Momentus signs in-space transportation pact

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA – Exolaunch, the German launch providers supplier previously often called ECM House, signed a contract to pay in-space transportation startup Momentus greater than $6 million to maneuver satellites in low Earth orbit in 2020 with a service known as Vigoride and from low Earth to geosynchronous orbit in 2021 with Vigoride Prolonged.

With Vigoride, Exolaunch will ship “cubesat and microsatellite constellations to a number of orbits, giving shoppers an unprecedented flexibility of satellite tv for pc deployment, lowering the value of launch, and giving entry to orbits not typical for ridesharing autos,” Dmitriy Bogdanov, Exolaunch chief govt, stated in a press release. “We additionally plan to ship smallsats to geosynchronous orbit utilizing the Vigoride Prolonged service. Momentus will allow us to service a bigger section of the market by enabling our clients to succeed in customized orbits in an environment friendly and cost-effective method.”

Vigoride, with a preliminary pricetag of $1.2 million, is designed to maneuver satellites with a mass of 250 kilograms or much less to new locations in low Earth orbit. For instance, “you may put completely different satellites at completely different altitudes,” Mikhail Kokorich, Momentus founder and president, instructed SpaceNews on the SmallSat Symposium.

Vigoride Prolonged, with a preliminary worth of $four.eight million, will transfer satellites with a mass of 300 kilograms from low Earth orbit to geostationary switch orbit, geostationary orbit or the moon, stated Kokorich, the entrepreneur who based Russian small satellite tv for pc builder Dauria Aerospace, co-founded Astro Digital, an Earth imaging and evaluation agency, and invested in Helios Wire, a satellite-enabled internet-of-things startup.

Momentus plans to conduct an in-orbit demonstration of its key know-how, a water-plasma engine, in March or April. After intensive laboratory testing, Momentus engineers are assured the know-how works however this sort of water plasma engine has by no means flown in area, stated Negar Feher, Momentus product and enterprise growth vp.

Momentus’ orbital transport car is housed in a 61 by 71 by 25 centimeter aluminum bus with a fueled mass of 80 kilograms.

Along with the Exolaunch contract, Momentus has nonbinding letters of intent price about $400 million for its in-space transportation providers, Feher stated.

Momentus, a agency based in Santa Clara, California, in 2017, raised $8.3 million in seed funding final yr.