Toronto-based SFL Missions Inc. has been awarded a contract to build eight 150-kilogram satellites for NASA’s HelioSwarm science mission, utilizing the company’s DAUNTLESS platform.
HelioSwarm consists of a hub spacecraft and eight co-orbiting small satellites. SFL Missions is responsible for developing the the eight “Node” spacecraft. The eight Nodes will be carried into high-Earth orbit aboard a single, larger “Hub” satellite before deploying into a series of complex flying formations.
Each 150-kilogram Node will be built on SFL Missions DAUNTLESS bus, a platform selected for for its high power generation and propulsion capabilities. SFL Missions will be responsible for integrating the HelioSwarm instrument suite—developed by the University of New Hampshire in collaboration with the Centre National d’Études Spatiales, the U.K. Space Agency, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Following integration, SFL will conduct testing and support the final integration of the completed Nodes onto the Hub satellite.
NASA states the nine-spacecraft constellation will “capture the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions of the solar wind,” providing data to “help protect astronauts, satellites, and communications signals such as GPS.”
“HelioSwarm is an important science mission that will provide critical insights into the dynamic interactions between the Sun’s atmosphere and the Earth, including how turbulent energy moves through our protective magnetic bubble and impacts technological assets out to the Moon,” said SFL Missions Director and CEO Dr. Robert E. Zee.