- Vyoma, as part of a consortium led by Kepler, was selected to demonstrate near-zero latency Space Safety and SDA (Space Domain Awareness) services under the HydRON Element 3 programme
- The compact SSA- (Space Situational Awareness) hosted payloads complement the existing sensing capabilities of Vyoma's Flamingo satellites
- Observational data is downloaded and processed with near-zero latency and used for tip and cueing
Vyoma, a Munich-based company providing SDA capabilities was selected, as part of a consortium led by Kepler Communications, by the European Space Agency (ESA) to demonstrate its near-zero latency space surveillance services under the "High-thRoughput Optical Network (HydRON) Element #3" project. The co-funding for Vyoma's share of the ESA contract is drawn from the German DLR's (German Aerospace Centre) contribution to both the ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Optical and Quantum Communications - ScyLight programme and to its Space Safety Programme.
Credit: Laurent Jaffart
Signing ceremony for the ESA's "HydRON Element 3" programme at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs
The HydRON demonstration system aims to build the first optical satellite network across low Earth and geostationary orbits with a capacity of one terabit per second, ensuring seamless interoperability with high-capacity terrestrial networks. The "HydRON Element #3: User Segment and Evolution" project step focused on identifying innovative service concepts that make use of the low-latency satellite communication enabled by the network.
Vyoma is already operating large SSA sensors on its purpose-built and self-operated Flamingo satellites, enabling it to quickly respond to user requests, perform dedicated observation campaigns, and reliably observe even faint objects. Within the HydRON Element #3 scope, Vyoma is adding complementary observational capabilities with a miniaturised SSA sensor suite aimed at being hosted on third-party satellites.
The very large field of view of the hosted SSA sensors captures a large swath of space at once, simultaneously monitoring a wide range of orbiting satellites. The increase in number of observations achieved with these additional sensing capabilities allows for reduced observation latency for objects of increased interest such as manoeuvring satellites.
Due to the near-zero latency of the observations provided through the network, Vyoma will also demonstrate its real-time processing of the recorded information, providing timely, actionable information on space security and safety as well. Anomalies, such as unexpected satellite manoeuvres can be detected swiftly, and, if required, tracked with the agile Flamingo satellites via an automated tip and cueing approach to further increase accuracy of the provided SDA information. Ground-based customer sensors such as Space Surveillance and Tracking radars may be cued in as well.
Vyoma will launch further Flamingo satellites and hosted SSA payloads through 2026 to 2029 with the aim of providing low-latency observations of all satellites in low Earth orbit, enhancing sovereign SDA capabilities, and contributing to safe and secure satellite operations.