TORONTO, Ontario, Canada (Space Flight Laboratory PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) announced the successful deorbiting of the 3.5kg CanX-7 demonstration nanosatellite using drag sail technology designed to reduce the time retired small satellites spend in orbit as space debris. CanX-7 burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in April, just five years after drag sail deployment and roughly 178 years before it would have without any deorbit technology.

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, 5 May 2022 (SFL PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) and GHGSat Inc. today announced the successful completion of laboratory testing on the GHGSat-C3, C4, and C5 microsatellites at SFL’s facility in Toronto. Canadian based company GHGSat is expanding its constellation of methane monitoring satellites, expected to launch in spring/summer 2022.

TORONTO, Ont., 21 March 2022 (SFL PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has been awarded a contract by GHGSat, world leader in high-resolution remote sensing of greenhouse gas emissions to build another three microsatellites – GHGSat-C6, C7, and C8 – for the company’s commercial greenhouse gas monitoring constellation. A key factor in the selection was the high-performance attitude control system developed by SFL to enable precise pointing of the onboard methane-detecting sensors.

GHGSat has achieved unrivaled success in detecting and measuring point sources of greenhouse gas emissions on the Earth’s surface from space. Thanks to its technology, GHGSat is the only organization in the world capable of detecting methane emissions from sources 100 times smaller than those detected by other satellites by using a resolution 100 times greater than other systems. GHGSat-C6, C7, and C8 are needed to meet the growing commercial demand for GHGSat services and information products.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded three contracts under the on-ramp feature of the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid IV) contract. These multi-agency contracts are available to support all NASA centers and other federal agencies.

The awardees are:

• Lockheed Martin Corporation, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado
• QinetiQ Space NV, Kruibeke, Belgium
• Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Toronto, Canada

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, 25 January 2022 (SFL PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) will develop two small spacecraft for the new NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program. SFL will provide the spacecraft platforms, perform system integration, and conduct system testing for the StarBurst and Aspera astrophysics missions, led by Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the University of Arizona, respectively.

MONTREAL, December 8, 2021 (GHGSat PR) — GHGSat, the world leader in high-resolution remote sensing of greenhouse gas emissions, is building on its momentum to deploy a constellation of satellites in collaboration with the global technology leader ABB. GHGSat’s next three satellites, GHGSat-C3, C4 and C5, will be launched into orbit in summer 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-5 mission. GHGSat also announced that it has exercised a contract option with ABB to provide six more payloads for monitoring methane emissions as well as a payload to detect CO₂ emissions.

“We were delighted to be an active participant at the recent COP26 conference. Not only did we announce $20 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), but we also announced that GHGSat would provide the first commercial high-resolution satellite emissions data to the International Methane Emission Observatory (IMEO) to support environmental policy actions. Satellite data is critical for stakeholders globally to take immediate action for a sustainable future. GHGSat is serving this need with our growing constellation,” explained Stephane Germain, GHGSat CEO.

TORONTO (Space Flight Laboratory PR) – The Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) has awarded Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of Canada a contract to develop the NorSat Technology Demonstrator (TD) microsatellite. With a primary mission of testing out new technologies in space, NorSat-TD will validate payloads and concepts from Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Italy.

TORONTO, 25 January 2021 (SFL PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), a developer of complete microspace missions, today announced the launch and successful deployment of 12 satellites on January 24, 2021. The SpaceX Falcon 9 ride-sharing mission carried three different SFL-designed microspace platforms into orbit for three separate commercial constellations.

TORONTO (SFL PR) – Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), a developer of 52 distinct microspace missions, has been awarded a contract by GHGSat of Montreal to build the next three microsatellites in its commercial greenhouse gas monitoring constellation.

“SFL congratulates GHGSat on its success in providing commercial greenhouse gas monitoring services from space,” said SFL Director, Dr. Robert E. Zee. “This contract highlights GHGSat’s need to expand data collection capacity to meet the growing demand for its valuable services.”

The European Vega rocket that launched this evening was carrying 53 satellites on its first rideshare mission as part of the Small Spacecraft Mission Service Proof of Concept Flight.

The payloads included 14 Flock 4V Earth imaging satellites from Planet, 12 SpaceBEE Internet of Things spacecraft from Swarm Technologies, and 8 maritime monitoring satellites from Spire.