Warpspace

History

Warpspace began in 2016 as a company spun off from Tsukuba University. The following year, it ran a test of a mobile ground control station, successfully pulling data from the university’s ITF-2 CubeSat in low Earth orbit. In July 2018, the firm introduced a space bridal service: wedding plaques would be placed on a satellite, released from the International Space Station, with astronauts photographing the deployment. A contract for a release from the ISS’s Kibo Module was signed on 24 August 2018.

Warpspace’s first satellite, WARP-01, was shown to the public in Tsukuba city in February 2020. It launched aboard Cygnus NG-15 and was deployed from the ISS on 14 March 2021. The second satellite, WARP-02, is set to be the first unit of the WarpHub InterSat constellation; as of June 2023, its launch was planned for 2025. In 2023, the company was selected for Japan’s small business innovation research program.

WarpHub InterSat

Warpspace is developing WarpHub InterSat, a satellite network for relaying data between spacecraft. Each satellite will use an optical communication terminal. As of 2022, the company planned to launch three satellites. ReOrbit is building the satellite bus, and each will carry a Mynaric CONDOR Mk 3 terminal, built to the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 1 standard. The first satellite, named LEIHO after a sacred mountain in Japan, was scheduled for launch in 2025.