Redwire Corporation, a global leader in space and defense technology solutions, announced that it has reached an agreement with Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) to become the prime contractor for Skimsat, whose preliminary study was coordinated under Thales Alenia Space’s responsibility. Skimsat is an ESA technology demonstration mission for a small satellite designed to operate in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). Thales Alenia Space in the UK will be a major contributor to the mission and is currently selected to provide the electric propulsion subsystem.
The Skimsat mission, funded by ESA’s Preparation and Technology Development elements of Basic Activities and General Support Technology Program, leverages Redwire’s Phantom spacecraft, an advanced European VLEO platform designed to operate in the lower reaches of Earth's atmosphere. The Skimsat mission aims to improve satellite sustainability and mission performance while reducing spacecraft mass and mission cost by enabling sustainable operational capability at lower altitudes.
“Redwire is a global leader in VLEO capabilities, and we are grateful for the trust from ESA to accelerate development of the Skimsat mission, as the prime contractor, which could unlock critical infrastructure in VLEO for a wide array of future intelligence, Earth science, and communications missions,” said Marc Dielissen, General Manager of Redwire Space Belgium. “Redwire’s Phantom spacecraft is built on five decades of satellite manufacturing experience and flight heritage and offers a flexible and resilient design to tackle this pioneering mission.”
Redwire’s spacecraft facility in Belgium has more than 50 years of spaceflight heritage, developing spacecraft platforms and successfully delivering innovative technology for game-changing ESA programs. Most notably, every spacecraft used for ESA’s Proba missions (Proba-1, Proba-2, Proba-V, and Proba-3) has been developed and integrated at Redwire’s Belgium facility. Collectively, these missions have spent more than 50 years in orbit without failure.
Redwire is also integrating spacecraft to support other critical ESA missions, including the In-Orbit Demonstration and Verification (IOD/IOV) mission and the Atmospheric Limb Tracker for Investigation of the Upcoming Stratosphere (ALTIUS) mission.
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