Open Cosmos has reached an important milestone in the company’s mission to democratize space with the launch of two commercial smallsats, entirely created at the company’s headquarters on the Harwell campus in the UK.
The launch on Monday March 22nd was witnessed by two Open Cosmos smallsats together with the South Korean EO satellite CAS500-1 and 30 other satellites that were launched on board a Soyuz-2 rocket from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan.
One of the Open Cosmos satellites is the latest addition to the Lacuna Space IoT constellation that provides a service with LoRaWAN®, an open, global standard for IoT LPWAN connectivity, together with a new demonstration satellite for telecommunications operators satellite Providing 5G Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to remote areas around the world.
The satellites traveled to Kazakhstan after passing rigorous tests in controlled environments and receiving operating permits from the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The device was then integrated into the deployment of the missile, which, when the Soyuz 2.1A missile was 500 km from Earth, was ejected to complete its mission to travel around the earth and provide connectivity services.
Open Cosmos will now oversee and operate the mission from four ground stations around the world, all of which can be managed by the team on behalf of their partners OpenOps, Open the Cosmos satellite operating software.
Open Cosmos operates space missions from start to finish by manufacturing and building satellites and taking on mission, satellite operations and services. Founded five years ago, the company was founded with the goal of creating space by making it more affordable for small businesses and governments to use satellites to access the data they need to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges due to climate change. on disaster control and emergencies and infrastructure.
Open Cosmos and Lacuna Space are part of a new generation of British companies in the space industry. The sector employs almost 42,000 people, with more than 1,000 working on the Harwell Campus, Europe’s most concentrated SpaceTech cluster, which was founded in 2015 when Open Cosmos was just starting up. UK space has an annual income of £ 15 billion, while the global space industry is expected to be worth $ 350 billion. The UK government aims to have a 10% share of the global space market by 2030, and clusters like Harwell are key to that endeavor.
Applications catapult and the ECSAT Telecommunications center of THE at Harwell were just getting started. Five years later, these launches mark an important milestone for the UK space industry. Another Harwell-based company was instrumental in the recent launch: Oxford Space Systems, which provided the innovative deployable antenna that is based on Lacuna’s IoT satellite receiver and can receive short messages directly from small, battery-operated devices on the ground. In addition, the satellite was tested within the Disruptive Innovation Space Center (DISC) the satellite application catapult and test facilities RAL Space. This shows how close collaboration between space startups, scale ups and stakeholders is enabling this new generation of businesses to grow and thrive.
The European Center for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) on the Harwell campus in the UK.
The UK space industry’s focus has been on developing the satellite launch market, which is why the UK is investing in spaceports Cornwall and The Shetland Islands. Initiatives like this collaboration show that the benefits of satellites lie not only in the economic benefits of introducing them, but also in the broader services they can offer governments, citizens and businesses. In fact, £ 300 billion of total UK GDP is supported by satellite services, including telecommunications, science, earth observation and navigation. Open Cosmos has invested more than £ 4 million in research and development, with support from UKSA and ESA under the ARTES Partnership Project’s Pioneer Program, expanding the team from five to 50 people.
After these two launches, Open Cosmos will seek to expand its commercial offerings and provide constellations for both private companies and governments in need of accurate global and information services. Open Cosmos currently has 10 missions under development including the MANTIS mission in partnership with the ESA Incubed Program and UKSA, which, in cooperation with the Satellite Applications Catapult, is to provide high-resolution images and IOD6 in order to test innovative services in orbit. These satellites will be key to promoting digital transformation in many sectors and will use satellite data to combat the climate crisis.
Rafel Jordá
Rafel JordáOpen Cosmos Founder and CEO said, “These launches represent an important milestone for Open Cosmos and demonstrate the ability of low-cost satellites to provide IoT connectivity to remote parts of the world and to collect data. With £ 300 billion GDP supported by satellite services in the UK, Open Cosmos is key to unlocking these services and making them more accessible to businesses and governments around the world. We are also very proud that the launch on Monday was made possible by working closely with UKSA, ESA, the Katapult and all of our partner companies on the Harwell campus and abroad. We look forward to further expanding the potential for UK space technology in 2021 and beyond. “
Rob Spurett
Rob Spurett, CEO of Lacuna, said: “The successful launch of our newest satellite is another important milestone in expanding our network capacity and expanding our services. We provide the “Internet for Things” and it is quietly revolutionizing the industry in the same way that connecting people to the Internet has done. The range of services and opportunities that Lacuna offers is incredible and beyond our wildest imagination: from mundane tracking of cargo containers to counting penguins in Antarctica. It was wonderful to bring other Harwell-based companies like Open Cosmos and Oxford Space Systems together on this project to demonstrate the strength of the UK’s collaborative space sector and the depth of innovation. ”
Catherine Mealing-Jones
Catherine Mealing-JonesThe Director of Growth at the UK Space Agency said: “The UK is a leader in the design and manufacture of small satellites. With our support, innovative companies like Open Cosmos, Lacuna Space and Oxford Space Systems develop exciting services to improve our daily lives. Our space sector is thriving and it is fantastic to see these ambitious UK companies working together to bring connectivity to remote and hard-to-reach parts of the world. “((Note: The UK Space Agency invests around £ 90 million annually in the development of innovative technologies, services and applications to address societal challenges as part of its subscription to ESA’s ARTES program.)
Sean Sutcliffe
Sean SutcliffeThe CEO of OSS said: “We are proud to deliver this milestone together with Open Cosmos to contribute to the ambitious constellation of IoT gateways in Lacuna Space. This gives our line of helix antennas another space experience. Several helix antennas have been successfully deployed in orbit and are operating within the expected performance range. This is another step towards providing reliable antenna solutions for the next generation of IoT constellations as part of the comprehensive OSS family of deployable antennas. “
Lucy Edge
Lucy EdgeThe Chief Operating Officer of the Satellite Applications Catapult said, “We are excited to support Open Cosmos as it grows and to witness the launch of the first two satellites built at the DISC facility of the Satellite Application Catapult in Harwell. The success of Open Cosmos shows exactly what can be achieved when a pioneering company, innovative British partners and Catapult support come together without restrictions. We look forward to seeing how the low-cost IoT capability developed for these missions will help solve some of the great global challenges we all face. “
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