Mission

Beyond

Mission Name

Beyond

Carrier Name

ION SCV Daring Diego

Launch Date

December 2023

Launch Site

Vandenberg

Launcher

SpaceX

Rocket

Falcon 9

Mission Status

Ongoing

Passengers

12

Satellites Onboard

8

Hosted Payloads

4

Beyond, December 2023
Beyond Mission Booklet

Mission Updates

4. 3. 2. 1.

UPDATE 4

January 16th, 2024

Deployment of NanoFF A and NanoFF B, by TU Berlin

ION SCV Daring Diego successfully deployed NanoFF A and NanoFF B, by Chair of Space Technology of the Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. The deployment will allow the testing of the controlled formation flight of both satellites in a helix orbit.

The deployment called for special conditions regarding the ejection time, location and separation parameters, and such conditions were possible to meet only through the use of an orbital transfer vehicle.

Both satellites are healthy and have already established communications with the ground.

UPDATE 3

January 5th, 2024

Four PocketQubes released in orbit by two AlbaPod satellite deployers

ION SCV Daring Diego successfully activated two 6P PocketQube satellite deployers by Alba Orbital, enabling the deployment of three proprietary PocketQubes by Alba Orbital, and one by Miota Space.

UPDATE 2

December 12th, 2023

Beginning of Deployment phase: ALISIO-1 by IAC

ION SCV Daring Diego officially began the commercial phase of its mission by deploying ALISIO-1, by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), into orbit.

The satellite is fully functional and has already established communication with the IAC’s team.

Image: ALISIO-1, by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)ALISIO-1, by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)

UPDATE 1

December 1st, 2023

Launch

Beyond, the 13th commercial mission of ION Satellite Carrier (ION), launched on December 1st, 2023, at 10:19 AM (PT) (6:19 PM UTC) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

During the mission, ION will deploy 8 satellites and perform 4 in orbit demonstrations of hosted payloads.

Our mission control team is now performing a series of tests and diagnostics in preparation for the operational phase.

Roadmap

PHASE 1 - COMMISSIONING

As soon as ION SCV Daring Diego reaches orbit, our spacecraft operations engineers will establish a bidirectional communication channel and start the launch and early orbit phase (LEOP), neutralizing the rotation imparted by the launch vehicle during separation, correcting the attitude, testing the satellites' subsystems, and preparing for the next phases.

PHASE 2 - COMMERCIAL PHASE, HOSTED PAYLOAD DEMONSTRATION

Once concluded the commissioning phase, ION SCV Daring Diego will start the commercial phase of the mission, which will consist in the deployment of the hosted satellites and the in-orbit demonstration of the third-party payloads hosted onboard.

Throughout the mission, ION SCV Daring Diego will deploy satellites for several clients, including the IAC, TUBerlin, and Infovention. The OTV will also perform in-orbit demonstration of payloads from TRL11, Zenno Astronautics, Privateer Space, as well as of a payload named RECS, a collaboration between the Politecnico di Milano and D-Orbit. Finally, onboard the OTV are also two 6P PocketQube satellite deployers by Alba Orbital, which will release in orbit four PocketQubes from different commercial and research entities.

PHASE 3 - DECOMMISSIONING

At the end of the mission, the platform will join the fleet of IONs already in orbit and operated by the company. At the end of its life, the spacecraft will be decommissioned in compliance with the Space Debris Mitigation guidelines. The pressure vessels will depleted from leftover fuel and oxidizer, the battery charging system will be deactivated, and the batteries will be completely discharged. The spacecraft, now inert, will enter a decommissioning trajectory that will bring it to burn up upon atmospheric re-entry within a few years.

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