If you want to demonstrate a new technology or service, but don’t want your own dedicated satellite, our hosted payload service may be more aligned with your needs. The service provides an easy and cost-effective solution for gaining heritage for new technologies or piloting new services in-orbit.
Following a 1-month commissioning and initial demonstration & qualification phase, the shared platform enters an extended operations phase. The satellite becomes available for payload operators to book dedicated time, be this for extended in-orbit demonstration purposes, software maturation, experimentation, and/or pilot service operations.
The duration of this phase will depend on customer needs, before decommissioning and de-orbit, but due to the robust design of the satellite platform can be extended well beyond 5 years.
Through the OrbAstro flat-sat, and with our technical support, customers can design and program up their payload for compatibility with the satellite platform. The flat-sat also serves as an analogue for trialling and executing software & command sequences associated with mission activities.
All ORB-6 satellite platforms utilised for hosted payload services will have a dual-redundant Telos-40 OBC, which customers can have access to for any heavy onboard data processing needs.
Though the hosted payload satellites will have access to the Guardian Network ground stations, from mid-2022 onwards, they will also have access to the Guardian Network satellites, which most pertinently will allow for low-latency access and high data-throughput activities.
Volume |
0.1U |
0.5U |
1U |
Price (starting from) |
£10,000 |
£45,000 |
£75,000 |
Mass |
100g |
500g |
1,000g |
Power (orbital average) |
1W (25W peak) |
5W (25W peak) |
5W (25W peak) |
External Faces |
Negotiable |
Available |
Available |
- I2C: 2x interfaces @10, 100, 400, 1000 kHz
- SPI: 1x interfaces @1, 10, 40 MHz
- USART: 2x interfaces, up to 1 Mb/s
- CAN: 2x interfaces, up to 1 Mb/s
- LVDS: 10 pairs, up to 1.2 Gbps per pair
- PCIe 3.0, up to x4 (coming soon)
- USB 2.0 (coming soon)
- Ethernet 10/100/1000Mbps (coming soon)
- 8-18V, max 5A
- 5V, max 3A
- 3V3, max 3A
- The prescribed payload capacity and associated access to the satellite platform
- Payload integration, flight-acceptance testing, and launch
- On-going paperwork and licenses associated with launch and platform-level spectrum filings
- Commissioning and initial demonstration & qualification phase
- Recommended: Flat-sat hardware & software for the duration of payload development phase and extended operations phase, including technical support up to a prescribed level (£1,500/quarter)
- Access to Telos-40 OBC for heavy onboard data-processing (price is case dependent)
- Support with payload insurance and spectrum filings for RF payloads (price is case dependent)
- Extended operations phase access through the Guardian Network ground stations (and data relay constellation when available):
- Up to 10MB/month, up to 1 link/month: +£125/month
- Up to 10MB/week, up to 1 link/week: +£350/month
- Up to 10MB/day, up to 1 link/day: +£1000/month
- Up to 100MB/day, up to 1 link/day: +£1,250/month
- Up to 100MB/day, up to 4 links/day: +£3,000/month
- Up to 1GB/day, up to 4 links/day: +£3,500/month