BRO (Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter) / Unseenlabs

BRO (Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter) / Unseenlabs

Spacecraft     Launches    Mission Status     References

Unseenlabs, a startup commercial company of Rennes in northwestern France (in the east of Brittany), is developing a constellation of about 20 satellites to monitor maritime traffic, using orbiting sensors to track ships that turn off their AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders. The company, is building its own payloads, while relying on GomSpace of Denmark and Sweden for six-unit spacecraft platforms. ¹⁾

The founders of Unseenlabs are Clément Galic, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and Jonathan Galic, CTO (Chief Technology Officer). The overall objective of Unseenlabs is to operate a spaceborne technology to identify, recognize and track a broad range of radio emitters and to collect & process proprietary data for maritime surveillance. The radio frequency (RF) detection system was developed entirely in-house (hardware and software), to detect and characterize with unmatched accuracy and in near real-time the passive electromagnetic signature of any ship (cooperative or not), anytime (day or night), anywhere on the globe, regardless of weather conditions. The ability to locate and monitor vessels is essential in the fight against pollution and illegal traffic and contributes to the safety on our oceans.

Created in 2015, Unseenlabs is an innovative company of France, leader in Europe in RF satellite geolocation of ships at sea. Its proprietary on-board satellite technology allows to geolocate any ship at sea, in near-real time, to the nearest kilometer, from a single nanosatellite. Unseenlabs provides a wide range of maritime players with accurate and up-to-date data on ship positions, enabling better monitoring of activities at sea. Whether it is to meet the data needs of maritime companies, or to help institutions and organizations fight against illegal and anti-environmental behavior, such as illegal fishing or illegal dumping, Unseenlabs is intended to be a tool at the service of the oceans. In 2018, Unseenlabs welcomed BPI, the Brittany region and Hemeriain its capital for an amount of 7.5 M€. ²⁾

Spacecraft

In the summer of 2017, Unseenlabs SAS signed a contract with GomSpace ApS of Denmark, a subsidiary of GomSpace Group AB of Sweden, to develop and deliver a system based on nanosatellites to provide disruptive spectrum monitoring services from space. The system will operate innovative payloads developed by Unseenlabs, including unique hardware and software. ⁴⁾

Launches

Mission Status

• August 16, 2024: Unseenlabs latests 8U CubeSats, BRO-14 and BRO-15, were launched from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) at 18:56 UTC, onboard SpaceX’s Transporter-11 Rideshare mission on a Falcon-9 rocket. 32)

• March 4, 2024: BRO-12 & BRO-13 (H2OWL MISSION), have successfully reached orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-10 mission at 22:05 UTC. This success significantly broadens Unseenlab’s technological horizon, reinforcing their commitment to delivering unmatched RF data for Maritime Domain Awareness.
The addition of BRO-12 and BRO-13 enhance capabilities in RF detection, ensuring more comprehensive coverage and accuracy in tracking maritime activities. 30)

• November 11, 2023: Unseenlabs’s BRO-10 & 11 were launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 mission at 17:49 UTC, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. BRO-11 is a 6U but BRO-10 is a larger CubeSat, based on the size of the deployers containing them.
The booster landed back at the launch site seven and a half minutes after liftoff. Transporter-9 carried 90 payloads deployed over the course of half an hour, starting about 55 minutes after liftoff, although confirmations of a successful deployment were initially missing for several of the satellites. Those payloads included several orbital transfer vehicles that will later deploy their satellites, bringing the total satellites on the launch to more than 110. 28) 29)

• April 15, 2023:  BRO-9 was launched on the Transporter-7 mission. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California after several days of weather-related delays. The upper stage reached orbit a little more than eight minutes later, shortly after the first stage landed back at the launch site.
Most of the payloads were deployed starting an hour after liftoff, following a second burn of the upper stage. Those payloads were released over a span of about 20 minutes. The upper stage then performed two more maneuvers before deploying the final, and largest, payload, the 800-kilogram IMECE imaging satellite built by Turkish research institute Tübitak Uzay 2 hours and 35 minutes after liftoff.
This launch, the 23rd Falcon 9 mission of the year, did have some novelties. It was the first Falcon 9 launch to use a shorter nozzle on the rocket’s upper-stage engine. Company representatives said on the launch webcast that they will use the shorter nozzle, which saves money, on launches that do not need as much performance, but retain the longer nozzle for higher-performance missions.
That affected the landing of the booster. Falcon 9 missions have previously used three engines on its entry burn and a single engine for landing. On this flight, though, the booster reversed that, firing a single engine for the entry burn but three for landing, an approach SpaceX has previously used for landings of Falcon Heavy side boosters but not for the Falcon 9.
The launch carried 51 payloads, SpaceX said, although it did not release a full list of the satellites on board. This was the first in SpaceX’s series of Transporter dedicated smallsat rideshare missions to launch from Vandenberg, after the first six launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and New Zealand. 27)

