YAM (Yet Another Mission) is a series of micro satellites owned by Loft Orbital, which host various payloads for different customers.
The satellite consists of a standardized bus provided by LeoStella and Loft Orbital's payload hub, which houses the customer's payloads and provides power, data, mechanical, and thermal interfaces to the payloads and on-board data processing.
Beginning with 2021, quarterly missions are planned.
YAM 3 was launched in June 2020. Following payloads are known so far:
Eutelsat: ELO 2 Internet-of-Things RF payload
SDA: POET (originally developped by DARPA as Sagittarius A*), a demonstration of the Blackjack Pit Boss mission system consisting of two payloads. One is the flight computer that runs the SSCI autonomy software. The second is a commercial optical imaging sensor that will search for targets in the open ocean. The data will be fed to the flight computer for on-board analysis and processing. The Pit Boss� artificial intelligence will process the data and retask the satellite as it searches for targets.
Another RGB imaging sensor
YAM 5 was launched in January 2023. Following payloads are known so far:
The MURI-FD (Multiband Uncooled Radiometer Imager - Flight Demonstration) two-band longwave infrared (10.8 �m and 12.0 �m) radiometric imager that utilizes an uncooled focal plane array, developed by Leonardo DRS with support from NASA�s Earth Science Technology Office.
A customer furnished flight computer
A sensing payload
An experimental S-band payload transmitting in the 2240-2290 MHz band and receiving in the 2067-2110 MHz band.
An S-band Internet-of-Things (IoT) payload that transmits and receives in the 2400-2483.5 MHz band
YAM 6 was launched in March 2024. Following payloads are on board:
A hyperspectral imager
A multi-spectral imager
YAM 7 was launched in August 2024 with a single payload:
Hydrosat�s VanZyl-1 is a dedicated mission, with thermal infrared imagers that provide insights into agriculture, aquaculture, drought, wildfire and urban heat for both commercial operations and civil government initiatives.
Nation:
USA
Type / Application:
Payload hosting, technology
Operator:
Loft Orbital
Contractors:
Loft Orbital (payload hub); LeoStella (bus)
Equipment:
see above
Configuration:
LeoStella bus
Propulsion:
None
Power:
Deployable fixed solar arrays, solar cells, batteries
