Planetary scientist flying aboard the forthcoming Virgin Galactic spaceflight, joins Solstar Space as an advisor providing expert insight for company’s space WiFi systems
October 31, 2023 – SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, USA – Solstar Space (Solstar), the company making space Wi-Fi available, announces Dr. Alan Stern as an expert advisor to support the development of the company’s forthcoming space-based internet connectivity systems. Dr. Stern is scheduled to perform a research and training exercise during the upcoming Virgin Galactic spaceflight onboard Galactic 05 with a launch window that opens Thursday, November 2, for the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Galactic 05 will launch from The Gateway to Space at Spaceport America, located North of Las Cruces, New Mexico and South of Solstar’s Santa Fe, New Mexico headquarters.
“I am honored to be re-joining the distinguished advisors and crewmembers of the Solstar Space team,” says Dr. Alan Stern. “Solstar’s communications solutions offer important new capabilities for suborbital research and education missions of the future, which is exciting,” continues Dr. Stern.
Dr. Stern’s first Virgin Galactic spaceflight will be a training and preparation flight for a subsequent flight, which may occur as soon as 2024, where he will be a NASA-selected researcher. The first mission will be used as training for Dr. Stern as he becomes familiar with Virgin Galactic spaceflight operations and the crew cabin, while also mitigating overview affect distractions for the planned 2024 research flight. He will also conduct preliminary research for wearability of a biomedical harness and use of a foam mockup of a camera he will later use for NASA astronomical research. During the later NASA research flight, Stern will again wear the biomedical harness with a cuff and data recorder that will track his vitals throughout the mission. He will also take images to determine the image quality and sensitivity that can be achieved through the vehicle’s windows.
“I have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Stern for over a decade. His broad space experience and background as a world-class planetary scientist is valuable experience that will support Solstar’s mission to develop and deploy Space WiFi in LEO orbit, cislunar space, and on the lunar surface. His upcoming missions onboard VSS Unity are an example of the type of spaceflight missions Solstar plans to support with its Space WiFi in the future. The under development Space WiFi and narrowband Deke and broadband Slayton Space Communicators could be used to capture and provide real time feeds of biomedical data for medical and research professionals on Earth,” says Brian Barnett, Founder and CEO, Solstar Space.
To learn more about Solstar and its mission to make Space WiFi available to everything and everyone in space, visit https://www.solstarspace.com/.
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Media Inquiries | Lisa Dreher | lisa@solstarspace.com | +1 425-442-1301
Investor Inquiries | Brian Barnett | barnett@solstarspace.com | +1 505-389-2299
Business Inquiries | Brian Barnett | barnett@solstarspace.com | +1 505-389-2299
ABOUT SOLSTAR SPACE
Solstar Space is the leading commercial space-based connectivity company pioneering the use of persistent communications services for all types of on-orbit assets including satellites, space stations, launch vehicles, and more. We provide an internet connection between spacecraft and Earth-based payload managers, satellite operators, and enable communications for crewed missions in sub-orbit, LEO, and cis-lunar and lunar surface operations.
Our fast, reliable services, space-tested routers, WiFi access points and hotspots, and space-based satellite data relays are being developed to deliver on-orbit connectivity and are supported by 24/7 customer care. These devices are installed on satellites and spacecraft prior to launch to keep crew, spacecraft, and Earth-based satellite operations teams connected. Visit https://www.solstarspace.com.
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