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A rendering of a stack Meridian Space satellite on a carrier vehicle. | Credit: Spinlaunch
Spinlaunch has presented its plans for a new broadband satellite constellation, which is known as a meridian space.
The Meridian Space constellation consists of small “microsatellites”, which according to Spinlaunch can be sent to a single carrier vehicle in a single carrier vehicle with up to 250 space vehicles. The company received a financing of $ 12 million from Kongsberg Nanoavionics to develop and commercialize the satellites, with a planned start date of 2026 for its first on-orbit demonstrator.
It is unclear whether Spinlaunch will start the demonstrator himself with its revolutionary rocket-fling-centrifuge or whether he starts a trip on a different rocket.
The Meridian room constellation “is a significantly higher broadband capacity in a satellite constellation compared to what is available on today’s market”, in a statement in a statement in a statement, President of Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace.
David Wrenn, CEO von Spinlaunch, added that the small, modular satellite platforms from Nanoavionics offer “a reliable basis for the quick and confident constellation”.
Together with the explanation in which the partnership was announced, Spinlaunch shared a picture of a stack Meridian Space satellite on a carrier vehicle. The flat satellites seem to be stacked on another, which indicates how the company wants to insert on a single rocket 250 of the spacecraft.
If Spinlaunch 250 satellites can successfully reject at the same time, this would set a new record for spaceships that started from a single flight. This record is currently 143, which is set in 2021 by SpaceX’s transporter 1 mission.
A rendering of a spin -up meridian space broadband satellite in orbit. | Credit: Spinlaunch
Spinlaunch aims to disturb the market for the starting service with its wild new concept for achieving the orbit. The company develops a 33-meter spinning arm (33 meters long), which accelerates the carrier vehicles at a centrifuge to high speeds before hurling into the sky.
The California-based spin-up uses a high-tech slingshot to hurl the payloads on a suborbital test flight on September 27, 2022. | Credit: Spinlaunch
Once in height, the crazy rockets ignite their engines. The concept significantly reduces the amount of fuel and hardware required for orbit.
In 2022, NASA signed an agreement with the company about a technological demonstration in which experiments from third -party providers were carried out by the agency, Airbus and Cornell University with the centrifuge into the suborbital space.
