Momentus, which is developing the Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle which uses water plasma thrusters, has signed an agreement with Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and Odysseus Space for the upcoming IRIS-A mission. In the agreement, Momentus’ Vigoride will take IRIS-A to its final orbit.
IRIS-A will be the first of three satellites in Taiwan’s IRIS series, followed by IRIS-B and IRIS-C. IRIS-A will be equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to achieve a Doppler shift estimation and improve the quality of downlink signal, increasing the efficiency of future IoT constellations of nanosatellites intended to monitor objects from space.
Odysseus, which provides Autonomous Guidance Navigation & Control, optical communications and propulsion systems, signed an agreement with NCKU earlier in 2018 for its Pulse Plasma Thruster (PPT), which can extend the duration of a small satellite mission in orbit and help de-orbit the satellite.
Earlier this year, Momentus signed another agreement in Asia, to launch NuX-1, a satellite currently being developed by two Singapore startups, Aliena and NuSpace.
