LuxSpace is a
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an space systems contractor based in
Betzdorf in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
. It was founded in November 2004 as a daughter company of
OHB AG, and began operations in January 2005.
History
On 23 September 2009 the PathFinder2A (aka Rubin-9.1, AIS-Pathfinder 2) payload aboard the Rubin-9 satellite (COSPAR 2009-051F; the Rubin-9 "satellite" was actually the upper stage of the carrier rocket that the payloads were solidly bolted onto; after the rocket had finished its mission with the primary payload, the upper stage remained in space and became "satellite" Rubin-9) was launched by a
PSLV-CA
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...
rocket. This was LuxSpace's first orbital operation. The satellite carried another payload (
Rubin 9.2 Rubin 9.2 is a German experimental satellite payload launched on 23 September 2009 in 06:21 aboard PSLV-CA rocket at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. Rubin 9.2 shares the host satellite Rubin-9 with another payload, Rubin 9.1. The Rubin-9 ...
) by
OHB-System
OHB SE, headquartered in Bremen, is a European space and technology group specializing in the development and implementation of complete space systems, the production of components for various launcher programs as well as the operation of satell ...
. As of 2019, both payloads (and thus the whole satellite) are non-operational.
The company's first own, independent (no shared payload by another company) satellite
VesselSat-1 was launched on October 12, 2011, as part of the GapFiller program; followed by its twin
VesselSat-2 on January 9, 2012.
In 2014 (launch 23 October 2014, 18:00 UTC), LuxSpace performed the 4M or
Manfred Memorial Moon Mission
Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M) was the first private lunar probe to successfully fly by the Moon. It was led by LuxSpace, a child company of German OHB System, and named in honor of OHB Systems founder, Manfred Fuchs, who died in 2014. It ...
, the first private Moon mission. The mission consisted of an amateur radio payload (total mass of payload was 14 kg) that was sent on a close lunar flyby aboard a Chinese
Long March 3C
The Long March 3C (), also known as the Changzheng 3C, CZ-3C and LM-3C, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. It is launched from Launch Complex 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). A three-stage rocket with two strapon liquid ...
/G2 rocket's upper stage. The 4M payload was solidly bolted onto the upper stage of the rocket and did not separate. The Chinese rocket performed the
Chang'e 5-T1
Chang'e 5-T1 () was an experimental robotic spacecraft that was launched to the Moon on 23 October 2014, by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to conduct atmospheric re-entry tests on the capsule design planned to be used in the Ch ...
lunar flyby mission to test technology for future lunar sample return mission
Chang'e 5
Chang'e 5 () was the fifth lunar exploration mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of CNSA, and China's first lunar sample-return mission. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess, Chang'e. ...
. The Chang'e 5-T1 test flight sent a space capsule on a flight around the Moon and back toward Earth, with the capsule landing on Earth in the end of the mission. The 4M payload's nominal lifetime was 8 days.
LuxSpace built the ESAIL satellite for the Canadian operator
exactEarth
exactEarth Ltd is a Canadian company that specializes in data services that deliver real-time global location-based maritime vessel tracking information utilizing patented satellite AIS detection technology.
exactEarth provides satellite AIS ...
under
ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
’s SAT‐AIS programme (a part of ESA’s Partnership Projects) for tracking ships. ESAIL is the first commercial microsatellite of the program. ESAIL was launched on September 3, 2021 aboard
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...
Vega rocket
Vega (, , ) was a European expendable small-lift launch vehicle developed by Avio and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Designed to carry payloads between into low Earth and polar ...
. The launch will take place on the Vega Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) Proof of Concept (POC) flight.
Future missions
In May 2021, LuxSpace started the development of their next platform, Triton-X, a microsatellite in the 50-200 kg wet mass range, with high on-board processing capabilities and targeting particularly the commercial space market.
In Fall 2021, LuxSpace, in collaboration with RHEA and OHB, signed a long-term contract with the Luxembourg Ministry of Defense for the in-orbit operations of a Luxembourg Earth Observation satellite.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official LuxSpace website
Spacecraft manufacturers
Aerospace companies
Engineering companies of Luxembourg