Quantum Space announces first cislunar missionby Jeff Foust — October 26, 2022LAS VEGAS — Quantum Space, a company founded earlier this year to develop spacecraft platforms in cislunar space, announced plans Oct. 26 for its first smallsat pathfinder mission that will collect space situational awareness data.The QS-1 spacecraft, scheduled to launch in October 2024, will operate in cislunar space […]
October 26, 2022Quantum Space Announces Plans for First MissionFirst operational mission to cislunar space slated for 2024ROCKVILLE, Md., – Quantum Space (Quantum) today announced their first operational mission to cislunar space will launch in October 2024 and will include partners GEOST, LLC and Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT). Known as QS-1, the mission will be the first step in establishing a superhighway between the Earth and the Moon by deploying commercial capabilities that enable spacecraft to operate in and travel through cislunar space and beyond more effectively and efficiently. QS-1 will fly in cislunar space primarily around the two Earth-Moon-Lagrange Points 1 and 2 (EM-L1 and EM-L2) to establish commercial operations for the company. Key mission objectives will include producing space situational and space domain awareness data products, hosting customer payloads, advanced cislunar navigation methods, and autonomous station keeping. The mission will leverage commercial ground station networks for space to ground communication. Mission and payload control will be conducted from a Quantum control center.“In less than a year we have significantly grown our team to include a diverse group of aerospace industry leaders, scientists, and engineers to achieve our bold mission of transforming space commerce beyond Earth orbit,” said Steve Jurczyk, President and CEO, Quantum Space. “I’m proud of what we have accomplished to get to this point and look forward to continuing our momentum towards our first operational flight in the fall of 2024.”Quantum today also announced multiple agreements with providers for the QS-1 mission: GEOST, LLC will develop the purpose-built QS-1 space domain awareness sensorBlue Canyon Technologies will manufacture the spacecraft bus that will carry Quantum and customer payloads to cislunar space“As we continue to advance toward our QS-1 mission, we’re excited to announce our partnership with GEOST and Blue Canyon Technologies to help bring our first mission to life,” said Sue Hall, Vice President of Programs, Quantum Space. “Designing the sensor and development of the spacecraft bus are critical elements for our first mission and we couldn’t be more pleased to partner with these two great organizations.”“We appreciate the vision of Quantum Space and the great partnership our two teams have built,” said Josh Hartman, President of GEOST. “GEOST is excited to provide our affordably elegant payloads to the partnership, which is blazing a trail in the commercial space market. It is a great time to be a part of this community and this effort.” “Our Saturn product, with key enhancements for deep space, will provide Quantum Space with an architecture that has been designed specifically for these types of missions – a quiet, stable, agile platform to optimize use of the Quantum suite of instruments.”, said Jeff Schrader, President, Blue Canyon Technologies. After completion of a combined systems design review and mission concept review for QS-1 this past July, Quantum will now shift focus toward finalizing vehicle design requirements for the first mission. Once vehicle design has been completed, Quantum will announce additional mission partners, including launch services, and commercial ground station providers.
Rendering of the QS-1 spacecraft in cislunar space. Credit: Quantum Space
Quantum Space has raised $15 million to further development of the first in a constellation of satellites intended to provide services in cislunar space.Quantum Space said that Prime Movers Lab invested $15 million in a Series A round in the Rockville, Maryland-based company. The funding will support development of its QS-1 spacecraft the company announced in October it is building for launch in 2024 to cislunar space.Prime Movers Lab is a venture fund that has invested in several space companies, including commercial space station developer Axiom Space, megaconstellation startup E-Space and space tourism company Space Perspective. Both Axiom Space and Quantum Space were founded by Kam Ghaffarian.
