Virginia Startup Raises 11 Million Dollars to Send Small Satellites into Orbit!

Herndon,Virginia startup HawkEye360 recently announced that it has raised around 11 million dollars to send seven fleets of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Once these satellites are in orbit, they will track radio frequencies from space. The company plans to launch its first cluster of satellites in late 2017 after it raises more capital. The outcome of this first cluster will help determine its schedule for the next cluster of launches.

By tracking radio signals, these satellites are taking a different approach than other commercial imaging services that tend to use advanced cameras. Tracking radio waves can be useful for tracking ships and when combined with small satellites could be used on a global scale by numerous companies. Agencies such as the Coast Guard could also use this technology in order to locate endangered ships.

According to the Martinsville Bulletin, HawkEye360 is working on a mapping capability that would display signals on a single screen, like a radar system that sits on the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere. This would allow anything with a signal to be tracked by this system. Having a capability to track signals and a screen that makes it easy to navigate and locate specific objects is just another excellent and efficient way that small satellites can be used.

HawkEye360's funding comes largely from Razor's Edge Management, a Reston, Virginia based startup that is associated with the government intelligence community. HawkEye360 is a subsidiary of Allied Minds', a holding company focused on venture creation within the life science and technology sectors.

Small Satellites Could Improve Predicting Hurricanes

In my last article, I noted that NASA is planning on launching constellations of small satellites for a variety of projects that involve studying the Earth. Well I can now rejoice because they are launching eight small satellites next month in an effort to improve improve wind measurements inside hurricanes. Being from Florida, hurricanes are always a constant worry especially during this time of the season so I'm glad to see NASA working on this.

According to GCN.com, The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation will attempt to alleviate two of the current challenges with measuring wind speed inside hurricanes: interference with rain and the time it takes to collect measurements. This will allow researchers to understand the inside of the hurricane. The inability to see inside the hurricane will severely limit us in the future if it isn't addressed. Small satellites are proving to be a valuable tool to address this and other matters.

The goal of this project is to use satellites with wavelengths that will have better resistance to environmental interference such as raindrops. This will allow data to be processed more efficiently in order to make prediction models accurate. The larger satellites took around 3 days to fully record the full Earth data. Now these eight CYGNASS satellites can record numerous measurements in seconds. 

The CYGNSS is the first complete orbital mission competitively selected by NASA's Earth Venture program, which focuses on low-cost, rapidly developed, science driven missions to enhance Earth Science understanding. The CYGNSS is scheduled to be sent into Orbit on Dec. 12.

NASA Launches a Suite of Six Satellite Missions!

This month, NASA is aiming to launch the first of a suite of next generation, Earth-observing small satellite missions in order to demonstrate new methods for studying our planet. These satellites range in mass from a few pounds to hundreds. The lower development and launch costs are beneficial to this assignment because they can attach them to a rocket rather than spending a hefty amount on launching larger satellites.

According to Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, "NASA is increasingly using small satellites in order to tackle important science problems across our mission portfolio." These satellites allow NASA the opportunity to test new technological innovations in space and allow students and researchers to gain more experience in this field as well. These advances in space technologies have changed the way that researchers approach studying the Earth from space.

Five of the suite of six satellite missions are aiming to launch new methods for measuring hurricanes, Earth's energy budget, aerosol and weather. The use of low cost satellites will help advance Earth science and also provide societal benefit through the applications as well. NASA is using these applications to help faculty and students understand the Earth better but also how to find better measurements using the small satellite approach.