MLA) first signed with SpaceX in 2020 and since expanded to
include new missions. Under the terms of the MLA, Exolaunch
provides turnkey mission management, testing, integration
services as well as our industry-leading separation systems.
Transporter-7 follows the earlier Transporter-6 mission,
launched in January 2023 and brings our flight heritage ever
closer to the 300 satellites launched mark. This is a key
milestone in Exolaunch’s busiest schedule to date, with
customers manifested on every upcoming Transporter mission as
well as several new launchers in 2023.
FULL MISSION MANIFEST
-
THE COLOMBIAN AIR FORCE (FUERZA AÉREA COLOMBIANA) AND
GOMSPACE, FACSAT-2
FACSAT-2, dubbed “Chiribiquete”, was deployed using EXOpod
Nova for the Colombian Air Force, a new government customer.
FACSAT-2 is a 6U Earth
observation satellite built by GomSpace.
-
KENYA SPACE AGENCY WITH SAYARILABS AND ENDUROSAT,
TAIFA-1
TAIFA-1 was deployed using
EXOpod Nova for the Kenya Space Agency and SayariLabs, a new
governmental customer and an emerging space nation.
TAIFA-1 is a 3U satellite built
by EnduroSat and SayariLabs, and is Kenya’s first Earth
observation mission intended to provide disaster prevention
and mitigation capabilities.
-
SPACE FLIGHT LABORATORY ON BEHALF OF THE NORWEGIAN SPACE
AGENCY, NORSAT-TD
NorSat-TD was deployed using EXOport Europa for the Norway
Space Agency. The
NorSat-TD microsatellite is
designed for Earth observation and technology testing and
was built by Space Flight Laboratory, a well-known Canadian
small satellite manufacturer with an extensive track record.
-
BRONCO SPACE, PLEIADES-YEARLING
Pleiades-Yearling was deployed using EXOpod Nova for Bronco
Space at Cal Poly Pomona, a new customer from academia.
Pleiades-Yearling is a 1U CubeSat that will test open-source
CubeSat architecture and features a radiation detector
demonstration payload.
-
STANFORD STUDENT SPACE INITIATIVE, SAPLING GIGANTEUM
Sapling Giganteum was deployed using an EXOpod Nova for the
Stanford Student Space Initiative at Stanford University, a
new academic customer. Sapling Giganteum is a 1U CubeSat
destined to test open-source subsystems and to demonstrate
the validity of the affordable COTS Google Coral Edge
computing platform whilst providing students with invaluable
hands-on experience.
-
TÜBITAK UZAY, SSS-2B
SSS-2B was deployed using EXOpod Nova for TÜBITAK UZAY, a
Turkish applied research, technology development, and
application-oriented institute developing indigenous
subsystems for higher resolution remote sensing satellites.
SSS-2B is a 3U CubeSat that will
demonstrate and validate various subsystems and hosts a
double Earth observation and radiation dosimeter payload.
-
ISILAUNCH ON BEHALF OF ORBITAL SOLUTIONS MONACO (OSM) AND
THE LABORATOIRE ATMOSPHÈRES, OBSERVATIONS SPATIALES
(LATMOS), ROSEYCUBESAT-1 AND
INSPIRE-SAT-7
ROSEYCUBESAT-1 and
INSPIRE-SAT 7 were deployed
using EXOpod Nova for ISILAUNCH on behalf of OSM and LATMOS,
respectively. ISILAUNCH, a fellow launch aggregator,
manifested both satellites with Exolaunch. The satellites
were built by the satellite manufacturer ISISPACE.
ROSEYCUBESAT-1 is a 1U CubeSat
with a camera payload intended for didactic purposes and
INSPIRE-SAT-7 is a 2U in-orbit
demonstrator intended to test EO CubeSats constellations in
orbit.
-
ENDUROSAT ON BEHALF OF SATELIOT, 2B5GSAT
2B5GSAT, dubbed “Groundbreaker”, was deployed using EXOpod
for returning Bulgarian customer EnduroSat, on behalf of
Spain-based Sateliot. 2B5GSAT features an in-orbit
demonstration payload of an Internet of Things (IoT)
communications system integrated in EnduroSat’s standard 6U
XL platform bus.
-
SPIRE GLOBAL, KAUST,
FINDUSADLER-2, AND
GNSS-4
Kaust, FindusAdler-2 and
GNSS-4 were deployed using
EXOpod Nova for Spire Global, a long-standing customer and a
leading global provider of space-based data, analytics and
space services delivered by one of the largest multipurpose
satellite constellations in the world. Kaust hosts a
hyperspectral camera with advanced on-board processing
capabilities in combination with Spire’s Global Navigation
Satellite System-Reflectometry
(GNSS-R) sensor payload that
will collect intelligence on soil moisture. FindusAdler-2 is
a 6U nanosatellite that hosts three payloads to detect and
track orbital debris and perform air quality measurements
around the globe. Finally,
GNSS-4 expands on Spire’s
data solution constellation with GNSS sensors to gather
precise data about the Earth's atmosphere, including
measurements on temperature, humidity, and precipitation, as
well as ionospheric electron density.
-
KONGSBERG NANOAVIONICS ON BEHALF OF THE DUBAI ELECTRICITY
AND WATER AUTHORITY (DEWA) AND AN UNDISCLOSED CUSTOMER,
DEWASAT-2 AND LS2f
DEWASAT-2 and LS2f were deployed using EXOpod Nova for
returning customer Kongsberg NanoAvionics on behalf of DEWA
and another undisclosed customer.
DEWASAT-2 is a 6U spacecraft
destined to collect multispectral imagery of the UAE region
in order to monitor water quality and conduct solar park
monitoring. LS2f is a 3U satellite. Both satellites were
built by Kongsberg NanoAvionics, a nanosatellite bus
manufacturer and mission integrator with end-to-end
solutions ranging from constellations to single missions.
-
UNSEENLABS, BRO-9
BRO-9 was deployed using EXOpod for Unseenlabs, a French
leading provider in radio frequency (RF) data and solutions
for Maritime Domain Awareness.
BRO-9 is a 6U satellite operated
by UNSEENLABS and dedicated to the monitoring of
electromagnetic emissions from space. The mission extends
the UNSEENLABS satellite constellation by putting another
BRO-9 satellite in orbit.
-
PLAN-S SATELLITE AND SPACE TECHNOLOGIES,
CONNECTA-T2.1
ConnectaT2.1 was deployed using EXOpod Nova for
Plan-S, a returning Turkish
customer and the country’s largest private initiative in
space, specialising in mission computers, communications
subsystems, and ground interfaces in satellite systems.
Connecta-T2.1 is 6U satellite
hosting a ground observation and an onboard data processing
payload.
-
ORBASTRO, ORBASTRO-AF-1
OrbAstro-AF-1 was deployed using EXOpod Nova for OrbAstro, a
British customer focused on compressing the upfront cost and
lead-time for companies to go to market with powerful
in-orbit infrastructure.
OrbAstro-AF-1 is a 6U spacecraft
built for AstroForge.
-
SATELLOGIC, NEWSAT-36 –
NEWSAT 39
Satellogic's NewSat-36 through 39 were deployed using
CarboNIX following launch aboard Spacex's
Transporter-7 mission.
Satellogic is a leader in sub-meter resolution Earth
Observation (EO) data collection. The company designs,
manufactures, and operates its own constellation of EO
satellites. This mission deployed four additional NewSat
Mark IV satellites to the constellation, bringing the total
number of spacecraft to 34 operational satellites.
VIDEO © EXOLAUNCH, SPACEX