Xenesis Patners with Airbus to Provide Services from ISS Platform

Ibadan, 25 September 2023. – Xenesis, a laser optical communications company, has signed an exclusive agreement with Airbus to provide services from the International Space Station (ISS). Xenesis is also preparing to install an optical communications hub to increase data downlink capacity on the Bartolomeo Platform, launched in 2020. In addition, the company plans to ship the Xen-Hub optical flight terminal to Airbus for a Q1 2025 launch on an ISS commercial resupply mission. After installation and testing, Xenesis will begin providing communications services to Bartolomeo customers in the summer of 2025.

Manfred Jaumann, Head of Low Earth Orbit and Suborbital Programs in Space Systems, Space Exploration of Airbus Defense and Space, stated, “Airbus is working with Xenesis to provide broadband data downlink capability to its customers on the Bartolomeo space platform on the International Space Station.” Mr.  Jaumann further stated, “This capability has been foreseen from the beginning of the platform development and would now be realized with the Xen-Hub terminal. Xenesis is going to provide end-to-end communications services from Bartolomeo to ground.”

Furthermore, Dr. Christian Steimle, Program Manager, Bartolomeo Mission Service, stated, “Bartolomeo is an ideal hosting platform for a wide variety of mission use cases. We are speaking to a number of customers to accommodate Earth remote sensing instruments on our platform, all contributing to the need for broadband communications with the ground.” With the mission at hand, “Bartolomeo and Xen-Hub will provide the optical communication solution which will open up broadband data downlink capability on the ISS for the benefit of many users in parallel.”