Asian Surveying & Mapping
Breaking News
H3 launches navigation satellite
WASHINGTON — A Japanese H3 rocket successfully launched a...
Chinese rocket carrying satellite explodes seconds after launch
Hong Kong —  A Chinese rocket set to launch a satellite...
NASA invites ISRO to join its ambitious Moon Base programme
India and the United States are set to strengthen...
India counters China’s map war: Names of 27 Arunachal Pradesh locations standardised on Survey of India maps
The official list covers 21 land locations, four mountain...
OMEGA and MBRSC launch exhibition celebrating UAE’s space milestones and Moon landing anniversary
OMEGA has partnered with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space...
SpaceX crash site on moon revealed by South Korean orbiter
An out-of-control SpaceX rocket that crashed into the moon...
ispace Receives Grant for Japan’s Space Strategy Fund Project “High-Precision Landing Technology in the Lunar Poles Region”
TOKYO—August 7, 2026—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global...
Embry‑Riddle Asia Launches Professional Space Operations Course in Singapore Amid Regional Space Boom
As Singapore works to develop its involvement in the...
ISRO to map landslides in J&K using satellite to generate alerts
According to the government, geospatial technologies are being used...
Korea to Build 3D ‘New National Map’ Under Spatial Data Strategy
The Korean government will shift its spatial information system,...

October 16th, 2025
ESA picks Kongsberg NanoAvionics to build spacecraft for the ESA-EC “IOD/IOV” programme

ESA, through its European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), has selected Lithuania’s Kongsberg NanoAvionics (NanoAvionics) to build a large cubesat platform for its in-orbit demonstration/in-orbit validation (IOD/IOV) programme.

Under the project name IHE1-5 Cubesat, NanoAvionics, a leading small satellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator, will build a 12-16U IOD/IOV spacecraft. In particular, the company will be responsible for the design, assembly, integration, testing, ground segment, and operations of the satellite. The spacecraft will house various payloads from European entities to be demonstrated and validated in-orbit.

ESA has already pre-selected eight potential payloads from over 50 potential candidates for this mission. The final selection of the IOD/IOV experiments will be completed after the system definition review during the coming months.

IOD/IOV is a European Union programme, entrusted to the European Space Agency, and part of the Horizon Europe Work Programmes. It will demonstrate innovative technologies and operational concepts to foster the use of space data for scientific, public, or commercial purposes as a final step before placing them on the market.

While the launch date and launch provider have not been announced yet, the satellite is confirmed to send into orbit through the European Flight Ticket Initiative using exclusively European manufactured launch vehicles.