The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and aviation authorities have imposed strict requirements, such as frequency, latency, and coverage, for the new end-to-end system to be licensed for air traffic surveillance.
The satellites in the constellation are intended to be replaced every five years, guaranteeing that the system is equipped with the newest and most sophisticated technology. The implementation of an evolutionary roadmap ensures that the most recent developments are continuously provided to meet the operational needs of end users.
The firms will create and demonstrate a system that goes beyond ADS-B to geolocate the position of aircraft in real time, without relying on GNSS/GPS satellites, in parallel with the construction of the initial constellation. This innovative technology will offer a robust way to track airplanes that is immune to GNSS/GPS flaws, such as preliminary design review (PDR) with ESA.
Approximately thirty organizations participated in the beta test of their software package, “360,” which is designed for space mobility and mission analysis and design. As part of their “IRIS program,” the company is now onboarding startups from a variety of incubation and acceleration programs throughout Europe in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The company intends to leverage the funding to expedite the commercialization of its propulsion system, broaden the scope of its software tool clientele, and establish more facilities to support its expanding workforce.
The in-orbit demonstration of IENA’s ATHENA propulsion system aboard the Cassini in-orbit demonstration (IOD) and in-orbit verification (IOV) mission, developed under the European Space Agency with ISISPACE, is the next step on the road to commercial production. Cassini is a component of a Horizon Europe-funded initiative to boost the EU space industry’s competitiveness through a number of cutting-edge technology tests from different European suppliers for low-Earth orbit (LEO) demonstration.
“We’re also quite enthusiastic about IENAI’s future. We anticipate launching several significant partnerships with well-known industry companies in 2024 and 2025, as well as advancing our ongoing ESA projects. Additionally, we will continue to advance and validate our propulsion technology and begin developing new products specifically for the space mobility market.”
