TriSept Corporation & RocketStar are pleased to announce the Successful Test Integration and Pre-launch Testing of RocketStar’s aerospike-powered rocket, set to launch in September!
Student payloads to fly on RocketStar suborbital test flight – SPACENEWS
RocketStar set to launch test flight carrying TriSept satellite security solution – Satellite Evolution Group
NEWS Release
RocketStar Set to Launch Test Flight Carrying TriSept Satellite Security Solution Aboard Pair of Experimental Mission Payloads
Launch offers suborbital space access to UCF and BYU payloads from Mojave Spaceport in September
CHANTILLY, VA/Logan, UT – August 9, 2022 – TriSept Corporation, a leading provider of launch integration and mission management services, today announced it has completed the integration of two experimental mission payloads running its new TSEL satellite security operating software for a suborbital test flight aboard RocketStar’s launch vehicle set to liftoff from the Koehn Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert.
TriSept has teamed with RocketStar and its 40-foot-tall, aerospike-powered Cowbell rocket to further lower barriers to space for commercial, government and experimental missions, like the payloads the University of Central Florida and Brigham Young University will launch and study in September.
“This is the first in a series of suborbital flights aboard our RocketStar Cowbell launch vehicle, with each mission powered by the Aerospike engine designed to achieve more altitude and flight data as we build toward our first orbital insertion mission on our larger launch vehicle in 2023,” said Chris Craddock, RocketStar CEO. “RocketStar is thrilled to partner with the experienced TriSept launch and integration team, as we roll in our portable launch facility and throw open the door even wider to affordable and reliable small sat access to space.”
A small team of UCF students will be closely studying their payload mission, which will simulate asteroid particle activity in space during the thirteen-minute flight. They will examine a collection of colliding particles inside a device they’ve named the entrapulator, after a similar payload the university has flown on the International Space Station and other vehicles.
The UCF mission aims to shed more light on collisions in the protoplanetary nebula and the evolution of loose materials or regolith on the surface of asteroids during such an impact. Brigham Young University’s College of Engineering students have designed a sensor package dubbed Motron II that will measure motion, acceleration and vibration aboard the launch vehicle and help mission operators better understand and design for launches of small payloads.
In addition to the rich scientific and technical data both university teams expect to harvest from their missions, they are also excited to explore the valuable findings from the first suborbital tests of TriSept’s new satellite security operating system.
“This experiment is providing a new batch of students the chance to interface and gain invaluable real-world experience with seasoned engineers in the space industry,” said Dr. David Long, an Engineering Professor with the BYU Center for Remote Sensing. “We are excited to work with TriSept and RocketStar to put our flight motion payload to the test and to work with flight-grade security software on its maiden voyage in space.”
“Our students are always thrilled to launch a mission into space. TriSept opened the door to this great opportunity for our students to participate in the integration and launch of our payload aboard the RocketStar rocket,” said Josh Colwell, a UCF Physics Professor whose students at the Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education have developed the mission studying asteroids. “We are also incredibly excited to be among the first involved in the milestone tests of new satellite security software that could help pave the way to a new level of protected missions in space.”
“TriSept is passionate about opening up safe space access to everyone, including students who often can only dream about getting their experimental missions aboard a rocket and launched into space,” said Jason Armstrong, TriSept’s Director of Launch and Integration Services. “Our focus will be on supporting two experimental missions and the inaugural flight of our new TSEL satellite security operating system running on both university payload missions. It’s another step toward securing small satellite operations with a new protection solution that is now commercially available.”
The TriSept Secure Embedded Layer (TSEL) operating system, capable of detecting, tracking and eliminating known and emerging vulnerabilities on conventional and small satellites, will undergo a series of environmental and operational tests during the thirteen-minute mission to the edge of space.
“This is an exciting collaborative and multi-faceted mission for two innovative companies determined to transform space access, making it simpler and more affordable for small sat missions looking for both shared and dedicated rides into orbit,” said Rob Spicer, TriSept Founder and CEO. “It’s a historic launch of firsts – the inaugural RocketStar launch vehicle carrying a pair of experimental missions and TriSept’s TSEL operating system is on the verge of making satellite missions and the company’s depending on them more secure from this day forward.”
TriSept’s TSEL was developed to meet rising demand across the satellite industry for a managed cybersecurity solution that secures an embedded device much like a terrestrial server is protected. TSEL offers a series of automated mechanisms and updates that deliver far more detailed audit data, near-real-time security analysis and patch updates along with “zero trust” verification layers that protect against hackers and provide an accurate account of what’s happening aboard the satellite at all times.
A rising number of attacks on critical infrastructure across the U.S. and the world have shown just how vulnerable spacecraft can be, especially as the vast majority of small satellites launched into orbit are ill prepared to protect themselves in the event of adversarial threats.
For further information please contact:
Paul Sims, for TriSept Corporation, 678-576-6126, paul@simscomm.com
About TriSept Corporation
TriSept is the leading provider of launch integration and program management services for commercial and government missions, with more than 210 satellites launched on 23 different launch vehicles from 16 launch sites across the globe. Founded over 28 years ago and headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, TriSept helped conceptualize and shape the very rideshare and small satellite missions it supports today with the most experienced launch integration team in the industry. For more information about TriSept and how it is enabling a new age of breakthrough missions in space, visit www.trisept.com.
About RocketStar
RocketStar is transforming access to space through the creation and launch of fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles that will offer a whole new level of accessibility, affordability and reliability for the future of space travel. RocketStar’s revolutionary patent-pending Aerospike Engine can get customer’s satellites into low Earth orbit with a single stage rocket that affords a minimal turnaround time to next launch.
