Space Drone to boost life of ageing satellites
UK headquartered Effective Space Solutions Ltd (Effective Space), today announced it's signed a US$100+ million multi-year contract with a major regional satellite operator, which will see two Effective Space Space Drones launched in 2020, to provide station-keeping and attitude-control capabilities, that will significantly extend the life of two comms sats.
Effective Space’s Space Drone spacecraft weigh less than 400kg and are equipped with electric thrusters and a non-invasive universal docking system that allows for docking with almost all the 400+ communications satellites currently in orbit. The spacecraft are rideshare-launch compatible and capable of multiple missions during their design life span of up to 15 years. Once docked with their host satellites, the Space Drone spacecraft will provide station-keeping and attitude-control capabilities that will extend the life of the satellites by several years.
Arie Halsband, Founder & CEO at Effective Space said: “We are seeing steady growth in the number of satellite launches per year but little progress has been made in increasing the life span of this space hardware. As the space support ecosystem establishes, there is no reason for space hardware to be expected to be entirely self-sufficient any longer. Our technology enables satellite owners to maximise the lifespan of their hardware, and run expensive fuel resources to zero before decommissioning. This will be one of the first commercial mission contracts of in-orbit servicing, in which we will prove customer value, solution viability and the ability to deliver within international regulation and legislation.”
Effective Space’s initial focus for the Space Drone spacecraft is on station-keeping and attitude-control, relocation, deorbiting, orbit and inclination correction and ‘bringing into use’ (BIU), however they could equally be deployed in the future for space active debris removal, the support of low or medium earth orbit constellations and in-space explorations, mining and manufacturing logistics.
Effective Space has secured private capital over two rounds of funding since 2013, and in 2018 will be seeking Series B funding.