ION Satellite Carrier
D-Orbit
In-Orbit-Now (ION) orbital transfer vehicle for precise satellite deployment and hosted payloads.
Technical specifications
- Type
- Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV)
- Service modes
- Precise deployment / constellation phasing / hosted payload
- Payload bay
- Configurable, multi-payload, plug-and-play I/F
- First flight
- September 2020 (ION SCV "Lucas")
- Compatible launchers
- SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare, Vega-C
About
ION Satellite Carrier (SCV) is D-Orbit’s flagship orbital transfer vehicle. After release from the launcher in the standard rideshare drop-off orbit, ION carries CubeSats and microsatellites to their individually requested orbital slots — plane, altitude and phasing — before deploying them or hosting them as payloads for the duration of the mission.
ION’s configurable payload bay supports last-mile satellite delivery, precise constellation phasing across orbital planes, hosted-payload operations and on-orbit technology demonstration. Since its maiden flight (ION SCV “Lucas”) in September 2020 the platform has flown on multiple SpaceX rideshare and Vega missions.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.