PARIS – Impulse Space announced a contract Sept. 16 to provide transportation to geostationary orbit for satellites from French startup Space Network Services.
It was the first agreement announced for the geostationary rideshare service Impulse Space unveiled in August. The service pairs Impulse’s Helios high-energy kick stage with an upgraded version of its Mira vehicle.
Space Network Services, founded in 2021, plans to launch as many as six small geostationary satellites at a time through the Impulse rideshare service. The satellites, called Kaon, are designed for customers seeking sovereign satellite communications systems or increased capacity for congested areas.
“Before, if we wanted to launch four or six satellites direct to GEO at once, our only option was to buy a dedicated launch,” Yann Le Du, Space Network Services co-founder, said in a statement. “Through Impulse’s GEO Rideshare Program, we can quickly get to GEO at a fraction of the cost and have the flexibility to launch as many Kaons as we want based on our manifest. It enables us to approach the business in a completely new way.”
Speeding Deployment
Impulse Space unveiled the geostationary rideshare service in at the Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah, where executives met with potential customers. The rideshare service is designed to help satellite operators avoid spending months raising their satellites from geostationary transfer orbit to geostationary orbit or purchasing a dedicated launch vehicle.
“Space Network Services’ Kaon satellite is a great example of the kind of model that can really benefit from GEO Rideshare because it allows them to lower costs and achieve faster time-to-revenue, all while simplifying mission operations,” Eric Romo, Impulse Space president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “It’s rewarding to see how they can take advantage of those benefits even at the design stage for Kaon. We look forward to our continued work together.”
