The following is an extract of news from the NLSA website

UPDATE: Lens R&D opened new manufacturing facility >>

LISA is a European scientific space mission for research into gravitational waves. Starting in 2038, three satellites will fly through space 50 million kilometres from Earth, spaced 2.5 million kilometres apart. Using a laser link, minuscule changes in position between the satellites are measured. In this way, LISA can detect gravitational waves caused by supermassive black holes that merged in the early universe.

The LISA satellites must be perfectly oriented for the mission to succeed. This is done using so-called star trackers, which know what the night sky looks like. These star finders are intended solely for fine-tuning. If the satellites lose their full orientation for any reason, they search for a single star to determine their position again: the Sun. They do this using LRD’s BiSon64-ET Sunsensors.

Mission focus: ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be the first space-based observatory dedicated to studying gravitational waves. It will detect ripples in the fabric of space-time emitted during the most powerful events in the Universe, such as pairs of black holes coming together and merging. Discover more

On top of the world

Johan Leijtens founded Lens R&D started in April 2012, at that time planning to develop sensors for solar farms on Earth. In 2015, he decided – during the ESA BIC incubation – to focus entirely on solar sensors for space. For this, the sensors were required to continue to function for 15 to 20 years in the vacuum of space, while being bombarded by cosmic radiation. And they needed to withstand temperature fluctuations from 105 degrees above zero to 65 degrees below zero.

It took 10 years to develop the sensors and qualify them for ESA so that they could be used on European space missions. The Netherlands Space Agency played a crucial role in this, first by selecting Lens R&D for the business incubator ESA BIC Noordwijk. Next came three awards under ESA’s ARTES programme and one award from ESA’s GSTP programme. The latter brought Lens R&D’s sensors to the ESA demonstration mission Proba-3, so that everyone has been able to see since last year: the sensors are working in space.

Read: Proba-3’s satellites launched carrying Lens R&D sensors >>

Scaling sensor production

When the technology was proved to work, there was interest from the market. But it was, and still is, difficult to secure the really big contracts, says the founder: “My company consists of only five people. In the eyes of major satellite mission contractors, that is far too small.”

Therefore, in addition to ensuring the quality of the sensors, there was also an urgency to scale-up production capacity. Together with the company PhotonFirst in Alkmaar, it will soon be possible to realise a sustained production rate of at least 100 sensors per month.

Following the success of Proba-3, orders followed for, among others, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) rover and the Lunar Pathfinder communications satellite from ESA’s Moonlight programme. But the contract that Lens R&D secured for LISA at the end of February 2026 is a highlight: ”LISA is a major scientific ESA mission. If anyone ever asks questions about the quality of our solar sensors again, I will only have to point to LISA. The fact that we are flying on it says enough.”

Continued investment in space tech development

With the order for LISA secured, the team are exploring a possible contribution to the European communications satellite IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) constellation. In addition, there is sufficient interest from international parties.

“Space is often a long-term endeavour. That certainly applies to the development of our solar sensors as well,” says Johan. “I am glad that I have continued to invest, develop technology and believe in this product all these years.”

NLSA is an incubation partner of SBIC; vIew this full news item via the NLSA website

About: Lens R&D BV is a systems engineering company specialised in optimising high reliability (electro-optical) sensors and systems for volume fabrication. This is done by combining a healthy level of innovation with many years of experience and background in the production of sensors and systems for both military and space applications. lens-rnd.com

Open call for startups with space business ideas to apply to ESA BIC Noordwijk:

The post Dutch solar sensors of ESA BIC alumnus Lens R&D crucial for the success of upcoming ESA mission: LISA appeared first on Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk.

ESA BIC entrepreneurs at Space Tech Expo

A key location on the exhibition floor for many of the ESA BIC entrepreneurs was at the ESA SME and Start-Ups booth and some also stopped by the NL Space pavilion. A number of ESA BIC Noordwijk alumni could be spotted working the exhibition floor, such as the entire team from Spherical Systems. News announced at the fair from Revolv Space was the unveiling of the company’s new solar drive assembly for constellations.

