Beyond Gravity, a leading space systems company has been selected to supply equipment for Loft Orbital’s Longbow spacecraft based on the Airbus Arrow platform. The physical equipment is referred to as the Power Control & Distribution Unit (PCDU).
The PCDU provides mission-critical power supply capabilities and in-orbit configurability for “The Hub” which carries all payloads of a Loft Orbital’s satellite and provides an independent electrical, computing, and communication environment. Beyond Gravity will deliver PCDU flight units for over 15 Loft Orbital satellites.
The project is conducted in close cooperation between Beyond Gravity’s team based in Tampere (Finland), and Loft Orbital’s teams in Toulouse (France) and San Francisco and Golden (USA).
“Shorter lead times and high cost-efficiency”
“Our partnership with Loft Orbital and this order is underlining Beyond Gravity’s strong standing in the global commercial New Space market. The PCDU enables Loft Orbital to be fully product-based, leading to standardization, shorter lead times, and high cost-efficiency”, said Anders Linder, head of the Satellites Division at Beyond Gravity. “I am grateful to our partners at Loft Orbital for selecting Beyond Gravity and excited to be working with them to support their future missions.”
High degree of customization
“When looking for partners to fulfill our technical, quality, and price-performance needs, Beyond Gravity allowed us to put in a high degree of customization, meeting our stringent system-level requirements, whilst still leveraging their existing experience and translating that to a balanced New Space solution. Of equal importance is the right way to communicate and collaborate, which has been another positive experience for both teams”, said Pieter van Duijn, Loft Orbital’s CTO.
European ecosystem of space systems suppliers
“Our collaboration with Beyond Gravity demonstrates Loft Orbital’s strategy to rely on the strong and competitive European ecosystem of space systems suppliers”, said Emmanuelle Meric, General Manager France of Loft Orbital. “We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with leading space companies such as Beyond Gravity.”
