Bartolomeo is open for business for Canadian space companies. The newly installed European Space Agency external platform on the International Space Station (ISS) promises an alternative to small satellites to get payloads into space and to possibly return them to Earth, according to representatives from Bartolomeo maker Airbus.
The range of possible experiments is still being determined, but possible applications could include Earth observation, astronomy work or long-time exposure of materials. Some early customers include a University of Oslo-led consortium to examine atmospheric plasma density, and private company Xenesis for a high-bandwidth demonstration.
Now accepting more payloads after installation completed during a spacewalk earlier in 2021, Bartolomeo representatives sought to court Canadian industry during a webinar Wednesday (April 14). The presentation attracted roughly 40 participants from across Canada.
“There is no need to worry about developing a highly complex space system that will carry your payload or a deep understanding of the ISS as such,” Mareike Suppa, who does space systems marketing for Airbus, said during a pre-recorded presentation in the webinar.
Rather, Airbus will take over all aspects of getting the payload ready for space once a company signs a contract with them. In as little as a year, Airbus promises to get a payload ready for space for costs ranging from US$390,000 for a shared slot, to US$4.2 million for a single slot, to US$7.5 million for a double-slot.
The payload size can be as small as a triple CubeSat (3U), allowing smaller companies to participate as well as larger ones. If companies sign on to a second year, there will be a discount for renting the space in recognition that Airbus doesn’t need to worry about shipping something to space to take over the spot. The prices for return to Earth will be determined individually by agreement.
One limitation that Airbus pointed to is its download and upload connections are somewhat limited, but will likely improve over time as more infrastructure is added to ISS – which is trying to court commercial customers more generally. For now, Bartolomeo uses the standard TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) set of satellites connection of ISS “with the limitation that the connection is not always there”, Christian Steimle, Bartolomeo’s program manager at Airbus, said in the question and answer session.
TDRS satellites are fixed in geosynchronous orbit and are available to ISS for about 90 percent of its orbit, he added. The rates are variable as they need to share the bandwidth with other needs of the ISS, but Bartolomeo will likely be able to provide up to 10 megabits to 20 megabits per second for the time being. The long-term plan is to try to provide at least one to two terabytes a day, according to media reports.
There is no provision yet for non-profit or educational pricing, although Airbus is willing to consider it on an individual basis, Steimle added. Agreements with Airbus will generally take place under individual agreements rather than the standard Canadian Space Agency (CSA) 2.3 percent share of research on the ISS, although again that may vary depending on who makes the application for space, he said. Notably, CSA has access to some ESA benefits through a cooperation agreement, and some Bartolomeo contracts may take place under that vehicle.