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Thiruvananthapuram | A year after successfully sending its first satellite into space, Technopark-based spacetech startup HEX20 has marked another milestone by launching its second satellite, KOYO, for Taiwan's National Central University.

The satellite lifted off aboard SpaceX's Transporter-17 mission and was deployed about an hour after reaching space, a Technopark release said here on Monday.

Around 40 minutes after deployment, HEX20 received KOYO's first beacon signals, which were decoded by the SatNOGS amateur satellite community, confirming that the satellite was operational.

Last year, the company launched 'Nila', India's first private-sector rideshare satellite in partnership with Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), making it Kerala's first privately built satellite.

According to Amal Chandran, Chief Executive Officer, HEX20, KOYO represents another important step in establishing HEX20 as a trusted global satellite mission partner.

"Each successful mission expands our flight heritage, strengthens the maturity of our platforms, and reinforces our ability to deliver end-to-end satellite missions with speed, reliability, and engineering excellence. As demand for affordable and responsive access to space continues to grow, HEX20 is committed to enabling governments, research institutions, and commercial organisations to transform ambitious ideas into successful space missions," Chandran said.

Anurag Reghu, CTO & Co-Founder, HEX20, said, "KOYO has performed as designed on orbit with over 1,500 beacon packets decoded, 75+ commands successfully transmitted from the ground, and the satellite is currently undergoing commissioning for nominal operational mode." Reghu said the payload operations are scheduled to commence sequentially in week two.

KOYO carries Taiwan-based Aegiverse's Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG), USA-based Amplified Space's configurable power system, a digipeater for the amateur community from Taiwan and Taiwan-based ET Space Power solar cells qualified in a HEX20-built solar panel.

"So far, the ET Space Power solar cells have performed to specifications," he said.

Reghu said KOYO proved that the company had learnt from the first mission.

KOYO has also successfully space-qualified HEX20's solar panel deployment mechanisms, which include a novel feedback mechanism, hinge design, deployable monopole rod antenna, and provided further heritage to the AX CubeSat platform.

MB Aravind, Co-Founder & Director, HEX20, said the mission marks another major milestone for the company.

"It's been an exciting week for the HEX20 team providing validation for the hard work they have been putting in on simultaneous product development and mission execution. Nila, our first satellite, was a great learning experience," he added.

According to the release, HEX20 has six more missions scheduled for launch in the next 12 months.

"These are NILA III- a CubeSat built to qualify UK-based OhmSpace's propulsion system; SAISI -- a ship identification satellite for National Central University in Taiwan; COSPAR-1-- a collaborative space weather measurement satellite in collaboration with multiple global entities through COSPAR; and Emirates Asteroid Mission Asteroid Impactor Probe," it said.

Emirates Asteroid Mission is designed to image and impact the Asteroid Justitia flying along with the UAE's Asteroid Mission. This mission will travel further than any MicroSat/CubeSat in human history, the release said.

HEX20's own MAYA-V1 and DINK-N1 missions are designed as payload aggregator missions carrying multiple customer payloads in addition to HEX20's own thermal and visible Earth imaging payloads which will start providing actionable Earth observation data for multiple applications.

Technopark said HEX20 is Kerala's first startup to partner with US launch provider Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) for launching its maiden satellite Nila, named after the culturally significant river in Kerala, as well as the Technopark building where it is located.

HEX20, which has its presence in the US, UAE and Taiwan, has partnered with the domestic manufacturing network that plays a pivotal role in ISRO missions. HEX20 builds payload-agnostic satellite platforms and offers satellite mission-as-a-service and payload hosting capabilities for in-orbit demonstrations to its customers.