- May 27, 2022
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Kleos’ Patrol Mission Satellites ready and shipped to launch site
Kleos Space S.A, a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, confirms its Patrol Mission (KSF2) satellites are on track to launch onboard the Transporter-3 SpaceX mission in January 2022, successfully passing the final technical milestone with satellite builder Innovative Solutions In Space (ISISPACE).
The Patrol Mission satellites are travelling from the
Netherlands to the launch integration facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA,
where they are being armed for flight, inserted into their dispensers, and
integrated into the launch vehicle by Spaceflight Inc. Prior to transport, the
satellites successfully completed System Assembly Integration Testing (SAIT)
with ISISPACE over a six-week period, including a system checkout and
mechanical inspection, battery charging and fuelling.
The transport of the Patrol Mission satellites confirms the
satellites are mission ready. The launch will increase Kleos’ reconnaissance
capability to three clusters of four satellites each, making a total of twelve
satellites patrolling against illegal activity such as piracy, drug smuggling
and border security challenges.
Launching into a 500-600km Sun Synchronous orbit, the four
Patrol Mission satellites expand Kleos’ data collection capability by up to an
additional 119 million km² per day. They also enable Kleos to increase its
average daily revisit rate over a 15-degree latitude area of interest to around
five times a day.
Kleos Space CEO Andy Bowyer said, “We are rapidly
building our constellation to raise the volume of data available to our
customers. Each new mission features enhanced hardware and software capability,
leveraging the learnings of earlier launches. The improved collection
capability of the Patrol Mission is key for our government and commercial data
subscribers. The value of our independent geolocation data grows in line with
revisit rates, as it enables subscribers to use the data to establish pattern
of life behaviour or tip and cue with existing datasets to improve the
identification of illegal maritime and land-based activity”.
Kleos successfully launched its Scouting Mission satellites
into a 37-degree inclination in November 2020 and its Vigilance Mission cluster
into a 525km Sun Synchronous orbit in June 2021. Its fourth cluster, the
Observer Mission, is scheduled to launch in mid-2022. Flown in a formation of
four, Kleos’ nanosatellites detect and geolocate radio frequency transmissions
to within 300m, enhancing the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
(ISR) capabilities of governments and commercial entities.
Source: Kleos