Area startups eye alternatives within the orbital surveillance market

WASHINGTON — Area startups are vying for a slice of the rising marketplace for enhanced area area consciousness (SDA) in geostationary orbit, with some companies exploring choices to retrofit present satellites with new surveillance capabilities.

Atomos Area, an in-space transportation and logistics startup, is planning two missions to GEO the place its servicing automobile will connect SDA payloads developed by Katalyst Area onto business telecom satellites.

This transfer comes because the U.S. army seeks to reinforce its area surveillance capabilities, significantly in GEO orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth’s equator. the place its most dear spacecraft function and the place adversaries are additionally deploying new techniques.

Quark servicing automobile

William Kowalski, co-founder and chief working officer of Atomos Area, advised SpaceNews the corporate plans to launch its subsequent mission in 2025 utilizing its Quark automobile to service an undisclosed buyer.

As a part of the mission, the Quark will set up Katalyst’s Sight sensor on a telecom satellite tv for pc, Kowalski stated. He added {that a} 2026 mission will deploy a brand new Katalyst sensor referred to as Protect, that includes a number of nested sensing payloads.

“Actually within the final 12 months, curiosity has picked up considerably,” stated Kowalski. “I’m seeing demand for the payloads that Katalyst is doing, and likewise demand for repositioning and life-extension providers for GEO property. On the nationwide safety facet, there’s vital demand for the area area consciousness payloads.”

Atomos is transforming parts and rising in-house manufacturing following communication points between an experimental servicing automobile and a consumer satellite tv for pc throughout its first mission to low Earth orbit in March.

Market potential

The SDA hosted payloads market is changing into more and more aggressive as extra corporations develop applied sciences.

“Our market evaluation reveals there’s a couple of billion {dollars} within the SDA hosted payload market within the subsequent 5 years alone,” stated Ghonhee Lee, Katalyst’s chief government and founder.

Katalyst just lately introduced a collaboration with Atomos Area and Intelsat to coordinate a satellite-servicing mission, aiming to put in a hosted sensor payload on an growing old business satellite tv for pc in geostationary orbit.

The Protect sensor features a base station and deployable scouting items, which might examine resident area objects at shut vary. 

A key differentiator is its skill to retrofit satellites already in orbit, versus focusing solely on new-production satellites. “It’s a low price, low threat path to closing intelligence gaps in GEO,” Lee stated, including that Katalyst has pitched its Protect sensor to U.S. Area Command and is looking for army funding for the mission.

David Broadbent, president of Intelsat Authorities Options, expressed assist for the mission.

“Upgrading our present on-orbit platforms with the capabilities that Protect affords is an economical pathway for us to optimize our fleet to raised serve our authorities companions,” Broadbent stated in a press release.

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