Slingshot Aerospace

The Slingshot Global Sensor Network is keeping a close watch on Cosmos 2576, a suspected counterspace weapon launched by Russia last week that has been reported to share orbital parameters with a US-government-owned spacecraft, USA 314. 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗘 One of Slingshot’s new Horus low Earth orbit (LEO) optical fence sensor systems in Colorado tracked Cosmos 2576 without a cue just 9 hours after its launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on May 16. At the time, this was the first known detection of the object from any commercial space surveillance network – highlighting the Horus sensor system’s unique ability to provide persistent tracking in LEO without the need for any tipping or cueing from external sources. 𝗔 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗥𝗔 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗟𝗘𝗢𝗣 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 This unique capability helps close the post-launch ‘blind spot’ that exists between when a satellite is deployed and when it is tracked and cataloged by the 18th Space Defense Squadron. As on-orbit congestion continues to rise, it’s more important than ever that rapid launch and early orbit tracking capabilities are available to help commercial and defense customers keep their satellites safe and secure – either following their own launches or following the launch of nearby and neighboring spacecraft. 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 The Slingshot Global Sensor Network is continuing to track Cosmos 2576 using a combination of optical fences and gimballed telescopes, which work together to provide redundant tracking and reduce the time between subsequent observations. 𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗘𝗨𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗦 Slingshot’s AI-powered maneuver detection algorithms are monitoring Cosmos 2576 around the clock as it continues its mission in a sun-synchronous orbit in LEO. These algorithms flag changes to the object’s orbit and continue to provide automated alerts on its behavior and whereabouts. See reporting from SpaceNews here: https://lnkd.in/g8a45HvB

🚀 New Slingshooter Alert! 🚀 We are thrilled to announce that Kelli Furrer has recently joined Slingshot Aerospace as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). "We are incredibly excited to welcome Kelli to the Slingshot team," said Tim Solms, CEO of Slingshot Aerospace. “Kelli's experience in building high-performing go-to-market teams is exactly the leadership we need for the next phase of Slingshot's journey. Exponential growth requires transformational leaders, and Kelli is exactly that." Learn more about Kelli in our newsroom: https://lnkd.in/ghG2eQ4V

This month marks Slingshot Aerospace’s seventh orbit around the sun! Over the past seven years, our team of Slingshooters has been dedicated and steadfast in our commitment to making space safe, sustainable, and secure. We're incredibly proud of our team's achievements over the past year and we want to take a moment to reflect on seven key areas of accomplishment from our last year of operations: 1️⃣ Innovation & AI: Our science and technology teams have been busy developing and debuting new capabilities that provide persistent monitoring of the space domain – including advanced AI capabilities to rapidly identify potentially nefarious spacecraft, a challenge that becomes more and more difficult as the on orbit satellite population increases. 2️⃣ Customer Success: Our program and service delivery teams continue to deploy mission-critical solutions to our customers, helping them navigate the complexities of space operations with greater precision and confidence. 3️⃣ Slingshot Global Sensor Network Milestones: In addition to dramatically expanding our LEO optical tracking capabilities with eight new Horus optical fences, the Slingshot Global Sensor Network eclipsed the 1 billion lifetime observations mark – underscoring the new volumes of data that the network produces each day from LEO to GEO and beyond. 4️⃣ Talent Acquisition: We continue to grow our team with top talent joining Slingshot in key roles, including the appointment of Tim Solms as CEO…with more leadership new hire announcements coming in the next several weeks & months! 5️⃣ Expansion into the UK: We’ve established a new UK-based international business unit to bring industry-leading space data and insights to new partners across Europe and the rest of the globe. 6️⃣ Industry Insights: We published our inaugural State of Satellite Deployments & Orbital Operations report which provides in-depth data and insights on the satellite market through the lens of a satellite’s lifecycle, from launch to end-of-life. 7️⃣ Recognition & Awards: We’ve been honored with prestigious awards including Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024! None of this would be possible without the dedication and passion of our talented team, the support of our partners, and the trust of our customers. Thank you all for being part of our journey over the last seven years. We've done some amazing things in seven years, and with the rapid pace of change taking place across the space domain, all indicators point to an even more exciting and innovative next seven years! 🚀✨

