{"id":17272,"date":"2023-08-06T23:27:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T15:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/leostella-super-sizes-its-platform-for-small-satellites-as-it-takes-aim-at-new-markets\/"},"modified":"2023-08-06T23:27:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T15:27:34","slug":"leostella-super-sizes-its-platform-for-small-satellites-as-it-takes-aim-at-new-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/leostella-super-sizes-its-platform-for-small-satellites-as-it-takes-aim-at-new-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"LeoStella super-sizes its platform for small satellites as it takes aim at new markets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
An artist\u2019s conception shows a satellite based on LeoStella\u2019s LS-300 bus. (LeoStella Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella is unveiling its latest, greatest platform for small satellites, which should hit a sweet spot for future manufacturing contracts.<\/p>\n

LeoStella, which is a joint venture co-owned by European satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and a geospatial data analysis company called BlackSky, started out in 2018 building Earth observation satellites for BlackSky\u2019s Global constellation.<\/p>\n

LeoStella\u2019s LS-100 spacecraft platform, which is known in the space industry as a bus, was right-sized for those 120-pound (55-kilogram) satellites. But that was about as much mass as the LS-100 bus could accommodate.<\/p>\n

When BlackSky came up with a more capable payload for its Gen3 satellites, LeoStella boosted its bus design to handle the added mass. Its LS-200 bus is suitable for satellites with a total weight of 330 pounds (150 kilograms), including 130 pounds (60 kilograms) of payload.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s a growing demand for a bigger class of small satellites, and LeoStella\u2019s LS-300 bus is designed to serve that demand. The LS-300 design, unveiled in conjunction with this week\u2019s Small Satellite Conference in Utah, can be used for satellites weighing 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms), with half of that mass available for the satellite\u2019s payload.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s still small potatoes compared with, say, the 20,000-pound Jupiter 3 satellite that was sent into orbit last month by SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket. But LeoStella CEO Tim Kienberger told GeekWire that the LS-300 bus should make a big difference for the market that his company is targeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally you would have jumped up to about the 300-kilogram class,\u201d Kienberger said. \u201cWe jumped to the 500-kilogram class with the LS-300 satellite because that\u2019s what the rideshare opportunities are offering up now. And I think that\u2019s a big part of what\u2019s shifting the market. This is all about total cost on orbit, so as the rideshare costs come down and enable the launch of larger satellites, it opens up the door to new capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LeoStella
Former Boeing engineer Tim Kienberger became LeoStella\u2019s CEO in January. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The larger size makes it possible to offer a xenon-based electric propulsion system that\u2019s built by Astra. The propulsion system can achieve velocity changes of more than 440 mph (200 meters per second), which adds significantly to the LS-300\u2019s capability for orbital maneuvering and precision pointing. The LS-300 can also provide up to a kilowatt of power for satellite payloads.<\/p>\n

In the process of developing the LS-300 design, LeoStella\u2019s engineers worked with two graduated seniors from the RAID Robotics team at Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way, Wash., to create a full-scale mockup for display. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a big demand for the LS-300 already,\u201d Kienberger said. He said one customer already has been secured \u2014 but he wasn\u2019t yet at liberty to identify that customer.<\/p>\n

Loft Orbital CEO Pierre-Damien Vanjour, who\u2019s been a LeoStella customer in the past, said the LS-300 is \u201cwell-positioned to meet the varied needs of customers seeking access to space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLoft Orbital has had great success with LeoStella\u2019s established bus platforms,\u201d Vanjour said in a news release. \u201cI\u2019m confident the updated LS-300 bus platform will enhance the company\u2019s already established reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=quREvafRrNo
\n<\/figure>\n

Kienberger is hoping to enlist the Pentagon\u2019s Space Development Agency as a future LS-300 customer. The agency is soliciting bids for scores of satellites that will become part of its constellation for military communications in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LS-300 is, maybe not intentionally, but definitely targeted in the right size and capability for SDA opportunities,\u201d Kienberger said. Defense contractors could conceivably use the LS-300 spacecraft bus as the foundation for the satellites they\u2019d offer in their bids.<\/p>\n

Kienberger said production of the new bus is due to begin early next year. He figures that the Tukwila factory currently has enough capacity to build about 24 LS-300 buses annually, \u201cand with a small expansion in our current footprint, we think we can accommodate more than double that number.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve kind of rolled back from production, and we\u2019ve been focusing on developing new products so that we can then take off with those new products,\u201d he said. \u201cSo right now we\u2019re forecasting an increase in production next year, but really ramping up in 2025, For sure, if we win some SDA work, there\u2019ll be a lot of production activity going on here in \u201925 and \u201926.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist\u2019s conception shows a satellite based on LeoStella\u2019s LS-300 bus. (LeoStella Illustration) Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella is unveiling its latest, greatest platform for small satellites, which should hit a sweet spot for future manufacturing contracts. LeoStella, which is a joint venture co-owned by European satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and a geospatial data analysis company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4542,20,442,508],"class_list":["post-17272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-leostella","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-smallsat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}