The satellite is able to remotely direct and boost its beams to focus coverage to certain locations, such as areas of high usage where the network is struggling to cope with demand. Its fully digital beam-hopping and beam-steering payload, provided by SatixFy, can switch between various places on Earth up to 1000 times per second and adjust the strength of the communications signals to meet demand.
The satellite was developed under a 32 million pound grant from the UK Space Agency, via the Sunrise Partnership, which is a project between the European Space Agency and telecommunications operator, OneWeb. Its advanced digital regenerative payload was built, tested and fully qualified by SatixFy. The flexible payload is fully software defined and will be reconfigurable in orbit.
"We are proud to be a key technology provider for the future of satellite-provided broadband internet and part of this European Space Agency project," commented Charlie Bloomfield, CEO of SatixFy Space Systems. "Our solution enables the fine-tuning and steering of bandwidth to the location of bandwidth-demand via our software defined on-board processors, digital beamforming and hopping antennas. We believe this has the potential to a game-changer for the future of resilient multi-orbit satellite communication and are very excited as this nascent market continues to grow and develop."
Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: "OneWeb's JoeySat will be a game-changer for satellite communications, offering the chance to improve people's lives through reliable connectivity, whether that means better broadband services in remote places, or the ability to respond more effectively to emergency situations. As part of our priority to deliver missions and capabilities to our flourishing space sector, the UK Space Agency has invested more than 50 million pound into the mission, funding both the innovative technology behind JoeySat's creation and the development of a wider ecosystem that will ensure a reliable and sustainable end-to-end service."
Javier Benedicto, Acting Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications at ESA, said: "ESA's Partnership Projects maximise the benefits to agile space companies in Europe thanks to efficient co-management tailored to the best commercial practices. The JoeySat satellite demonstrator for OneWeb's next-generation constellation is a superb example of this cooperation."
Massimiliano Ladovaz, CTO of OneWeb, said: "We are grateful to SatixFy for their cutting-edge work to design JoeySat and we are thrilled to see this innovative satellite now in-orbit. We have long believed that innovation is best achieved through collaboration and partnerships, like those developed under Sunrise for JoeySat, have brought together industry leaders and government to work together to see how we can all meet the changing connectivity needs of people around the world."
Related Links
SatixFy
Satellite-based Internet technologies
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