Small Satellites Fly with X-Band Dynamic Modulation

Small-satellite manufacturer U-Space selected Skynopy as a ground-station service provider for its SOAP and PANDORE low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. The two companies are collaborating under the European Space Agency (ESA) Program for Userbase enhancement (PUSH) project to provide variable coding and modulation (VCM) at X-band frequencies in the small satellites.

The Satellite Optique pour Analyse et Positionnement des débris (SOAP) and PANDORE vehicles are the first two satellites entirely designed, assembled, and operated by U-Space from its Toulouse, France facilities. Both satellites fly at an altitude of 590 km in sun-synchronous orbit (see image above). SOAP is dedicated to surveillance from space, while PANDORE is flying an in-orbit demonstration (IOD) mission carrying Safran Space's Synchrocube payload to validate LEO-based positioning and synchronization.

Regarding the selection of Skynopy, Antoine Ressouche, co-founder and general manager of U-Space, explained, “Skynopy became the obvious choice once we seriously compared what was available on the market. The depth of their interface, the quality of real-time metrics, and above all, the ability to adapt the modulation rate during a pass fundamentally change how you operate a satellite in LEO.

Ressouche added that, "with X-band and VCM on the horizon, we are positioning our future satellites to deliver download performance our customers simply would not expect from a small satellite.”

In terms of the business arrangement, Antonin Hirsch, co-founder and CEO of Skynopy, explains, “Being trusted with two satellites simultaneously from an operator that has grown its own ground segment expertise in-house is a strong endorsement. U-Space is exactly the type of customer Skynopy was built for: ambitious, technically demanding operators who need a connectivity service that scales with them.”

Hirsch adds, “Our collaboration on the ESA PUSH program takes this further — proving that X-band VCM is accessible to nanosatellites is a major technological step forward for the entire small satellite industry.”