• January 3, 2023: BRO-8 was launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 mission at 9:56 a.m. Eastern, from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida.
The rocket’s first stage, making its 15th flight, landed back at the Cape’s Landing Zone 1 eight and a half minutes after liftoff.
The rocket’s upper stage started releasing its 114 payloads into sun-synchronous orbit nearly an hour after liftoff, a process involving 82 individual deployments that took more than a half-hour to complete. SpaceX was able to confirm 77 of the deployments in real time. 25) 26)

• May 3, 2022: BRO-6, was launched on an Electron rocket, from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 22:49 UTC after a brief hold in the countdown. The rocket’s ascent went as planned, with the kick stage, carrying a payload of 34 smallsats, reaching orbit about 10 minutes later.
About 15 minutes after launch, the descending booster came into view of Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter. Video from the helicopter appeared to show the hook grappling the parachute to cheers from mission control. Moments later, though, there were groans and the webcast cut away, suggesting that perhaps the helicopter lost the booster. More than a half-hour later, Rocket Lab confirmed that the helicopter had grappled, but then released, the booster.
On this mission, dubbed “There and Back Again” by Rocket Lab, the attention was on the rocket’s first stage. After three previous launches where the stage descended under a parachute to splash down in the ocean for recovery by a ship, the company planned to capture the stage in midair using a helicopter. A hook descending from the helicopter would grab the parachute, which would then return the stage to land or set it down on a ship without exposing it to salt water.
The company billed the midair capture as the final step in its efforts to reuse the stage. A successful midair recovery could allow the company to fly the stage again later this year, enabling the company to increase its flight rate without manufacturing more boosters. 22)

• April 1, 2022: BRO-7, was launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
SpaceX beat predictions of poor weather, with just a 30% chance of acceptable weather projected the day before liftoff. However, conditions improved in the hours leading up to liftoff to allow the launch to proceed.
The rocket’s booster landed on a drone-ship in the Caribbean near the Bahamas, because of the southerly trajectory taken by the booster, at almost the exact time the upper stage reached orbit. That booster was on its seventh flight, having previously launched two NASA commercial crew missions, one commercial cargo mission, NASA’s IXPE astronomy satellite, the SXM-8 radio satellite and one set of Starlink satellites. 24)

• January 13, 2022: Unseenlabs, a French company developing a satellite system for maritime domain awareness, launched its fifth satellite, BRO-5, on Transporter-3. “The deployment of BRO-5 enables us to strengthen our international activities,” Clément Galic, chief executive of Unseenlabs, said in a statement.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 placed more than 100 smallsats into orbit, as the company accelerates the pace of its dedicated rideshare missions. 21)

• August 10, 2021: French startup Unseenlabs is set to fly its next maritime surveillance nanosatellite on an Arianespace Vega rocket in mid-August, instead of launching with Rocket Lab as it did for the first three BRO spacecraft the venture has launched since mid-2019. ³⁾

- The Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter-4 (BRO-4) is joining Arianespace’s second Vega rocket mission of 2021, which lifted off from French Guiana on August 17 at 01:47 UTC.

- Vega’s primary mission is to deploy the Pléiades Neo 4 optical imaging satellite for builder and operator Airbus. Three European Space Agency CubeSats are also joining the launch.

- The upcoming Vega mission will be the 19th time that Arianespace has launched the small launch vehicle, which made its maiden flight in 2012.

- It is also the first since returning to flight April 28, following a Nov. 16 failure that destroyed its payloads.

