NanoAvionics extends its satellite bus range enabling advanced space missions

LOGAN, Utah - NanoAvionics in Logan, Utah has added two microsatellite buses, the MP42H and the MP42D, to its product line based on its flagship MP42 bus. The line can host customer payloads of up to 145 kg and a total satellite mass of up to 220 kg.

The satellites across the new bus range will enable more sophisticated missions in the fields of remote sensing, high data throughput and complex communications missions, emergency communications, fundamental research and as orbital transfer vehicles (OTV).

All MP42 microsats are equipped with NanoAvionics’s next-generation payload controller. The controller allows customers to build their own software blocks, similar to app developers creating apps. The microsats also provide intersatellite link for both LEO-LEO and LEO-GEO, which ensures uninterrupted real time communications. For communications missions, all MP42 buses provide customers with various options to tailor the satellites for their bandwidth and constellation coverage needs.

The use for advanced missions and applications is a result of their modular design and being optimized to offer flexible envelopes to host customer payloads of up to 145 kg and a total satellite mass of up to 220 kg. Their design significantly reduces mechanical constraints for payload integration. This gives customers the ability to choose the shape and volume of their payloads, without interfering with the satellite frame. It also lowers their cost for development and payload integration and improves lead times and reliability.

Equipped with NanoAvionics’s optional EPSS (enabling propulsion system for small satellites) these satellites can perform high-impulse maneuvers including orbit maintenance, precision flight in formations, orbit synchronization, atmospheric drag compensation and in certain cases even orbital deployment. This results in extended satellite orbital lifetime which reduces cost for replacing constellation satellites.