Take a few minutes to listen to the Space Industry podcast with Peter Mendham, our CEO, discussing the challenges of building space software in the New Space industry:
Building space software has never been easy, but the right tools, technologies and expertise can significantly optimise development and open up new opportunities.
We are thrilled to confirm that our six latest GenerationOneflight software deployments were launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 3rd January, 2023, taking our current total to 39 spacecraft in orbit. The satellites, developed by Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. (ISISPACE) in the Netherlands and AAC Clyde Space in Scotland for a diverse mix of applications, make up the highest number of Bright Ascension’s software deployments launched on a single rocket to date.
The cluster of four spacecraft, built by ISISPACE for Kleos Space’s Observer Mission (KSF3), is expected to increase the data collection capacity of its previously launched KSF1 and KSF2 missions. Kleos Space’s satellites detect and geolocate radio frequency transmissions to deliver a global picture of hidden maritime activity for enhanced intelligence capability. We provided onboard software for the four spacecraft in the KSF3 cluster, using our innovative space software products to keep development time short within tight project timelines.
The first Kelpie satellite, owned and built by AAC Clyde Space in Glasgow, will deliver data to the U.S. company ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of IoT solutions, under an exclusive Space Data as a Service (SDaaS) deal. It is expected to be followed by the launch of a second Kelpie satellite in the first half of 2023.
In addition to our innovative onboard software technology, designed to noticeably reduce development time, lower risks and mission cost, all of the above satellites will make full use of our Mission Control Software and its effortless and seamless integration with the flight software.
“The SpaceX Transporter 6 has been our busiest launch so far, carrying six spacecraft to orbit with our software deployments.”
Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension
“These satellites have a very diverse range of applications with specialised and cutting-edge payloads and hardware onboard, yet they all run on our software technology as it is designed to quickly and easily adapt to any mission – no matter how unique, advanced or complex it is. What’s more, being component-based, it takes full advantage of software re-use allowing us to work on a high number of missions simultaneously and achieve fantastic results in record time.”
The remaining spacecraft powered by our software onboard the SpaceX rocket is an undisclosed mission, which the client cannot publicise at this moment of time.
CubeSats typically serve a lifespan of two to five years. Part of this is due to the fact that small satellites can’t fight drag as effectively as their larger brethren. Additionally, the limited space and weight allowance of a CubeSat means that incorporating propulsion systems that utilise an onboard fuel source is difficult.
When the time comes to remove a CubeSat from orbit, it’s typically left to fall back into our atmosphere where it will disintegrate as it falls to Earth, a concept commonly seen in sci-fi media and cultural depictions of space travel.
This is possible thanks to the smaller size of CubeSat satellites meaning there is less material to burn up. Currently, this is the most efficient and feasible way to dispose of an old CubeSat.
Due to their limited lifespans, CubeSats serving ongoing purposes need constant replenishment. However, this doesn’t always mean simple like-for-like swaps, as changes in software and hardware can leave different nodes of a CubeSat constellation mismatched. Care has to be taken to ensure that systems can still communicate and the network still functions as intended from the top down.
Different architectures between individual satellites can complicate management of the network – a challenge that is fully met by our GenerationOne technology that underpins all our software products. The GenerationOne technology is component-based, meaning that any software elements responsible for particular functionality can be quickly swapped in and out once requirements or hardware change. But more importantly, it is also model-based – i.e. it automatically captures the model or description of the onboard system and shares it across the entire infrastructure, making integration and configuration as effortless as they can possibly be. This allows all the software and hardware elements of the space system communicate and work well together, greatly simplifying the task of managing satellites throughout their life cycles.
We are thrilled to announce that we have entered into a strategic partnership with Craft Prospect Ltd, a space engineering practice leveraging state-of-the-art advances in robotics, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies to develop new payloads, services and operational concepts for satellite missions. The agreement comes within the framework of our recently launched Partner Programme, a key strategic initiative to support our on-going product expansion phase.
With the New Space sector and satellite technology developing at an unprecedented pace, we recognise the importance and increasingly critical role of collaboration to widen industry access to our products and technology and add value to our offerings. The Bright Ascension-Craft Prospect partnership brings together deep expertise in revolutionising the autonomy of mission operations offered by Craft Prospect and the unrivalled speed and efficiency of space software development in-built into Bright Ascension’s products.
