Orbital Express Orbital express

Orbital Express, resident of Skolkovo, is developing a system for launching satellites and payloads into space. The company was founded by a group of engineers and specialists with experience in Russian public and private space companies: NPO named after S.A. Lavochkina, Dauria Aerospace and others. The priority area of ​ ​ the company's work is services in low Earth orbit and interplanetary space.

History

2021

Contract with Glavkosmos Launch Services for commercial launch of prototype space data center

The small spacecraft, which will host the experimental space server of RuVDS, will go into space in 2022 on the Russian Soyuz-2.1a rocket. The corresponding agreement was signed between the Orbital Express companies and the launch operator of JSC Glavkosmos Launch Services (GK Launch). This was announced on July 21, 2021 by RuVDS.

The server, which is the OE-1 satellite, will be located as a by-load on the Fregat acceleration unit. The small spacecraft should enter low Earth orbit, in which it will work for several years. During the work in orbit, several technological experiments will be carried out on it, including the Orbital Server - experts will RuVDS study the features and advantages of the technical solution, as well as the convenience of storing information in space, processing data without transmitting to Earth.

Just three months ago, we announced this project, and already we took a decisive step in this direction by signing a contract for the commercial launch of our prototype space data center. Ahead is the responsible stage of pre-flight tests, in which we have to verify the endurance of the server solution we designed. Although the component base of the spacecraft mainly consists of foreign solutions, pride is caused by the fact that the first satellite data center will deliver a domestic-made rocket to orbit, "said Nikita Tsaplin, managing partner and founder of RUVDS.

As of July 2021, there are only a few private space companies in the world that offer projects to launch servers and data centers into space. The struggle for a promising market is just beginning, because the Russian company expects to demonstrate the technological capabilities of its solution as soon as possible.

For our company, this is the first launch, but it is important not only for the Orbital Express, but for the entire field of communications. The scale of the idea of ​ ​ the space server RuVDS speaks for itself, because I am sure that the partnership in such an advanced direction will become the basis for fruitful cooperation with GK Launch and on other projects, "said Nikita Partsevsky, general director of Orbital Express.

Creating a Data Center in Earth Orbit

In mid-April 2021, RuVDS (provides server storage and data processing services to large companies) and Orbital Express (develops a system for launching satellites and payloads into space) entered into an agreement to create and launch a data center in Earth orbit. Partners estimate the development, testing and preparation for the launch of the satellite on the CubeSat platform at 10-15 million rubles.

About the joint project RuVDS and Orbital Express reported Sheets"" with reference to representatives of the companies. According to them, by their example, the partners intend to show that software it is possible to adapt the operation of the hardware complex and to work in limited space conditions. Earlier, as an experiment, the company's server RuVDS was already launched into the stratosphere, putting the data center into orbit is a chance to become pioneers in this area and gain tremendous experience, noted in RuVDS and Orbital Express.

Russian companies Orbital Express and RuVDS begin to create a data center in Earth orbit

To launch a data center satellite weighing about 5 kg into low orbit, it is planned to use the Soyuz launch vehicle at the proposed tariff of $15 thousand per kilogram by Glavkosmos (part of Roscosmos). As part of the project, RuVDS will prepare the electronic component base of the server and its programming, Orbital Express - prepare for launch and conduct flight tests in orbit.

It is assumed that the orbital data center will be able to receive information from other satellites and conduct its primary processing, and then transfer data to Earth. For example, the data center will be able to filter out low-quality satellite images. The advantages of placing the server in orbit, the authors of the idea call the security of information storage. The companies believe that such a data center may interest banks, data storage services, as well as blockchain infrastructure operators.^[1]

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