{"id":8917,"date":"2023-01-20T23:37:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/europes-first-solar-sail-mission-successfully-launched-by-spacex\/"},"modified":"2023-01-20T23:37:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:37:07","slug":"europes-first-solar-sail-mission-successfully-launched-by-spacex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/europes-first-solar-sail-mission-successfully-launched-by-spacex\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2018s First Solar Sail Mission Successfully Launched by SpaceX"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/Nano_C_638097903709655298.png\" width=\"712\" height=\"377\" alt=\"Europe\u2018s First Solar Sail Mission Successfully Launched by SpaceX\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/Nano_C_638097903709655298.png\" style=\"\"><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/Nano_C_638097903709655298.png\"><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"712\"><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"377\"><\/p>\n<p>Kongsberg NanoAvionics has announced the successful launch of Europe\u2018s first solar sail mission aboard SpaceX Transporter-6. The 6U nanosatellite nicknamed \u2018Alpha\u2019 was manufactured for France\u2019s Gama. It is one of four satellites, built by the Lithuanian smallsat mission integrator for multiple customers, that got sent into low Earth Orbit.<\/p>\n<p>It is the first time for NanoAvionics that one of its nanosatellite buses has carried a solar sail payload into space. A second solar sail mission, using a 12U nanosatellite bus by the company, will be NASA\u2019s composite solar sail system (ACS3).<\/p>\n<p>Vytenis J. Buzas, co-founder and CEO of NanoAvionics, said: \u201cSolar sails are one of the future propulsion methods for small satellites exploring deep space. Being the first European company to integrate solar sails into satellite buses and test them while in orbit puts us in a unique position within the space industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on board were two other 6U nanosatellites (\u2018Birkeland\u2019 and \u2018Huygens\u2019) built by NanoAvionics for a consortium of Norwegian and Dutch research centers. The MilSpace2 mission is the first known two-satellite system to detect, classify, and accurately geolocate radio frequency signals. The two satellites will fly in formation at a close proximity of 20 kilometers.<\/p>\n<p>The MilSpace2 mission is not the only application that can benefit from NanoAvionics bus capabilities to fly in swarms and operate as a single entity. This is an important feature for swarm missions ranging from remote sensing to orbital reconnaissance for debris mitigation and other space infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"fr-img-caption\" style=\"width: 671px;\"><span class=\"fr-img-wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/Nano_2_638097914872686402.jpg\" height=\"451\" width=\"670\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr\" ><span class=\"fr-inner\">6U Nanosatellites \u2018Birkeland\u2019 and \u2018Huygens\u2019 Assembly in NanoAvionics Cleanroom<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The fourth satellite carries an Earth observation payload for an undisclosed customer.<\/p>\n<p>Confirming successful communications with all four satellites, NanoAvionics\u2019s mission control center continues executing the early operations phase (LEOP) to configure and validate the satellites for their primary mission objectives.<\/p>\n<p>With this first successful launch in 2023, NanoAvionics is off to a great start. We plan to deliver and launch more than 20 satellites to customers this year, up from 15 in 2022. This plan includes our first 100+ kg satellite based on our MP42 microsatellite bus,\u201d Buzas said. \u201cAnd for the third consecutive year, we nearly doubled both our revenue and our team size.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mission details for all Transporter-6 satellites built by NanoAvionics:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A 6U nanosatellite dubbed \u201cAlpha\u201d for French space startup Gama to demonstrate their commercial solar sail with a diameter of 73.3 square meters (789 square feet) \u2013 roughly the size of a racquetball court. Gama\u2019s range of solar sails is aimed at commercial companies and research organizations alike, looking for a cost-effective and less complex setup and propulsion system to explore deep space through small satellites. Using nano- or microsatellites propelled through space by solar sails would allow them to travel greater distances without storing large amounts of fuel.<\/li>\n<li>Two 6U satellites named \u201cBirkeland\u201d and \u201cHuygens\u201d. Flying in close formation, the two satellites are part of The \u201cStrategic Mutual Assistance in Research and Technology\u201d (SMART) Military Use of Space (MilSpace) Science &amp; Technology cooperation is a bilateral agreement between the MoD of the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the MoD of the Kingdom of Norway. The project team, acting on behalf of the MoDs, consists of FFI from Norway and NLR and TNO from The Netherlands. It is the first known two-satellite system to detect, classify, and accurately geolocate Radio Frequency signals, including navigation radars used on ships, by combining the measurement angle of arrival (AoA) and time difference of arrival (TDOA). Simultaneous detection of pulsed radio signals by both satellites flying in tandem enables accurate geolocation during all weather conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The fourth satellite carries an Earth observation payload for an undisclosed customer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kongsberg NanoAvionics has announced the successful launch of Europe\u2018s first solar sail mission aboard SpaceX Transporter-6. The 6U nanosatellite nicknamed \u2018Alpha\u2019 was manufactured for France\u2019s Gama. It is one of four satellites, built by the Lithuanian smallsat mission integrator for multiple customers, that got sent into low Earth Orbit. It is the first time for [&hellip;]<\/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":[25,20,24],"class_list":["post-8917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-launch","tag-satellite","tag-satellite-bus-platforms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917"}],"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=8917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}