A highly knowledgeable software specialist and an expert in autonomous systems, Craft Prospect typically relies on engaging with onboard software developers on a mission per mission basis for bespoke integration of its modules. Through collaboration with our software technology it will be able to offer mission development services and space software packages with integrated automation capability. This partnership will allow the company to develop its missions significantly faster, easier, with reduced risk and at lower cost, whilst gaining access to a noticeably larger market.
Our Partner Programme is designed to offer collaboration for commercial companies in the space sector across the globe to generate additional revenue streams. It targets both software and hardware technology providers and offers a wide range of routes to create new business opportunities, such as the re-sale of software licences, turnkey mission software solutions to complement existing services or fully integrated flight-payload packages for highly specialised technology providers.
“The collaboration we have developed with Craft Prospect is a powerful combination and only one example of the myriad of potential opportunities that our Partner Programme unlocks for space tech specialists.”
“This is a really exciting moment for us as we sign our first partnership agreement. We’re getting closer to unveiling our new suite of products for the entire mission both upstream and downstream and we expect to develop partnerships at different points of mission development process and its life stages,” said Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension.
“Craft Prospect is thrilled to announce this partnership.” said Steve Greenland, Managing Director at Craft Prospect.
“We have been both a user and contributor of the Bright Ascension’s software technology, configuring the core modules with our own IP blocks to enable next generation autonomy and onboard intelligence capabilities.”
“We look forward to working more closely in developing and deploying new components within Bright Ascension’s framework, and supporting clients to maximise the return from their missions and services.”
Don’t miss our partner programme announcement at Space Tech Expo 2022
We are counting days to this year’s edition of Space Tech Expo in Bremen on 15-17th November. Come and meet the team to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how it can significantly improve your mission development and operation.
This year there is an additional reason to be excited about Space Tech Expo – on Wednesday 16th, we are planning to make a Partner Programme announcement and unveil one of our collaborations. Drop by our stand to find out who we are joining forces with and what brilliant things we are planning to be doing together.
Join us on the stand D25 in Hall 4 or arrange a meeting today with Peter, our CEO, or Andrew, our Global Sales Manager, to find out everything you need to know about modular flight and ground software: enquiries@brightascension.com
Join us on our stand at the ISD 2022 on 28-29th September
We are attending the Industry Space Days at ESA/ESTEC on 28-29th September in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Come and meet the team to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how to we are re-shaping the future of the satellite software industry with our end-to-end product suite, covering the complete delivery of space-based services.
Join us at Small Satellite Conference 2022 and win free academic sponsorship, exclusive to attendees
We are so thrilled to be returning to Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah, on 6th-11th August! Come and meet the team on Booth #148 to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how to get our affordable (and in many instances – free) software licences for academic projects through our Bright Start programme.
Join our side meeting COTS Software for Faster and More Efficient Academic Mission Development and win a special Smallsat mission sponsorship through our Bright Start Academic Programme! All you need to do is attend the event, tell us about your mission and we will select a team to sponsor with our innovative flight and ground satellite software. Join us on in Room ESLC 46 at 3:30pm on 10th August.
As part of the event, we’ll also be running an interactive live product demo session to showcase the advantages of our innovative products. Join us in Room GEOL 105 at 3:30pm on August, 9.
Alternatively, drop by our Booth 148, we can’t wait to see you!
Join our presentation at 10:40am on Wednesday, 29th June
Andrew, our Global Sales Manager, will also be giving a presentation on Model-Based Approach to Flight and Ground Software for Constellations on Wednesday, June, 29th at 10:40am as part of the New Space 2 session.
Arrange a meeting with Peter Mendham, our CEO, today!
We are so thrilled to be returning to ESA’s 4S Symposium in Vilamoura, Portugal on 16-20th May. Come and meet the team to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how it can significantly improve your mission development and operation.
Peter, our CEO, will also be doing a poster presentation on Managing Software-Defined and Reconfigurable Payloads for Adaptive and Flexible Missions on Tuesday, 17th May from 6pm.
