H2SAT (HEINRICH HERTZ)

H2SAT, formally designated Heinrich Hertz and catalogued under NORAD ID 57213 with the international designator 2023-093A, is a German geostationary communications satellite launched on July 4, 2023. Operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and built by OHB System AG, it represents the first dedicated national communications satellite Germany has placed in orbit in more than two decades. Weighing approximately 3,408 kg, it occupies a near-circular geostationary orbit and carries a broad mandate to test and validate advanced satellite communication technologies on behalf of the German federal government. The satellite takes its name from the nineteenth-century German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894), whose foundational experiments with electromagnetic waves underpinned the entire discipline of wireless and radio communication.

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Mission and Purpose

Heinrich Hertz was conceived as a technology demonstration and validation platform rather than a conventional operational communications satellite. Its central aim is to test new hardware, components, and communications techniques under real orbital conditions — environments that cannot be fully replicated in ground-based laboratories. This approach allows German industry and research institutions to mature technologies to a level of reliability that would make them candidates for future operational satellite programs.

The mission is conducted by DLR on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and the Federal Ministry of Defence has also participated in the program. This dual civilian-governmental framework reflects the strategic importance Germany places on maintaining independent sovereign capability in satellite communications — a domain where the country had been largely dependent on multinational or commercial solutions since the retirement of the DFS Kopernikus series. In that sense, Heinrich Hertz is understood as a spiritual and programmatic successor to those earlier German national satellites.

The specific payloads and communication experiments carried aboard Heinrich Hertz are oriented toward advancing German and European competitiveness in the satellite communications sector. Missions of this type typically evaluate technologies such as high-throughput transponder architectures, novel frequency band usage, phased-array or flexible antenna systems, and onboard signal processing — though the precise configuration of the satellite's payload suite is not detailed in its publicly available catalog record. What is documented is the overarching goal: to close the gap between laboratory-scale research and flight-proven hardware, so that future German satellite programs can draw on a validated domestic technology base.

The involvement of the Federal Ministry of Defence alongside the civilian Ministry for Economic Affairs signals that some of the technologies being evaluated may have relevance to secure governmental communications, a growing priority across NATO member states. Nevertheless, the publicly stated character of the mission remains that of a civil-commercial technology demonstrator.

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Orbit and Tracking

Heinrich Hertz operates in geostationary orbit (GEO), the belt of space at roughly 35,786 kilometers above the Earth's equator where a satellite's orbital period matches the planet's rotational period exactly. As recorded in the tracking catalog, the satellite has an apogee of 35,799 km and a perigee of 35,791 km, meaning its orbit is very nearly circular — a difference of only 8 kilometers between its highest and lowest points. Its orbital period is 1,436.2 minutes, or just over 23 hours and 56 minutes, which corresponds closely to one sidereal day and confirms its position in the geostationary regime. Its orbital inclination is 0.0°, meaning it flies precisely along the equatorial plane.

The practical consequence of these parameters is that Heinrich Hertz appears essentially stationary when viewed from any fixed point on Earth's surface. This characteristic is what makes geostationary orbit so valuable for communications applications: ground-based antennas can be aimed at a fixed point in the sky without the need for complex tracking systems. For a technology demonstration satellite, operating in GEO also means experiments can be conducted continuously with consistent, predictable ground station geometry.

For observers and catalog users, the satellite is permanently tracked with the designator 2023-093A, the "A" suffix indicating it was the primary payload of its launch vehicle. It was placed into orbit as part of the 2023-093 launch event. No decay or reentry date has been recorded, consistent with its status as an active geostationary payload — objects in GEO are not subject to significant atmospheric drag and can remain in orbit for very long periods without propulsive maintenance.

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Design and Operator

Heinrich Hertz was manufactured by OHB System AG, a Bremen-based German space company that has become one of Europe's significant satellite manufacturers. OHB's involvement is consistent with Germany's broader policy of developing and sustaining domestic industrial capability in space technology. The satellite has a launch mass of 3,408 kg, placing it in the medium-to-large class of geostationary spacecraft, a size range typical of satellites carrying multiple experimental payloads alongside housekeeping and communications subsystems.

The satellite was launched on July 4, 2023, making it one of the more recently catalogued geostationary payloads in the current tracking database. It carries the object type classification of PAYLOAD, distinguishing it from the rocket bodies and debris objects that may be associated with the same launch event.

The operating authority is the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany's national aeronautics and space research center, which functions in a role analogous to NASA in the United States or JAXA in Japan — conducting both research programs and operational missions, and frequently acting as the implementation agency for federal space policy. DLR overseeing a communications technology demonstrator of this scale reflects the agency's broad mandate, which extends well beyond pure research into mission execution on behalf of the German state.

The owner country is recorded as Germany, and while the satellite serves governmental purposes partly connected to defence ministry interests, it is categorized as a national rather than a military asset in the tracking catalog.

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Significance and Context

The launch of Heinrich Hertz in 2023 marked a notable milestone in German and broader European space history. For more than two decades after the end of the DFS Kopernikus program, Germany operated without a dedicated national communications satellite, relying instead on commercial operators and multinational European platforms. The return of a German sovereign communications satellite — even in the form of a technology demonstrator rather than a fully operational system — signals a renewed commitment to maintaining indigenous expertise and infrastructure in this strategically critical domain.

The timing is not incidental. Across Europe and NATO more broadly, the strategic value of assured access to satellite communications has been reassessed sharply in recent years, driven by geopolitical developments and growing awareness of vulnerabilities in purely commercial or shared arrangements. Germany's decision to fund and fly Heinrich Hertz reflects a policy calculation that the country needs to rebuild and exercise sovereign competence in satellite communications, from component design through in-orbit operations.

From an industrial perspective, the satellite represents an opportunity for OHB System AG and the wider German space supply chain to demonstrate and certify technologies at flight level. Successful demonstration of components or systems on Heinrich Hertz creates a direct pathway for those technologies to be incorporated into future commercial or governmental satellite programs — both German and potentially European. This kind of in-orbit validation is widely recognized as one of the most important and most difficult steps in maturing space technology.

The satellite's name is itself a statement of intent: Heinrich Hertz was the physicist who first conclusively demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic waves, directly enabling radio communication, radar, and ultimately satellite communications. Invoking his name for Germany's flagship communications technology satellite draws a line from foundational scientific discovery to contemporary engineering application — and signals the seriousness with which the mission's principals regard the program's place in the longer arc of German scientific and technological achievement.

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Observability

Because Heinrich Hertz occupies geostationary orbit at an altitude of approximately 35,799 km, it is not a practical target for casual visual observation. At that distance, even a spacecraft massing over three thousand kilograms reflects far too little sunlight to be seen with the naked eye under normal circumstances. Dedicated amateur astronomers using telescopes and careful timing can sometimes observe geostationary satellites as faint, slow-drifting or stationary points against the star field, but this requires specialized equipment and technique.

For tracking purposes, the satellite's position is stable and predictable: it remains fixed relative to a specific longitude above the equator, meaning no dynamic pass predictions of the kind used for low Earth orbit objects are applicable. Catalog users interested in its precise orbital elements can locate it by its NORAD ID 57213 or its international designator 2023-093A, both of which index its current two-line element set in standard tracking databases.