In its fifth rideshare mission with SpaceX and sixteenth mission in total, Exolaunch, a global provider of launch, in-space logistics and deployment services, completed its most demanding integration with more than 1500 kg of payload mass across 20+ satellites for its international customers from 11 countries and three continents. Exolaunch’s customer satellites weighing 100+ kg and cubesats ranging up to 16U will fly on operated by the SpaceX Transporter-5 mission scheduled for May 25, 2022, from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Following the successful debut flight of the Exolaunch’s novel CarboNIX 8-inch separation system for microsatellites on Transporter-4, this launch marks the premiere for EXOpod Nova, the company’s latest technology for optimized cubesat deployment.
Nova’s first launch will proudly fly multiple satellites for Spire Global and its customers via a Multi Launch Agreement between the companies. Nova increases the allowable satellite mass by up to 30 percent and the available side panel volume by a factor of four compared to traditional cubesat deployers. It also enables smallsat manufacturers to keep launch costs low while building larger, heavier, and more capable cubesats. Exolaunch aims to further use the EXOpod Nova on its Reliant orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) next year to provide launch flexibility to cubesat constellations.
Nova joins the suite of Exolaunch’s reliable and cost-effective solutions to launch and deploy small satellites and is becoming the preferred and most flexible deployment technology for the existing cubesat constellations. The company’s customers can deploy their satellites into space by fully relying on Exolaunch’s separation systems, including CarboNIX, EXOpod, and now, EXOpod Nova.
Transporter-5 will launch Exolaunch’s new and returning customers, including Spire Global, Satellogic, ICEYE, NanoAvionics, Omnispace, Thales Alenia Space, Satlantis, EnduroSat, Plan-S, Spacemanic, Aalto University and Space Products and Innovation. The customers’ payloads will enable space application technologies such as Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar observation, Maritime Surveillance, and IoT communications.
“Exolaunch is proud to launch on Transporter-5, as it marks our biggest mission to date and pays homage to the commitment and dedication we make our customers with the launch of their state-of-the-art technology. The trust and recognition we’ve gained from the industry through each launch are not possible without our incredible work with SpaceX. Together, our teams’ technical grit and creativity take our shared customers to new horizons and heights.”
said Jeanne Allarie, VP Launch, Exolaunch.
This mission is the fifth Transporter in a series of rideshare launches Exolaunch manifests on Falcon 9 under a Multi-Launch Agreement with SpaceX. For each Falcon 9 launch procured, Exolaunch provides a turnkey solution encompassing comprehensive rideshare mission management, satellite integration, environmental testing and deployment services.
Exolaunch has deployed more than 100 smallsats on SpaceX’s first four rideshare Transporter missions.
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