Portugal, Spain and the UK collaborate towards Open Constellation small satellites that will be launched throughout 2023 and 2024.
The Open Cosmos MENUT, that is part of the Open Constellation satellite infrastructure built and managed by Open Cosmos, will be launched during the Transporter rideshare mission.
Countries, institutions and companies are able to contribute their own satellites to create the world’s biggest mutualized constellation. Open Cosmos-built SmallSats, contributed by leading space organizations in the UK, Spain and Portugal for OpenConstellation, are already being built and will be launched throughout 2023 and 2024.
Portugal’s contribution for individual Earth Observation (EO) constellations towards the global Open Constellation will drive participation from companies, organizations and governments.
Open Cosmos provides data-sharing through its platform that was launched in 2022 and is able to draw Earth Observation data from the Open Constellation satellites as well as from other satellites, drones and ground-based sensors. Open Cosmos is a rapidly rising star in both the UK and European space industries as well as in the New-Space industry globally.
The MENUT infrastructure includes a launch vehicle that was deployed under a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) by Exolaunch through its EXOpod Nova deployment system that enables a wide array of nanosatellite designs.
According to Aleix Megias, VP of Operations at Open Cosmos, the MENUT launch will provide actionable data from space from a revolutionary shared space infrastructure model. Jeanne Allarie, VP Launch at Exolaunch, believes that the goals of Open Cosmos, that are to establish sustainable and easily accessible infrastructure in orbit, are in large part made possible by SpaceX and its ongoing Transporter rideshare missions.
Meanwhile, European New-Space companies are planning AI-based space traffic management solutions. There will therefore be no more crash, boom and bang in space!
Portuguese company Neuraspace and two other European New-Space companies, Ienai Space and EnduroSat, are collaborating for Europe’s first orbital demonstration of a Collision Avoidance System based on AI. The Space Traffic Management system will provide spacecraft operators with better space traffic data, collision detection algorithms and more efficient propulsion systems.
Portuguese Neuraspace and Spanish Ienai Space have signed an MOU to tackle the growing issue of space debris through joint traffic management products. They will provide operators with more effective decision-making for collision avoidance maneuvers for their spacecrafts. In collaboration with EnduroSat, the companies plan to demonstrate their joint collision avoidance capabilities with a mission in 2023.
The satellite that is built by EnduroSat will be launched aboard an Isar Aerospace rocket (ISAR 2). Once in orbit, it will be maneuvered by Ienai’s ‘Athena’ thrusters. The warnings and suggestions will be generated by Portuguese Neuraspace’s AI/ML (machine learning) driven Space Traffic Management solution.
EnduroSat and Neuraspace are both early adopters of the Space Sustainability Rating which encourages and rewards space actors who enforce sustainable space missions with a unique rating system.
The new Portugal-Spain partnership will demonstrate that Space Traffic Management can and should be a regular feature of commercial space, according to Daniel Pérez, CEO of Ienai Space.
Chiara Manfletti, director at Portugal’s Neuraspace, commented that “space safety and sustainability require urgent and joint action. Neuraspace has set out to be a European-born global star in space traffic management.”
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