After the last week’s lift-off of the PSLV-C45 launch vehicle with two NanoAvionics nano-satellites, “M6P“ and “Blue Walker 1“, onboard, the company is pleased to confirm that the communication was successfully established with both satellites and they are flying in the Low Earth Orbit in a healthy condition.

“M6P“ and “Blue Walker 1“ were launched from the India Space Research Organization’s Satish Dhawan Space Center on April 1 (03:57 UTC) with the PSLV-C45 launch vehicle, which rose to a 749-kilometer polar orbit and deployed the primary payload, the Indian government’s own EMISAT. Eighty-three minutes later, the PSLV-C45 began deploying the remaining 28 small satellites, including “M6P“ and “Blue Walker 1.” NanoAvionics’ mission operation control center established two-way communication with “M6P” on the 2nd of April 11 am UTC and with “Blue Walker 1” on 3rd of April 5 pm UTC. The telemetry data and information from NORAD indicates that both satellites were inserted into a lower orbit than it had been expected, due to currently unknown reasons which are under investigation. Delayed separation from the 4th stage of PSLV caused delays in the initial commissioning of “M6P” and “Blue Walker 1” and also slightly reducing the expected orbital lifetime of both satellites. Fortunately, the anomaly will not impact NanoAvionics customers’ missions or quality of communications.

Currently, both nano-satellites are in the commissioning stage. NanoAvionics will operate “M6P“ and “Blue Walker 1“ for the full length of their missions, further benefiting its customers.

NanoAvionics “M6P“ is a ride-share mission which hosts payloads from two Internet of Things (IoT) communication companies. SpaceWorks Orbital and Lacuna Space are each developing satellite-based communication systems for a new generation of low-power IoT devices.

“BlueWalker 1” is used for testing AST & Science patented technologies in space. The “BlueWalker 1” is the first of three nano-satellites that AST & Science plans to deploy over the course of eighteen months. The two companies are partnering to take advantage of NanoAvionics’ best-in-class buses, power systems, and services for this and subsequent AST & Science missions.

The large payload volume of NanoAvionics M6P bus, up to 5U, can support small payloads from multiple customers. By sharing an M6P bus’s up to 5U payload volume, project teams can divert resources to other essential tasks. Also, the rideshare service relieves the burden of launch integration and logistics, frequency allocation, and satellite operation while it’s in orbit for NanoAvionics customers. The M6P bus‘s standardized hardware and software interfaces accelerate the satellite integration timeframe by several times as well as help to define an interface for payloads.

“Two NanoAvionics nano-satellites, both based on the company‘s flagship multipurpose satellite bus and carried on the PSLV-C45, demonstrate great team-work and the value of our design approach,” NanoAvionics CEO Vytenis J. Buzas said. “We help our customers accelerate their development cycles with rapid integration and more frequent shared payload opportunities. “Blue Walker 1“ was manufactured, tested, and launched in less than three months, which is a real manifestation of the new space ideology”.

ABOUT NANOAVIONICS:

NanoAvionics is a nano-satellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator. Its flagship multi-purpose M6P is the first preconfigured nano-satellite Bus in the sector, designed to serve emerging commercial space markets. The company’s efforts are focused on enabling critical satellite functions and optimizing their launch, hardware and operation costs – ranging from single missions to constellations. Its core engineering team has implemented over 40 successful satellite missions during the past several years.

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Press contacts:

Vaida Karaliunaite

Head of Marketing

NanoAvionics, LLC

E: vaida@nanoavionics.com

Tel: +370 675 71730