Canada: Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has announced to present papers on the successful GHGSat-D greenhouse gas monitoring and CanX-7 aircraft tracking nanosatellite missions next week in Berlin, Germany. The results will be presented at the 11th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation.
SFL, which is based at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), will also have an exhibit booth at the IAA Symposium where two upcoming missions will be featured: HawkEye 360 Pathfinder and LEO Prototype 2. Sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics, the symposium runs April 24-28, 2017, at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.
“Among a multitude of other missions, SFL now has eight missions specifically related to remote sensing and Earth observation in orbit and another eight under development or awaiting launch,” said Dr. Robert E. Zee, SFL Director. “We look forward to sharing insights on our latest microspace technology developments at the IAA Symposium.”
Both SFL presentations will be given during the 9 am session on Wednesday, April 26.
GHGSat-D, or CLAIRE, is a 15-kilogram microsatellite developed by SFL for GHGSat Inc. of Montreal to demonstrate that greenhouse gas emissions from sources on Earth can be accurately targeted and measured from space.
Launched in 2016, the highly successful mission is based on SFL’s space-proven NEMO microsatellite platform. GHGSat Inc. recently contracted SFL to develop the first two operational microsatellites for a planned commercial service.
SFL developed the CanX-7 mission on its CanX nanosatellite platform in cooperation with COM DEV Ltd. (now Honeywell) and Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) to validate real-time detection and tracking of aircraft by low-Earth orbit satellite.
Launched in September 2016 carrying an ADS-B tracking receiver built by RMC, CanX-7 was the first Canadian nanosatellite to receive and decode ADS-B signals in real time from space.
At its booth in the IAA Symposium exhibit hall, SFL will feature materials related to the HawkEye 360 Pathfinder scheduled for launch late this year and LEO Prototype 2 missions.
The HawkEye 360 Pathfinder mission is a constellation of three microsatellites being built by SFL on its NEMO platform for Deep Space Industries. The precursor to a commercial low-Earth orbit constellation of small satellites envisioned by HawkEye 360 Inc., Pathfinder will leverage formation flying technology developed by SFL (through SFL’s highly successful CanX-4/CanX-5 mission in 2014) for space-based radio frequency (RF) detection and geolocation applications.
For details about the program, please visit https://smallsat.iaaweb.org/.
