New Satellite Mission Contract and Second US Office for NanoAvionics - NanoAvionics

New Satellite Mission Contract and Second US Office for NanoAvionics

Press releases
  • 2020-03-10

Columbia, Illinois, USA, 10 March 2020 – NanoAvionics announced the reception of a full mission contract for two 6U nanosatellites and the opening of a new sales and engineering support office in Columbia (IL), USA. The mission contract includes payload integration, launch and operation services for the two nanosatellites, both of which are based on NanoAvionics’ pre-configured M6P bus. The launch of both satellites is planned for the end of this year.

“Constantly increasing demand for our standardized satellite buses and this latest mission contract from a US commercial data services company represents a significant milestone of NanoAvionics penetration in the US market for New Space as well as in the US Civil space sector”, said F. Brent Abbott, CEO of NanoAvionics North America. “Completing our Columbia office will support our efforts to provide US customers with the most cost-efficient satellite buses and hosted payload flights in low Earth orbit (LEO).”

While NanoAvionics’ US Columbia Facility is the company’s second office in the United States, it is set to be the primary NanoAvionics hub in the United States. It is also the first satellite factory in Illinois and the Midwest. The Columbia Facility allows NanoAvionics’ to take advantage of a great talent pool from multiple local universities and their graduates and staff equipped with nanosatellite experience. The low cost of operations and living will also allow NanoAvionics to maintain its competitive status in a tough market. Following the opening of NanoAvionics’ US facility at the Midland Air and Space Port last year, the company will keep it as a scalable resource for high quantity nanosatellite bus production, for both single missions and constellations.

“Nanosatellite buses are becoming a commodity and we have been applying the same standardization and principles that have been used in the automotive industry for more than a century to create a universal small satellite vehicle, capable to host a big variety of payloads and be used for diverse applications.”

The advantages and benefits of NanoAvionics’ industrial approach include reducing cost by standardizing the bus design while increasing the range and capabilities of the payload. NanoAvionics estimates that more than 80% of the nanosatellite bus can remain the same even when the mission and payload varies. That in return means replicability, increased reliability, lower costs and much shorter production times which lead to greater speed to market and faster revenues.

“Building hundreds of satellites for the planned constellations in a short time frame of 12-15 months requires a universal bus design and an industrial approach for the mass production of nanosatellite buses. It’s the next step in our mission to become the go-to company for manufacturing and launching nanosatellite constellations for businesses worldwide.”

Having been the first company to develop a preconfigured nanosatellite bus, NanoAvionics has already scaled its flagship M6P bus to achieve 12U and 16U form factors, giving customers such as video streaming media company Sen more possibilities for their missions and payloads.

“These reductions in cost and the much shorter production times while increasing the options for mission payload and keeping the same high standards will enable businesses to generate real downstream revenues.”