Telecommunications start-up Skyloom has selected the Ariane 64, operated by Arianespace, to deploy the firm’s first geostationary laser communications relay node — the Ariane 64 will deliver Skyloom’s Node-1 as part of a new rideshare mission product.
This innovative satellite will be part of a rideshare mission aboard Arianespace’s next-generation, heavy-lift vehicle, the Ariane 64. This vehicle, set to debut in mid-2022, is capable of reaching more reference orbits due to its re-startable Vinci upper-stage. Another virtue of the rideshare missions prepared and performed by Arianespace on their launchers, especially on Vega and, soon, on Ariane 6 and Vega C, is the lower price point for customers, along with versatility and agility to meet the company’s customers’ needs.
Skyloom’s geostationary lasercom relay network will serve a growing number of civil and governmental satellite operators with a unique set of capabilities such as real-time and high-capacity direct-to-cloud data-transfer, and secure telecommand channels so that customers can pilot their satellites like drones unlocking unprecedented applications.
Skyloom was founded with the mission to develop, deploy and operate one of the fundamental pieces of tomorrow’s digital infrastructure to provide data transport services on a planetary scale. Skyloom designs, builds and lays the space-based equivalent of towers, fiber, routers and switches, enabling fiberless orbital networks. Vertical integration and rapid rollout of technology and infrastructure are at the core of Skyloom’s strategy to maintain cost, schedule, quality and performance and deliver on their vision of becoming a true planetary Society.