Sovereign
6U CubeSat · Autonomous Intelligence & Energy Relay Platform
Technical Overview
The Sovereign is a 6U CubeSat (10×20×34 cm) — the flagship of the constellation. It carries three simultaneous payloads: a high-resolution hyperspectral imager, a mesh radio relay for UNIT-1 and Digital Twin communications, and the SOLARI orbital acoustic energy transmitter (Patent #3) that beams power down to UNIT-1 robots and Sovereign Access users on the ground. The Pit Boss+ neuromorphic AI (Patent #2) manages all three payloads autonomously over a 72-hour blackout window. A Hall-effect micro-thruster enables orbit raising, debris avoidance, and end-of-life deorbit. The melanin-composite chassis (Patent #1) handles the elevated radiation dose of a 5-year mission at 500–700 km.
Subsystem Blueprints
Structure
- ·10×20×34 cm 6U frame (2×3U stacked)
- ·7075-T6 aluminium primary structure
- ·Deployable solar wing hinges (±Y, 4 panels)
- ·4U payload volume, 2U bus
- ·Melanin-polymer + CNT-reinforced coating (Patent #1+)
- ·Mass budget: 1.8 kg structural
Six-unit chassis: two 3U frames joined by a central plate (6 mm 7075-T6 Al). 7075 alloy provides 25% higher yield strength vs 6061 — needed for launch loads with heavier propulsion system. CNT (carbon nanotube) additive to melanin coating at 2% wt/wt improves thermal conductivity to 15 W/m·K (vs 5 W/m·K baseline melanin). Deployable solar wings: 4 Bigbird panels (each 160×80 mm GaAs cells), Z-fold on ±Y faces, total deployed area 0.13 m². Structure machined by Moog (East Aurora NY) or Orbital Sciences tooling partners.
Electrical Power System
- ·4× deployable GaAs solar wings (160×80 mm each)
- ·75 W peak (deployed, 1 AU)
- ·Li-ion 8S2P pack (29.6V, 20 Ah = 592 Wh)
- ·MPPT EPS board (Clyde Space Heritage)
- ·SOLARI TX power draw: 20 W peak
- ·Average orbit power budget: 40 W
Solar wings: 4× panels each with 4× Spectrolab XTJ Prime cells (28.3% BOL). Total area 0.13 m², peak power at 1 AU: 75W. Battery: 16× Samsung 50E 21700 in 8S2P (29.6V nominal, 592 Wh), radiation-tolerant BMS (based on Texas Instruments BQ76952). EPS board: based on Clyde Space 600W EPS heritage (US-avail through Clyde Space USA). Power allocation: Pit Boss+ OBC: 3W, COMMS: 8W peak, Hyperspectral: 6W, SOLARI TX: 20W peak (duty-cycled), ADCS: 4W, thermal: 3W margin.
On-Board Computer (OBC)
- ·NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX (100 TOPS AI)
- ·16 GB LPDDR5, 64 GB NVMe
- ·BrainChip AKD1500 (Patent #2) — edge inference
- ·Radiation hardened by SEU mitigation firmware
- ·72-hour full-autonomy mission mode
- ·STM32H7 supervisor (safe mode / watchdog)
Primary compute: NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX (10-core Cortex-A78AE, 100 TOPS, 10–25 W). Runs full Linux with ROS2 for payload orchestration. BrainChip AKD1500 handles time-critical inference (anomaly detection, SOLARI beam targeting) at <0.3W via PCIe. SEU mitigation: ECC RAM, periodic memory scrub, application-level checkpointing every 60s to NVMe. Supervisor: STM32H743 monitors Jetson health, triggers reboot or safe mode if telemetry anomalous for >30s. 72-hour autonomy: stored mission schedule + on-board SGP4 propagator + rule tree for power and payload decisions.
Communications (COMMS)
- ·UHF 437 MHz command link (1W, SatNOGS compatible)
- ·X-Band 8.025–8.4 GHz encrypted downlink (2W, 25 Mbps)
- ·L-Band mesh relay (1.575 GHz) for UNIT-1/Digital Twin
- ·AES-256 encryption on all data links
- ·SOLARI acoustic uplink (Patent #3 backscatter)
- ·Contact planning via on-board SGP4
Three radio systems: (1) UHF TNC for command (same as Scout/Surveyor for consistency across fleet), (2) X-Band patch array (SSTL XLink or Tethers Unlimited Cadet SDR in X-Band config, US-made) for 25 Mbps downlink to 2.4m dish — at 25 Mbps over 2× 8-min passes = 240 MB/day per ground station, (3) L-Band mesh transceiver (Lockheed Martin Pony Express heritage IC) for 9,600 bps two-way link with UNIT-1 and Digital Twin devices. All downlinks AES-256 encrypted, key management via Pit Boss+ (Patent #2). SOLARI return channel: acoustic backscatter from robot chassis readable by satellite receive array.
