WARPSPACE orders CONDOR Mk3 from Mynaric

As the Gilching-based company announced on January 24, 2023, the Tokyo-based NewSpace startup has ordered a small number of CONDOR Mk3 terminals. WARPSPACE will use them to build an optical inter-satellite data service called "WarpHub InterSat". This is a commercial optical data relay network for Earth observation satellites. This is because the data rates achievable with conventional technology are still a bottleneck. As a result, the vast amounts of data generated by Earth observation satellites do not reach the ground as quickly as needed for rapid deployment. However, many future constellations are based on near real-time transmission.

Transmitting data in a split second

The laser technology developed by Mynaric can transmit data up to 320 times faster than radio waves. This would allow an HD quality movie (4GB) to be transmitted from one satellite to another in 3.2 seconds. The entire human genome (200GB) would take 160 seconds. By the way, the current world record for laser data transmission is 13,160 Gbps. The distance between the individual stations, in this case satellites, is not insignificant when building a relay network. Mynaric specifies a maximum distance of 4,500 km, but in practice it will probably be less.

WARPSPACE to use Mynaric in 2023

The first terminals are scheduled for delivery as early as 2023, with more to follow in 2024 and 2025. WARPSPACE COO Hiromitsu Azuma emphasizes that they are looking forward to receiving the units for satellite integration. Tina Ghataore, CCO of Mynaric, thanks WARPSPACE for its confidence in this young technology. She said the contract with the Japanese is another step in fulfilling the company's mission: "to provide industrialized optical communication terminals for a wide range of applications."

As a member of the consortium behind UNIO Enterprise, Mynaric is also involved in building its own satellite constellation together with Isar Aerospace, Reflex Aerospace and SES. Its first demonstration mission is already planned for 2024.