Business of Space: Is there anything slowing down space-tech investing?
This week
- Orbex files for UK launch licence
- More than £100m in fresh investment for ICEYE
- Military eye Isotropic Systems’ landmark tech
Orbex applies for licence as UK heads for landmark launches this year
The countdown has begun for the UK’s first-ever launches from British soil this year, which has prompted rocket firm Orbex to hand in its own launching application to the country’s spaceflight regulator.
Having already completed its pre-application meetings with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which was appointed the UK’s spaceflight watchdog last summer, Orbex has become one of the first launch operators in the country to progress to the next phase.
The rocket firm hopes to launch its so-called Prime rocket from Space Hub Sutherland, which has been hailed as the world’s first carbon neutral spaceport, in the north of Scotland.
Prime, unveiled in October, will also emit up to 96 per cent less emissions than comparable space launch programmes, according to a study by Exeter University.
The small satellite transportation rocket has been designed to be reusable, taking after SpaceX’s once laughable concept, to avoid leaving debris in the Earth’s atmosphere – as experts on-planet scramble to tackle mounting ‘space junk’.
“The application process is rigorous and detailed, with a strong focus on safety. It has taken a large team more than two years to complete the investigations and analysis required to submit the license application today,” said Orbex CEO Chris Larmour.
“This licence application is another big step forward for Orbex, and is one of several tracks running in parallel that will enable commercial launch operations to commence from Sutherland.”
Seraphim-backed ICEYE closes Series D round
And with momentum for the industry well underway across Europe, there appears to be no stopping the steady flow of investment pouring into space-tech firms.
Finnish satellite company ICEYE rounded off its Series D with a comfortable £100.1m on Thursday, which will help fund further development of its satellite constellation technology and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites – which can see through cloud cover in Earth imaging.
The latest bout of funding takes ICEYE’s total raised capital to nearly £224m, making it one of the best fiscally fed space firms in the market.
The company and its tech have even caught the eye of the defence industry, becoming a contractor to national defence deals after taking on a US subsidiary which has allowed it to manufacture and operate satellites from the US.
It helps that Helsinki-based ICEYE can lure in starry eyed investors with the promise of launching 10 new satellites this year, following 16 successful missions over the past four years.
“ICEYE has gone from strength-to-strength since we first invested in the company in 2017. We’ve watched the company prove the impossible, possible by launching the world’s first miniaturised SAR satellite capable of imaging the planet day and night, to now having grown into being the world’s largest operator of SAR imaging satellites,” Seraphim Space chief investment officer James Bruegger said.
“We have identified ICEYE as one of the sector’s brightest stars,” Bruegger added. “We anticipate that its global scale persistent monitoring of the planet will have a major impact in helping address some of our most pressing challenges.”
US and NATO eye new satellite tech following breakthrough antenna trials
Military appeal is certainly boosting the sector, with the emergence of the US Space Force and the UK Space Command signalling that the final frontier is on the martial agenda – despite there being a raft of issues relating to the militarisation of space.
Multi-link satellite tech developer Isotropic Systems this week successfully completed trials for its antenna that can connect to multiple satellites at once, which could make worldwide government communications more resilient – as well as pushing shaky satellite connection, hopefully, into the past.
Tests for the Reading-based company were conducted with SES Government Solutions, the provider of government satcom solutions at the US Army proving grounds in Maryland, US.
With this breakthrough, US and NATO forces will be able to access every bit of satellite capacity across military and commercial satellites from a single antenna – for the first time.
“Our terminal is the first and only US Army tested antenna capable of multiple simultaneous satellite links, which provides the US military and NATO with the communications capabilities they need for today’s threat environment with disrupted satellites becoming more common,” Isotropic founder and CEO John Finney said.
“We have proven our optical multi-link antenna technology is fully capable of providing mission-critical, resilient space-based connectivity for the military and across a broad range of vertical markets – from government and enterprise to aero and maritime – as we remain on track for our commercial launch in 2022.”