Small Batch, Custom ORB-6 to Serve as Basis of Upcoming Xcraft Satellite

Xplore Inc signed a contract with small-batch manufacturer Orbital Astronautics (OrbAstro) for the use of their satellite bus design for a series of missions, beginning with Orbitals ORB-6 platform.

Xplore's company tagline is "Space as a Service', with additional mentions of "Data-, Sensor-, and Satellite- as a service". Their service offerings include a variety of orbital offerings, from selling their exclusive spatial data collected by their constellation, retasking Xplore instruments to collect new data, and delivery of payloads into Earth orbit. 

Xplore will use their equipment as a basis for their earth observation and hyperspectral video payloads, saying the OrbAstro bus meets project requirements for multiple sensitive instruments on a single mission. Xplore's tactic is to maximize the value of each mission by packing in as much capability in each satellite, taking a 'swiss army sat' approach so that future commercial, astronomical, and climate research jobs can be fulfilled with equipment already in place. The relatively small, nimble OrbAstro is hoped to provide the partnership a chance to work closely between the two on developing their ORB-6 platform into the proposed Xcraft satellite.

OrbAstro also boasts a "highly vertical" production capability, with experience in building satellite platforms and each of its component subsystems from the ground up to the requirements of comprehensive satellite and constellation operations. Xplore says that makeup allows lower costs and shortened lead times compared to other industry offerings. Their ORB-class platforms contain onboard Ultrascale+ and LPDDR4 computing and a suite of high-tech satellite niceties including electric propulsion, full attitude determination/control systems, star-trackers, S-band transceivers, and optical communications as base equipment. Development is proceeding apace, with first launch scheduled for late 2022. 

FMI: www.xplore.com, www.orbastro.com