After the event, ESA commercialisation officer Matthew Edwards commented: “Throughout the event I was based at the ESA SME and Start-Ups booth, where 20 ambitious startups pitched their ideas. Alongside this we hosted a full programme of presentations… and the announcement of the 2025 cohort of ESA Rising Stars. We also had a fantastic panel discussion with female space entrepreneurs and presentations from several of our network of ESA Phi-Labs.”

Indeed, it was with great excitement that ESA BIC Noordwijk alumnus Arceon was announced to be in the cohort of ESA Rising Stars 2025 – 20 outstanding European space startups and scaleups were selected by ESA as companies that are advancing innovative technologies and business models, strengthening Europe’s space sector. Congrats to all! Read more here.

Connecting the Curious – Bremen edition

After the busy first two days at the expo, everyone was looking for a chance to unwind. The perfect place was Connecting The Curious, a networking opportunity for meeting up with friends, colleagues and innovative startups and young talents. This event gets busier every year and this year it sure was buzzing! A gallery of shots is shown below (source).

This side event of Space Tech Expo Europe was organised by NL Space Campus along with: BDLI, ESA BIC Noordwijk, ESA BIC Northern Germany and ESA BIC Bavaria, among others. The event was opened by Matthew Edwards and comperes for the evening – Maaike Smelter, Johannes Krohn and Martijn Leinweber – were joined on stage by a long list of entrepreneurs with inspiring pitches. Matthew said of the event: “The energy and buzz in the room reminded me why this vibrant community of entrepreneurs and students is so exciting to be part of.”

ESA Ministerial Council Meeting

The week after the fair, Bremen hosted the ESA Ministerial Council Meeting. The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.1 B, were approved by the end of the session (full news item here) – which included a higher-than-expected contribution from the Dutch government (news on NSO website here).

Also approved in Bremen was ESA’s new programme called ACCESS (Accelerating Commercialisation and Competitiveness for the European Space Sector). The ESA news release states this programme will “ensure that European businesses will continue to benefit from the growth, innovation and dynamism brought by the commercialisation of space.” A total of €1.69 M will go to the part of the programme called ScaleUp, which covers the ESA BICs, ESA Technology Brokers, ESA Phi-Labs and more.

And what timing that the new ScaleUp book highlighting the achievements of all the initiatives under ESA’s space commericialisation network was released in time for the Ministerial. We are thrilled to see the teams from the various Dutch ESA programmes featured in the publication, with the article featuring ESA BIC Noordwijk alumnus Lens R&D featuring prominently. Read more about the book and download the PDF from the ESA site here.

Prepare your space business idea for lift off!

Discover everything you need to know about the ESA BIC Noordwijk programme.

The post Space industry announcements in Bremen: Space Tech Expo Europe and ESA Ministerial appeared first on Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk.

The following includes Proba-3 launch details from the ESA website

Proba-3 lifted off in early December from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the primary spaceport of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The satellites will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.

Stacked together, the two satellites separated from their upper stage about 18 minutes after launch. The pair will remain attached together while initial commissioning takes place, overseen from mission control at ESA’s European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) in Redu, Belgium. It marks the first time ever that ESA will attempt the challenge of flying two spacecraft in precise formation together.

As the Proba acronym indicates – “PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy” – Proba-3’s formation flying experiments will be performed autonomously aboard the satellite pair. If the initial commissioning phase goes to plan, then the spacecraft pair will be separated early in the new year to begin their individual check-outs. The operational phase of the mission, including the first observations of the corona, through active formation flying, should begin in about 4 months.

Mission focus: Proba-3 marks the next step in formation flying. As a world first, the two satellites of Proba-3 – the Coronagraph spacecraft and the Occulter spacecraft – will maintain formation to a few millimetres and arc second precision at distances of around 150 metres for 6 hours at a time. In effect the pair will be forming a virtual giant satellite. This will be achieved autonomously, without relying on guidance from the ground. esa.int/proba-3

Launch events

Proba-3 mission manager Damien Galano commented on the day of the launch in India (on 5 Dec): “Today’s liftoff has been something all of us in ESA’s Proba-3 team and our industrial and scientific partners have been looking forward to for a long time. Now the hard work really begins because to achieve Proba-3’s mission goals, the two satellites need to achieve positioning accuracy down to the thickness of the average fingernail while positioned one and a half football pitches apart.”

