Month: December 2021

Virgin Orbit announced the changes in the “Above the Clouds” mission where SteamJet Space Systems take part.

According to Virgin Orbit, the Spire CubeSat will be joined to the smallsats of the Space Test Program and SatRevolution on the next LauncherOne mission, which is going to be its fourth flight since the first launch in May 2020. The launch date of the “Above the Clouds” mission with a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket is currently January 12, 2022 (UTC).

The mission “Above the Clouds” was announced in November. Back then, the participants were the Defense Department’s Space Test Program (STP) and SatRevolution, a Polish manufacturer of nanosatellite technologies. The satellite aimed to collect information about “micro” space debris in low Earth orbit with the help of a short-range radar provided by Spire. SatRevolution was going to test two projects: STORK-3 as an imaging satellite and SteamSat-2, based on SteamJet’ TunaCan Thruster, a compact resistojet with a unique water-powered propulsion technology, produced by SteamJet Space Systems. The TunaCan Thruster has been specifically designed for CubeSat platforms, keeping in mind all the limitations in terms of volume, power, and safety.

One of the major benefits of the SteamJet’ TunaCan Thruster system is the possibility to install it in the Tunacan volume, located outside the CubeSat structure. This is the only propulsion unit in the market that needs almost no volume inside the satellite. Moreover, the TunaCan Thruster is environmentally friendly, as water is the main propellant, provides a high thrust, and has a low power consumption. More technical information about the TunaCan Thruster can be found on our website.

Photo Source:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211214006222/en/SatRevolution-Secures-Series-B-Funding-from-Virgin-Orbit

The World Satellite Business Week is the annual event held for leaders from the global satellite connectivity and information business. This year it took place on December 13-16, 2021. And one of the main results of this year was a statement made by SatRevolution S.A. and Virgin Orbit. According to this statement, SatRevolution S.A., a Polish manufacturer of nanosatellite technologies, announced secured funding from Virgin Orbit, the responsive launch and space solutions company.

Under the signed arrangement, SatRev company is valued at approximately $150 million that aims to support its business development. This arrangement has become a result of a strategic alliance between SatRev and Virgin Orbit starting in June. Both companies tend to design modern business applications for the use of nanosatellites. Currently, SatRev has already launched two satellites cooperating with Virgin Orbit. The launching of another two satellites is awaiting under the Virgin Orbit’s Above the Clouds project next month. SatRev and Virgin Orbit expect to give up to 500 kg of hosted payload services on LauncherOne rockets, ready solutions for fast deployment of space services, etc.

Among the developed nanosatellite technologies, SatRev provides the Stork medium-resolution earth observation platform and a deployable high-resolution telescope ScopeSat that has onboard processing capabilities. This gives opportunities for earth observation in the near real-time and with high resolution. All these technologies will help SatRev and Virgin Orbit successfully enter the global market for weekly mapping services which, according to the estimates, could reach $140 billion by 2026.

It is expected that the announced transaction will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022. The total fundraise is estimated to close at $30 million.

Originally published at Virginorbit.com