Looking forward to representing Slingshot Aerospace and giving a short TED style talk at the Digital Twins for Cislunar Development Workshop this Thursday and Friday at JPL (321-Pickering Auditorium). I hope I get to run into some of my old JPL friends there [cc:Roby Wilson, Daniel Grebow, David Spencer, Stacy Weinstein-Weiss]. The focus of my talk is the SDA challenges in the cislunar ecosystem, the various ways in which Slingshot's digital platform can enable twinning of the cislunar domain, some of the relevant data driven insights and capabilities developed by our Science team, and how such insights contribute to the enablement of a space sustainability. Looking forward to the talks and learning more about some of the ongoing activities on relevant digital twin technologies.

🚨 Slingshot Orbital Alert 🚨 At approximately 10:46 UTC this morning, the Slingshot Global Sensor Network (SGSN) tracked several objects in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) corresponding to yesterday’s SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Group 9-3 launch (approximately 8 hours and 11 minutes after lift-off). According to SpaceX, the Starlink satellites from the Group 9-3 launch were deployed at a lower-than-intended orbit following an anomaly during the launch vehicle’s second stage burn. Given the low altitude of this deployment, SpaceX stated that they were attempting to rapidly orbit raise before atmospheric drag would cause the Starlink satellites to re-enter. Slingshot utilized its Multi-Frame Assignment Space Tracker (MFAST) software to create several candidate orbits from the observation data generated by Slingshot’s Horus LEO optical fence systems. As a result of these efforts, the Slingshot Global Sensor Network tracked six objects in eccentric 138x280 km orbits. This is in contrast to typical Starlink deployments, which are often deployed in circular orbits at altitudes of 280 - 320 km prior to raising to their standard operational orbit of approximately 500 - 550 km. The residual plot below shows the approximate distance between the Horus observation data and a candidate state generated by MFAST. The three frames to the right of the image show three satellites that were attempting to rapidly raise their orbits, which is in line with the strategy SpaceX’s Elon Musk originally shared on X. We will continue to provide updates as we track these objects and track additional objects believed to be related to yesterday’s SpaceX launch. SpaceX noted that these Starlink satellites do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.

Last month our Slingshot International team sponsored TECwomen CIC’s TECgirls 'Reach for the Sky' event in Cornwall, UK. Social values are an integral part of our ethos at Slingshot and as our international presence in the UK (and beyond) expands, we’re focused on inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders across the UK. As part of the event, General Manager Melissa Quinn demonstrated Slingshot Laboratory, an educational tool that teaches the fundamentals of astrodynamics, to over 300 girls who attended to learn new STEM concepts. Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the Slingshot International team in the coming months. Let's reach for the sky together! 🚀

こんにちは 🇯🇵 We are proud to be a sponsor of the 6th Summit for Space Sustainability this year! Our team is excited to head to Tokyo and we’d love to see you there! We will be attending Space Tide July 9 & 10 and the 6th Summit for Space Sustainability July 11 & 12. Reach out to meet with our team to learn how our capabilities make space safe, sustainable, and secure through: 🌎 Space Domain Awareness 🚦 Space Traffic Coordination 🛰️ Satellite Operations 🛡️ Space Security & Defense 🌐 Training & Education 📊 Space Market Analysis Now booking meetings at: info@slingshot.space

