Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has signed an agreement on launch services with Germany’s Exolaunch GmbH regarding mission management, orbital deployment hardware and other relevant services for its first-ever satellites, the key Apple Inc manufacturing partner said yesterday.
Exolaunch is a global provider of small satellite mission management and deployment services, Hon Hai said in a statement. The Berlin-based firm has helped deploy 325 satellites into orbit, including 250 cubesats and 75 microsatellites, using its proprietary deployment technologies on the most frequent and reliable launch vehicles on the market, it said.
Hon Hai is planning to launch two low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, named PEARL-1H and PEARL-1C, via Space Exploration Technologies Corp’s (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket during the Transporter 9 mission.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
According to the launch schedule posted on the SpaceFlight Now site, the Transporter 9 mission is to take place at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Nov. 9 US time.
“This is a pilot run as proof of the concept for our efforts in LEO satellite broadband communications and next-gen, beyond 5G (B5G) capabilities,” the Hon Hai Research Institute’s Next-Generation Communications Research Center director Wu Jen-ming (吳仁銘) said in the statement.
“Exolaunch plays a crucial role in getting our mission to space,” Wu said.
Hon Hai senior director for B5G satellite communications Jesse Chao (趙元瀚) expects LEO satellites to become ever more cost-competitive and convenient during the B5G and new space era.
“The company’s first PEARL is meant to show we will be ready to meet the increase in demand for key components, sub-systems, and assembly integration tests, driving higher circulation and innovation in the new space industry,” Chao said.
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