On December 12, 2019, CNES selected the start-up U-Space to develop an in-orbit demonstrator called NƐSS (Nanosat 3U for Civil Spectrum Surveillance) based on a CubeSat 3U nanosatellite platform. It will carry the miniaturized SPECTROLITE instrument, developed by SYRLINKS, associated with a broadband antenna. This payload will perform planetary monitoring of the civil radiofrequency spectrum in L and S bands and analyze sources of interference. This demonstrator also aims to validate in orbit the concept of a very small, very low-mass satellite, developed using a “design to cost” approach. CNES is positioned as prime contractor for the complete system and will provide the SPECTROLITE payload as well as the broadband antenna; it will also supply the ground segment. The launch of NƐSS is scheduled for 2021.
U-Space is a start-up positioned on 3U and 6U CubeSats to which CNES has just awarded its very first satellite production contract. The founders of this company met as part of the JANUS program (Young people in training for the production of Nanosatellites within Universities and Higher Education Schools). JANUS offers students in particular the development and sending into space of CubeSats, satellites weighing a few kilograms and a few U (U = cubic volume of 1dm3). Beyond the primary objective of training, these student satellites carry out scientific or technological demonstration missions. As part of JANUS, the founders of U-Space have greatly contributed to the design and production of EyeSat, a 3U CubeSat, which will be launched on December 17. CNES has granted the company the right to commercialize the results of EyeSat. NƐSS will thus benefit from this know-how acquired by U-Space throughout the EyeSat project.
Upon the announcement of this choice, Fabien Apper, President of U-Space, declared: “We are extremely proud to have been chosen by CNES for the development of the NƐSS project. This project is structuring for our company and allows us to truly launch into NewSpace. U-Space is the result of a superb adventure experienced on the EyeSat project, which allowed us to build up our skills in CubeSat design. NƐSS will allow us to industrialize the EyeSat platform to offer our customers high-performance and high-reliability 3U and 6U CubeSats.”