PARIS \u2014 <\/i>While satellite manufacturing startups are working to lower the cost of satellite ownership, there is wide debate about the best ways to bring down cost, how to structure supply chains, and deal with sovereignty requirements for customers, whether it be for Earth Observation (EO) or connectivity applications. <\/p>\n
Walter Ballheimer, CEO and co-founder of German manufacturer Reflex Aerospace<\/strong>, is skeptical that manufacturers will secure large constellation orders to support large factories, when many constellations are vertically integrated, arguing for a leaner approach to manufacturing. <\/p>\n \u201cMegafactories do not create global supply. A megafactory based in a European country will not be able to address a potential customer in the U.S.,\u201d Ballheimer said. \u201cYou will never, ever operate at peak load unless you get a fantastic, fairytale megaconstellation customer.\u201d <\/p>\n Ballheimer described the ideal customer for contracted satellite manufacturing as one with a complex platform and a constellation that is not big enough to justify vertically integrated manufacturing. \u201cI think a granular, distributed manufacturing approach to small, CapEx-efficient factories in the markets which need to be served is the most sustainable one,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Reflex Aerospace is vertically integrated and focuses on high-performance satellite platforms for satellites between 100 kilogram to 500 kilograms. Ballheimer said its customer missions are typically focused on remote sensing; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); and sovereign communications, and the company does not build payloads. <\/p>\n Finnish satellite manufacturer ReOrbit<\/strong>, which recently raised a $53 million Series A round, is purely focused on sovereign capabilities. CEO and Founder Sethu Saveda Suvanam called the company\u2019s approach \u201csovereignty as a service.\u201d <\/p>\n ReOrbit assembles satellites but does not build any components or hardware. \u201cNone of the hardware that goes into the satellite comes from us. We buy everything,\u201d Suvanam said. \u201cWe do the software \u2014 that\u2019s the core backbone to our architecture. We do the system architecture and then we procure everything based on the customer\u2019s needs.\u201d <\/p>\n Suvanam compared it to Apple\u2019s software platform iOS that powers Apple products whether it be an iPhone, MacBook, or iPad. He argued the procurement model gives the customer control of the suppliers they want to work with, and the software aspect allows them to control where data lands within their country. <\/p>\n \u201cA country can get end-to-end, full of sovereignty,\u201d Suvanam said. \u201cSpace, defense, and connectivity \u2014 there\u2019s a new market that\u2019s coming in the center of it, and that\u2019s where we are trying to focus.\u201d<\/p>\n AscendArc<\/b>, which came out of stealth mode in January and just sold its first satellite to KT SAT, has the bold goal to make Geostationary Orbit (GEO) more accessible by offering satellite capacity cheaper than fiber, whether it be governments or commercial customers. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of people in the world that do not want to trust a megaconstellation operated from the U.S. for very, very good reasons. We can provide that sovereign capacity and not do it with compromise,\u201d AscendArc CEO Chris McLain said. <\/p>\n McLain previously worked for SpaceX on the Starlink constellation, and is working to bring mass-manufacturing to GEO. AscendArc is not fully vertically integrated, but is vertically integrated for its proprietary payload technology. McLain admitted AscendArc has been \u201ca little coy\u201d about its satellite configuration. Its satellite is based on a very large antenna designed to generate 800 beams to produce a large amount of sellable gigabits per second out of a \u201cmodest amount of mass and power.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe firmly believe that a GEO satellite that is mass-manufactured like a LEO satellite can be an order of magnitude lower cost than providing those same bits from LEO,\u201d he said. \u201cThe lowest cost bit will always have a place in the market. Some bits are latency sensitive \u2014 every bit is cost sensitive.\u201d <\/p>\n Swissto12, <\/b>which manufactures small GEO satellites, has had commercial adoption from traditional operators, with satellites in the works for SES (ordered by Intelsat) and Viasat. <\/p>\n CEO Emile de Rijk said Swissto12 is looking to give operators a cheaper way to close the business case on GEO for applications where GEO has an \u201cintrinsic advantage\u201d over LEO, like broadcast and sovereign, secure connectivity. <\/p>\n \u201cI think giving operators and nations the tools to invest in a more alternative way on those applications where it makes sense and not over-invest in big markets [that are] challenged by constellations, is a good way to address the evolution.\u201d <\/p>\n Japanese satellite manufacturer Axelspace <\/b>sees a unique niche for hosting in-orbit demonstration and verification missions, CEO and President Yuya Nakamura said. The company operates a constellation of EO satellites, but also has a separate business line developing microsatellites for customers and hosting in-orbit demonstrations. <\/p>\n \u201cAs the space industry expands, we are witnessing a growing number of non-space companies entering this field, especially in Japan. The automotive manufacturers are starting to develop components for satellites and rockets,\u201d Nakamura said. \u201cIn order to commercialize their products, they need to prove their products in space. Despite this growing demand, very few players were providing this kind of service. We see this gap as a major business opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n Axelspace designed its satellite with compartmentalized internal structure that allows it to test multiple components simultaneously. Nakamura compared it to SpaceX\u2019s rideshare missions for in-orbit testing. <\/p>\n French manufacturer Hemeria<\/b> is moving from a platform manufacturer to a satellite solution provider, CEO Nicolas Multan said. Hemeria is focused on very specific missions \u2014 including multi-spectral, infrared, space situational awareness, and EO, he said. <\/p>\n One of Hemeria\u2019s differentiators is developing mobile clean rooms out of shipping containers for hyper-local assembly, integration, and testing (AIT). <\/p>\n \u201cWith three containers, you have all that you need to integrate and test satellites. You don\u2019t have to wait for the local AIT center, you can be really agile. It\u2019s one of the key assets to have a fast delivery for competitiveness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PARIS \u2014 While satellite manufacturing startups are working to lower the cost of satellite ownership, there is wide debate about the best ways to bring down cost, how to structure supply chains, and deal with sovereignty requirements for customers, whether it be for Earth Observation (EO) or connectivity applications. Walter Ballheimer, CEO and co-founder of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}