Past Performance

LIGHTSAIL

LightSail is a satellite that demonstrated controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society and StratSpace conceived and managed the flight system development under contract to TPS. LightSail consists of two spacecraft—LightSail 1 and LightSail 2. LightSail is a follow-on project to Cosmos 1—a solar sail spacecraft designed by The Planetary Society in the early 2000s. Both LightSail spacecraft measure 10 cm × 10 cm × 30 cm (3.9 in × 3.9 in × 11.8 in) in their stowed configuration.

ICEYE X-1

ICEYE X are proof-of-concept prototypes for a constellation of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) equipped microsatellites, designed by the Finnish startup ICEYE. These satellites provide near-real-time SAR imagery. The ICEYE imaging radar instrument can image through clouds, obscuring weather and darkness. The first prototype satellites, ICEYE X1 and X2 were developed and integrated in-house by ICEYE with systems engineering support from StratSpace. ICEYE X2 provided real time imagery of the Bahamas in 2019 during Hurricane Dorians destructive traverse of the island.

OSIRIS-REX

The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid study and sample-return mission. The mission's main goal is to obtain a sample of at least 60 grams from 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid, and return the sample to Earth for a detailed analysis. If successful, OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid. StratSpace operated under a contract to the University of Arizona leading ground data systems engineering and mission operations software development.

MX-1 LUNAR LANDERS

MX-1E is a minimum lunar lander developed by Moon Express and consists of two basically identical modules. One acts as propulsion module to propel the probe from low earth orbit towards the moon, while the second acts as the lunar lander. The propulsion systems use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. After landing on the lunar surface, the lander will reignite its propulsion system to move a distance of at least 500 m to satisfy the rules of the GLXP. StratSpace led the overall architectural design, systems engineering and program management of the MX-1 under contract to Moon Express.

Artist conception of MX-1 on lunar surface

COSMOS-1

Cosmos 1 was a project by Cosmos Studios and The Planetary Society to test a solar sail in space. Cosmos 1 was launched into space in 2005 from the submarine Borisoglebsk in the Barents Sea. Once in orbit, the spacecraft was designed to deploy a large sail and would have been the first ever orbital use of a solar sail to speed up a spacecraft. StratSpace performed systems engineering, program management and mission operations under contract to The Planetary Society.

SKYBOX SKYSAT IMAGING SATELLITES

SkySat-1 and 2 are commercial Earth observation satellites by Skybox Imaging collecting high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth. The satellites operate in a polar inclined, circular orbit at approximately 450 km above the earth. The first two satellite prototypes were built by Skybox Imaging in house and StratSpace provided Systems Engineering and Launch Integration under contract to Skybox. The first satellite was launched in 2013 on a cluster launch on a Dnepr rocket. The second identical satellite was launched as a secondary payload on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M launch in 2014.