Small Satellite Market Intelligence Report Provides an Update of the Small Satellites Launched in Q2 2019 (1St April to 30Th June 2019)

MARKET 2019 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

This issue of the Satellite Applications Q2 Catapult’s quarterly Small Satellite Market Intelligence report provides an update of the small satellites launched in Q2 2019 (1st April to 30th June 2019). 2019 LAUNCHED INQ2 SMALL SATELLITES this quarter! main the are and quarter this launches the reason forthehightotalnumber.TheSatelliteApplicationsCatapult’sownsatellite,IOD-1GEMS,wasalsolaunched half over for accounted these Collectively, satellites. dove generation next their of 20 launching Labs Planet with quarter this constellation only the wasn’t Starlink Falcon-9. own their by of these were SpaceX Starlink satellites, the first batch in a constellation planned to comprise 4425 satellites, launched 154 smallsatelliteswerelaunchedinQ22019,fromonly7launches-alargeincreasethe23Q1.60 OVERVIEW levelling off) represents ageneraltrend andnotaprediction peryear. Note: Themathematicalmodelline inthegraphabove(simulatinganacceleratingmarketuptakefollowed bya Small Satellites(<500kg)Launches:HistoricalandProjection

02 popular withthemajority, 20, beingmadeupofPlanetLabsnext-generationDove satellites. of newsatellitetechnologiesbymultipleorganisations. EarthObservation/RemoteSensingsatellitesweretheleast satellite sectorwith60launchesfrom32differentorganisations, showingthatthereisalotofactivityinthetesting SpaceBees andTianqi3,aChineseCubeSat.TheTechnology/Scientific satelliteskeptuptheirshareofthesmall satellites launchedthisquarterwiththeonlyexceptions beingthreeIoTsatellites:twoSwarmTechnology The firstbatchof60Starlinksatelliteswerelaunched inMayandtheymadeupalmostalltheCommunications • • • Applications aredefinedbytheprimaryobjectiveofmissionascategorisedbelow: APPLICATIONS to anewwaveofmega-constellationslaunching. come to fruition. The market is at an inflexion point in the number of small satellites being launched in space due number the of small year, satellites this being launched launched is satellites expected to their greatly of exceed any 100 previous year over if having the planned on launches planning also OneWeb of likes the With launches. 24 after coverage global have to constellation their expecting and year the of end the by launches Starlink 6 to 2 targeting SpaceX with satellites; Starlink operational of launch first the included It launched. satellites small of number year’s last top to track on is year this meaning pace, the up picked has Q2 year the to start slow a After Earth oritsatmosphere. Earth observation/Remotesensing: phenomena ortotestthefunctionalityofpayloadequipment; Technology/ Communications: Scientific: the objective of the mission is to transmit or receive signals to/from a user terminal or gateway; Small SatellitesLaunched:byApplication h ojcie f h msin s o ahr nweg t bte udrtn physical understand better to knowledge gather to is mission the of objective the the objective of the mission is to provide imagery or data relating to the to relating data or imagery provide to is mission the of objective the

03 size category. to thelaunchof60Starlinksatellites(weight227kgeach) andnano-satellitesremainthemostpopularsmallsatellite launched. Thismayseemlikemini-satellitesaregaining traction;howeverthenumbersaregreatlyexacerbateddue The majorityoflaunchesthisquarterwereeithernano-satellite, with74launched,ormini-satellitelaunches,70 SIZE ANDMASS Small Satellite<500kg Satellite classification Small SatellitesLaunched:bySizeClassification Pico-satellite Nano-satellite Micro-satellite Mini-satellite Satellitesubclassification 0.1 kg–1 1 kg–10 10 kg–100 100 kg-500 Associatedwetmassrange

04 satellites. Thismeanstherewillbeabiginfluxinthe totalmassbeinglaunchedintospace. heavier smallsatellitesandtheircompetitorOneWeb, whohavealsostartedrollingouttheirconstellation,use145kg making upover13000kg,withtherestofsatellitesonly3000kg.At227kgeachtheyareone ofthe This isnotbecauseofthevolumesatellitessentupbutwhollyduetoFalcon-9launch60Starlink satellites This quarterhasexceededanyotheryear,letalonequarter,intermsofmasslaunchedintospacebysmall satellites. SIZE ANDMASS Small SatellitesLaunched:byTotalMass

05 with theirlargersatellitepayload. There werenolaunchfailuresthisquarterforsmallsatellites, howeverVegaandLongMarchbothhadlaunchfailures complete coverage. 60 starlinksatelliteswhichareplanningonglobalcoverage soarenotinaspecifiedorbitastheyneedvarietyfor This quartersawalotofsatellitesbeinglaunchedinto anunspecifiedorbit,thiswasmainlydueto,onceagain,the ORBITS mission. Note: Launchfailure includesorbitfailures whereby thesatellitessignificantlymissedtheirintendedorbittodetrimentof Small SatellitesLaunched:byLaunchInjectionOrbit

06 and iSpace all competing in this new market. With the growing number of small satellite specific launchers, more launchers, specific satellite small of number growing options willbeavailableforsmallsatellitesandthere willbelessrelianceonrideshareopportunities. the With market. new this in competing all iSpace and Virgin Orbit hoping for their first successful commercial launch in 2019, as well as the Chinese One Space, LandSpace and Launch Vector American the with launchers satellite small for market growing a in way the leading is Lab Rocket this quarter,aswelltheirFalcon9launching60satellites. capabilities as they look to increase their launch schedule. SpaceX Falcon Heavy completed its first commercialthat launch and successfully missions multiple there is a market for it, and handle with the only private orbital launch site in the can world they offer huge flexibility in their launch they shown has Lab Rocket launcher. satellite small a creating in success its showing inception, its since total in launch successful 6th and 5th it’s these, of two completed vehicle Only 5 companies were responsible for the launch of the 154 small satellites this quarter. Rocket Lab’s Electron launch LAUNCH Launch Vehicles:NumberofLaunchesandSatellitesLaunched

07 team andwewillmaketheamendments. or suggestionstoourreports,kindlyemailthe case. If any reader would like to contribute edits the be always not might this that recognise we to provideaccurateandupdateinformation, made been has effort every whilst Disclaimer: implied, astoitsaccuracyorcompleteness. make norepresentations,warrantiesorguarantees,whetherexpress or date, ithasbeenprovidedforgeneralinformationonlyandassuch we Whilst we strive to ensure that the information is correct and up to 2019’. Limited Catapult Applications Satellite © this ‘Copyright with: us to of portions reasonable reuse may document providedthatsuchreproductionsareproperlyattributed You reserved. are rights All Copyright ©SatelliteApplicationsCatapultLimited2019 W: T: E: us at: contact can You include. to value of that be would points data other on feedback welcome information thatiseasytoaccessanduse.We is designed as afree data source to share report Intelligence Market Satellite Small The Contact sa.catapult.org.uk/small-sats-market-intel +44 (0)1235567999 [email protected]

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