Delox is moving forward to reach space with the Call to Orbit program
In September 2019, Delox was accepted as the second out of ten exclusive winners to Call to Orbit program run by Open Cosmos. Since then, we have been developing our first space prototype to provide the first bio-decontamination solution to be used in harsh space flights conditions, after the spacecraft launch. The first relevant step to reach our future goal constitutes a stratospheric flight conducted by Open Cosmos and B2Space.
Delox and Phoenix Space fly their payloads integrated into Open Cosmos’ OpenKit onboard B2Space stratospheric flight
Back at the end of March, B2Space conducted a flight test of its Near Space test bench, developed at ESA BIC Harwell. This test bench is intended to provide an affordable and reliable testing platform for small satellites to accelerate the development cycle and validation in near space conditions before going into orbit. Mission simulations can be performed, to analyze how the different components behave and assess if they are suitable for the objective they have been designed for.
Delox and Phoenix space payloads integrated into OpenKit during the flight
The flight was conducted on the 20th of March 2020, on the facilities of Spaceport Snowdonia, in North Wales achieving altitudes above 30km high and temperatures below the -50 degrees Celsius.
Flightpath followed from Spaceport Snowdonia
Two payloads were integrated into Open Cosmos’ satellite qualification platform OpenKit, which was carried by B2space’s Near Space test bench. The stratospheric flight opportunity was offered to Call To Orbit winners and it included payloads from Delox and Phoenix space. Call to Orbit is a program launched in partnership with the European Space Agency to support the development of new technologies to be sent to space.
Phoenix Space aims to educate and empower disadvantaged youth through space science. Their onboard experiment includes two cameras to measure radiation levels in low earth orbit.
Both Delox and Phoenix space payloads were integrated into OpenKit, Open Cosmos development platform designed to support and accelerate integration and validation of new technologies. The flight was performed in the morning of the 20th of March and had a total duration of 110 minutes.
The payloads were retrieved safely after the flight terminated, and now Delox and Phoenix Space are waiting for their payloads to be handed over in order to collect and analyze the data.
Founded in 2016, the purpose of B2Space is to provide a reliable, flexible and low-cost access to Low Earth Orbit for small and micro-satellites, democratize space access and facilitate the development of new technologies and uses of space, a very much shared vision with Open Cosmos.
About Open Cosmos: https://www.open-cosmos.com/
About Phoenix Space: http://phoenixspace.org/
About B2Space: https://www.b2-space.com/
Text adopted from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/b2space-takes-another-step-develop-near-space-testing-canales/
