Page 59 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Iodine Serves to Propel Satellite in Space

For the first time, a telecommunications a propulsion system. The space agency begin to drift towards the planet.” The
satellite has used an iodine propellant specifically hopes the innovation could technology was developed by the French
to change its orbit around Earth, reports help with the issue of space junk. The idea company ThrustMe, a spin-off company
the European Space Agency (ESA). is that it could more easily enable satellites from the École Polytechnique and the
Specifically, it has been used in an electric to self-destruct cheaply at the end of their French National Centre for Scientific
thruster that controls the satellite’s height missions, by steering themselves into Research (CNRS), and was supported
above Earth. Iodine is described as being the atmosphere where they would burn by ESA through its program of Advanced
less expensive and simpler to use than up. “The technology could also be used Research in Telecommunications Systems
traditional propellants. This means that to boost the mission lifetime of small (ARTES). ThrustMe launched its iodine
small satellites, such as CubeSats, would CubeSats that monitor agricultural crops thruster on a commercial research nanosat
be able to do propulsive operations and on Earth or entire mega-constellations called SpaceTy Beihangkongshi-1 that
that bigger satellites could also gain by of nanosats that provide global internet went into space in November 2020. It was
reducing both the complexity and cost of access, by raising their orbits when they test fired earlier this month before being
used to change the orbit of the satellite.
ThrustMe outlines three main advantages
of using iodine over xenon and other
propellants:
• Iodine is stored as a solid, unlike
xenon which is stored under pressure.
Therefore, no sloshing, no explosion risk,
no cumbersome launch qualifications
and no intervention needed at the
launch pad.
• It is the least reactive of the halogens,
thus it is not a metal and will not deposit
on conductive surfaces (as the first
electric propulsion systems did when
they were propelled with cesium).
• Iodine cost 10 to 100 times less than
xenon – just to buy the same amount

SSI Partners SES For Satellite Capacity in Northern Canada

SSi Canada – which operates the QINIQ broadband and SSi satellite backbone capacity to Northern Canada including all 25
Mobile services in Nunavut – has signed a multi-year partnership communities of Nunavut. A press release says the partnership
with SES Networks under which the latter will deliver new comes at a critical time for Nunavut, with the COVID-19 crisis
having led to an unprecedented need for reliable internet and
mobile communications for studying, working and shopping
online and at home, causing rising demand for QINIQ and SSi
Mobile services. SSi CEO Jeff Philipp declared: ‘Thanks to timely
regulatory approvals from the Canadian government, we are
now working hard to bring this new capacity online as quickly
as possible. This is an essential step to ensure continuity of
QINIQ broadband, and we look forward to expanding our network
offerings and capabilities in the coming months and years as we
work to deliver on the government’s goal of broadband connectivity
for every Canadian, no matter where they live.’ Omar Trujill, VP of
Sales, Fixed Data Americas at SES Networks, added: ‘We are happy
to bring our expertise of operating more than 70 geostationary
and medium earth orbit satellites to help SSi Canada scale up
their backbone, ensuring that the remote communities in Nunavut
are at the forefront in achieving the 50Mbps/10Mbps [download/
upload] threshold.’
59 JANUARY 2021