Globalstar selects MDA and Rocket Lab for new satellites

Globalstar has selected MDA Ltd. and Rocket Lab to supply a set of satellites to replenish its constellation, funded by a mystery customer. Globalstar said Feb. 24 it awarded a contract valued at $327 million to MDA to build 17 satellites intended to extend the life of the company’s existing satellite constellation, which provides messaging and internet-of-things services. The contract includes an option for up to nine additional satellites at $11.4 million each. MDA, in turn, awarded a $143 million contract to Rocket Lab to provide the satellite buses. That contract includes options for additional satellites as well as satellite dispensers and launch integration. “The combination of these vendors offered us the best overall balance of innovation, technical capability, schedule reliability and cost,” David Kagan, chief executive of Globalstar, said in a statement. “We look forward to beginning the process of bending metal and readying the new satellites for launch beginning in approximately three years.” Globalstar will contract for the launch of those satellites separately, with the expectation all will be launched by the end of 2025.

The new satellites will replenish the existing Globalstar fleet, illustrated above, the last of which were launched in 2013. Credit: Globalstar

In its statement, Globalstar referred to a “potential customer” as a key reason to procure the new satellites. “Globalstar is acquiring the satellites to provide continuous satellite services to the potential customer under the Terms Agreement described in the Company’s Annual Reports, as well as services to Globalstar’s current and future customers,” the company said.

That unnamed customer will reimburse 95% of the capital expenditures associated with the new satellites as well as interest costs for Globalstar’s financing of the system. Globalstar said it expects to have financing in place for the satellites by August and has deferred initial payments to MDA at 0% interest until Aug. 16.

In its 2020 annual report, Globalstar said it entered into an agreement, called the Terms Agreement, in February 2020 with an unnamed potential customer. Under that agreement, that customer would pay for nonrecurring engineering services “in connection with the assessment of a potential service utilizing certain of our assets and capacity,” and work on terms for development of operation of that service. The report doesn’t elaborate on the service in question or identify the customer.

Globalstar released its fourth quarter and full year earnings after the markets closed Feb. 24. The company reported revenue of $124.3 million for 2021, down 3% from 2020, and a net loss of $112.6 million, nearly 3% greater than 2020. Globalstar did not disclose new information about the identity of the potential customer mentioned in the Terms Agreement, but said that customer had provided $111.4 million in advance payments “to be recognized into revenue as we perform under the contract.”

Much of the industry speculation regarding Globalstar’s mystery customer has focused on Apple. There were reports last fall that the latest version of Apple’s iPhone would include a satellite connectivity option, with Globalstar providing that service. However, Apple made no mention of a satellite service when it announced the iPhone 13 line in September 2021.

Globalstar is also facing competition in providing satellite connectivity to smartphones. Lynk is working on a smallsat constellation to provide services, starting with messaging, to conventional smartphones, having recently tested that capability in the United States and several other countries. AST SpaceMobile is developing its own satellite constellation to provide services to mobile phones, raising $462 million in a SPAC merger last April to fund work on that system.

MDA said in a statement it will assemble and test the Globalstar satellites in a new facility in Montreal. “Combining our deep expertise with new partners like Rocket Lab to bring exciting capability to the rapidly growing LEO constellation market further strengthens our position in the global satellite systems market,” Mike Greenley, chief executive of MDA, said in a statement.

Rocket Lab, which will manufacture the buses, will leverage its growing vertical integration by using solar panels, structures, reaction wheels and software from companies it has acquired in the last two years.

“With this contract Rocket Lab is executing on its strategy to go beyond launch and lead the new space economy by delivering complete mission solutions spanning spacecraft manufacture, satellite subsystems, flight software, ground operations and launch,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a company statement.

