Transporter-8 | Falcon 9 Block 5

Smallsat Rideshare Program

Thus, in 2019, the firm announced the offering of rideshare flights aboard its Falcon 9 for such customers, addressing their needs. In effect, these flights would come in two different ways: sharing the room inside the fairing on Starlink missions, or through dedicated rideshare missions named Transporter. Both options are part of the Smallsat Rideshare Program.

Moreover, leveraging Falcon 9’s mass to orbit capabilities, a rocket supporting a Transporter mission would see its payload volume subdivided. In this way, interested customers could buy a portion of it as needed, for a much more affordable price. Furthermore, these missions would be regularly scheduled, allowing better in-advance planning, regarding launch date and destination orbit. In spite of this, any payload missing launch day could re-book, paying a small additional fee. 

SpaceX offers Transporter launches to low-Earth orbit (LEO), polar LEO, and — its most popular ride — to SSO. In fact, mid-inclination launches have only taken place through Starlink flights, while all past Transporter missions have been to SSO. Revisiting the same spot on Earth’s surface always at the same time of the day — offered by this type of orbit — turns it into a preferred destination.

Transporter Logistics

From the need for a particular product or service to arriving at the desired orbit and operating the spacecraft, in general many parties are involved in one of these missions. To avoid getting lost in the logistics behind the scenes of one of them, it can be thought of in a simplified manner as follows:

• Customer and spacecraft manufacturers: those interested in having a payload in space and those who provide the platform, the instruments on board, or both (basically the payload itself).
• Launch/integration service providers: those who broker rideshare flights, offer last-mile trips (via space tugs), care for meeting regulations, provide dispensers or separation systems, and so on.
• Launch provider: SpaceX, which has overall responsibility for the launch and the correct insertion into the intended deployment orbit.

This structure will be reflected in a subsequent section later in this article where payloads are listed and discussed.

Mechanical Interfaces — Plates

Apart from the logistics aspect, the company also designed specific hardware to integrate payloads. These, in fact, need an interface to the launch vehicle, provided through rideshare plates, conceptually similar to ESPA rings. Each of these plates can be arranged in these configurations: square — four plates — or hexagon — six of them. The former allows for more available volume than the latter.

In turn, the volume corresponding to each of those can be subdivided, using a quarter of the plate, half of it, or full use. These portions enable unique payload accommodations — e.g., a CubeSat dispenser — or standard ports in three different diameters, as follows.

It is worth noting that, though previously designed, these plates were first implemented on Transporter-8.

Cake Topper

Yet another position to integrate payloads in a rideshare is available at the top of the plate stack. This upper mount enables spacecraft massing from 500 kg to 2,500 kg to be launched during a shared flight. If required, two of them can be placed side-by-side. In any case, because of the different disposition, a whole separate set of requirements need to be observed when flying as a cake topper.

Previous Missions

Launcher’s Orbiter

Launcher is quite an interesting company, which developed a transfer vehicle, or other times known as “space tug.” However, as the enterprise’s name implies, they are developing their own rocket: Light. Orbiter will not only reach orbit atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — or other compatible rockets — but also as this small-lift launcher’s third stage.

Created with the previously mentioned dual purpose, Orbiter will be carrying a number of payloads in this mission. In itself, the spacecraft masses at 200 kg (~440 lb), while being capable of carrying payloads up to 400 kg (~880 lb). Orbiter makes use of chemical propulsion giving it a delta-v capability of 500 m/s (~1640 ft/s) burning ethane — the fuel — and N₂O — the oxidizer. Because of this, this tug will be capable of carrying out maneuvers like altitude changes, plane changes, in-plane phasing, and inclination changes.

Last but not least, Orbiter can be implemented as satellite platform (bus), which confers this spacecraft even further versatility. In this flight it will, nevertheless, act as transfer vehicle under the designation “SN3,” presenting a wet mass of 223 kg (~500 lb) at launch. In addition, this is a return to flight mission, as SN1 failed to deploy its passengers during Transporter-6. This is why some of this Orbiter’s payloads are a duplicate from that time.

Payloads on Orbiter SN3

Otter Pup

Attempting orbital rendezvous, the Otter Pup spacecraft developed by Starfish Space is following the path that leads to achieving a fully sustainable space. It has a mass of ~39 kg (~85 lb) and measures approximately 39x47x72 cm (~15x18x28 in), similarly to a microwave oven. After separating from the Orbiter SN3, it will repeatedly attempt to dock to it once again. When tweaked enough that this is a routine, the company can start thinking of a future where operations like satellite servicing, repositioning, and even disposal are commonplace.