- Applications range from providing maritime companies up-to-date data on ship positions to giving governments more tools for tackling illegal fishing.

- Unseenlabs said April 27 it raised 20 million euros ($25 million) to help grow its constellation by 2025 to between 20 and 25 satellites, up from the four it will have in orbit with a successful launch of BRO-4.

• May 20, 2021: ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, today announced that it has entered into a global commercial reseller agreement with Unseenlabs, a French company that specializes in the geolocation of ships at sea and a European leader in satellite Radio Frequency (RF) detection from space, to offer its unique, space-collected RF services for maritime surveillance applications to ORBCOMM’s government and commercial Automatic Identification System (AIS) customers. ¹²⁾

- Leveraging a dedicated, state-of-the art satellite constellation, Unseenlabs’ RF emissions detection services enable maritime surveillance of “dark” vessels at sea, which turn off their AIS transponders or cooperative beacons to engage in illegal activities and evade authorities. Using its proprietary, on-board RF technology based on the identification of electromagnetic waves emitted by ships, Unseenlabs is able to geolocate any vessel at sea from space, in near-real time and regardless of weather conditions to within a kilometer, from a single nanosatellite. Unseenlabs supplies a wide range of maritime stakeholders with accurate, up-to-date data on vessel positions, using a unique electromagnetic fingerprint, to enable unfalsifiable identification of the emitter and provide significantly enhanced tracking of activities at sea.

- ORBCOMM will distribute Unseenlabs’ value-added RF data, along with ORBCOMM’s industry-leading AIS service, through ORBCOMM’s established government and commercial maritime channels to provide an enhanced picture of vessel activity around the world. Unseenlabs’ data supplements and synergizes with ORBCOMM’s AIS data to take vessel tracking and monitoring to a higher level of reliability and precision. By offering AIS customers the ability to locate and monitor “dark” vessels, ORBCOMM and Unseenlabs can play a valuable role in the fight against unlawful and anti-environmental behavior, such as illegal fishing or dumping of hydrocarbons, to greatly improve the safety and security of the world’s oceans.

- ORBCOMM’s pioneering AIS data service has provided the most comprehensive and reliable global coverage in the market over the last decade. ORBCOMM continues to advance its AIS business by enhancing its satellite AIS service with two new, next-generation AIS CubeSats that feature advanced software defined radio receivers and unique multi-antenna implementation, and are expected to expand coverage of ORBCOMM’s constellation, increase visibility to smaller Class B ships and extend its polar footprint with launches planned within the next year. In addition, ORBCOMM is working with AAC Clyde Space and Saab to develop a next-generation, spaceborne VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) satellite, expected to launch in 2022, which will enhance maritime communications by providing more extensive global coverage and increased bandwidth and versatility.

• March 29, 2021: On March 1st, 2021, Marubeni Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, and Unseenlabs SAS signed a commercial partnership agreement to provide the entire Japanese market with Unseenlabs’ high added-value maritime data. ¹³⁾

- Marubeni is a major Japanese integrated trading and investment business conglomerate that handles products and provides services in a broad range of businesses across wide-ranging fields. Through this commercial partnership agreement, Marubeni aims to provide various commercial support for the Japanese market, including a wide distribution network for Unseenlabs’s maritime data.

• November 20, 2020: This morning at 3:13 (UTC), Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle successfully deployed the BRO-2 and BRO-3 nanosatellites (6U CubeSats) to a sun-synchronous orbit of 500 km altitude. The launch of BRO-2 and BRO-3 marks the beginning of the deployment of the Unseenlabs constellation, which will comprise between 20 and 25 nanosatellites by 2025. ¹⁴⁾

• November 12, 2020: While waiting for the upcoming launch of our two new satellites, here’s an example of what Unseenlabs’ maritime monitoring system can achieve with just our first satellite BRO-1. Unseenlabs’ innovative technology is currently the only one on the market that allows for each satellite to be an independent measurement point. Our three satellites will thus be able to monitor three different areas of interest simultaneously, while guaranteeing the best revisit time available on the RF detection market. ¹⁵⁾

• November 9, 2020: The French company Unseenlabs, a specialist in the geolocation of ships at sea and the European leader in space-based RF satellite detection, announced the signature of a support agreement with the Norwegian company KSAT, the world leader in satellite communication ground services, for the operation of its network of ground stations around the world. ¹⁶⁾

- Thanks to the integration with KSAT, Unseenlabs will now have potential access to all 25 KSAT Ground Station sites, and its entire fleet of 200 satellite dishes, around the world. Subscribing to the KSAT^Lite service will enable Unseenlabs to benefit from high-speed data transmission and thus reduce the delivery time of geolocation data to its customers by a factor of 3.