SpaceLink hires Axiom to support ISS communications demonstration

SpaceLink announced plans Feb. 17 to work with Axiom Space to conduct the first demonstration of its space data relay service on the International Space Station. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, manager of the ISS National Laboratory, awarded McLean, Virginia-based SpaceLink a contract to demonstrate data transmission from the Space Station through optical terminals at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. Once that contract was finalized, SpaceLink awarded Axiom a subcontract to support mission integration, launch and operations. Axiom also will serve as SpaceLink’s liaison with NASA, ensuring SpaceLink hardware meets stringent ISS safety requirements. SpaceLink CEO Dave Bettinger called the demonstration, scheduled for 2024, “an excellent validation to show data rates to the ISS that I believe are potentially one or two orders of magnitude higher than what they’ve seen.” OHB System AG is manufacturing four satellites, which it plans to send to medium Earth orbit in 2024, to relay data for government and commercial customers. The planned service is similar to what NASA provides today through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite constellation in geostationary orbit. “We see it as a an important milestone for us to show NASA and the world that we are going to be able to provide the services in space that commercial, government and international entities will be using in the future,” Bettinger told.

This illustration shows SpaceLink’s optical terminal mounted on the first module of the future Axiom Station. SpaceLink plans to establish a satellite constellation in medium Earth orbit to relay radio frequency and optical data between satellites in low Earth orbit and the ground. Credit: SpaceLink

Axiom won a NASA contract in 2020 to develop a commercial module for the Space Station. Axiom also is planning a series of commercial ISS missions.

“High-speed communication will be a critical component for the future where people live and work in space,” Michael Suffredini, Axiom president and CEO, said in a statement. “Axiom looks forward to collaborating with SpaceLink and supporting its relay network, beginning with this important demonstration on the ISS.”

SpaceLink plans to conduct the data relay demonstration in 2024 after testing in-orbit testing of its communications satellites.

NASA is preparing to hand off to industry the job of providing communications for dozens of spaceflight missions including ISS. Like transportation of crew and cargo to the ISS and cargo delivery to the moon, NASA sees communications in Earth orbit as a job commercial companies can take over.

“NASA has done a great job of going commercial where it makes sense and saved a lot of money on that,” Bettinger said. “We see this as a perfect example. We’re very proud to be a part of the CASIS project.”

Launcher buys additional SpaceX rideshare missions

Launcher has purchased slots on three more SpaceX rideshare missions for its Orbiter tug as it continues development of a small launch vehicle. Launcher announced Feb. 7 it signed a multi-launch contract with SpaceX for three additional missions of its Orbiter tug. Those tugs will fly on Falcon 9 rideshare missions in January, April and October of 2023. Launcher’s first Orbiter tug will launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 rideshare mission in October 2022 under a contract announced last June when the company revealed its plans to develop Orbiter. The vehicle is designed to deploy cubesats and other smallsats in their desired orbits as well as host payloads for missions lasting up to two years. “We have chosen SpaceX to be our provider in 2023 and beyond, due to their incredible reliability, performance, industry-leading price, and mission flexibility, which allows us to provide the lowest-cost Orbiter mission services to our customers,” Max Haot, chief executive of Launcher, said in a statement. Launcher offers launch and orbit transfer services for smallsats for between $8,000 and $25,000 per kilogram, depending on mission requirements. It also will sell a dedicated Orbiter mission for $400,000 plus SpaceX flight costs.

Orbiter, an orbital transfer vehicle being developed by Launcher, will be able to carry up to 90U of cubesats or other smallsats, and fly on both Launcher Light and SpaceX's Falcon 9. Credit: Launcher

The company development of Orbiter is on track for its first mission this fall. The company recently announced a series of tests of the vehicle’s main engine, a thruster that uses ethane and nitrous oxide as propellants, including one test where the engine was fired for two and a half minutes.

Orbiter is one of several vehicles designed to provide “last mile” in-space transportation services for smallsats launched on rideshare missions like SpaceX, moving satellites from an initial transfer orbit provided by the rideshare launch to their final orbits. D-Orbit, Momentus and Spaceflight are among the other companies that are developing or have flown similar vehicles.

Launcher developed Orbiter not just for rideshare missions on larger vehicles but also for its own Launcher Light small launch vehicle in development. Haot told SpaceNews that the company was making “great progress” in testing of the E-2 engine that powers the vehicle’s first stage and that the first launch of the vehicle is scheduled for March 2024.