On September 22, 2020 Momentus Inc. (Momentus), which provides in-space satellite transportation and infrastructure services and Pixxel, a Indian space-tech startup has signed an service agreement to launch the 2nd satellite of Pixxel to SSO orbit (Sun-synchronous orbit or heliosynchronous orbit) in December 2021 on top of a SpaceX Falcon-9 and also with option to fly again in 2022.
- The earth imaging satellite, which is the 1st satellite of Pixxel is scheduled to be launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket in November, 2020.
About SSO orbit:
General Info
i.It is a particular kind of polar orbit in which the satellite travels anywhere on the planet’s surface at the same local mean solar time.
ii.Satellites in SSO, touring over the polar regions, are synchronous with the Sun.
Benefits
i.It is one of the commonly used orbits for geoscience and national security missions.
ii.It is useful for imaging, spy, and weather satellites as everytime the satellite is above, the surface illumination angle on the planet beneath it will be nearly the same
Key Info
- A constellation of the latest earth imaging small satellites are being built by Pixxel, which can provide a real-time remote sensing data around the world.
- A rideshare platform will be provided by Momentus Shuttle Service for multiple Pixxel spacecraft to predefined orbits.
Additional Info
i.Pixxel for its global constellation intends to deploy a total of 30 satellites by Dec 2022.
ii.Recently it has raised USD 5 Million seed funding from Blume Ventures, GrowX Ventures and Lightspeed India to accelerate its 2nd launch and begin work on the constellation.
iii.It’s customers like Satsure and Skymet buy its data in India, including other global agriculture, oil and gas and weather tracking companies.
Note- Momentus and GP Advanced Projects, an Italian startup helping non-space companies to enter the space sector, entered into a service agreement for GP Advanced Projects Flexible Experimental Embedded Satellite (FEES) 2 Picosatellite to fly on Vigoride’s 2nd demo mission in April 2021.
About Momentus Inc.
Headquarters– Santa Clara, California
CEO, Founder and board member– Mikhail Kokorich
About Pixxel:
It was founded by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal in 2019
Headquarters– Bangalore, karnataka
Founder and CEO– Awais Ahmed
Recent Related News:
i.South Korea launched its first military communications satellite, Army/Navy/Air Force Satellite Information System 2(ANASIS-II). The satellite was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) by a Falcon 9 rocket developed by US space firm SpaceX. It was lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US state of Florida.
ii.On August 23, 2020, China launched its fifth Gaofen-9 series satellite named “Gaofen-9 05” along with two smaller payloads viz. Tiantuo-5 and Duo Gongneng Shiyan Weixing through Long March-2D carrier rocket from its Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) in northwest China. This launch was the 343rd mission of the Long March rocket series and the 23rd for China in 2020.
