First successful LacunaSat launch in 2021!
22 March 2021
We’re really excited to announce that today we welcomed the latest addition to our Internet of Things (IoT) constellation! This mission is a 3U cubesat, or the size of a shoebox, and made its way from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to low earth orbit, onboard the Soyuz-2 launcher. The Soyuz-2 launch vehicle proved to be a really smooth ride again and deployed our satellite in polar orbit 4hr 36mins after take-off, just as planned.
This is the fifth IoT gateway developed by Lacuna that has been launched in space and another important milestone in expanding our network capacity and growing our services. The satellite platform and its operations have been supplied by Open Cosmos and other key components by Oxford Space Systems and Parametric in Switzerland.
The days after launch and first weeks are always very busy with the on-orbit checkout followed by the payload service commissioning. The operations team at Open Cosmos will execute a series of procedures to stabilise it after release from the rocket and then start to turn-on and check-out all of the subsystems. This has already started and some nice telemetry data has been flowing back since the first pass at 12.30pm today. The Lacuna team will then take over to deploy the antenna, configure the satellite receiver and start receiving LoRaWAN® messages from our test devices already deployed around the world!
IoT is quietly revolutionizing industries in the same way that connecting people to the internet has. We are constantly surprised by the range of services and possibilities that potential customers bring to us! Applications range from tracking of containers which has been happening for years, to detecting rare animals through audio sensors in remote areas.
Every satellite launch represents one more step in our mission to provide LoRaWAN® connectivity to millions and millions of devices around the world and see our service make a difference in so many applications: managing natural resources, improving food production or optimising global infrastructure. We can’t wait to bring this new satellite into service joining the existing constellation in the next couple of months, so stay tuned!
Satellite launch photos by GK Launch Services
