Satellite company will launch demo systems in bid to field sustainable space network
NewsMarch 21, 2022
STUART, Fla. & TOULOUSE, France. Satellite company E-Space announced that it will launch its first demonstration satellites during the second quarter of 2022 as it seeks to validate the systems and technology for its planned sustainable satellite system.
According to the company announcement, E-Space will launch three demonstration satellites -- designed and built in-house by E-Space -- aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula.
E-Space wants to reduce the launch requirements for a full satellite constellation to months instead of years, decreasing the time it takes to scale, replenish, and deliver a full system, according to the company press release, which it says will be the initial step in validating the technology behind E-Space's network of secure communication satellites that will make space-based capabilities more affordable and accessible to both governments and private companies. .
The E-Space system also, says the press release, features small satellite cross-sections to decrease the risk of collision with the millions of untrackable objects that are currently in space; it will automatically de-orbit if any systems malfunction and company officials plan to have the satellites sacrificially capture and deorbit small debris to burn up on re-entry, making the system a space environmental management tool.
