Sky and Space Global Announces Partnership With Virgin Galactic.

Sky and Space Global, a telecommunications opportunity has announced signing a letter of intent with Virgin Galactic to use its vehicle LauncherOne to launch up to 200 micro-satellites into space from 2018. This is a partnership that will not only provide significant cost savings to Sky and Space Global through Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne, but also more flexibility and launch times of small satellites.

According to Sky and Space, using Virgin's LauncherOne will provide significant cost savings, as several satellites can be launched at once, in addition to flexibility in terms of launch timelines and orbital parameters.

"Virgin Galactic is a truly global company with significant resources and support, and this agreement is the first step in what we believe will be a long-term relationship, and it provides Sky and Space Global a genuine and highly sought-after opportunity," Sky and Space Global CEO Meir Moalem said in a statement.

Virgin Galactic had previously committed to developing a commercial satellite-launching program with LauncherOne, which launches from a Boeing 747 already in "advanced study" at the company's Long Beach California manufacturing facility. The LauncherOne enables companies to launch their small satellites through a commercially attractive process. 

India’s PSLV launches Cartosat-2C and 19 Small Satellites, Including 13 Commercial U.S. Spacecraft

On June 22, 2016, India's PSLV delivered the Indian Cartosat-2C high-resolution optical Earth observation into a 507-kilometer polar low Earth orbit along with 19 smaller satellites, including 13 U.S. commercial spacecraft. The Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) confirmed that the 19 co-passengers had been placed into their intended orbits. They said the vehicle achieved a high injection accuracy of 507 kilometers for Cartosat-2C. The target was 505 kilometers. 
According to Space News, the officials from the ISRO hailed this as significant progress in the nation's growing launch-service reaches full autonomy in space launch-service competence as a reliable supplier for small satellite owners all over the world. The officials also used this accomplishment as a means of encouraging India's space industry to take a larger role in PSLV manufacturing. production rhythm to permit the PSLV to launch as many as eight or more times per year. The current maximum is six per year. The June 22 launch was the fourth in 2016 for the PSLV, equaling the record set in 2015.

Airbus has a solution to the space debris problem!

Airbus is solving the space debris problem in the form of the Zephyr. Currently there are over 171 million pieces of space debris orbiting the Earth or 58 years worth of space debris. These objects which travel at high speeds can cause severe damage so solutions have been underway to collect the space debris. In the meantime something must be done in order to ensure that our communication networks stay running in space. The Zephyr is one of those inventions.

According to Geek.com, "Zephyr is a UAV, but unlike other UAVs it has been designed to fly forever, or as close as you can come to that. It’s 100% solar powered, flies at an altitude of 20km meaning it’s above the weather, and can be outfitted with a range of equipment allowing it to act like a satellite. Airbus refers to it as a High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS).

Test flights have already proven the Zephyr’s potential, as it has flown for 8x longer than any other UAV, with its longest flight time so far being 336 hours 22 minutes and 8 seconds (2 weeks). The next step is to increase that to months, then hopefully years. And because the Zephyr remains within the atmosphere, it’s a relatively simple and cheap craft to land. That allows for easy equipment upgrades and ultimately a reusable UAV.

This type of object will ensure that communication is not only improved in space, but also that communication is stable despite the debris that is floating around in space that could disrupt it. Airbus is currently working on the Zephyr 8 which will be available this year and improved upon for 2017. It’s capable of offering 100Mbps broadcasts, NIIRS 6 imagery, HD video, AIS, and narrowband mobile comms. It’s also cleared for both military and civil controlled airspace.

Everyone in the United States is getting onboard the small satellite train. By everyone I mean commercial interests, governments, universities and even high school students. By one estimate, 210 satellites weighing less than 110 pounds will be launched this year, to do such things as map the Earth, expand broadband access and track packages on shipping vessels. That’s up from just 25 launches in 2010. The number is expected to double again in five years.

With so many satellites launching, customers are going to need equipment in order to carry them. This is where space savers come in. With the decreasing cost of constructing and launching small satellites, companies and people need carriers for these satellites. These satellites or savers are ways to carry the small satellites into space when they are launched. In previous articles, I had discussed the growing customization of different ways to optimize the launch of specific satellites especially those interested in reserving their seats on the trips to space. Now more carriers are being constructed in order to carry the rising demand of small satellites.