🚨LUCH 2 WATCH UPDATE 🚨 Russia’s Luch (Olymp) 2 has parked in a new orbital slot at ~0.54° W near several GEO satellites, including multiple satellites operated by the Norwegian communications company Telenor Satellite. This is the first time since Luch 2 launched in March 2023 that it has approached a Telenor satellite. The Slingshot Global Sensor Network observed that Luch 2 began to slow to a drift rate of ~0.0126°/day on June 29 and has since stopped its drift at ~0.54° W. Luch 2 stopped its drift within ~.46 degrees of where we previously predicted, but with a different satellite as its closest new neighbor.  Luch 2’s new parking slot places it in close proximity to a number of GEO neighbors – whose distance from Luch 2 will oscillate over time. The chart below identifies the active satellites in Luch 2’s new neighborhood and shows how each satellite's proximity to Luch 2 is expected to change over the next several days – with the numbers below representing the approximate closest approaches expected for each satellite: Norway’s Thor 7 (40613) < 70 km Germany’s Meteosat 12 (54743) < 100 km Norway’s Thor 5 (32487) < 140 km Norway’s Thor 6 (36033) < 215 km United States’ Intelsat 1002 (28358) < 310 km – the previously predicted closest neighbor Luch 2’s recent movements highlight how pairing persistent optical observations with Slingshot’s pattern of life analysis and predictive alerts provides space operators with a holistic toolkit for around-the-clock space domain awareness. This further demonstrates how a common operating picture of the space domain, which fuses multiple data sources and leverages advanced AI and ML tools, is critical to monitoring activities in an increasingly congested and contested space environment. We are continuing to track Luch 2 and will share additional alerts as soon as it begins its next maneuver.

Russia’s Luch (Olymp) 2 is on the move yet again. Slingshot’s ML-based object profiling engine autonomously flagged a large maneuver by the Russian spacecraft [Norad ID 55841] on June 23rd, 2024 at 05:44 UTC. Shortly after the initial maneuver alert, the Slingshot Global Sensor Network (SGSN) increased its surveillance of Luch 2 to enable additional detailed insights into the nature of the maneuver as it began drifting past a number of spacecraft in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). Slingshot’s pattern of life software also predicted which satellite Luch 2 would visit next: USA Intelsat 1002 [Norad ID 28358] at ~1° W. The SGSN has since made multiple observations confirming a slowdown of Luch 2’s drift to approximately 0.94°/day, which increases our confidence in our initial prediction. Luch 2 is expected to perform an additional maneuver to stop its drift near Intelsat 1002 on June 28 if it continues its past pattern of behavior.  Since launching in March 2023, Luch 2 has been prolific in the number and size of its maneuvers, making several noticeable maneuvers during its first 14 months in orbit. The image below highlights Luch 2’s movements over the past year and identifies the satellites to which it has previously made close approaches. The nearest close approach to date took place with Eutelsat’s KA-SAT 9A at a distance of approximately 20 km. We are continuing to track Luch 2 as it continues its drift and will provide updates as they become available.

Today marks a significant milestone in the Slingshot history book – the Slingshot Global Sensor Network has officially generated over one billion observations! The Slingshot Global Sensor Network has been performing ground-based, electro-optical space surveillance, both day and night, on satellites from LEO to xGEO since 2017. Today, the expanded sensor network is composed of: 🔒 4 Proprietary Optical Sensor Types – developed for a range of use cases from daytime tracking of high-interest space objects to persistent monitoring of space objects across orbital regimes with uncued optical fences 🌎 20+ Sensor Sites – strategically placed throughout the Northern & Southern Hemispheres to improve revisit rates and object custody 🔭 200+ Optical Sensors – performing visible, near-infrared, and short-wave-infrared space surveillance Through our robust network of proprietary sensors and software, which now includes eight recently-deployed LEO optical fences, Slingshot is proudly providing commercial and government customers around the world with: ✅ High-quality, low-latency astrometric (line-of-sight) data for space object tracking ✅ Unique-to-optical photometric (brightness) data for space object characterization and fingerprinting ✅ Observational data and derived insights from LEO-to-GEO and beyond ✅ The ability to track space objects uncued and without reliance on public data sources, e.g., space-track.org ✅ Industry-leading uncorrelated track (UCT) processing via Slingshot MFAST ✅ Routine, Advanced, and Event Tracking to meet a range of mission requirements We look forward to continuing to expand and enhance our global sensor network and provide comprehensive, accurate, and timely insights to our customers and partners. Learn more about how the Slingshot Global Sensor Network can support your mission from LEO to GEO and beyond: https://lnkd.in/g4Gn-tFv