Satnews Daily
February 14th, 2019

Arianespace Closes With Open Cosmos and Seals the Deal for Launching Turnkey CubeSat's


Contracts were signed between Arianespace and Open Cosmos stating that from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana Arianespace's Soyuz rocket will send up innovative CubeSats providing turnkey deployment solutions. 


COSMO-SkyMed by Alenia

Open Cosmos delivers satellite-based solutions with the goal of enabling companies to use space technologies for tackling global challenge and specializes in the development and implementation of missions for small, low-cost satellites (up to 50 kg.), with short lead times (typically less than a year). One of the primary advantages of Open Cosmos is that it gives customers access to a wide range of launchers and orbits.

The first Open Cosmos payload will be an auxiliary passenger on the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG 1) satellite mission, along with the ANGELS satellite for the European Space Agency ESA as well as the CHEOPS and EyeSat’s French CNES space agency missions. Launch is scheduled for the last quarter of 2019.The first mission comprises an array of CubeSats with a total capacity of 12 units (12U). It will weigh about 30 kg. at liftoff, and the CubeSats will be injected into Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude over 500 km.

Following the contract signature, Rafael Jordá Siquier, Chief Executive Officer of Open Cosmos, said that customers always ask Open Cosmos how they can get their payloads into orbit quickly and surely. Their partnership with Arianespace to launch a 12U (units) deployment platform will get them into their targeted orbit less than ten months after signing the contract. This mission will use one of the world’s most reliable and highest performance launchers, with a proven track record — and that’s exactly the kind of agility that the space industry needs right now.

Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace, added that this contract clearly reflects Arianespace’s unwavering commitment to new players like Open Cosmos, which drive the dynamic small satellite market. It also reflects their ability to offer available, flexible and competitive solutions for all market segments, thanks to Arianespace's family of launch vehicles.