Umbra<\/b> is moving into the spacecraft components business with a new Space Systems business line in a move to expand the vendor pool for space systems. <\/p>\n
Umbra started out as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data company and currently operates five satellites in its SAR constellation, with two more to launch in the next few months. Then last year, Umbra expanded into also offering full satellites and missions to customers. <\/p>\n
Now, Umbra is offering the same components that fly on its SAR constellation to customers, the company announced Aug. 11 during the Small Satellite Conference in Utah.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that our components work well because we have flight experience using those components,\u201d Todd Master, Umbra COO and general manager of Space Systems, told Via Satellite<\/i>. \u201cThat goes a long way for customers to understand that this isn\u2019t just a design or a concept \u2014 this is something that\u2019s being used actively in [our] operational constellation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Umbra started out buying components for its own satellites from vendors, but as a commercial customer, the company found itself at the back of the queue behind defense orders, Master said. This pushed Umbra to pursue vertical integration to have control over its schedule, cost, and performance.<\/p>\n
While demand for spacecraft from the commercial and government markets has increased, the vendor pool has largely stayed the same, Master added. \u201cThe need is still outstripping the number of options in the marketplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new business line includes Umbra\u2019s battery module, solar array, power package, reaction wheel, S-band radio and a four-point separation system for deployment. The components are manufactured in Southern California, where Umbra recently opened a new manufacturing facility to increase its manufacturing capacity.<\/p>\n
This expansion takes Umbra from a remote sensing company to a full spectrum space technology company, Master said. \u201cOnce systems are a part of your offering, we become a lot more agnostic. I\u2019m going to provide what my customer needs in any way they need it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Master sees the business supporting other commercial space companies, government contractors for programs like the Space Development Agency\u2019s proliferated constellation and the Golden Dome, and international customers as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve spent a lot of time and energy building parts of our system to make it work effectively, affordably, and to meet performance and space. Now we\u2019re taking those investments that we\u2019ve made for ourselves and bringing it to the marketplace,\u201d Master said, adding: \u201cWe believe in it because we fly it ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Umbra is moving into the spacecraft components business with a new Space Systems business line in a move to expand the vendor pool for space systems. Umbra started out as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data company and currently operates five satellites in its SAR constellation, with two more to launch in the next few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48649,"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":[],"class_list":["post-48648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48648"}],"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=48648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}