
Beyond Gravity to supply power electronics for Loft Orbital satellites
Swiss space supplier Beyond Gravity is to provide equipment for Loft Orbital’s Longbow spacecraft based on Airbus Arrow platform.
The company will provide the Power Control & Distribution Unit (PCDU) for over 15 Loft Orbital satellites. The PCDU is independent electrical, computing and communication environment that supplies power with in-orbit configurability for “The Hub”. This hub carries all payloads of a Loft Orbital’s satellite.
The project is conducted in close cooperation between Beyond Gravity’s team based in Tampere, Finland, and Loft Orbital’s teams in Toulouse, France and San Francisco and Golden in the US.
Loft has developed the software and hardware products that make Loft satellite missions truly plug and play to speed up the development time, With qualified, commodity satellite buses procured in advance and available off-the-shelf, Loft delivers payloads to orbit in months not years.
Loft plans to add a third satellite to orbit in November and has contracted more than 20 satellites to be flown by 2025.
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“Our partnership with Loft Orbital and this order is underlining Beyond Gravity’s strong standing in the global commercial New Space market. The PCDU enables Loft Orbital to be fully product-based, leading to standardization, shorter lead times and high cost-efficiency”, said Anders Linder, head of the Satellites Division at Beyond Gravity.
“When looking for partners to fulfill our technical, quality and price-performance needs, Beyond Gravity allowed us to put in a high degree of customization, meeting our stringent system-level requirements, whilst still leveraging their existing experience and translating that to a balanced New Space solution. Of equal importance is the right way to communicate and collaborate, which has been another positive experience for both teams”, said Pieter van Duijn, Loft Orbital’s CTO.
“Our collaboration with Beyond Gravity demonstrates Loft Orbital’s strategy to rely on the strong and competitive European ecosystem of space systems suppliers”, said Emmanuelle Meric, General Manager France of Loft Orbital. “We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with leading space companies such as Beyond Gravity.”
Beyond Gravity (formerly Ruag Space) has 1700 employees at 12 locations in six countries: Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Germany, USA and Finland, providing design and manufacture products for satellites and launch vehicles.
www.beyondgravity.com; www.loftorbital.com
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