• November 3, 2020: The launch of BRO-2 and BRO-31 nanosatellites will take place at the Rocket Lab launch complex on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. ¹⁷⁾

- Unseenlabs' technology is the only one today that allows to geolocate a ship so precisely and quickly from a single nanosatellite. With the launch of BRO-2 and BRO-3, the Unseenlabs constellation will now include three satellites. Each one will be a different measurement point, allowing to monitor 3 different areas of interest simultaneously. The objective over the next five years is to create a constellation of 20 to 25 nanosatellites, which will make it possible to increase the system's responsiveness and the speed at which ships can be tracked.

- Marketed since January 2020, the Unseenlabs service is gaining in identification accuracy with each satellite launch.

• August 19, 2020: Today, Unseenlabs celebrates the first anniversary of the BRO-1 launch. ¹⁹⁾

- The name BRO-1 ( Breizh-Recon-Orbiter-1) is a tribute to the Brittany region, but also to the Galic brothers, founders of the company.

- The satellite was injected into its nominal circular orbit with an altitude of 550 km and inclination of 45°, making Unseenlabs the first French privately-owned company to go to space.

- BRO-1 has proven to be operational ever since, successfully gathering and delivering unique data for maritime surveillance.

• June 6, 2020: Five years ago, Jonathan Galic and Clément Galic founded Unseenlabs to bring a new type of data to the maritime surveillance market. ²⁰⁾

• 2019: The company announced the launch of its first satellite dedicated to maritime surveillance from space: Mission BRO-1. In August 2019, Unseenlabs became the first French privately-owned company to go to space. In October 2019, the company launched its commercial service. The first data was delivered to the first clients worldwide.

References

1) https://unseenlabs.space/technology/

2) ”Unseenlabs accelerates its commercial development and signs a support agreement with KSAT,” Unseenlabs Press Release, 9 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space
/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Press-release_UnseenLabs-x-KSAT-1.pdf

3) Jason Rainbow, ”Unseenlabs lines up Vega flight for fourth maritime surveillance satellite,” SpaceNews, 10 August 2021, URL: https://spacenews.com/
unseenlabs-lines-up-vega-flight-for-fourth-maritime-surveillance-satellite/

4) ”GomSpace selected by Unseenlabs for the turn-key delivery of a disruptive spectrum monitoring system,” GomSpace, 20 June 2017, URL: https://gomspace.com
/news/gomspace-selected-by-unseenlabs-for-the-turn-.aspx

5) ”Look Ma, No Hands,” Rocket Lab, 19 August 2019, URL: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/completed-missions/to-be-announced/

6) Jeff Foust, ”Rocket Lab Electron launches four smallsats,” SpaceNews, 19 August 2019, URL: https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-electron-launches-four-smallsats/

7) ”Return to Sender - Mission Overview,” Rocket Lab, 20 November, URL: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/completed-missions/flight-16/

8) ”Return to Sender Press Kit,” Rocket Lab, November 2020, URL: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/Return-to-Sender-Press-Kit-RL-Final3.pdf

9) ”Unseenlabs announces the launch of nano-satellites BRO-2 and BRO-3 and the deployment of the constellation dedicated to the geolocation of ships at sea,” Unseenlabs Press Release, 3 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/
PRESS-RELEASE-Unseenlabs-to-launch-BRO-2-and-BRO-3.pdf

10) ”19th Vega mission demonstrates Arianespace’s ability to deliver for the most innovative projects for the benefits of its clients,” Arianespace Press Release, 17 August 2021, URL: https://www.arianespace.com/press-release/vv19-vega-launch-success/

11) ”Vega launches Pléiades Neo and CubeSats,” ESA Enabling & Support, 17 August 2021, URL: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation
/Vega/Vega_launches_Pleiades_Neo_and_CubeSats