In Belgium, there was a launch event held in the Royal Observatory in Brussels on the day of the originally scheduled date for the launch (on 4 Dec). To illustrate the actual mission, a scaled down setup was created in a hallway at this event to show how far the two spacecrafts will actually be when separated, which was impressive to see for those present.

Lens R&D sensors on board

In the audience at the launch event in Belgium was Johan Leijtens who explained how his company’s technology contributes to the mission: “Each of the Proba-3 satellites are carrying a fully redundant set of the Lens R&D ‘BiSon64-ET Sunsensors’ which are used every orbit to recapture the formation.”

Early versions of these sensors were in the pipeline when Lens R&D was incubated at ESA BIC Noordwijk. Having graduated from the ESA BIC programme in 2014, the company has established itself from its base on the NL Space Campus.

In a recent interview, Johan stated (link available soon): “Despite being a small team of four, we’ve managed to refine our processes for series production, allowing us to deliver high-quality products used in missions across the globe. The key is maintaining a delicate balance between cost, reliability and speed. This is where our partnership with ESA BIC continues to provide strategic value.” With unique properties never before combined in a single sensor, the device was developed to measure the solar aspect angle in two axes and be able to withstand extreme conditions, from cosmic radiation to temperature fluctuations.

Forward planning for future missions

To ensure readiness for the Proba-3 mission, the cutting edge BiSon64-ET Sunsensors developed by Lens R&D went through a full ESA qualification programme. Over the years of innovating, testing, modifying and qualifying, the sensors have shown not only an unprecedented performance but also an unprecedented price-to-performance ratio and scalability of production. Read more about the development of these unique sensors in an earlier conference paper by Johan Leijtens et al. here (PDF). Initially only intended for direct solar panel mounting on geostationary telecom satellites, the BiSon64-ET Sunsensors are now suitable as high-reliability constellation sensors suitable to fly on any mission in any orbit, as explained to SBIC with some exclusive technical insights from Johan.

“This ESA qualified BiSon64-ET Sunsensor is radiation hardened and very suited for demanding space applications. The very wide temperature range and extended envelope environmental qualification makes it the sensor of choice for highly demanding missions like ESA’s Proba-3 or the CNES/DLR’s MMX rover going to one of the moons of Mars,” states Johan.

“Available with or without baffle, the sensors are flying or delivered to fly in the near future in any orbit imaginable with exception of MEO (as not many missions go there currently). Mars, L2, the Moon, GEO, GTO high and low LEO were already covered and with Proba-3 now also the very rare HEO orbit is covered. Looking forward to supplying an MEO mission to complete the palette, the sensors are suited for use on any orbit and any launcher without any further qualification.”

He concludes: “Developing the BiSon-6 for terrestrial high volume applications within the ESA BIC programme provided us with valuable technical knowledge on optimisation for recurring production and helped us tackle some of the main technical difficulties associated with the BiSon series of sensors.”

The Proba-3 launch news was initially shared on the ESA website

_{Definitions of acronyms used in this article (in alphabetical order):
CNES, French National Centre for Space Studies
DLR, German Aerospace Centre
ESA, European Space Agency
GEO, geostationary orbit
GTO, geostationary transfer orbit
ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation
L2, Lagrangian point 2
LEO, low Earth orbit
MEO, medium Earth orbit
MMX, Martian Moons eXploration
PLSV-XL, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL}

About: Lens R&D BV is a systems engineering company specialised in optimising high reliability (electro-optical) sensors and systems for volume fabrication. This is done by combining a healthy level of innovation with many years of experience and background in the production of sensors and systems for both military and space applications. lens-rnd.com

Discover about Lens R&D’s time at ESA BIC Noordwijk from founder Johan Leijtens: interview in the ESA ScaleUp book >>

Open call for startups with space business ideas to apply to ESA BIC Noordwijk:

The post Proba-3’s satellites for precise formation flying launched carrying Lens R&D sensors appeared first on Space Business Innovation Centre Noordwijk.