ION-SCV 002 [D-Orbit]
Official name ION SCV-005
Alternative name ION-SCV 005
Cospar ID 2022-033G
Norad ID 52163
Launch date 2022-04-01
Launch site AFETR
Launch vehicle Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5)
Country/Organization Italy
Type application Satellite deployment
Operator D-Orbit
RCS size MEDIUM
Decay date 2024-08-06
Shape Box
Mass (kg) 220
Height (m) 0.4
Width (m) 0.4
Depth (m) 0.4
Span (m^2) 0.4
Contractors D-Orbit
Equipment CubeSat deployers
Propulsion 6 × Dawn Aerospace B20 thrusters
Configuration ION mk02 platform
Power Solar cells, batteries

The ION-SCV (ION - Satellite Carrier Vehicle), developed by Italian company D-Orbit, is a free-flying CubeSat deployer and technology demonstrator. The CubeSat carrier will host several CubeSats to be deployed once in orbit.

  • The ION-SCV 002 Laurentius (ION - Satellite Carrier Vehicle), developed by Italian company D-Orbit, is a free-flying CubeSat deployer and technology demonstrator. The CubeSat carrier will host several CubeSats to be deployed once in orbit.

    ION-SVC-2 is the first flight of the improved propulsive ION mk02 platform. Positioned in a sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km, ION-SCV 002 will deploy the hosted CubeSats one by one along the orbit in precise orbital slots, according to customer?s specifications. After the CubeSat deployment phase, which may last up to one month, ION CubeSat Carrier will initiate the in-orbit validation phase of payloads directly integrated on the platform.

    During the mission, named PULSE, the ION SCV 002 Laurentius deployed 20 CubeSats in orbit - 8 Flock-4s and 12 SpaceBEE.

    It also hosts a number of non-deployable experiments, which include:

    • DRAGO (Demonstrator for Remote Analysis of Ground Observations), a space camera in the near infrared to make Earth Observations developed by the IACTEC-Space programme of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). For this mision, the DRAGO payload is integrated in a standard CubeSat structure which will connect it with the electrical and data interface of the ION Satellite Carrier.
    • ARGO 1.0, a fully autonomous plug & play star tracker, developed by the Italian company EICAS AUTOMAZIONE in the frame of H2020 SME-INSTRUMENT ARGO PROJECT (GA# 738589), specifically designed for satisfying the needs of the emerging small satellites market, especially in term of cost-competitiveness. The In-Orbit Demonstration onboard the ION Satellite Carrier is focused on in orbit validation up to TRL9 of the core functionalities of the system, including attitude determination and tracking, in flight auto re-calibration of the camera model and robustness to high speed and acceleration manoeuvres.

    It was launched on a Falcon-9 v1.2 in 2021 from Cape Canaveral.

