Beyond Gravity: New standardized products for the commercial market

To meet the demand for high-performance electronics for satellites at competitive prices Beyond Gravity (headquartered in Switzerland) is now offering a new modular electronics platform with off-the-shelf products. It includes single-board computer, navigation receiver, mass memory, time-sensitive networking (TSN) ethernet switch, mass memory and more. “Our electronics platform is very flexible and delivers high performance at affordable price”, says Tom Seeman, Director Marketing & Sales Electronics at Beyond Gravity. “Our solution is highly reliable based on our 50 years of experience for space electronics. Our platform’s applications include spacecraft control, edge/payload processing, payload/robotics control, GNSS receiver, cloud computing and much more.” The electronics platform FoX (Flexible On-board avioniX) can be used for different orbits, like low earth orbit, geostationary orbit or cislunar. 

100 contracted pointing mechanisms

With 100 contracted units in total Beyond Gravity is among the world’s largest manufacturers of pointing mechanisms for electric satellite thrusters. “We see especially high demand for our two-axis pointing mechanism product family”, says Dominik Inschlag, Director Marketing & Sales for Thermal & Mechanisms. The so-called APPMAX2 (2 stands for two-axis) product family ranges from very small mechanisms (the width of a shoebox) to very large electric propulsion pointing mechanisms. For example, Beyond Gravity is building the world’s largest pointing mechanism for electric satellite thrusters. The APPMAX2-Heavy mechanism will be used for the future NASA Gateway space station and will steer a 50 kilogram thruster. 

Satellites are increasingly using electric thrusters

The family of Advanced Electric Propulsion Pointing Mechanisms (APPMAX) includes cost-effective, scalable mechanisms for various applications and satellite platforms. Additionally, the pointing mechanism can be equipped with drive electronics from Beyond Gravity to steer the mechanism. This approach allows for an optimal setup with the highest level of reliability and technical standards. Satellites are increasingly using electric thrusters, in which ionized gases are accelerated using strong electric fields. Precise mechanisms are required to control these electric satellite thrusters.

High market demand for solar array drive mechanisms

There is a high demand in the market for standardized solar array drive mechanisms, which precisely orient a satellite’s solar arrays to the Sun. Beyond Gravity is the only European supplier offering a full range of solar array drive mechanisms, including mechanisms for the microsatellite class to the largest telecommunication and earth observation satellites. “This year we sold more than 60 units of our solar array drive mechanisms,” says Stefan Wismer, the responsible Sales Manager.

USD 20 million orders for satellite panels

This year, Beyond Gravity has received orders for structural satellite panels totaling approximately USD 20 million. The satellite panels are being produced at the company’s Titusville facility in Florida (USA) using an automated potting process. This production method allows Beyond Gravity to reduce the production time per insert from 30 minutes to a quick 1.5 minutes. This year, Beyond Gravity’s site in Titusville received its third Automated Potting Machine, enabling the production of up to 36 panels per week.

300 sold constellation On Board Computers

Another standardized product with more than 300 units ordered, is the constellation On Board Computer (cOBC) from Beyond Gravity. The largest order was placed in summer. Beyond Gravity will provide more than 200 constellation On-Board Computers integrated with navigation receivers and antennas for the MDA AURORATM supply chain, that will help support product deliveries for anchor customer Telesat’s low earth orbit satellite constellation Telesat Lightspeed. Beyond Gravity will also provide all the GNSS receivers and TTC (Telemetry, Tracking and Command) antennas to the same constellation.

Beyond Gravity’s constellation On Board Computers are based on commercial components, highly reliable and optimized for high volume production. The cOBC provides a host of functions including on-board processing, GNSS receiver, ground communication and both platform and payload interfaces.