Join us on the stand or arrange a meeting with Peter today to find out everything you need to know about modular flight and ground software: enquiries@brightascension.com
Join our presentation at CubeSat Developers Workshop at 11:45am on Wednesday, 27th April 2022
We are excited to be returning to CubeSat Developer’s Workshop 2022 at Cal Poly in California, USA, on 26-28th April. Come and meet the team to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how to get our free software licences for academic projects through our Bright Start programme.
Alex, our Senior Software Engineer, will also be giving a presentation on Empowering Payloads through Model-Based Approach to Payload Interfacing on Wednesday, April, 27th at 11:45am PDT. Don’t miss the insights and the real-live mission examples!
We are pleased and excited to announce that our latest GenerationOne flight software deployments, another cluster of four spacecraft for Kleos Space’s Polar Patrol Mission (KSF2), were successfully launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 1st April, 2022. KSF2 was originally expected to take off in January 2022, but the launch was rescheduled after the vehicle had to disembark from the SpaceX Transporter-3 mission. Polar Patrol Mission takes Bright Ascension’s current total to 33 satellites in space.
Kleos Space’s satellites are designed to detect and geolocate radio frequency transmissions to deliver a global picture of hidden maritime activity for enhanced intelligence capability. The Polar Patrol Mission becomes the third mission launched by the company, following the Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM) in November 2020 and the Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1) in June 2021.
KSF2 is designed to enhance the company’s RF geolocation with a total of twelve satellites patrolling against illegal activity such as piracy, drug smuggling and border security challenges. Building on the success of the KSM and KSF1 missions, the Polar Patrol Mission spacecraft were designed and developed by Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. (ISISPACE), with the software system provided by Bright Ascension, using our innovative products to help keep development time short within the tight project timelines.
“We are thrilled to see the KSF2 mission take off after the January delay,” said Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension. “With only a few months between the KSF1 and KSF2 launches, it was critical to ensure that the mission flight software was developed quickly and efficiently. Both missions use our innovative modular GenerationOne technology, which allows us to simply swap the existing and new software components in and out, without having to redesign the entire package from scratch. This makes it an ideal solution for dynamic projects like Kleos Space’s missions.”
As they progress through their lives in orbit, KSF2 satellites will make full use of our Mission Control Software and its effortless integration with the flight software. This will help to significantly simplify, improve, and automate their mission operations.
We are so thrilled to share with you our brand new explainer video that aims to give the New Space industry a quick overview of the products we offer in just 90 seconds!
In the rapidly changing and growing commercial space market, there is a strong need to produce satellite software quickly and at low cost. One of the ways to achieve this is through software reuse, when the package created for one mission can be quickly and easily adapted for another.
To do that, software needs to be broken into units suitable for reuse. But that’s not enough – it also requires flexible ways of integrating the units together, so they can be easily adapted for every change in requirements.
Read on to find out how we approach this challenge through our technology, that we’ve been evolving since our fight launch in 2014.
TECHNOLOGY
What is HELIX Technology?
Our underlying core technology is best described as a combination of three aspects.
Model-based
meaning that it has a machine-readable description of the architecture which is understandable by both the space side and the ground side and is used across the life cycle of the system. This means that the ground side can automatically “see” the entire flight software architecture, making integration and configuration virtually redundant.
Component-based
meaning that the central elements of this platform are software components which are entirely self-contained and have a coherent set of functionality. They are designed to facilitate the idea of reuse and create mission-specific spacecraft flight software through our development environment by combining bespoke components with readily-available library components which have been previously validated.
Service-based
meaning that components use services to interact with each other which provides well-defined semantics for interactions on all levels. Services are used both at a high level, to define how the system can be operated, and a low level, to manage hardware interfaces and hardware diversity. This provides a flexible way of integrating the components within the flight system.
How is this structured within the flight system?
The focus of the flight system is on the components, which are used to build the vast majority of its functionality.
While every spacecraft and mission is unique, most space vehicles perform a core set of common functions—such as data acquisition, monitoring, logging, FDIR, telemetry and telecommand (TM/TC), and scheduled or automated actions. Within our framework, these essential capabilities are provided off-the-shelf, significantly accelerating flight software development.
Mission-specific functionality is supported through the creation of custom components, giving developers full flexibility to tailor the software to their needs. They can select the required components, define how they interact, and seamlessly integrate new, bespoke elements where needed.