D-Orbit

This aerospace company has its headquarters in Italy, where it started to develop a vehicle capable of deorbiting deceased spacecraft. Later on, it moved to the business of satellite carriers, i.e., space tugs. To this day, the firm has launched their vehicles on all of the previous Transporter missions, as well as on Starlink Group 2-5.

ION

D-Orbit’s OTV can carry up to 160 kg of satellites, being capable of accommodating spacecraft of different shapes and sizes. This means microsats and CubeSats can be transported from the launcher’s drop-off point to other altitudes or inclinations. After this trip, proprietary (DPOD, DCUBE), or third party dispensers deploy the passengers. ION is also capable of supporting hosted payloads, run from the ground as a part of the carrier itself. In this mission, the ION serial number “SCV011” is going to space.

Payloads On ION SCV011 Savvy Simon

Mission 1

Outpost Technologies Corporation will launch a 3U CubeSat, Mission 1, massing at ~4 kg (~9 lb), and roughly measuring 10x10x34 cm (~4x4x13 in) aboard D-Orbit’s ION SCV011. This time, the satellite will only test systems such as communications, power, avionics, and flight computer. However, the company goes after the goal of operting the first reusable satellite, hopefully in a near future.

Exolaunch

The Germany-based company offers a series of services, from payload integration, to deployment, and mission management. In order to provide them, Exolaunch developed products such as separation hardware, CubeSat deployers, payload port adapters, deployment sequencers, and it is projecting an OTV named Reliant. Notably, the firm has all previous Transporter missions under its extensive flight expertise.

Deployment Systems

In order to better fit customers’ needs, Exolaunch may assign one or many of its deployment systems. These include:

• CarboNIX: this is a shock-free separator system capable of handling microsats massing in the range of 10 kg to 250 kg. To ensure this, different standard sizes are offered, as well as customization. 12 CarboNIX were used in Transporter-8.
• EXOpod: flying since 2017, these deployers have evolved to host all sorts of cubesat sizes, from 0.25U all the way up to 16U, allowing, in addition, for some combination. 5 EXOpods were used during this mission.
• EXOport: these multiport adapters enable the use of one port on a rideshare plate for a whole CubeSat cluster. A combination of the previous two systems can be used for satellite deployment. No EXOport was used this time, and SpaceX’s Rideshare Plates were used instead.

Payloads Integrated by Exolaunch

The company is flying for the 11th time with SpaceX, making this one its 21st overall mission. In particular, his time, aboard the Falcon 9, Exolaunch is integrating 32 small satellites for 11 customers from all over the world.

DROID.001

In this case, Turion Space Corp. is launching a 32 kg satellite built on NanoAvionics’ MP42 bus, which will carry out confidential imagery tests. In fact, this lines up with the company’s plans of selling space situational awareness services, i.e. knowing “where is what” up in space. In the future, DROID satellites could conduct inspection of other in-orbit assets during fly-bys, as well as in a dedicated manner. Finally, orbit relocation and deorbiting services will be available.

Maverick Space Systems

Offering mission engineering and launch-related services, this US private company serves both commercial and government clients, who can be domestic or international. It was founded in 2019, and since then it took part in, at least, the first two Transporter missions, and the last one in April. The firm developed a family of CubeSat dispensers named Mercury, as well as other payload aggregation hardware for rideshare missions.

Payloads Integrated by Maverick

FOSSA Systems

Initially founded in 2018 as a non-profit, FOSSA Systems is the Spain-based company that developed and manufactured the innovative PocketQubes flying aboard this Transporter. Julián Fernández, FOSSA’s CEO was 16 years old when he kicked this project off, and his dream was to get to space in the most accessible way. Since then, the company has grown to employing about 20 collaborators, having a constellation of 13 satellites in orbit, and pursuing commercial activities in line with Julián’s vision: to democratize access to space and promoting internet of things (IoT) communications.

That is, FOSSA Systems nowadays aims to provide the mentioned IoT services through their very small (PocketQube), very affordable satellites (around €10,000 to €20,000 each). At this point, it is worth noting that a PocketQube of 1P is 5x5x5x cm (~2x2x2 in) in size, and 0.25 kg (~0.6 lb) in mass. Further, these can be scaled up, obtaining sats of 2P, 3P, and so on.

