ION Satellite Carrier (formerly ION CubeSat Carrier) is a satellite platform developed, manufactured, and operated by Italian company D-Orbit. The platform features a customizable 64U satellite dispenser capable of hosting a combination of CubeSats that fits the volume. Throughout a mission, ION Satellite Carrier can release the hosted satellites individually, changing orbital parameter between one deployment and the next.[1] Each of the miniature CubeSats weighs a few kilograms.
| Manufacturer | D-Orbit |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Website | https://www.dorbit.space/launch-deployment |
| Specifications | |
| Spacecraft type | Satellite dispenser |
| Design life | > 3 years |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | |
| Mass | 160 kg |
| Production | |
| Status | Active |
| Planned | 1 |
| Launched | 13 |
| Operational | 13 |
| Maiden launch | 3 September 2020 |
| Last launch | 1 December 2023 |
| Related spacecraft | |
| Flown with | Falcon 9 Block 5 Vega |
The organization also developed a D3 (D-Orbit Decommissioning Device) system, which has obtained funding from the European Commission and the European Space Agency, to safely dispose of satellites at the end of their lives and avoid adding to the problems created by the approximately 130 million pieces of space debris. According to D-Orbit, a space circular economy is feasible, and space recycling will soon be a new sector. This will involve using local resources such as dead satellites to create spaceships in space.[2][3]
The inaugural mission, named Origin, was launched on Vega flight VV16 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on September 3, 2020.[4] The vehicle, named ION SCV Lucas, carried 12 SuperDove satellites from Planet Labs. On September 25, ION SCV Lucas released successfully the first SuperDove satellite of the batch; the last satellite was deployed on October 28. As of December 2023, ION SCV has successfully completed 13 missions, 1 as a payload of a Vega rocket and 12 as a payload of a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.
D-Orbit is a successful alumnus of the European Space Agency's incubator, ESA BIC Portugal, and the two firms collaborated on Project Sunrise, an active debris removal project, in 2019.[2][5]
Mission overview
editThe carrier deployed CubeSats one by one using a spring release mechanism once positioned in a Sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km. The 60 cm cubic dispenser allows for several combinations of 1U, 2U, 3U, 3U+, 6U, 6U+, 12U and 12U+ Cubesats along the vertical axis. After completion of the up to one month long deployment phase, ION CubeSat Carrier will initiate a validation phase of its payloads directly integrated on the platform.[6]
Missions
editPast missions
edit| Mission Name | Spacecraft | Date | Launch Vehicle | Payload | Customers | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | ION SCV-001 Lucas | 3 September 2020 | Vega |  Flock-4v × 12
|
Planet Labs | Success |
| Pulse | ION SCV-002 Laurentius | 24 January 2021 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Flock-4s × 8
|
Planet Labs | Success |
| SpaceBEE × 12
|
Swarm Technologies | |||||
 ARGO (hosted)
|
EICAS Automazione | |||||
 DRAGO (hosted)
|
IAC | |||||
| Wild Ride | ION SCV-003 Dauntless David | 30 June 2021 | Falcon 9 Block 5 |  Ghalib
|
Marshall Intech | Success |
 NAPA-2
|
RTAF | |||||
| NEPTUNO
|
Elecnor Deimos | |||||
 QMR-KWT
|
Orbital Space | |||||
 SPARTAN
|
EnduroSat | |||||
 W-Cube
|
Reaktor Space | |||||
| LaserCube (hosted)
|
Italian Stellar Project | |||||
 Nebula (hosted)
|
D-Orbit UK | |||||
| Worldfloods (hosted)
|
Frontier Development Lab | |||||
| Dashing Through the Stars | ION SCV-004 Elysian Eleonora | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | DODONA
|
USC | Success |
 LabSat
|
SatRevolution | |||||
| STORK 1, 2
|
SatRevolution | |||||
| SW1FT
|
SatRevolution | |||||
 VZLUSat-2
|
VZLU | |||||
 cloud platform (hosted)
|
D-Orbit / Unibap / VTT | |||||
| Spacelust | ION SCV-005 Almighty Alexius | 1 April 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 |  KSF2 × 4
