Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR) sessions on both the Intelsat 45 and Inmarsat 8 missions have resulted in significant advancements in the development of the HummingSat product line, as announced by Intelsat, Viasat+Inmarsat, the European Space Agency (ESA), and SWISSto12.
The hummingbird, a small, swift, and seemingly motionless bird, inspired the name of the HummingSat product range. It is being developed by SWISSto12 with assistance from ESA under a Partnership Project, to which nine ESA member states have subscribed, as part of ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems, or ARTES program. It is smaller and less expensive than traditional Geostationary satellites.
Global satellite operators and industry are SWISSto12’s two anchor customers, and together they are developing and executing in orbit validation of HummingSat as part of their relationship with ESA.
Praising the HummingSat project as a successful ESA Partnership Project, Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, emphasized the tight cooperation with SWISSto12 and the engagement of seasoned ESA engineers. He pointed out that participating European and Canadian states might reap significant rewards from it.
Intelsat Vice President Loid Saillard commended SWISSto12 for improving the HummingSat design and highlighted their developing skills and experienced satellite development.
Mark Dickinson from ViaSat expressed satisfaction with the progress made by SWISSto12, highlighting strong collaboration among SWISSto12, ESA, and Viasat+Inmarsat, and the economic benefits of HummingSat’s GEO SmallSat solutions.
Emile de Rijk, CEO of SWISSto12, praised the completion of their first Preliminary Design Review (PDR), highlighting HummingSat’s creative, small, and economical design, which offers dependable 15-year missions in GEO.Telecommunications Systems.