ADCS & Propulsion
- ·3× reaction wheels (Bradford ECSS-E-ST heritage)
- ·Star tracker (Sinclair Interplanetary ST-16RT2)
- ·GNSS receiver (NovAtel OEM7)
- ·Pointing accuracy: ±0.1°
- ·Hall-effect micro-thruster (Busek BHT-200, 200 µN)
- ·ΔV budget: 50 m/s (orbit maintenance + deorbit)
Reaction wheels: 3× Bradford ECSS-E-ST-10C compliant wheels (or Sinclair RW-0.06), 1.0 N·m·s momentum capacity each. Star tracker: Sinclair ST-16RT2 (±0.02° knowledge, 3W, –40°C). GNSS: NovAtel OEM7600 (US-made, Hexagon subsidiary, Calgary/Houston). Propulsion: Busek BHT-200 Hall thruster (Natick MA — US domestic), Xenon propellant, 200 µN thrust, specific impulse 1,200 s. Xenon tank: 200g, provides 50 m/s ΔV on 12 kg wet mass. Used for: orbit maintenance (drag compensation at 500 km), collision avoidance, and controlled deorbit at end of mission.
SOLARI Transmitter (Patent #3)
- ·Filing 3A — Orbital Phonon-Sympathetic Projector
- ·5.8 GHz phased array (16-element), 20W peak RF
- ·Acoustic-sympathetic modulation at 40–500 kHz envelope
- ·Time-reversal beam focusing (GPS-independent, ±2m)
- ·IR laser backup (1,064 nm Nd:YAG, 5W)
- ·Backscatter reader: 8-element receive array
SOLARI TX module occupies 1U in top payload bay. Phased array: 16× patch elements in 4×4 grid on ±Z endcap, each driven by GaN PA (15 dBm each, combined 20W EIRP). Modulation: DDS (AD9164 chip, Analog Devices, Wilmington MA) generates I/Q at acoustic-sympathetic frequency (matched to target robot serial number). Time-reversal: on downlink pass, satellite records backscatter phase-conjugate, retransmits with inverse phase on next pass — beam self-focuses to robot location. IR laser: 1,064 nm Nd:YAG (II-VI Inc, Saxonburg PA) through 50 mm aperture, illuminates robot dorsal panel thermoelectric junction. All SOLARI components are US-made.
Payload — Hyperspectral + SAR
- ·Hyperspectral imager: 400–2,500 nm, 256 bands
- ·GSD: <1 m at 500 km (design target)
- ·Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): X-Band, 1 m resolution
- ·On-board Pit Boss+ SAR processing (Patent #2)
- ·Change detection: AI-flagged scene diffs
- ·Storage: 2 TB NVMe (Samsung 990 Pro)
Hyperspectral: Photon Dynamics VNIR/SWIR sensor (400–2,500 nm, 256 spectral bands, 512 spatial pixels/line, push-broom). GSD < 1 m at 500 km with 200 mm EFL optic. SAR payload: X-Band strip-mode SAR (based on Capella Space design heritage, single-pass), 1m resolution in strip mode, 5m in scan mode, all-weather and night capable. Pit Boss+ processes raw SAR data on-board (patent #2 neuromorphic inference compresses 10 GB raw to 200 MB product in 3 min at 3W). Change detection: Pit Boss+ compares consecutive passes, flags significant scene changes — only flagged scenes downlinked, reducing bandwidth demand by >80%.
