ION Satellite Carrier
ManufacturerD-Orbit
Country of originItaly
Websitehttps://www.dorbit.space/launch-deployment
Specifications
Spacecraft typeSatellite dispenser
Design life> 3 years
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass160 kg
Production
StatusActive
Planned1
Launched13
Operational13
Maiden launch3 September 2020
Last launch1 December 2023
Related spacecraft
Flown withFalcon 9 Block 5
Vega

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 25, ION SCV Lucas released successfully the first SuperDove satellite of the batch; the last satellite was deployed on October 28. As of December 2023, ION SCV has successfully completed 13 missions, 1 as a payload of a Vega rocket and 12 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 Customers Outcome
Origin ION SCV-001 Lucas 3 September 2020 Vega United States Flock-4v × 12 Planet Labs Success
Pulse ION SCV-002 Laurentius 24 January 2021 Falcon 9 Block 5 United States Flock-4s × 8 Planet Labs Success
United States SpaceBEE × 12 Swarm Technologies
Italy ARGO (hosted) EICAS Automazione
Spain DRAGO (hosted) IAC
Wild Ride ION SCV-003 Dauntless David 30 June 2021 Falcon 9 Block 5 United Arab Emirates Ghalib Marshall Intech Success
Thailand NAPA-2 RTAF
Spain NEPTUNO Elecnor Deimos
Kuwait QMR-KWT Orbital Space
Bulgaria SPARTAN EnduroSat
Finland W-Cube Reaktor Space
Italy LaserCube (hosted) Italian Stellar Project
United Kingdom Nebula (hosted) D-Orbit UK
United States Worldfloods (hosted) Frontier Development Lab
Dashing Through the Stars ION SCV-004 Elysian Eleonora 13 January 2022 Falcon 9 Block 5 United States DODONA USC Success
Poland LabSat SatRevolution
Poland STORK 1, 2 SatRevolution
Poland SW1FT SatRevolution
Czech Republic VZLUSat-2 VZLU
ItalySwedenFinland cloud platform (hosted) D-Orbit / Unibap / VTT
Spacelust ION SCV-005 Almighty Alexius 1 April 2022 Falcon 9 Block 5 Luxembourg KSF2 × 4 Kleos Space Success
Chile PlantSat University of Chile
Chile SUCHAI 2, 3 University of Chile
Italy UP-box (hosted) Upmosphere
Infinite Blue ION SCV-006 Thrilling Thomas 25 May 2022 Falcon 9 Block 5 Spain Guardian 1 Aistech Space Success
United StatesItaly SBUDNIC BUSE / CNR
United States Crypto-1 (hosted) Cryptosat
Italy GEN-01 (hosted) Genergo
Second Star to the Right ION SCV-007 Glorious Gratia 3 January 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 Switzerland Astrocast × 4 Astrocast SA Success
Italy FUTURA-SM1 NPC Spacemind
Italy FUTURA-SM3 NPC Spacemind
SwedenUnited States Kelpie 1 ACC Clyde Space / Orbcomm
United Arab EmiratesTurkey Sharja-Sat-1 SAASST / ITU
ION SCV-008 Fierce Franciscus Israel TAUSAT2 Tel Aviv University
United States Cryptosat-2 (hosted) Cryptosat
Spain DRAGO-2 (hosted) IAC
Italy Genergo-2 (hosted) Genergo
 ? (hosted) (undisclosed)
Starfield ION SCV-009 Eclectic Elena 31 January 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 United States Satellite simulator EBAD Success
Germany ADEO-N3 (hosted) HPF
Switzerland Bunny (hosted) EPFL
New Zealand SD-1 (hosted) StardustMe
Guardian ION SCV-010 Masterful Matthaeus 15 April 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 European Union ELO-3 Eutelsat Success
SwedenCanada EPICHyper-1 AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern
Canada Kepler-20, 21 Kepler Communications
Brazil VCUB1 Visiona
Belgium MicroCMG (hosted) Veoware
Italy SCORPIO (hosted) Elettronica Group
Above the Sky ION SCV-011 Savvy Simon 12 June 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 SwedenCanada EPICHyper-2 AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern Success
SwedenUnited States Kelpie-2 AAC Clyde Space / Orbcomm
United States Outpost Mission 1 Outpost Space
Vatican CityItaly SpeiSat Dicastery for Communication / ASI
European Union ELO-4 Eutelsat
United Kingdom AlbaPod × 2 (hosted) Alba Orbital
Switzerland NaviLEOTM (hosted) SpacePNT
United Kingdom ODIN-DU1 (hosted) ODIN Space
United Kingdom UKRI SWIMMR-1 (hosted) UKRI
Cosmic Wander ION SCV-013 Ultimate Hugo 11 November 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 United States Crypto3 Cryptosat
SwedenCanada EPICHyper-3 AAC Clyde Space / Wyvern
SwedenPoland Intuition-1 AAC Clyde Space / KP Labs
United States Lemur-2 NANAZ Spire Global
United States OSW Cazorla Odyssey SpaceWorks
Italy PiCo-IoT × 9 Apogeo Space
SwedenUnited States Ymir-1 AAC Clyde Space / Saab AB / Orbcomm
United Kingdom AlbaPod × 2 (hosted) Alba Orbital
Poland Antelope (hosted) KP Labs
Italy Gen-03 (hosted) Genergo
Italy Radiosat&Beamasat (hosted) PICOSATS
Beyond ION SCV-015 Daring Diego 1 December 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 Spain ALISIO-1 IAC
Thailand LOGSATS Patriot Infovention
Germany NanoFF A, B TU Berlin
United Kingdom AlbaPod (hosted) Alba Orbital
United States MI:1 (hosted) TRL11
United States Pono 1 (hosted) Privateer
Italy RECS (hosted) Polimi
New Zealand Z01 SuperTorquer (hosted) Zenno Astronautics

Planned missions

Mission Name Spacecraft Date Launch Vehicle Payload Customers Outcome

See also

References

  1. "D-Orbit launches its first ION Satellite Carrier". www.spacenewsfeed.com. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  2. 1 2 "D-Orbit brings tiny nano satellites to space for collecting climate change data". European Investment Bank. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  3. "Mitigating space debris generation". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  4. Clark, Stephen. "Cluster of international satellites ready for ride into orbit on Vega rocket – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  5. "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.
  6. "ION". InOrbit Now (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-19.
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