By Aazam
Quantum Space, a business created last year to construct spacecraft platforms in cislunar space, unveiled its first smallsat pathfinder mission Oct. 26 to collect space situational awareness data.
The spacecraft's bus, which will be provided by Blue Canyon and have a mass of up to 400 kg, will have a range of speeds.
These findings will originate from the GEOST payload, which is a visible imager that will survey the area around the moon
GEOST developed optical sensor payloads for geosynchronous orbit monitoring for the Space Force last year
Reed mentioned a rocket body that reached the moon earlier this year that was initially identified as a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch but later traced to a Chinese mission.
He noted that tracking will become more crucial as governments and industry plan more moon expeditions.
As additional satellites pass through that volume, we think it's crucial to collect data on them
Hosted payloads will also be supported by QS-1, albeit Quantum Space has not disclosed any specific customers or their payloads
The cost of QS-1 was not made public by Quantum Space, however Reed claimed that the project was completely funded up until launch
The business stated at the time that its goal was to develop outposts, which are platforms for spacecraft in cislunar space that can be maintained