Momentus, a U.S. commercial space company that offers satellite buses, transportation, and other in-space infrastructure services, has integrated its customers launching on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission and shipped the payloads to Vandenberg Space Force Base for integration with Falcon 9 ahead of launch, which is targeted for no earlier than November 2023.
Momentus will use a deployer to place five satellites into Low-Earth Orbit for four different customers:
- The AMAN-1 Earth Observation satellite will be deployed for SatRev of Poland. The satellite can also be used for other services such as land surveys, precision agriculture, weather, environment, and smart cities.
- The JINJUSat-1 satellite will be deployed for CONTEC Co. of the Republic of Korea. JINJUSat-1 is spearheaded by three entities: Jinju City, Korea Testing Laboratory, and Gyeongsang National University. Once in orbit, cameras mounted on the satellite will carry out a mission to take pictures of the Earth.
- The Picacho satellite will be deployed for Lunasonde - a U.S. sub-surface imaging company with the goal of making underground resources – like water and minerals – easier to find. The Picacho CubeSat is a technology demonstration of Lunasonde’s sensors. It will measure the power spectral density of low-frequency radio signals in the ionosphere, which will help inform designs for the company’s future satellites.
- The Hello Test 1 & 2 satellites will be deployed for Hello Space of Turkey as part of their “Hello for IoT” mission. The two pocket qubes are part of Hello Space’s broader mission to enable worldwide IoT ecosystems and end-to-data data services for various industries. Hello Test 1 & 2 will be Hello Space’s second and third satellites launched into orbit.
“Our goal is to support mission success for our customers by providing responsive and cost-effective transportation options,” said Momentus Chief Commercial Officer Chris Kinman. “The five payloads flying with us on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission are critical to our customers’ space development roadmaps, and we’re honored that we are their space infrastructure provider of choice.”
The Transporter-9 mission will mark Momentus’ final mission of 2023. The Company will next launch its Vigoride-7 Orbital Service Vehicle on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 mission targeted no earlier than February 2024. On that flight, Momentus will aim to deploy several customer satellites in Low-Earth Orbit and provide services to a hosted payload. The Company will also release a target satellite and maneuver the OSV into proximity with the target satellite for a Remote Proximity Operations demonstration.
In addition to rideshare missions, Momentus offers Delta-V delivery for missions requiring precise custom orbits. The Company also provides hosted payload services and its M-1000 satellite bus for customized and dedicated missions.
Click here to learn more about Momentus' Orbital Delivery Services.
