D-Orbit: Bringing Innovation to the Cosmos
- Gregory T
- Jul 5, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2024
By: Gregory T
Historically, space has been a realm only accessible to government entities and billionaires, limiting innovation and ideas involving satellites. As companies such as SpaceX have formed, spaceflight has become more commercial, allowing for more satellites to be put up into space. However, for a smaller entity to put a satellite into space they would need send it up with a larger company’s ‘shipment’, but these companies drop all their cargo mostly in one place. This is a problem because each satellite requires a specific and unique orbit to function properly. Because of this, satellites must maneuver from the drop-off point into the correct orbit, requiring adding weight and emissions, and therefore adding to the already high price of working with these large space companies.
D-Orbit, founded in 2011, is building a large space logistics infrastructure that will reduce the time to launch a completed satellite and reduce the cost of the entire operation by up to 40%. D-Orbit’s Satellite carriers are loaded with different satellites, and upon reaching space from a rocket, such as SpaceX’s Transporter, it releases the satellites individually, changing the orbital parameters for each deployment. Luca Rossettini, the founder and CEO of D-Orbit, describes the company’s intention through an analogy, “Our customers have the ability to choose the best orbit for their unique commercial or scientific needs. If conventional launchers can be thought of as the equivalent of ocean-going vessels transporting freight containers to a seaport our ION Satellite Carriers are the delivery trucks that set off from that port to drop packages at each customer’s door, a true “last-mile” delivery service in orbit.” Additionally, D-Orbit has placed a focus on the environment by prioritizing satellites that will predict storms, monitor oil spills and much more. D-Orbit is also the first space company in the world to be B-Corp certified, meaning they have met high standards of transparency, accountability as well as social and environmental performance.
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