Planetary Resources and Hawkeye 360 gave updates on the remote sensing satellites they are planning to launch. The summaries below are courtesy of the following Tweeters:
- Jeff Foust @jeff_foust
- David Hurst @OrbitalDave
- brianweeden @brianweeden
- Eric Anderson @AndOneTech
Planetary Resources
Hannah Goldberg
- Currently testing midwave infrared (IR) instrument using a Cessna aircraft
- Two Arkyd-6 CubeSats will test IR instruments in space
- First Arkyd-6 satellite to launch in Fall 2016, second in early 2017
- Constellation of 10 larger Ceres spacecraft designed for Earth remote sensing
- Hope to have Ceres constellation by 2018
HawkEye 360
Daniel CaJacob
- Pathfinder constellation with 3 microsats flying in formation designed to triangulate radio frequency (RF) emissions from the ground
- Launch of first 3 microsats planned for fourth quarter 2017
- Deep Space Industries is prime contractor for satellites
- University of Toronto Space Flight Laboratory is supplying the satellite bus
- Satellites are pathfinders for a full commercial constellation of RF mapping and analytics system
- Technology uses: ionospheric study, spectrum mapping, asset and natural resources monitoring, emergency response