Pixxel Eyes June for Imaging Satellite Launch

Satellite imaging company Pixxel Space Technologies hopes to launch its Honeybee-00 demonstration satellite, which is to be part of its planned hyperspectral imaging constellation, in June, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Tuesday. Pixxel asked for a waiver of the requirement that the probability of human casualty from portions of the satellite surviving reentry be zero. It said simulations show its propulsion tanks could survive reentry and cause "a 1:19,100 chance of human casualty," but the tanks can't be readily replaced this far along in the manufacturing process. It said in the future Pixxel will use propulsion tanks that fully burn up on reentry.