TAMPA, Florida – South Korea’s plans for a national security constellation are coming into sharp focus after a March 18 solar array supply deal set the stage for a first demonstrator in the second half of 2027.
Lithuania-based small satellite specialist Kongsberg Nanoavionics announced a multi-million euro contract to provide kilowatt-class solar arrays to South Korean space energy startup Flexel Space for low Earth orbit (LEO) networks.
The deal adds to emerging details about the secret program led by South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Systems, which recently partnered with Canada’s MDA Space and Telesat to develop next-generation LEO capabilities. MDA, a manufacturer of communications and Earth observation satellites, is also developing Telesat’s Lightspeed LEO broadband constellation as part of the operator’s effort to expand beyond geostationary orbit.
Under the agreement with NanoAvionics, Flexel will perform final inspection and acceptance testing of the solar arrays before they are integrated into satellites being developed by Hanwha Systems.
“The first satellite is expected to launch in the second half of 2027 or the first half of 2028,” Taehun Ahn, Flexel founder and CEO, said via email.
“It will serve as a demonstration and verification satellite for approximately one year.”
Ahn declined to provide further details about the planetarium for security reasons.
Historical Treaty for Lithuania
NanoAvionics CEO Atle Volo told space news The deal marks the satellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator’s largest single order for solar arrays by contract value, though it is far from the only order.
“As we have grown our satellite bus order backlog to more than 300 units, sales of our subsystem products have also increased,” he said, pointing to last year’s order of more than 50 power system components for an unnamed group customer.
Vallow said the solar array design for South Korea will use the same tried-and-tested materials that the company has already flown on several customer satellites.
“However, the arrays we are building for Hanwha are larger and more powerful than the arrays we have integrated into our microsatellite buses in the past,” he said.
flexel development boost
NanoAvionics is also exploring integrating Flexel’s next generation solar cells into its CubeSat and microsatellite platforms as part of the contract.
Flexel is developing copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and perovskite-based solar cells designed to reduce costs while maintaining comparable performance to traditional gallium arsenide technologies. Ahn said mass production is targeted for the second half of 2027.
Hanwha previously outlined plans to deploy 2,000 satellites in 2021 for commercial connectivity applications, including linking cargo drones and passenger aircraft.
However, Ahn said the effort is separate from the defense-focused program associated with the nanoavionics deal.
