DcubeD’s ride to space was the Transporter-3 mission, SpaceX’s third, dedicated, smallsat rideshare mission, launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Approximately 1 hour after liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, deployment of FOSSA Systems’ payload was confirmed.
The company based in Madrid, Spain, had launched their first six satellites for the FOSSASat-2E IoT constellation and also demonstrated their PocketPod deployer for the first time. The deployer used DcubeD’s Nano Pin Puller nD3PP to open the pod and release the payload.
With the successful activation of the four pin pullers, DcubeD acquired flight heritage and took their products to the next and highest level of technology readiness, TRL 9. The PocketPod was developed by FOSSA Systems and integrated on the SpaceX Falcon rocket by the Berlin based company Exolaunch.
DcubeD’s Pin Puller, which now has flight heritage, tackles the problem of limited space available for spacecrafts on launch vehicles by allowing deployable structures such as solar arrays, antennas or sails. Answering to the rising demand for smallsats, DcubeD’s release actuators are specifically designed with the needs of smallsat customers in mind.
In addition to deployable structures of satellites, DcubeD’s release actuators can be implemented for any use-case where a bolted connection must be released or a pin must be retracted, as demonstrated with FOSSA’s deployer.
On the same launch was also an In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission of DcubeD’s Space Selfie Stick as well as the DcubeD Nano Release Nut to demonstrate their functionality in the space environment. The IOD mission is part of the SatRevolution SWIFT satellite that will be deployed from D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier SCV004 Elysian Eleonora “Dashing Through The Stars Mission” at the end of January / early February to start its demonstration mission.
DcubeD thanks the amazing team, friends, families and everyone who supported the company on their journey to space.
Located in Germering, Germany, DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH) develops actuators and deployable structures tailored for smallsats and the commercial space industry. DcubeD will help customers to think outside the box with their release actuators (pin puller and release nut) and deployables (100W Solar Array, Space Selfie Stick, Deployable Boom).
