Successful launch of the first satellite of the Sateliot constellation

March 22, 2021

The first nanosatellite in the Sateliot constellation is in orbit. Today at 7:07 AM (CET), the Soyuz-2.1a rocket took off successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to put 38 satellites from 18 countries into orbit. Among them, there was the CubeSat 3B5GSA, the first of the future Sateliot constellation, which has an IoT communications payload designed, manufactured, and validated by Alén Space.

The following stage of the launching process has been completed in the afternoon, when the first contact with the satellite took place and the telemetry signals confirmed that the CubeSat works correctly, and everything is going as planned.

This is the first step in Sateliot’s space race. In the future, the project hopes to have 100 small satellites to provide commercial Internet of Things (IoT) service with 5G coverage across the planet. Initially, the launch was scheduled for Saturday, March 20, however, the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) decided to postpone the take off until Monday due to technical problems. This second attempt has been a complete success.

This launch allows Sateliot to perform the field testing necessary to be able to offer IoT services under a 5G architecture from 2022. “We have witnessed our first major milestone with anticipation with the launch of the first of our 100 nanosatellites. This is the result of two years of great effort and investment in innovation and development, which places us with everything in favour to start the commercial take-off of our business in 2022,” Jaume Sanpera, founder and CEO of Sateliot, explained.

At the pre-launch press conference, Sanpera also detailed Alén Space’s role in the project, as “responsible for the pioneering transmission equipment on board, which will make possible to extend IoT services globally” thanks to the development of “a unique radio in the world, that will allow greater coverage and sensitivity.”

Featured image: Roscosmos