Following two France 2030 requests for proposals issued by CNES to demonstrate various in-orbit services, the consortium formed by the two companies and led by Infinite Orbits was selected by CNES for both missions. These two contracts are a major milestone for both companies, enabling the French Newspace company to rapidly penetrate the innovative international in-orbit services market, demonstrating rendezvous and docking capabilities from 2026, and enabling a key player in space infrastructure operations for more than 40 years, to shape the next generation of in orbit services and satellites ground segment and operations in close collaboration with New space players.
These two missions will rely on Infinite Orbits' two geostationary servicers, both equipped with the RendezVous and Proximity Operations technology (RPO) developed by Infinite Orbits and both operated in collaboration with Telespazio France which will also provide the user segment for the data processing activity from the inspection sensors. Each of these missions will be carried out in close collaboration with major GEO operators, enabling both companies to adapt their services to concrete, pragmatic and competitive commercial applications.
A life extension mission :
Endurance, a 750 kg docking servicer, will perform a docking on an active end-of-life commercial telecommunication satellite, assume its station-keeping for 5 additional years, followed by the management of its end-of-life disposal in the graveyard orbit. Compatible with more than 70% of end-of-life geostationary satellites, Endurance’s first mission will enable this solution to be identified as one of the first capable of optimizing geostationary assets’ lifespan by offering tailor-made missions to the needs of their operator.
An inspection mission :
Orbit Guard, a 50 kg servicer, equipped with electric propulsion will demonstrate a proximity inspection of Meteosat 8, a passivated satellite of the European operator EUMETSAT. Following on from Infinite Orbits' first two geostationary micro-satellites and in particular the milestones achieved by Orbit Guard, the first commercial geostationary cubesat, launched in 2023, Orbit Guard will demonstrate the near-range rendezvous capabilities of the RPO solution on a tumbling and non-cooperative satellite and an inspection of the same satellite using dedicated sensors.
This mission is a step in Infinite Orbits' deployment of a fleet of 10 to 15 sub-GEO Orbit Guard servicers capable of cataloging the geostationary arc and inspecting a geostationary asset on request from its operator.
Click here to learn more about Infinite Orbit's 'ENDURANCE' Life-Extension Vehicle.
Click here to learn more about Infinite Orbit's 'Orbit Guard' Servicer.
