Hubble Network’s satellite-powered Bluetooth network has been getting a major upgrade.
The Seattle-based startup aimed at bringing businesses what I bring to consumers has built a powerful new phased array receiver that enables what Hubble CEO Alex Haro calls the “the true Bluetooth layer of the planet.”
This advanced payload will fly to two huge new satellites from the 4-year-old Muon space called Musat XL, which will be released in 2027. The first two Musat XL spacecraft offer a global revisit time of 12 hours and detect Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signals at 30 times lower than current Capabilities. If these numbers are deployed, it could significantly extend battery life to track the tags and sensors here.
These two satellites form the backbone of Hubble’s BLE Finding Network for businesses in sectors that originate from logistics, infrastructure and defense.
Hubble made history in 2024 and became the first company to establish a direct Bluetooth connection to satellites. The startup suggestions are persuasive. Instead of having to buy specialized hardware, customers simply integrate the device’s chipset with firmware to allow connection to the Hubble network.
Hubble argues that the benefits of space-based networks are large. It can provide visibility worldwide, including remote locations, and provides a developer-friendly way to enable businesses to track assets without building additional infrastructure.
The company currently has seven in orbit spacecraft with targets that have 60 satellites in operation by 2028. The long-term goal is to upgrade your entire constellations to a larger platform bus with power and performance upgrades.
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While this is an aggressive schedule, Halo added that one of the reasons Hubble chose to partner with Muon is its ability to scale manufacturing quickly to achieve this goal, despite being a young company. (The recent $146 million funding round should help.) Gregory Smirin, president of Muon Space, told TechCrunch that the company’s San Jose production facility is being built to support the production of more than 500 spacecrafts a year by 2027.
Hubble is the first customer of the 500 kilogram class Musat XL Satellite Platform, and Muon says it can provide multikilowatts of power for payloads, optical cross-links, loads of downlinks and “nearly real-time” communications for time-sensitive missions. The partnership also shows a greater drive by the company to compete for a more favorable contract with the Department of Defense.
The XL platform is “the perfect size and feature for SDA tranching missions,” Smirin said, noting the Space Agency’s initiative to build missile defense signs in low Earth orbit. “XL reflects both the evolution of our technology stack and its growing role in providing the kind of multi-mission spacecraft that programs like SDA rely on increasingly.”
Muon’s business model can be thought of as space as a service. The company designs, builds and operates satellites using a vertically integrated stack of hardware and software. The stack, called Halo, is intended to open space access for businesses with promising payloads, but is not interested in building the underlying satellite architecture. In reality, that means Hubble can focus on developing the BLE network, and Muon handles satellite platforms and mission operations.
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