  • The ION-SCV 003 Dauntless David hosted seven CubeSats to be deployed once in orbit. During the mission, named Wild Ride, it will deploy 6 CubeSats in orbit: NAPA 2, Spartan, Neptuno, W-Cube, Ghalib, QMR-KWT. It also hosts a number of non-deployable experiments, which include:
    • During the in-orbit demonstration phase, ION will operate LaserCube, by the Italian Stellar Project, a payload hosted onboard through an innovative plug-and-play system that streamlines the integration of instruments and experiments developed independently by third parties.
    • The third phase will be focused on testing Nebula, a payload at the core of D-Orbit?s upcoming advanced services. The first iteration of Nebula, an on-demand, on-orbit cloud computing and data storage service being developed by D-Orbit UK, features Unibap?s SpaceCloud iX5-100 radiation tolerant computing module. A range of innovative applications will be demonstrated using sophisticated, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) techniques; some of these experiments will feature video compressing techniques from industry specialist V-Nova.
    • Another Machine Learning payload, called ?Worldfloods? and eveloped by the Frontier Development Lab (FDL) has the ability to identify flooding and send down a flood map to emergency responders seconds after image acquisition.
    • During the fourth and final phase, decommissioning, D-Orbit?s operations team will deploy ADEO-N, named ?Show me your Wings?, a small 1U-size de-orbit sail subsystem by the German HPS.
    • The mission will also feature a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) experiment in collaboration with media artist Daniela de Paulis and INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica). The experiment, which investigates the possibility to communicate with other kinds of life in the universe, consists in the transmission of simulated alien messages to be received and decoded by radio telescopes worldwide.
    It was launched on a Falcon-9 v1.2 in June 2021 from Cape Canaveral.
  • ION-SCV 004 Elysian Eleonora on a mission called Dashing Through The Stars.
  • ION-SCV 005 Almighty Alexius on a mission called Spacelust
  • ION-SCV 006 Thrilling Thomas on a mission called Infinite Blue
  • ION-SCV 007 Glorious Gratia on a mission called Second Star to the Right
  • ION-SCV 008 Fierce Franciscus also on a mission called Second Star to the Right
  • ION-SCV 009 Eclectic Elena on the mission called Starfield is an experimental mission which will test ION?s ability to operate and maneuver in an extremely low orbit. It carries ADEO-N3, an autonomous braking sail developed by the Munich-based space company HPS designed to help deorbit satellites in LEO, the NEA Payload Release Ring (PRR) by Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (EBAD) for the deployment of a Satellite Simulator (EBAD Test Mass) , Bunny, an onboard computer developed in-house by the students of the Spacecraft Team of the Swiss Institute École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and SD-1, a memorial payload by StardustMe consisting of a batch of aluminum machined capsules, each carrying a gram of human cremated ashes, contained in an additive-manufactured frame and enclosure.
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
ION SCV-002 2021-006CV 2021-01-24 AFETR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.0 R1-1, ..., R1-10, QPS-SAR 2, Capella 3, 4, ICEYE X8, X9, XR 1, GHGSat C2, Hawk 2A, 2B, 2C, Sherpa-FX 1, ION-SCV 002, AII-Charlie, Hiber 4, ASELSAT, PIXL 1, SOMP 2b, IDEASSat, YUSAT 1, UVSQ-SAT, V-R3x 1, 2, 3, Flock-4s 1, ..., 48, Kepler 8, ..., 15, Astrocast 0101, ..., 0105, SpaceBEE 40, ..., 75, Lemur-2 130, ..., 137, PTD 1, Prometheus-2 10, ARCE 1A, 1B, 1C
