Exolaunch and Aerospacelab Announced the Successful Launch of Grégoire Satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket

Exolaunch and Aerospacelab Announced the Successful Launch of Grégoire Satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket

Aerospacelab, the fast-growing small satellite Belgian manufacturer, and Exolaunch, the German-US global supplier of mission management and integration services, have announced the launch of Aerospacelab’s Grégoire satellite, the company’s second private small satellite to travel into space. Aerospacelab has sent its second satellite into orbit with mission management and integration services provider, Exolaunch, aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket

Two years after Aerospacelab’s first satellite mission (Arthur-1) flew into space on SpaceX's second dedicated small satellite rideshare mission (Transporter-2), Grégoire lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, United States on June 12th, 2023.

With this launch, the two European companies initiate their cooperation under a Multi-Launch Agreement that will, through 2023 and 2024, enable the launch of seven of Aerospacelab’s innovative Versatile Satellite Platforms (VSP) via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and further strengthen their relationship. Aerospacelab and Exolaunch are members of the Young European Enterprises Syndicate for Space (YEESS), an association dedicated to boosting competitiveness and promoting innovations emerging from the space sector in Europe.

While primarily focused on demonstrating Aerospacelab’s Versatile Satellite Platform (VSP) capabilities in terms of attitude control, data handling, and payload interfaces, to only name a few, Grégoire further makes the case for Aerospacelab’s laser communication operating between the satellite and its ground station thanks to a Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) embarked terminal. In addition to illustrating Aerospacelab’s expertise in design, structure building, and vertical manufacturing integration, Grégoire represents the maiden flight of Aerospacelab’s Versatile Satellite Platform which, on one hand, aims to provide private and public stakeholders with standardized building blocks capable of accommodating various missions and, on the other hand, ensures progress towards the company’s project to build a constellation of satellites in the upcoming years.

The Versatile Satellite Platform (VSP) is a key component of Aerospacelab’s plan to provide a European answer to the expected upsurge in global small satellite demand. Indeed, after securing 40€ million in Series B financing in 2022, the company is about to start the construction of its satellite mega-factory which will become Europe’s largest manufacturing factory with an expected production capacity of 500 satellites per year.

For Benoit Deper, CEO and founder of Aerospacelab, “the launch of Grégoire, our second small satellite to reach orbit, is not only a key milestone that highlights Aerospacelab as a global player in the aerospace industry, it is also the opportunity for us to assert our expertise and showcase that we’re able to internally design and manufacture most of the satellite’s components while remaining competitively priced.”

“Exolaunch is proud to be awarded a series of launch contracts from Aerospacelab to safely deliver their seven VSP satellites into orbit,” said Jeanne Allarie, VP of Launch at Exolaunch. “It’s been a pleasure to work with Aerospacelab’s highly professional team over successive launch campaigns to perform a rapid VSP satellite constellation deployment in a matter of months. Having just launched Grégoire on Falcon 9 from Vandenberg, we look forward to many more successful launches together with Aerospacelab and SpaceX!”

Aerospacelab chose Exolaunch as a mission management and integration services provider due to its outstanding record on Falcon 9 and its flight heritage spanning over 20 missions. In addition to overseeing Grégoire and its follow-on satellite launches with end-to-end mission management, Exolaunch will provide Aerospacelab with its industry-leading CarboNIX separation system to ensure reliable separation of the satellites. With a flight record of 65 microsatellites deployed across 13 missions, CarboNIX will guarantee low-shock and smooth separations to safely deliver the satellites into their target orbits.

Dorian Lasnet, Project Manager at Aerospacelab, comments: “In projects of this scope, agility, and adaptability are crucial turning points that define the “make it” or “break it” moment. Thanks to the talent and commitment of our collaborators, we were able to have a satellite ready for launch only a few years after the design started from scratch. Not only was it possible to design and build this brand-new platform in-house, but this asset allows now to speed up the follow-up missions with already 5 more satellites in their AIT phase right now.”

Grégoire satellite’s key features: Built upon the heritage of Aerospacelab’s previous mission (Arthur­1) and integrating new avionic designs targeting higher performances, Grégoire is a part of the VSP Vanilla mission which will bring in-orbit validation for a series of new units designed and manufactured in-house such as:

Click Here to Learn More about AeroSpaceLab's Satellites and Versatile Satellite Platform (VSP).


Publisher: SatNow
Tags:-  SatelliteLaunchGround

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013