• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • NEWS:
  • SatNews
  • SatMagazine
  • MilSatMagazine
  • SmallSat News
  • |     EVENTS:
  • SmallSat Symposium
  • Satellite Innovation
  • MilSat Symposium

SatNews

  • HOME
  • Magazines
  • Events
  • SmallSat Europe Insights
  • Industry Calendar
    • IN PERSON
    • VIRTUAL
  • Subscribe

Two Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) Built Smallsats Successfully Gain Orbit

September 4, 2020

An Arianespace Vega rocket successfully carried two smallsats built by Space Flight Laboratory into space from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, South America. (Credit: Arianespace)

Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) is celebrating the successful launch and deployment of the GHGSat-C1 greenhouse gas monitoring smallsat and the Slovenian NEMO-HD Earth Observation (EO) smallsat, both developed in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

GHGSat-C1 (“Iris”), owned by GHGSAT Inc. of Montreal, is a microsatellite designed to monitor greenhouse gases from space. (Credit: SFL)

Both satellites were in contact with ground control within hours of their launch on September 2, 2020, aboard an Arianespace Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, South America. The satellites are healthy and operating as planned.

Slovenia’s NEMO-HD smallsat will capture 2.8-meter resolution high-definition multi-spectral imagery and video for use in a variety of applications. (Credit: SFL)

Established at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) in 1998, SFL has developed cubesats, smallsats (which encompasses nanosatellites and microsatellites, all having achieved more than 126 cumulative years of operation in orbit. These missions have included SFL’s trusted attitude control and, in some cases, formation-flying capabilities. Other core SFL-developed components include modular (scalable) power systems, onboard radios, flight computers, and control software.

GHGSat Inc. awarded SFL the development contract for GHGSat-C1 (“Iris”) after building the pathfinding GHGSat-D (“Claire”) smallsat launched in 2016. Using high-precision target tracking capabilities developed by SFL, Claire successfully demonstrated that sources of methane and other gas emissions could be detected and measured from space. SFL is currently developing another microsatellite, GHGSat-C2, for the company.

Precise pointing made possible by a stable platform at a relatively low cost was also a factor in Slovenia’s selection of SFL to build the NEMO-HD Earth observation microsatellite. It will capture 2.8-meter resolution high-definition multi-spectral imagery and video for use in a variety of applications. The microsatellite itself is only 60x60x30 centimeters.

SFL’s heritage of on-orbit successes includes missions related to Earth observation, atmospheric monitoring, ship tracking and communication, radio frequency signal geolocation, technology demonstration, space astronomy, solar physics, space plasma, and other scientific research.

Executive Comments

Dr. Robert E. Zee

“Congratulations to GHGSat Inc. of Montreal and SPACE-SI of Slovenia for making these groundbreaking microspace missions a reality,” said SFL Director, Dr. Robert E. Zee. “Our space-proven attitude control and precise pointing technologies were major factors in winning the development contracts for GHGSat-C1 and NEMO-HD.”

Stephane Germain

“The GHGSat-C1 mission is critical to GHGSat, and we knew we could rely on SFL to deliver our satellite. In addition to the normal challenges of spaceflight, SFL overcame a litany of launch delays beyond their control to make this mission a success. That’s the kind of service that keeps customers coming back to SFL,” said Stephane Germain, President of GHGSat Inc.

Filed Under: Launch, SmallSat

Primary Sidebar

Most Read Stories

  • In celebration of Juneteenth
  • Wishing Everyone a Happy July 4th … Independence Day, U.S.A.
  • Eutelsat's efforts to obtain funding to save OneWeb
  • Forrester's Digest: Starlink active in Iran
  • SpaceX's launch on Friday of Starlink Group 10-34 smallsats may have weather issues

About Satnews

  • Contacts
  • History

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020

Secondary Sidebar

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
x
Sign up Now (For Free)
Access daily or weekly satellite news updates covering all aspects of the commercial and military satellite industry.
Invalid email address
Notify Me Regarding ( At least one ):
We value your privacy and will not sell or share your email or other information with any other company. You may also unsubscribe at anytime.

Click Here to see our full privacy policy.
Thanks for subscribing!