Apogee
Smallsat flight systems

Apogee is the flight-proven platform for 6U to ESPA-class smallsats. Bring a payload; we bring the bus, the flight software, and a global ground network. Integrate in weeks. Fly from a browser.

Flying Earth observation, IoT relay, and in-orbit demos for operators on three continents

Helios EOTessera NetworksNorthstar LabsPolaris DynamicsVireo ImagingEquinox Systems
The platform

One spacecraft platform,from integration to deorbit.

Stop sourcing avionics from nine vendors and writing flight software from scratch. Apogee ships the bus, the brains, and the ground as a single qualified stack.

Avionics flight computer

A radiation-tolerant compute core with watchdog supervision, triple-redundant boot, and ECC memory. SEU-latchup protected and qualified to TID 30 krad. Your payload talks to it over CAN, SpaceWire, or Ethernet.

Attitude control that just points

Reaction wheels, magnetorquers, a star tracker, and a fused estimator deliver sub-arcminute pointing. Sun-safe and detumble modes are on by default.

Power that survives eclipse

MPPT solar regulation, a managed Li-ion pack, and per-rail fault isolation keep the bus alive through every shadow pass.

Encrypted downlink

S-band TT&C and an X-band payload link with AES-256 CCSDS framing and adaptive coding push imagery down at up to 150 Mbps.

Onboard autonomy

Schedule passes, run fault trees, and execute stored command sequences with no human in the loop. The spacecraft flies itself between contacts.

Flight heritage you can underwrite a mission on

40+
Missions flown
90 days
Bus to first downlink
150 Mbps
Peak X-band downlink
99.4%
Commissioning success
Mission control, in the browser

Fly the constellationfrom a single console.

Apogee Ground is a global antenna network and a real-time operations console. Schedule passes, watch telemetry stream, and command the spacecraft without standing up your own ground segment.

Global antenna network

Book S- and X-band passes across 14 ground stations on five continents, priced per contact with no minimums.

Live telemetry

Decommutated, calibrated telemetry streams to your screen in real time, with limit-checking and alerting built in.

Command with confidence

Every command is validated against the spacecraft model, dry-run simulated, and logged with full operator attribution.

Digital twin

A flight-faithful simulator mirrors the live vehicle, so you rehearse maneuvers and anomaly responses before they reach orbit.

Form factors

Pick a bus, bring a payload.

Three qualified airframes share one avionics core and one software stack, so your payload integration carries forward as you scale.

6U CubeSat

Apogee 6U

An 8 kg-class bus for tech demos and IoT relays. Deployable solar, 3-axis control, and a 25 W payload budget in a standard 6U envelope.

12U CubeSat

Apogee 12U

A 24 kg-class workhorse for Earth observation. Higher pointing stability, an X-band downlink, and room for a 50 mm-aperture optic.

ESPA-class microsat

Apogee ESPA

A 180 kg-class platform with a propulsion bay, 200 W of orbit-average power, and the payload volume for hyperspectral and SAR sensors.

Operators

The teams flying Apogee skip the hard year.

We went from a payload on a bench to first light in eleven weeks. Building our own bus would have cost us a year and a program.

D
Dr. Lena Vasquez
Mission Director, Helios EO

The ground network is the quiet superpower. We commission spacecraft from a laptop instead of leasing antenna time we can't afford.

T
Tomas Reier
Head of Operations, Tessera Networks

When a wheel saturated on pass three, the autonomy had already safed the bus and queued a desat. We just watched it recover.

P
Priya Nair
Flight Software Lead, Northstar Labs
Programs

Buy the bus, the ground, or the whole mission.

Transparent program pricing. Hardware is fixed-price; ground passes are usage-based with no annual lock-in.

Bus

For teams with their own ground segment.

From $1.2M/spacecraft
  • Qualified 6U or 12U bus
  • Avionics + flight software stack
  • Payload integration kit
  • Environmental test campaign
  • 6 months mission support
Most popular

Mission

End to end, launch to operations.

From $3.5M/mission
  • Bus, integration, and qualification
  • Launch brokerage + integration
  • Ground network access included
  • 12 months managed operations
  • Named mission manager
  • Commissioning SLA

Constellation

For multi-plane fleets and recurring builds.

Custom
  • Volume bus pricing
  • Dedicated production slot
  • Fleet operations console
  • Custom payload accommodation
  • Priority launch manifest
  • On-site integration support

Mission questions, answered.

How fast can we actually fly?

With a qualified payload, most customers reach first downlink within 90 days of bus delivery. The avionics, software, and ground are already flight-proven, so your schedule is gated by payload integration, not bus development.

What payloads does the bus support?

Anything that fits the mechanical envelope and power budget: optical and hyperspectral imagers, SAR, RF sensing, IoT relays, and in-orbit demonstration hardware. The integration kit exposes power, data, and thermal interfaces over standard buses.

Is the hardware export-controlled?

The baseline bus is engineered to EAR99, and we operate ITAR-aware processes for sensitive payloads. We will work your program through the right licensing path before delivery.

Do we have to use your ground network?

No. The Mission program includes Apogee Ground, but the bus speaks standard CCSDS and works with your existing ground segment or a third-party network if you prefer.

What happens at end of life?

Every bus ships with a compliant deorbit plan. Propulsive platforms can perform a controlled reentry; drag-passive buses meet the 25-year rule by design.

Bring the payload.We'll fly the rest.

Walk us through your mission in 30 minutes. Leave with a mass, power, and schedule budget mapped to a qualified bus and a launch window.