All components are designed to be portable and compatible with a wide range of hardware platforms and operating systems.
This modular and reusable approach enables faster, more cost-effective development across missions, while also increasing software reliability and long-term scalability.
Services in HELIX Technology:
How to Achieve Software Flexibility Between Missions
The flexibility of out technology is largely based on the loose coupling of components as they can only interact by consuming or providing services which are defined using the underlying model. This approach ensures that components can be used interchangeably, as long as their service requirements can be met.
As we know from real-world examples, software requirements can change as mission experience starts to build up and the suitable service may only shape up and become clear over time. Our underlying model includes the definition of services, which allows them to evolve, so that new services can be developed to meet new requirements without the need to change existing tooling or infrastructure.
This flexibility means that as the space system grows or a need for new missions emerges, the existing components can be swapped in and out and the software can be quickly adapted to a new spacecraft.
Model-Based Software Engineering:
How to Streamline Integration of Flight and Ground Sides
The HELIX Technology can be applied to both flight and ground software and one of the most significant advantages is in the integration of the two. Thanks to the model-based approach, the entire flight software package, developed through our Flightkit, can be quickly and easily understood by our ground system Mission Control Software (MCS).
The spacecraft database generated by each specific deployment can be loaded into our operations software to automatically populate it with all the spacecraft components. This gives the system a full view of the different services and the concepts of the components, which allows for easy interaction at a very high level and extensive opportunities for automated operations.
Don’t just take our word for it:
Our innovative software technology that has been tried and tested in flight with over 50 deployments in orbit.
With 25 Earth observation missions, 10 communication projects and 15 demonstration spacecraft, all powered by our cutting-edge technology, you can rest assured your mission’s software is in safe hands. Explore our case studies to find out more.
BOOK A DEMO: FIND OUT MORE
We’ve been evolving our technology since our first launch in 2014 through extensive development work. During this time, our software has powered more than 50 spacecraft in orbit, helping them to maximise their mission potential.
Contact us today to see our products in action and arrange a one-to-one demo of our software, tailored to your unique mission needs and requirements.
The 15th Annual Workshop on Spacecraft Flight Software (FSW 2022) took place virtually in February 2022 and we were excited to be a part of it. There was no shortage of insightful live talks and pre-recorded presentations, which are also available to view on FSW YouTube channel.
Make sure to watch our very own pre-recorded talk, delivered by Peter Mendham, our CEO, on high-volume flight software development and how exactly our products and space software technology support it.
Join us on Stand A10, part of the UK Pavilion
We are excited to be joining the Global Space and Technology Convention in Singapore on 9-10th February. We’ll be exhibiting as part of the UK Pavilion on Stand A10.
Come and meet the team to get a hands-on interactive demo of our flight and ground software products and learn how our innovative space solutions can help you launch your mission sooner, while also keeping the costs down and reducing your risks.
We will be especially looking to make local partnerships in the area – if you feel this could be of interest, contact us today to arrange a meeting or a live demo.
Join us at our first ever event in Asia!
We are extremely pleased to announce that we secured an additional £500k of funding through private investments to support further expansion and development of our product offering. This follows the successful fund-raising round completed in August 2021, which raised £1M of equity through the issue of new shares to match the development funding, previously awarded to Bright Ascension by the European Space Agency (ESA).
We will use the new funds for the development of our next generation satellite software infrastructure, which will offer our customers a complete end-to-end software solution for space-based service provision from early development right through to delivery. The new product vision and roadmap is directly liked to our participation in the ESA ARTES Pioneer programme, a multi year project to design and develop a cutting-edge solution which will enable a wide range of companies to provide innovative satellite constellations at a significantly reduced cost and within a reduced timeframe. With new software development already underway, we expect to produce early prototype versions by the end of 2022.
“These are incredibly exciting times for us as a company. With funding in place and secured to support the development of our highly integrated end-to-end product suite, we are now expanding and growing faster than ever before.”
Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension
“Not only does this safeguard our current roadmap, but it also gives the team an enormous boost in confidence and reassurance. The trust and belief in our company and our product vision is the most precious and priceless investment of all. We strongly feel we spotted the gap in the market and the tools we are developing will help make space more open and accessible for a larger number of businesses within the industry,” he continued.
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