On November 26th, Italy's D-Orbit successfully deployed satellites and hosted payloads into orbit using two ION orbital transfer vehicles. These vehicles were launched aboard SpaceX's Transporter-15 rideshare mission. This mission included Italy’s first optical intersatellite link (OISL) mission, alongside payloads from various companies and institutions such as Spire, Spaceium, Pale Blue, Finland’s Aalto University, Planetek, and StardustMe.
Matteo Andreas Lorenzoni, D-Orbit vice president for commercial strategy, stated: "With these two missions, we cross the 200-payload milestone, carrying technologies that reflect the diversity and dynamism of today’s space sector."
The Italian OISL mission involves collaboration between D-Orbit, Italian space technology startup Stellar Project, and the European Space Agency. The aim is to demonstrate optical connections between two compact terminals. The ION vehicles were launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on November 28th. Named Stellar Stephanus and Galactic Georgius, the two ION satellite carrier vehicles were placed in a 510-kilometer altitude sun-synchronous orbit.
These ION missions focused on various objectives, including satellite communications, Earth observation, and technology demonstration. For example, Planetek, D-Orbit, and AIKO collaborated on the launch of the third AI-eXpress satellite. This mission, co-funded by ESA InCubed, offers on-orbit software services and data processing for a space-based App store.
Furthermore, Aalto University’s Foresail-1 prime cubesat will monitor Earth’s radiation environment and demonstrate deorbiting technologies. Foresail-1 includes the University of Turku’s Particle Telescope for measuring precipitating electrons and solar energetic neutral atoms, as well as the Plasma Brake, a propellant-free deorbiting payload developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Spire and Lacuna Space aim "to deliver low-cost, reliable global connections to sensors and mobile equipment in remote locations" with four internet-of-things satellites on Transporter-15, as per the news release. These satellites, part of Spire’s multipurpose constellation, are also equipped with radio occultation and Automatic Identification System payloads.
Another payload, MS-1 from Spaceium, is an in-orbit demonstration of robotic actuators for in-orbit fuel transfer, including flight computers, motor drivers, and a thermal-control system. Japanese startup Pale Blue will conduct an in-orbit demonstration of its compact gridded ion engine, preloaded with water propellant, during this ION mission. One of ION’s hosted payloads, provided by New Zealand’s StardustMe, contains one-gram capsules of cremated human remains.