Modularity Space Pens Partnership with SpaceChain to join the Decentralised Satellite Infrastructure
As technological advances in outer space progress, the industry has witnessed a steep increase in the number of entities venturing their interests through independent efforts towards the commercialisation of the arena.
Although extremely promising for the future of the sector in terms of overall development, this phenomenon has brought about a notable issue that poses a threat to the future of how the industry is run. Participants are still very much single vendor, single-purpose establishments ━ not networked to other spacecraft ━ which results in inefficient allocation of resources.
It was with this conundrum in mind that SpaceChain’s Decentralised Satellite Infrastructure (DSI) was conceived. The DSI bridges the gap by bolstering the efficient allocation of resources across the space industry. The network’s backbone is made up of collaborative satellite constellations through a mesh-network of heterogeneous spacecraft owned, enabled by distributed ledger and distributed task allocator, and operated in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by multiple parties in multiple jurisdictions.
SpaceChain’s DSI is supported by its Alliance Consortium, consisting of a host of valuable partners with a common vision of maintaining trust among the space industry as well as to follow a unified standard means of communication to enable flexible and efficient information routing for all participants.
These partners’ spacecraft may join or depart the constellation at any time via a blockchain registry, as long as they meet minimal economic, technical, and regulatory requirements sufficient to ensure the long-term health and resilience of the constellation. Direct communication channels among the ground users and the satellites are enabled, facilitating the interaction between space and ground, and between the space and non-space sectors.
Providing secure inter-satellite data-linking for hundreds of future payloads
SpaceChain is pleased to welcome Modularity Space as one of the latest valued partners to its Alliance Consortium.
The Florida-based turn-key outer space mission provider has developed a satellite platform that aims to support different payloads, which is very much aligned with one of SpaceChain’s key value propositions ━ creating essential knowledge on spacecraft design and operations accessible to the overall industry.
Both companies will also leverage their symbiotic relationship to help build the next generation of newspace systems. SpaceChain’s vision is to develop an intersatellite communication network between interoperable satellite systems and Modularity Space’s goal to create a constellation of multi-use modular satellites designed to be serviced, re-purposed, and refueled by up and coming on-orbit servicing vehicles. These satellites will foster heightened innovation across the newspace community as more payloads and space systems come online.
SpaceChain’s chief commercial officer Nick Trudgen is extremely positive of the newly penned partnership, feeling that it will “Help to open-up the space industry even further, allowing for heightened numbers of participants due to the further levelling of the playing field”.
The Modularity Space advantage: Seamless space missions at a fraction of the cost
Two pain points that are of concern to participants within the space industry are the complexity of the tech behind launching a mission as well as the high costs and long R&D schedules associated with such ventures.
Modularity Space has set out to mitigate these concerns by providing customers with an affordable modular multi-mission bus, with on-orbit refurbishment capabilities and full turn-key mission solutions. Their services include system engineering, mission planning, satellite bus development, integration, testing, and procuring the launch vehicles. This allows their customers to focus on what is most important — achieving their business goals while experiencing expedited growth.
As previously mentioned, the company’s vision is very much in tandem with SpaceChain — a fact that Modularity Space’s CTO Nolan Coulter is very much aware of. He said: “With hundreds of future payloads slated to be hosted on Modularity Space’s constellations, and customers opting to use our modular satellite buses, SpaceChain will play a crucial role in providing secure intersatellite data linking for these payloads.”
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