GRUS 3A, ..., 3G

GRUS 3α [AXELSPACE]

GRUS 3 is the second generation constellation of Earth observation micro-satellites developed by Axelspace. The satellites, designated GRUS-3A through GRUS-3G, are intended to expand the company’s GRUS 1 Earth observation constellation and improve the frequency and coverage of optical imaging services provided through the AxelGlobe platform.

The GRUS-3 satellites are designed for wide-area, high-frequency Earth observation. Operating in a 585 km sun-synchronous orbit, each satellite will be capable of revisiting the same location approximately once per day at latitudes above 25 degrees north. The spacecraft provide 2.2 m ground resolution imagery with a swath width of 28.3 km and a maximum imaging distance of 1,356 km. Collectively, the seven satellites will be able to image up to 2.3 million km² per day, significantly increasing the observation capacity compared with the earlier GRUS-1 constellation.

The satellites are manufactured by Axelspace and incorporate upgraded optical sensors with an expanded spectral range. In addition to panchromatic, blue, green, red, red-edge, and near-infrared bands used on GRUS-1, the new satellites add a Coastal Blue band for shallow-water and coastal observations. This capability supports applications such as seabed mapping and monitoring of seaweed beds while maintaining support for vegetation analysis and natural-color imaging. The satellites also employ the company’s attitude control technology to support tasking operations for targeted observations.

Each GRUS-3 satellite has a mass of approximately 150 kg and dimensions of 96 cm × 78 cm × 126 cm. The spacecraft are optimized for commercial Earth observation applications including precision agriculture, forestry monitoring, mapping, environmental monitoring, and security-related imaging services. The seven satellites are .

The satellites are scheduled for launch from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California aboard a Falcon 9 operated by SpaceX as part of the Transporter-17 rideshare mission. Launch integration services are being provided by Exolaunch.