True Anomaly CEO finds silver lining in startup’s unusual first mission

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Although True Anomaly’s first mission didn’t go as planned by any measure, Even Rogers, the space and defense startup’s CEO, said he doesn’t consider it a failure. He provided new details about what went right and what went wrong, and explained how he is turning this anomaly into a “success story.”

Although the company has not yet determined the final cause of the problem that ended the mission, the timeline of events provides insight into how the space startup responded to the ongoing anomaly.

The company launched its first two satellites on SpaceX’s Transporter 10 rideshare mission on March 4. The two spacecraft, which the company calls “Jackals,” are designed to maneuver close to other objects and capture high-resolution images and video of them using optics and radar. sensor. The purpose of this first mission, Mission X, was to demonstrate these capabilities in orbit for the first time.

The two spacecraft deployed as the rocket predicted, but later that day the company began running into problems. Mission controllers expected to communicate with each spacecraft within three hours of deployment, but no signals appeared from the first spacecraft, called Jackal 2. , first contact with Jackal 1 was only partially successful.

Telemetry packages received from Jackal 1 were positive. The spacecraft’s array was receiving voltage, and the data showed it was in the correct position relative to the sun. However, mission controllers were unable to uplink the data, and subsequent attempts to contact both vehicles during the night failed.

It was a sign of things to come. But Rogers is adamant that it would be wrong to call the mission a failure.

“The Mission “The mindset we’re taking is that although we didn’t reach our goal, we don’t consider this a failure of the flight test. Everyone cheers when SpaceX blows up a rocket. is the same as

“If you don’t learn, you’re a failure. If you don’t give your 100% and take responsibility for your current design and the changes you make to improve it, you’re a failure.”

Event timeline

The next day, True Anomaly engineers worked with other rideshare passengers and an external space domain awareness provider to ensure they were tracking the correct satellite.

This is more difficult than it sounds. On rideshare missions, where dozens of passenger spacecraft are deployed in very quick succession, it can be surprisingly difficult to actually see which satellite belongs to whom. Communication networks such as high-latitude ground stations and ViaSat’s geostationary satellites will also become congested as carriers rush to provide service.

The company received a photo of Jackal 2 from an anonymous off-Earth image provider on March 7, confirming that it is facing the correct direction with its solar panels deployed. The photo of Jackal 1 arrived the next day. Mission controllers launched additional ground station integration on March 9 and finally confirmed the orbital status of both satellites six days after liftoff. However, Jackal 2 remained silent and no further contact could be established with Jackal 1.

The engineers continued their work. Throughout the mission, they continued to add functionality to their in-house command and control software platform, Mosaic, to send commands to the two Jackals. Finally, the company announced on March 21 that the team could not confirm whether Jackal was still functional or any information regarding its status.

Root cause analysis can be time-consuming, especially when you don’t have a lot of data to work with, Rogers explained.

“What we do know for sure is that the spacecraft’s solar panels were deployed and pointing toward the sun when we received the latest information on the spacecraft’s status,” he said. “The boot-up sequence worked, at least in part, as expected…we just couldn’t communicate.”

That said, he expressed confidence that it was not just a radio issue, but “probably upstream in communications.”

“Fly, fix, fly.”

True Anomaly’s first mission garnered a lot of attention.This company has generated a lot of buzz since It emerged from stealth a year ago There are ambitious plans to build intelligence-gathering and tracking satellites to strengthen national security and protect American assets from orbiting adversaries.true anomaly closed $100 million Series B round Last year, we accelerated those plans.

True Anomaly’s four co-founders named the blog post announcing the mission’s results “Fly, Fix, Fly.” This directly reflects the company’s focus on rapid design cycles. With that in mind, engineers are introducing a number of fixes to both Jackal and Mosaic ahead of his second mission. However, some of them were planned to be implemented regardless of the outcome of Mission X.

One of the most important changes is the satellite design. The next Jackal will be 100 pounds lighter and design changes will improve maneuverability and increase payload capacity. The company is also upgrading the satellite’s power architecture and improving ground test infrastructure. It’s also changing the way flight software evaluates multiple “out-of-bounds inputs” — signals that something is wrong — compared to each other.

By all accounts, the results of Mission X haven’t slowed the company down at all. True Anomaly plans at least two more of his flights over the next 12 months.

“The success story of Jackal Mission X is two-fold,” says Rogers. “The first is that the various partners and other members of the Transporter 10 mission work together. The second is that our team reacted very quickly and iterated very quickly. .”