|
Kleos Space | Success |
 PlantSat
|
University of Chile | |||||
| SUCHAI 2, 3
|
University of Chile | |||||
| UP-box (hosted)
|
Upmosphere | |||||
| Infinite Blue | ION SCV-006 Thrilling Thomas | 25 May 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Guardian 1
|
Aistech Space | Success |
| SBUDNIC
|
BUSE / CNR | |||||
| Crypto-1 (hosted)
|
Cryptosat | |||||
| GEN-01 (hosted)
|
Genergo | |||||
| Second Star to the Right | ION SCV-007 Glorious Gratia | 3 January 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 |  Astrocast × 4
|
Astrocast SA | Success |
| FUTURA-SM1
|
NPC Spacemind | |||||
| FUTURA-SM3
|
NPC Spacemind | |||||
| Kelpie 1
|
ACC Clyde Space / Orbcomm | |||||
 Sharja-Sat-1
|
SAASST / ITU | |||||
| ION SCV-008 Fierce Franciscus |  TAUSAT2
|
Tel Aviv University | ||||
| Cryptosat-2 (hosted)
|
Cryptosat | |||||
| DRAGO-2 (hosted)
|
IAC | |||||
| Genergo-2 (hosted)
|
Genergo | |||||
| ? (hosted) | (undisclosed) | |||||
| Starfield | ION SCV-009 Eclectic Elena | 31 January 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Satellite simulator
|
EBAD | Success |
 ADEO-N3 (hosted)
|
HPF | |||||
| Bunny (hosted)
|
EPFL | |||||
 SD-1 (hosted)
|
StardustMe | |||||
| Guardian | ION SCV-010 Masterful Matthaeus | 15 April 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 |  ELO-3
|
Eutelsat | Success |
 EPICHyper-1
|
AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern | |||||
| Kepler-20, 21
|
Kepler Communications | |||||
 VCUB1
|
Visiona | |||||
 MicroCMG (hosted)
|
Veoware | |||||
| SCORPIO (hosted)
|
Elettronica Group | |||||
| Above the Sky | ION SCV-011 Savvy Simon | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | EPICHyper-2
|
AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern | Success |
| Kelpie-2
|
AAC Clyde Space / Orbcomm | |||||
| Outpost Mission 1
|
Outpost Space | |||||
 SpeiSat
|
Dicastery for Communication / ASI | |||||
| ELO-4
|
Eutelsat | |||||
| AlbaPod × 2 (hosted)
|
Alba Orbital | |||||
| NaviLEOTM (hosted)
|
SpacePNT | |||||
| ODIN-DU1 (hosted)
|
ODIN Space | |||||
| UKRI SWIMMR-1 (hosted)
|
UKRI | |||||
| Cosmic Wander | ION SCV-013 Ultimate Hugo | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crypto3
|
Cryptosat | |
| EPICHyper-3
|
AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern | |||||
| Intuition-1
|
AAC Clyde Space / KP Labs | |||||
| Lemur-2 NANAZ
|
Spire Global | |||||
| OSW Cazorla
|
Odyssey SpaceWorks | |||||
| PiCo-IoT × 9
|
Apogeo Space | |||||
| Ymir-1
|
AAC Clyde Space / Saab AB / Orbcomm | |||||
| AlbaPod × 2 (hosted)
|
Alba Orbital | |||||
| Antelope (hosted)
|
KP Labs | |||||
| Gen-03 (hosted)
|
Genergo | |||||
| Radiosat&Beamasat (hosted)
|
PICOSATS | |||||
| Beyond | ION SCV-015 Daring Diego | 1 December 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | ALISIO-1
|
IAC | |
| LOGSATS
|
Patriot Infovention | |||||
| NanoFF A, B
|
TU Berlin | |||||
| AlbaPod (hosted)
|
Alba Orbital | |||||
| MI:1 (hosted)
|
TRL11 | |||||
| Pono 1 (hosted)
|
Privateer | |||||
| RECS (hosted)
|
Polimi | |||||
| Z01 SuperTorquer (hosted)
|
Zenno Astronautics |
Planned missions
edit| Mission Name | Spacecraft | Date | Launch Vehicle | Payload | Customers | Outcome |
|---|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "D-Orbit launches its first ION Satellite Carrier". www.spacenewsfeed.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
- ^ a b "D-Orbit brings tiny nano satellites to space for collecting climate change data". European Investment Bank. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ "Mitigating space debris generation". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ Clark, Stephen. "Cluster of international satellites ready for ride into orbit on Vega rocket – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ "Stories: Meet D-Orbit, the EIC-funded startup cleaning up space junk in orbit | European Innovation Council". community-smei.easme-web.eu. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ "ION". InOrbit Now (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-19.