ION SCV-003 2021-059AK 2021-06-30 AFETR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.5 R1-1, ..., R1-3, Umbra-SAR 2001, YAM 2, YAM 3, ÑuSat 19, ..., 22, ICEYE X11, X12, X13, X15, TUBIN, Mandrake 2A, 2B, Capella 5, GNOMES 2, LINCS 1, 2, PACE 1, TROPICS 01, D2/AtlaCom 1, EG 3, Centauri 4, Lemur-2 140, ..., 145, SpaceBEE 88, ..., 111, SpaceBEENZ 7, ..., 10, Sherpa-FX 2, Lynk 06, Hawk 3A, 3B, 3C, Astrocast 0201, ..., 0205, Painani 2, Sherpa-LTE 1, Tenzing, Aurora, Arthur 1, Faraday Phoenix, KSF 1A, ..., 1D, Tiger 2, NAPA 2, Spartan, Neptuno, W-Cube, Ghalib, QMR-KWT
ION SCV-004 2022-002K 2022-01-13 AFETR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Umbra 02, Capella 7, 8, ICEYE X14, X16, Sich 2-1, ION-SCV 004, Dodona, STORK 1, 2, LabSat, SW1FT, VZLUSAT 2, ETV A1, BRO 5, HYPSO 1, Kepler 16, ..., 19, Flock-4x 1, ..., 44, FOREST 1, Lemur-2 149, 150, Lemur-2 146, 147, DEWA-Sat 1, NuX 1, IRIS A, MDASat 1a, 1b, 1c, Gossamer Piccolomini, Tevel 1, ..., 8, Challenger, Delfi-PQ 1, Unicorn 2A, 2D, 2E, FossaSat 2E1, ..., 2E6, MDQube-SAT 1, SATLLA 2A, 2B, Unicorn 1, EASAT 2, HADES, Grizu-263a, PION-BR 1, SanoSat 1, Tartan-Artibeus 1, USA 320, ..., 323
ION SCV-005 2022-033G 2022-04-01 AFETR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with with EnMAP, ÑuSat 23, ..., 27, GNOMES 3, Hawk 4A, 4B, 4C, Lynk 05, ION-SCV 005, KSF 2A, ..., 2D, PlantSat, SUCHAI 2, SUCHAI 3, MP42, ARCSAT, Spark 1, Pixxel-TD 2, BRO 7, AlfaCrux, BDSAT, SpaceBEE 128, ..., 139
ION SCV-006 2022-057AF 2022-05-25 AFETR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Umbra 03, ICEYE X17, ..., X20, X24, ÑuSat 28, ..., 31, GHGSat C3, C4, C5, Hawk 5A, 5B, 5C, CICERO-2 1, 2, Sherpa-AC 1, ION-SCV 006, Guardian 1, SBUDNIC, Vigoride 3, SelfieSat, FossaSat 2E7, ..., 2E13, Veery FS-1, Urdaneta-Armsat 1, Spark 2, AMS, CNCE 4, 5, Platform 1, BroncoSat 1, Foresail 1, Planetum 1, SPiN 1, Connecta T1.1, Centauri 5, Sejong 1, Lemur-2 153, ..., 156, VariSat 1C, PTD 3, CPOD A, B, OMD 1
ION SCV-011 2023-084AB 2023-06-12 AFWTR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with W-Series 1, Skykraft Deployer 3, Skykraft 3A, ..., 3D, ICEYE X23, X25, X26, X30, GHOSt 3, Grégoire, Runner 1, Tomorrow R2, QPS-SAR 6, ÑuSat 40, ..., 43, Aces 1, ..., 4, HOTSAT 1, AFR, DROID.001, MuSat 1, ION-SCV 011, Outpost Mission 1, EPICHyper 2, Kelpie 2, Spei Satelles, ELO 4, MRC-100, Unicorn 2I, SATLLA 2I, URESAT 1, Istanbul, ROM 2, Orbiter SN3, Otter Pup, MDQSAT 1C, 1D, Pleiades-Squared, GEI-SAT Precursor, XVI, AII-Delta, Ayris 1, 2, EIVE, FOREST 2, Lemur-2 167, 168, MISR-A 1, MISR-B 2, Tiger 4, FOSSASat FEROX 1, ..., 4, SpaceBEE 168, ..., 179
ION SCV-013 2023-174AW 2023-11-11 AFWTR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with ICEYE X31, X32, X34, X35, Umbra-SAR 07, 08, Pelican 1, FalconSat 10, SPIP, Aether 1, 2, ION-SCV 013, EPICHyper 3, Intuition 1, Crypto3, Lemur-2 181, OSW Cazorla, Ymir 1, Pico 1A-1, ..., 9, Unicorn 2J, 2K, HADES D, ROM 3, SpaceANT-D, Tartan Artibeus 2, Impulse 1, Time We?ll Tell, SpaceVan 001, EXO 0, GHGSat C9, C10, C11, Observer 1A, ProtoMéthée, MANTIS, BRO 10, 11, Connecta T3.1, T3.2, GENMAT 1, NinjaSat, OrbAstro PC1, OrbAstro TR1, PEARL 1C, 1H, Platero, Platform 5, Tiger 5, 6, Vindlér 1.1, ..., 1.4, Ella 1, Aman 1 (R), Barry 1, Flock-4q 1, ..., 36, Heron Mk.2, IRIS C2, KAFASAT, Lemur-2 179, 180, OMNI-LER1, Outpost Mission 2, JinjuSat 1, Djibouti 1A, Picacho, Veronika, Hello Test 1, 2
ION SCV-015 2023-185H 2023-12-01 AFWTR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with KORSAT 7, µHETsat, GNOMES 4, KOYOH, Bane, ION-SCV 015, ALISIO 1, LOGSATS, NanoFF A, B, Unicorn 2L, 2M, 2N, MDQube-SAT 2, SpIRIT, Lilium 1, EIRSAT 1, ENSO, Hayasat 1