Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS) has engaged The Netherlands-based Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. (ISISpace) to provide turnkey satellite build and support for the Kleos Space – Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1) to launch mid 2021 on the SpaceX Falcon 9.
With 15 years of experience in providing turn-key small satellite missions, ISISpace is well placed to provide a reliable build and launch support for Kleos’s KSF1 cluster of four satellites.
Its services will include design, development, production, testing, launch integration services and Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) support.
The contract price is Eur2.1 million and will be payable in milestone-based instalments over a period of approximately 10 months.
The delivery of the multi-nanosatellite system is planned to take place in Q2 2021.
Kleos Space CTO, Miles Ashcroft, said that in addition to its own data provision, the Kleos KSF1 Mission will enhance the capability of the Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM1) launching early November from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Chennai, India by allowing exploitation of combined data sets where orbital paths intersect (or are in close
“The KSF1 mission allows us to build on the experience gained throughout the KSM1 campaign,” Mr Ashcroft move.
“We are using that experience to put another cluster into operation making changes that increase the robustness of the mission without imparting any additional technical risk.
The KSF1 mission specification benefits from:
- Propulsion – Use of electric propulsion technology facilitating more real estate for data collection hardware.
- Software Defined Radio – Additional tailoring to optimise data collection for proprietary geolocation algorithms improving resolution.
- Flight Software – Missions Operations processes being implemented to simplify secure and encrypted constellation growth.
- Downlink Chain – Onboard data handling and routing optimisation to increase capacity.
Kleos Space CEO, Andy Bowyer, said the launch of the second cluster will be the next step in building a constellation of up to 20 clusters, providing valuable insights within key locations of interest.
“ISISpace taking equity as partial consideration for the second cluster is a strong show of confidence in the Kleos business.”
“The launch of the Polar Vigilance Mission means we take another step on that journey, collecting more data, over new areas opening additional markets whilst also providing a higher value product for our existing customer base.”
The Kleos business model is to create subscription-based revenues from the delivery of essential data to government and commercial entities around the globe.
Kleos will be the first company to fly clusters of four satellites to accurately detect and locate the use of the RF spectrum by legitimate and illegitimate actors. The data is collected and downlinked from the satellites then processed through the Company’s proprietary algorithms. Once ‘packaged’ into data products and transferred to our licenced subscribers ‘as-a-service’, the same data can be sold unlimited times creating annuity type revenues.
