This week space logistics provider D-Orbit announced its customers loaded onboard the upcoming SpaceX Transporter-2 launch. The company’s ION Satellite Carrier will have 6 satellites and three hosted payloads onboard when it is launched later this month (NET June 24), including a laser communications demonstration and an in-orbit on-demand cloud computing service.
Cubesats onboard includes the Neptuno 3U cubesat dedicated to maritime surveillance. The satellite, developed by Elecnor Deimos, includes an automatic real-time monitoring system for alert detection of potentially “criminal behavior patterns.” EnduroSat’s 6U SPARTAN is a shared satellite hosting multiple customers. Orbital Space is a 1U cubesat built and operated in the UAE.
Netherlands space system company ISISPACE is managing three satellites. Reaktor Space Lab W-Cube is a 3U pathfinder to study the propagation of W-band (75 to 110 GHz) frequencies for use in future telecom satellites. Marshall Intech’s GHALIB is a 2U cubesat demonstrator for space-based tracking of falcon migration. The satellite includes a radio receiver and a camera to take pictures of the earth on demand. If the concept proves out, it could lead to a constellation of satellites for continuous tracking of large birds and wildlife. NAPA-2 is a 6U Earth Observation cubesat for the Royal Thai Air Force and will be the second RTAF EO satellite.
Hosted payloads onboard WILD RIDE include LaserCube, a 2U sized instrument built by Stellar Project to demonstrate low-power laser communication capabilities with symmetrical speeds of up to 500 Mbps for cubesats in both crosslink and downlink applications. Nebula is a 1U payload built by Unibap using its SpaceCloud iX5100 board. The board stack can be configured with Quad-core x86-64 CPUs and paired with GPUs, FPGAs, and AI/ML chips such as the Intel Movidius and Myrad XVPU. D-Orbit plans to run several AI/ML applications on Nebula , including a “Worldfloods” program to identify flooding from real-time imagery and send down a flood map to emergency responders.
The mission will end by testing ADEO, a 1U sized deployable sail to ensure WILD RIDE is safely and successfully brought back into the atmosphere in a faster and “residue free” fashion.
