Kleos Space Launch will be 10th for Spaceflight This Year
The final launch for Spaceflight this year will be a dedicated SpaceX rideshare mission to deploy the fourth satellite cluster for Kleos Space. The launch is currently scheduled for December 27 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“In 2022, we executed groundbreaking missions on behalf of our clients, improved customer success and showcased innovation with the expansion and early success of our Sherpa OTV program through our Sherpa-AC and Sherpa-LTC OTV launches.”
Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight.
The four Observer Mission Kleos Space satellites are heading to a 525-kilometer (≈326 mile) Sun Synchronous Orbit.
With the Transporter 6 mission, Spaceflight will have completed 10 missions in 2022, including the successful debut launches of its experimental OTV for hosted payloads, Sherpa-AC in May, and its chemical propulsion OTV Sherpa-LTC in September.
“In 2022, we executed groundbreaking missions on behalf of our clients, improved customer success and showcased innovation with the expansion and early success of our Sherpa OTV program through our Sherpa-AC and Sherpa-LTC OTV launches,” said Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight. “This next year, we’re looking forward to further progressing our Sherpa OTV program, executing missions with new launch vehicle providers, and continuing to expand our transportation services beyond LEO.”
Kleos Space Observer Mission will Expand Company's Capabilities
The Kleos Space Observer Mission satellites are expected to Kleos’ data collection capacity by up to an additional 119 million km2 per day.
Spaceflight also worked with several launch vehicle providers in 2022, including SpaceX, Rocket Lab, PSLV/NSIL and Astra, and has signed additional agreements for launches with new vehicle providers, including Firefly, ABL, Rocket Factory and SAB/Vega. In addition, the company helped extend a number of customer constellations, including Kleos, Astrocast and BlackSky among others, and is continuing to expand its OTV capabilities from last-mile delivery to in-orbit servicing.
In 2023, Spaceflight plans to execute 10-15 missions and work with more launch vehicle providers to efficiently launch customer payloads to their desired orbital destinations. Spaceflight is also underway preparing the debut of the next variation in its Sherpa OTV program – Sherpa-ES, a higher energy variant with a bipropellant, high delta-V OTV that enables smallsat delivery anywhere in cislunar space.
(Source: Spaceflight news release. Additional information provided by Kleos Space. Images provided by Spaceflight and Kleos Space)