A consortium including AAC Clyde Space subsidiary Hyperion, has been selected by TNO of the Netherlands to deliver a new direct-to-Earth laser communication terminal for small satellites in LEO. The order value is EUR 0.3 M (approx. SEK 3.3 M) with planned delivery in 2025.
Apart from AAC Hyperion, the consortium includes the Dutch consortium FSO Instruments, consisting of the enterprises Demcon and VDL. The terminal, named HemiCAT, is an optical communication terminal which will have Coarse Pointing Assembly (CPA) capability, lowering the requirements on the satellite platform's own pointing ability. AAC Hyperion and its partners will provide the terminal's electronics and software.
In designing and building the electronics and software subsystems, AAC Hyperion will leverage its experience from similar projects, and reuse some building blocks developed in the CubeCAT project. The goal is for the HemiCAT to perform at levels similar to those of the CubeCAT.
AAC Hyperion's CubeCAT system provides a bidirectional space-to-ground communication link between a CubeSat and an optical ground station, with downlink speeds of up to 1 Gbps and uplink data rate of 200 Kbps.
An AAC Clyde Space manufactured satellite was lost when the Virgin Orbit rocket launched from Cornwall on Monday, January 10, failed to reach orbit. All satellites on the launch are reported to have been lost, including IOD-3 manufactured by AAC Clyde Space for the Satellite Applications Catapult.
AAC Clyde Space has conveyed its sympathy for the loss of the satellite to Horizon Technologies, who was the end user of the IOD-3 satellite, and to the Satellite Applications Catapult, the owner of IOD-3. The company had delivered the satellite to the launch site in late 2022 for integration with the launcher, concluding its main involvement with the mission. As such, the loss of the mission does not have a financial impact on AAC Clyde Space.