On 15th December, SatVu announced the sad news that its HotSat-1 satellite has failed in orbit just six months after launch. The spacecraft suffered an “anomaly, which is expected to impact ongoing operations.”
The HotSat-1 satellite focused on mapping building heat loss for residential and industrial areas. While only in orbit for a short time, Chief Executive Anthony Baker explained to the BBC that “the satellite was working fantastically, the data was great and the customers were super-excited. To trip up now is deeply frustrating but we’ve proved the principle and that puts us in a really strong position for the future”. A replacement is expected to be launched in 2025.
We will be writing a deep dive on the topic once an analysis is completed by SatVu, to understand the causes of the failure and any lessons-learned for the wider community.