Alumni Program

TU Berlin Startup Exolaunch Takes Part in SpaceX Mission

A small load on a big mission: TU Berlin’s Exolaunch startup transports small satellites into space and was also part of the most recent SpaceX mission

Transporter-1 was launched on 24 January 2021. This is the name of Elon Musk’s SpaceX mission rocket. On board are 143 small satellites. That is a record. Never before have so many small satellites been transported into space by a single rocket. Among those involved in the mission was TU Berlin startup Exolaunch.Set up in 2011 by Dmitriy Bogdanov, Exolaunch has since helped transport satellites for a number of different missions.

Exolaunch fitted Transporter-1 with 30 commercial, space agency, and university satellites for clients from Europe and the USA. Dmitriy Bogdanov studied aeronautics and astronautics at Technische Universität Berlin until 2006. From 2006 until 2018, he was a research associate at the Chair of Space Technology. Today, he is still in close contact with Technische Universität Berlin and has supervised many TU satellite missions - most recently the BEESAT-9 mission. What is so special about the current SpaceX mission, what do we mean when we talk about the New Space industry and why was Exolaunch set up?

An interview with Dmitriy Bogdanov.

What makes the SpaceX mission so special compared with other missions and how did Exolaunch come to be involved?

We acquire a certain volume, a specific pay load on rockets which can then be used to transport satellites. This was the same for SpaceX and other missions.

What makes this SpaceX mission so special is the fact that is has been designed specifically for small satellites. This is what is known as a rideshare mission. This means there is no big main payload. In other words, there are no big satellites taking up most of the rocket with the remaining capacity assigned to secondary payloads for small satellites. In the case of SpaceX, the entire rocket is split into small sections for small satellites only - a clear sign of the increasing and global significance and relevance of small satellite development.

What exactly is the role of Exolaunch on a mission like this?

Our clients are satellite manufacturers. In Germany, these are mainly public organizations, such as universities or the German Aerospace Center. However, there is also an increasing number of private businesses manufacturing satellites, such as German Orbital Systems - also one of our clients. They all have one thing in common: They need to get their satellites into space. And this is where we come in. Our first job is to find the right rocket. That’s the easiest part. Today, there are many rockets on which you can book space. The main challenge is to integrate the satellite into the rocket as every satellite is unique. This is an area where there is little standardization. One thing we have to do is develop and produce different separation systems. This is necessary to ensure the satellite can be launched into space when it reaches its target trajectory. We also have to construct the right adapter. We need mechanical adapters to connect the satellites onto the rockets and a control unit to provide the exchange of electronic signals between the rocket, the separation system, and the satellite. We are there on the ground for every rocket launch to install the satellites.

And when does your contract end?

Our work ends when we pass on the satellite’s coordinates in space to the client. Once the satellite has been released into space, then our contract ends. All of the 30 satellites which we installed on Transporter-1 have been successfully transported to their target trajectory and our clients have confirmed radio contact, the final and best proof there is that the satellite has been successfully placed in orbit. This is a very complex system that has to work autonomically under highly inimical conditions in space. Although it’s our daily business, every mission represents a major challenge and we are really delighted when we get the confirmation.

How has satellite technology developed in recent years and what is meant by New Space industry?

Space operations used to be very conservative. Huge resources were required to construct a satellite and put it in space. Satellites were very large and heavy and a satellite project was something only possible for a country or a really big enterprise. Then a new generation of small satellites began to emerge around the mid to late 1990s. Very few resources were required for their construction - a little space and some electronics. Satellite construction has migrated from large production plants to small labs. Today, the aim is to replace one large satellite with a number of small satellites. It is cheaper to build 100 small satellites than one large one. If five or ten of them get lost, then this does not represent a problem for the overall mission and its operation. The fact that it has become much easier to construct satellites and try out new technologies and innovative operation concepts in space has allowed a number of new players to enter the market. There is a new “New Space” movement of talented young scientists able to carry out technology experiments.

What links are there between Technische Universität Berlin and your company? How did it all begin?

In 2000, a new type of small satellite came into being, known as Cubesat. They look like a cube and only weigh a few kilograms. It was very difficult back then to organize the transportation of these small satellites into space as rockets were set up for satellites weighing several tons. The price per kilogram at that time was about 30,000 US dollars. We at Technische Universität Berlin were one of the first research groups in the world to have worked on such satellite projects. We had already constructed a Cubesat and wanted to put it into space on the basis of the price per kilogram at that time. 

Nobody back then thought a satellite could weigh so little. But with the fixed costs being so high, this would mean that rocket operators would make a loss. So our problem was that there were no services for transporting our small satellites into space. The solution was to find suitable rockets which already had a main passenger, so to speak, to cover the costs of the mission. As larger satellites don’t take up the entire payload, there is normally free payload capacity on every mission. That was the start of our company. We utilized the remaining payload capacity in rockets, prepared it for small satellites and then brokered it. The first launch was in 2013 - a Russian Soyuz carrier rocket. Three German small satellites were on board, two from Technische Universität Berlin and one from Technische Universität Dresden. The project at Technische Universität Berlin is headed by Professor Dr. Klaus Brieß within the Chair of Space Technology, where I also worked as a research assistant for a number of years. We still work very closely with Technische Universität Berlin. Professor Dr. Udo Renner, who headed the academic chair when I began studying at Technische Universität Berlin in 2001, was a great influence and source of inspiration. He was a brilliant engineer and scientist and a wonderful teacher. At the end of the 1990s, he became the first person to launch university small satellites into space. That was an absolute world first and a remarkable achievement.

Interview: Bettina Klotz