LEO Express-1 Mission Updates

Last updated: July 26, 2024

Mission: LEO Express-1 | Status: Complete and Successful | Impulse Vehicle: Mira

Launcher: SpaceX | Mission: Transporter-9 | Site: Vandenberg | Launch Date: November 2023

Overview

LEO Express-1 was the inaugural mission for Impulse’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), Mira. After successfully completing all mission objectives, the active phase of LEO Express-1 is now concluded. Over 7-months, Mira achieved several exciting milestones:

Strong Performance of In-House Designs: An example of Impulse's vertical integration approach, Mira features numerous parts and systems created in-house, including thrusters, valves, ignitors, pressure transducers, star trackers, cameras, core avionics, flight software (FSW), and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) capabilities.
Immediate Autonomous Operations: Autonomous sun pointing and system checkouts post-deployment.
Successful Payload Deployment: Deployed the customer’s 3U CubeSat with precision.
Record-Breaking Maneuvers: Completed what we believe are the two largest orbital maneuvers ever made by a nitrous-based system, including the largest orbit raise (150 km in 75 seconds) ever by an OTV on its debut mission.
Responsible Operations: Operated successfully on orbit during the mission, while also demonstrating a successful collision avoidance maneuver within 48 hours of notice. Operations concluded with a 62-second burn to lower the vehicle back to its initial drop-off orbit.

We are immensely proud of and grateful to the team whose hard work made LEO Express-1 such a huge success. They progressed Mira from a clean-sheet design to successful in-space operations in just 15 months — a testament to their dedication and innovation. Thank you to everyone who followed and supported LEO Express-1, and stay tuned for updates on our next mission!

The Impulse team with Mira

Updates

July 26, 2024

Update 9: Mission concluded

Mira has successfully completed all mission objectives, including:

Immediate autonomous operations and sun-pointing
Establishing command and control
Deploying a customer payload
What we believe are the two largest orbital maneuvers ever with a nitrous-based system
The largest orbit raise ever by an OTV on its debut mission
Nine months operation in orbit

Most recently, we did a 62-second burn to lower the vehicle back to its initial drop-off orbit, which is intended to be its long-term parking orbit. Since reaching this orbit, the comms issues we’ve experienced intermittently since the start of the mission have worsened, and we can no longer consistently communicate with the vehicle. As a result, we have concluded the active part of our mission.

This result is as expected — we knew going into the mission that communications hardware and software were by far the least mature part of our vehicle, which is why we completely revamped the system for our next flight. We started this work months before our first launch, and the new system is ready for LEO Express-2 (pictured below).

Our next mission, scheduled to launch on Transporter-12, will feature two new radios (dual-redundant S- and X-band), new software, and over a year more ground testing for the comms system compared to the first flight.

The LEO Express-1 mission was a huge success: designed, built and launched in under 15 months, we consider this the best OTV debut mission ever. We go into our next mission with extremely high confidence.

Mira, LEO Express-2

April 3rd, 2024

Update 8: Primary mission objectives complete!

After four months navigating orbit, Mira — our first orbital transfer vehicle — has successfully completed all of its primary mission objectives!

We celebrated the final milestone on Thursday with our eighth and most significant burn: 75 seconds in duration, achieving a 150 km apogee raise. We think this is the largest single maneuver to date by a nitrous-based propulsion system and the largest orbit raise by any OTV on its debut mission. The ability to change an orbit by hundreds of kilometers within minutes demonstrates the type of rapid maneuvering capability Impulse wants to bring to the industry. Mira's time in orbit isn't over yet — we are continuing to test and fly, prepping for our next mission, which will launch later this year.

Delta-v and altitude raise from Mira's eighth burn

March 19th, 2024

Update 7: Imagery of Mira's seventh burn 🔥

Day and night shots of Mira and its Saiph thrusters. The night image shows our seventh burn, where all eight thrusters fired for ~60 seconds. They imparted 34 m/s delta-v, performed a plane change, and lowered Mira's orbit by ~30 km.

Saiph thrusters firing on Mira LEO Express-1

Saiph thrusters on Mira LEO Express-1

Accumulated delta-v from burn #7

December 26th, 2023

Update 6: Dodging Orbital Debris During the Holidays 🎄

Today, our Mira orbit transfer vehicle executed a collision avoidance maneuver in response to a potential collision risk identified by the US Space Force. The maneuver successfully eliminated any possibility of collision! Thanks to our Mission Operations team for working during the holidays to track this risk and react accordingly. Being prepared to perform these maneuvers on short notice is a crucial part of responsible spacecraft operations.

Mira orbital elements during the maneuver

December 21, 2023

Update 5: First-try ignition of all eight bi-propellant Saiph thrusters!

Mira has Impulse! Yesterday marked a major milestone as we executed a flawless first-time firing of all eight 5lb (22N) Saiph thrusters on our orbital transfer vehicle, Mira—hats off to our team for their engineering preparation and a well-tested system.