ReOrbit, a Helsinki-based leading provider of software-first satellites, has successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) phase with the European Space Agency (ESA) for its UKKO Mission, part of the InCubed programme.

For the InCubed activity UKKO - Development and Demonstration of Technologies for Future Earth Observation (EO) Satellites, ReOrbit will perform an in-orbit demonstration (IOD) as an independent standalone flight opportunity, showcasing the capabilities developed in the avionics architecture and the software stack in space, namely an end-to-end EO value chain between EO payloads and the end users, as well as satellite-to-satellite and satellite-to-ground communication.

ReOrbit will achieve this by onboarding a commercial EO customer optical payload with full operational capacity. ReOrbit will perform the commissioning and validation of end-to-end operations including imaging, onboard data processing and data transfer to customer location. Another important part of this mission is equipping the IOD bus with the optical terminal, accompanied with the necessary autonomy, storage, and data transport capabilities to ensure secure, seamless data transfer from satellite to satellite, or from satellite to ground.

“The successful PDR completion is a significant UKKO milestone. The review had to be incredibly detailed, so our plans for satellite integration, flight software, test, verification and operations meet key mission performance requirements and result in a safe, secure and efficient satellite design,” said Sethu Saveda Suvanam, CEO and Founder of ReOrbit. “The UKKO mission represents a crucial step in validating our vision of the future of space applications where the transformation of satellites into truly intelligent, interconnected platforms requires satellite systems to be defined by software, which facilitates a complete network integration – from space to ground.”