December 15, 2018

New era for satellite services

German Orbital Systems GmbH (GOS) is changing the status-quo of what small satellite customers have come to expect from the NewSpace industry. In a groundbreaking move meant to broaden opportunities, and in cooperation with the ECM Space (ECM), GOS will only request payment once the GOS manufactured and launched satellite has been successfully separated, checked and commissioned in orbit.

"We are glad to offer a new and unique concept to our customers. The smallsat manufacturing market is developing dynamically which means that only those who are ready to face new challenges and risks will be able to survive"

explains Walter Ballheimer, CEO of GOS.

Gaining traction already, the first contract of this kind was signed between GOS and iSky Technology (iSky) in late November. The monetary instalment will be made when the iSky 3U CubeSat (iSat 3U) with ADS-B receiver proves verified, fully functional and officially confirmed and demonstrated by GOS.

The iSat 3U CubeSat is based on the reliable and flight proven GOS D-Star ONE platform. This platform allows for extremely quick and low-cost integration of customer payloads while minimizing any technological risks. In conjunction with the best-in-class separation systems provided by ECM, the overall mission reliability drove them to offer this new strategy with considerable certainty it wouldn't put customers at risk.

Reflecting on the wishes of his customers, Ballheimer remarks:

???We elaborated on our new concept taking into account the key principle of any client or investor: ???I need a working satellite in space and I want it right now!???.

The first satellite commissioned in this way between GOS and iSky - the iSat smallsat - will be accompanied by a GOS proprietary tech-demo satellite D-Star ONE Sparrow. Both satellites - along with nine others - will reach their target orbit on the Soyuz launch vehicle as a part of ECM smallsat cluster on the 27th of December 2018.

German Orbital Systems GmbH

German Orbital Systems GmbH is a Berlin-based space company. It was founded in 2014 by a former scientific staff of the Technical University of Berlin and is the first German company focused on the CubeSat market. The product portfolio includes subsystems and turn-key satellite missions, which consist of the ground-, space- and launch segments. Since 2016, GOS has been responsible for the separation sequence as a part of ECM Space Technologies GmbH CubeSat dispensers.

iSky Technology s.r.o.

is a Czech New Space company established in 2016. iSky Technology is actively developing in the segment of mission strategic planning and ???turn-key??? solutions. iSky Technology develops conceptual solutions for businesses in the space industry from the satellite design to successful launch and on orbit operation.

ECM Space Technologies GmbH

ECM Space Technology GmbH is a leading European launch services provider and cluster integrator, offering easy, cost-effective and regular access to space for small satellites. Over the past year, ECM has arranged launches for more than 40 international small satellites to sun-synchronous orbits and plans to launch over 50 international small satellites in 2019. With a variety of launch opportunities (SSO, HEO, GTO/GEO) and focusing on an individual approach to each satellite, ECM provides the most optimal launch solutions for start-ups, universities, commercial companies, space agencies and scientific institutions. Supplementary to the launch services, ECM Space designs and manufactures in-house 12U/16U CubeSat deployers and develops low-shock separation systems for microsatellites.