12) ”Unseenlabs Partners With ORBCOMM to Provide Maritime Surveillance Service for Government and Commercial AIS Customers,” ORBCOMM News, 20 May 2021, URL: https://www.orbcomm.com/de/company-investors/news/2021/
unseenlabs-partners-orbcomm-provide-maritime-surveillance-service-2021

13) ”Commercial Partnership Agreement between Marubeni and Unseenlabs for the Japanese Market,” Unseenlabs, Marubeni, 29 March 2021, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/
wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Press-Release-Unseenlabs-Marubeni.pdf

14) ”Successful entry into orbit for BRO-2 and BRO-3, the two nanosatellites of the French start-up Unseenlabs,” Unseenlabs Press Release, 20 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space
/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PRESS-RELEASE-BRO-2-AND-BRO-3-LAUNCH-CAG.pdf

15) ”Unseenlabs Operational Use Case,” Unseenlabs, 12 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/2020/11/12/unseenlabs-operational-use-case/

16) ”Unseenlabs accelerates its commercial development,” Unseenlabs Press Release, 9 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Press-release_UnseenLabs-x-KSAT-1.pdf

17) ”Unseenlabs announces the launch of nanosatellites BRO-2 and BRO-3 and the deployment of the constellation dedicated to the geolocation of ships at sea,” Unseenlabs Press Release, 3 November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/
PRESS-RELEASE-Unseenlabs-to-launch-BRO-2-and-BRO-3.pdf

18) ”Unseenlabs - operation constellation,” 2November 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/2020/11/02/unseenlabs-operation-constellation/

19) ”BRO-1 first anniversary,” Unseenlabs, 19 August 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space
/2020/08/19/bro-1-first-anniversary/

20) ”Unseenlabs celebrates its 5th anniversary!,” Unseenlabs, 6 June 2020, URL: https://unseenlabs.space/2020/06/06/unseenlabs-celebrates-its-5th-anniversary/

21) Foust, Jeff, “SpaceX launches third dedicated smallsat rideshare mission”, SpaceNews, January 13, 2022, URL: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-third-dedicated-smallsat-rideshare-mission/ 

22) Foust, Jeff, “Rocket Lab launches smallsats, catches but drops booster”, SpaceNews, May 2, 2022, URL: https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-launches-smallsats-catches-but-drops-booster/

23) Sky Brokers, “UnseenLabs BRO LEO satellite constellation”, URL: https://sky-brokers.com/satellite/unseenlabs-bro-leo-satellite-constellation/  

24) Foust, Jeff, “SpaceX launches fourth dedicated rideshare mission”, SpaceNews, April 1, 2022, URL: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-fourth-dedicated-rideshare-mission/  

25) Foust, Jeff, “SpaceX begins 2023 with Transporter-6 launch”, SpaceNews, January 3, 2023, URL: https://spacenews.com/spacex-begins-2023-with-transporter-6-launch/ 

26) Lentz, Danny, “SpaceX rings in 2023 with Transporter-6 rideshare mission”, January 3, 2023, URL: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/01/spacex-transporter-6/  

27) Foust, Jeff, “SpaceX launches seventh Transporter rideshare mission”, SpaceNews, April 15, 2023, URL: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-seventh-transporter-rideshare-mission/   

28) Lentz, Danny, “SpaceX Transporter 9 rideshare features new OTV from Tom Mueller’s Impulse Space”, November 11, 2023, URL: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/transporter-9/  

29) Foust, Jeff, “SpaceX launches ninth dedicated rideshare mission”, SpaceNews, November 11, 2023, URL: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-ninth-dedicated-rideshare-mission/

30) AeroMorning, “Successful Launch of BRO-12 & BRO-13! [H2OWL MISSION – UNSEENLABS]”, March 5, 2024, URL: https://aeromorning.com/en/successful-launch-of-bro-12-bro-13-h2owl-mission-unseenlabs/ 

31) Gunter’s Space Page, “BRO 1, ..., 25”, URL: https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/bro-1.htm#:~:text=BRO 

32) Lentz Danny, “SpaceX launches Transporter-11 rideshare with 116 payloads”, NASASpaceFlight, August 16, 2024, URL: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/08/transporter-11/ 

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