ION Satellite Carrier
| Function | Satellite dispenser |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | D-Orbit |
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Size | |
| Mass | 100 kg (220 lb) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Total launches | 6 |
| Success(es) | 6 |
| First flight | 3 September 2020 |
| Last flight | 25 May 2022 |
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.
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 25th, ION SCV Lucas released successfully the first SuperDove satellite of the batch; the last satellite was deployed on October 28th. As of November 2022, ION SCV has successfully completed 6 missions, 1 as a payload of a Vega rocket and 5 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
The 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
Past missions
| Mission Name | Spacecraft | Date | Launch Vehicle | Payload | Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | ION-SCV 001 Lucas | 3 September 2020 | Vega |  Flock-4v × 12
|
Planet Labs |
| Pulse | ION-SCV 002 Laurentius | 24 January 2021 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Flock-4s × 8
|
Planet Labs |
| 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 |
 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 |
 LabSat
|
SatRevolution | ||||
| STORK 1, 2
|
SatRevolution | ||||
| SW1FT
|
SatRevolution | ||||
 VZLUSat-2
|
VZLU | ||||
| Hyperspectral payload (hosted) | ? | ||||
| Spacelust | ION-SCV 005 Almighty Alexius | 1 April 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 |  KSF2 × 4
|
Kleos Space |
 PlantSat
|
University of Chile | ||||
| SUCHAI 2, 3
|
University of Chile | ||||
| Rest In Space (hosted)
|
Upmosphere | ||||
| Infinite Blue | ION-SCV 006 Thrilling Thomas | 25 May 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Guardian 1
|
Aistech Space |
| SBUDNIC
|
BUSE / CNR | ||||
| Crypto-1 (hosted)
|
Cryptosat | ||||
| GEN-01 (hosted)
|
Genergo |
See also
References
- ^ "D-Orbit launches its first ION Satellite Carrier". www.spacenewsfeed.com. 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.