Bill of Materials — US Domestic Suppliers
| PART | SPEC | SUPPLIER | LOCATION | EST. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7075-T6 aluminium billet (5 kg) | CNC machined 6U frame | Moog / Xometry.com | East Aurora, NY / US | $600 |
| Spectrolab XTJ Prime cells (×24) | 28.3% BOL triple-junction GaAs | Spectrolab (Boeing subsidiary) | Sylmar, CA | $4,800 |
| Samsung 50E 21700 cells (×16) | 5,000 mAh each, rad-tolerant | Mouser Electronics | Mansfield, TX | $240 |
| NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX module | 100 TOPS, 16GB LPDDR5 | NVIDIA / DigiKey | Santa Clara, CA | $499 |
| BrainChip AKD1500 (Patent #2) | Pit Boss+ neuromorphic inference | BrainChip Inc | Aliso Viejo, CA | $150 |
| Busek BHT-200 Hall thruster | 200 µN, 1200s Isp, Xenon | Busek Co. | Natick, MA | $28,000 |
| Sinclair ST-16RT2 star tracker | ±0.02°, 3W, –40°C | Sinclair Interplanetary (US dist.) | US | $18,000 |
| NovAtel OEM7600 GNSS receiver | RTK, GPS/GLONASS/Galileo | NovAtel (Hexagon) | Houston, TX | $3,200 |
| GaN phased array PA ICs (×16) | 5.8 GHz, 15 dBm each — SOLARI TX | Wolfspeed / DigiKey | Durham, NC | $320 |
| AD9164 DDS chip (SOLARI modulator) | 12-bit 6 GSPS DAC, Analog Devices | Analog Devices / DigiKey | Wilmington, MA | $180 |
| II-VI Nd:YAG laser module (1064nm, 5W) | SOLARI IR backup channel | II-VI Inc | Saxonburg, PA | $2,400 |
| Hyperspectral push-broom sensor | 400–2500nm, 256 bands | Photon Dynamics / Headwall Photonics | Fitchburg, MA | $35,000 |
| Samsung 990 Pro NVMe 2TB | Payload data storage | DigiKey | US distribution | $180 |
| PCB fabrication (6-layer, ×5 boards) | OBC + EPS + COMMS×2 + SOLARI | Advanced Circuits | Aurora, CO | $3,500 |
| Xenon propellant tank (200g) | Titanium liner, composite overwrap | Luxfer (US subsidiary) | Riverside, CA | $4,200 |
Patent Heritage & Global IP Landscape
Assembly & Build Sequence
Hall thruster (Busek BHT-200): 16–20 week lead time — order immediately. Star tracker (Sinclair ST-16RT2): 12 weeks. Hyperspectral sensor: 16 weeks. II-VI laser: 8 weeks. All others: 4–6 weeks.
Upload 6U drawings to Moog or Xometry. Specify 7075-T6, hard anodise all interior surfaces, black anodise interior for stray light control. Apply melanin-CNT coating to all exterior surfaces (same procedure as Scout but add 2% wt/wt MWCNT to melanin solution before spray).
Assemble 8S2P battery pack. Build EPS board. Install Busek BHT-200 with Xenon tank in propulsion bay (bottom 1U). Pressure-test Xenon system to 1.5× MEOP. Verify thruster ignition at vacuum (place in bell-jar vacuum chamber, ignite at 10⁻⁴ Torr, measure thrust via pendulum thrust stand).
Flash Jetson Orin NX with Ubuntu + ROS2. Install BrainChip AKD1500 edge model (SAR compression + SOLARI backscatter decode + change detection). Benchmark full pipeline: raw SAR in → compressed product out, target <3 min at <3W. STM32H7 supervisor: implement I2C health monitoring of all subsystems.
Solder 16× GaN PA ICs to SOLARI PCB (Advanced Circuits 6-layer). Assemble phased array patch elements (etched on Rogers RO4003C substrate). Connect AD9164 DDS modulator. Test phased array: verify beam steering ±45° in azimuth/elevation using near-field scanner or anechoic chamber. Align II-VI laser aperture to optical boresight of SOLARI array.
Install hyperspectral push-broom sensor in primary payload bay. Align optical axis to spacecraft nadir (–Z) to ±0.05°. Install SAR antenna panels on ±X faces (folded for launch, deploy via motor). Install mesh radio L-Band patch on +Z. All three payloads share Jetson OBC via PCIe / USB3 backplane.
With all subsystems integrated: run a 72-hour simulated mission on the bench. Simulate orbital power profile (Eclipse/sunlight cycling using programmable power supply). Pit Boss+ must complete: attitude control, payload scheduling, SOLARI firing sequence, downlink planning, and anomaly response — with zero operator commands. Log all decisions for CEO review.
Random vibration: 14.1 Grms, 3 axes (NTS Labs, Boxborough MA). Thermal vacuum: 10 cycles –30°C to +70°C at 10⁻⁵ Torr. EMC: verify no spurious emissions in X-Band guard bands. Prepare ICD for launch vehicle (SpaceX Transporter-class). Submit for launch manifest 12 months ahead.
Investment Narrative
The Sovereign is the first satellite in history designed to beam power to robots on Earth from orbit — a capability with zero competitors in the patent landscape as of today. The SOLARI technology (Patent #3) creates an entirely new market: satellite-powered autonomous field robots, disaster response systems, and off-grid IoT infrastructure.
Defense alignment is direct: the Sovereign's capabilities map to DARPA Blackjack (resilient LEO mesh), DARPA ROCkN (optical/mesh comms), and AFWERX SBIR (autonomous satellite operations). The Hall thruster enables station-keeping and deorbit — meeting FCC debris mitigation rules that will become mandatory by 2027.
Revenue model: $385,000 per unit + $50,000/year operations support. A 5-unit constellation covers $1.925M capex and generates $250,000/year recurring. Add SOLARI licensing revenue (per robot energized per month) and the model compounds.
Every Sovereign sold is a proof of three patents in flight — creating prior art, expanding IP value, and positioning for defense program contracts that require flight heritage. The first Sovereign launch is the most important product event in the company's history.