Walter Frese with OOV-Cube

Walter Frese, CEO of RapidCubes with OOV-Cube (On Orbit Verification Cube) is a 25-by-25 cm nanosatellite that brings together unusual bedfellows: technology testing for wildlife tracking, the Internet of Things and more. Developed by the Technical University of Berlin and Berlin-based company RapidCubes, it will be launched into a low, circular orbit, just 580 km above Earth’s surface.

The mission is a single satellite, but it has several goals, experiments and demonstrations on board that could pave the way for new applications in the field of small satellite constellations.

By performing the first experimental demonstration of a ‘mioty’ high-performance Internet of Things communication protocol, OOV-Cube will test a technology that can be linked to miniaturised transmitters carried by animals, connecting them to scientists in realtime. This would be particularly useful in remote areas without terrestrial infrastructure.

The mission will also test image processing in orbit using Artificial Intelligence (AI) – an important and time-saving ability that would mean data on wildlife monitoring can be processed by the satellite in orbit, rather than later on the ground.

The satellite will also test and verify new cost-effective and efficient perovskite solar cells, verify a wide-angle camera with autofocus – a necessary prerequisite for docking manoeuvres necessary for future service missions to refuel, repair or reorbit satellites. Also important for future on-orbit service missions, OOV-Cube will verify an ‘L-band’ radio system for communications between satellites in low-Earth and geostationary orbits.