These use low power communications to relay low volumes of data, such as the temperature inside a refrigerated truck’s chamber, the GPS position of cattle animals, the optimization of street lighting, and so on. In brief, tiny bits of very specific information that are vital for the business in question.

Additionally, FOSSA provides PocketQube platforms for customers interested in having communications and observation tiny satellites, or constellations of them. Not only that, because they also develop and manufacture ground infrastructure to make use of these very small spacecraft. Finally, the company also offers launch brokerage and integration services.

FOSSASat FEROX

On this occasion, FOSSA launched four of their brand new satellites: the FOSSASat FEROX. Therefore, this mission marks the beginning of a new constellation for the company, as well as demonstrates the new design for a second batch expected later this year. The newcomers feature capabilities similar to those of bigger 6U to 12U CubeSats, in spite of being considerably smaller, “lighter” (having less mass), and cheaper, while supporting fields like communications, IoT, and signal intelligence.

Particularly, these four FEROX are expected to go through their commissioning phase, and then start relaying telemetry information on their subsystems and hosted experiments. Presently, the former provide LoRa IoT connectivity, while the latter is a camera for Earth observation downlinking low resolution images in a distributed fashion. This is all achieved through a Starlink-like, flat, design with a size of 2.5x20x60 cm (~1x8x24 in), massing at 2 kg (~4 lb). In the future, FOSSA will offer such IoT connectivity with a constelation of 80 satellites

Alba Orbital

Focused on PocketQube design, manufacturing, and deployment, the Scottish Alba Orbital is a thriving start-up. As a launch broker, the company has already flown on vehicles like the Atlas V, the Electron, and the Falcon 9. And because of these satellites being very small, they need to be arranged in clusters, so they travel to space in groups. Presently, Alba Cluster 7 is expected to be aboard this Transporter mission.

Albapods are the PocketQube dispensers designed by this firm, allowing them to deploy up to 96P of spacecraft. These can be composed of tiny satellites of 1P, 1.5P, 2P, or 3P, which means a full deployment could very well place into orbit a whole constellation at once.

Payloads Integrated By Alba Orbital

This time, Alba Orbital is integrated on D-Orbit’s ION SCV011, and the company’s customers are part of Alba Cluster 7, which uses the mentioned Albapod. As far as we know, its manifest looks approximately like the following table:

Other Payloads

W-Series 1

For years, in-space manufacturing has been done on the International Space Station (ISS), though experimental and tended by humans. W-Series 1, however, veers away from that, as it aims at getting into orbit, producing pharmaceuticals, and sending them back to Earth. It will still be a demonstration mission, but one with the goal of enabling future space factories. In order to achieve that, Varda Space Industries teamed up with Rocket Lab to develop a spacecraft with the required capabilities.

By Rocket Lab

Basically, the latter provides their Photon satellite platform that previously flew on missions like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical, They Go Up So Fast — in its LEO version — and CAPSTONE — in its deep-space version. These are in essence the third stage of the Electron rocket, or kick stage, largely modified to supply a payload, i.e. Varda’s capsule, with communications, propulsion, maneuverability, guidance, and energy.

By Varda

On the other hand, Varda developed a two-module spacecraft: one for manufacturing, one for reentry. Altogether, it masses at 120 kg (~270 lb). Though this time the company will attempt to produce small molecules drugs, the broader idea is to benefit from the microgravity environment. More precisely, Varda intends to obtain products which are possible to create with certain properties, or to specific standards, only if such conditions are met. Particularly, some pharmaceutical formulations are less efective, or even impossible to achieve on our planet.

The Mission

The W-Series 1 spacecraft will complete some steps, in order to fullfil its mission. In the first place, it will travel to space on board Falcon 9’s second stage. After that, it will detach from it and correctly position itself on orbit. Subsequently, in-space manufacturing will take place in the corresponding module, while storing the resulting product into the re-entry one. Once this process finishes, Photon will make sure the latter module follows a re-entry trajectory after separation from the rest of the spacecraft. Finally, the capsule will touch down at the Utah Test and Training Range, after hypersonic flight and parachute descent.

As far as publicly known, three further W-Series flights will happen in the near future.