Glasgow Takes the Lead as Europe’s Satellite Manufacturing Hub

Spire Global, a space services specialist, has been awarded a contract by Lacuna Space, a satellite IoT provider, to build and operate six satellites for a dedicated IoT constellation. The satellites will be manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland.

Under the agreement, Spire will build and launch the spacecraft, which will carry Lacuna Space's payload and antenna. The companies have also expressed the potential to scale the constellation to dozens of satellites. This addition will expand Lacuna Space's existing ten satellites, as the company aims to build a low-cost, reliable global IoT network.

The financial details of the contract have not been disclosed.

"Glasgow produces more satellites than anywhere else in Europe, and this contract between Spire Global and Lacuna Space is a fantastic example of how the UK's strong heritage in space manufacturing is accelerating our progress towards global connectivity and new commercial applications for telecommunications," said Craig Brown, investment director at the UK Space Agency.

Lacuna Space will operate the payloads and receive encrypted data at its headquarters in the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Campus in Didcot.

Expanding IoT Services

Lacuna Space's IoT services cover various sectors, including agriculture, maritime, logistics, remote infrastructure, and environmental monitoring. For instance, the company aims to improve crop yields by measuring soil moisture for farmers in remote regions.

The satellites will feature Lacuna's proprietary, ultra-high density 'Gentoo' satellite gateways, which work in conjunction with the company's ground scheduling network. This will enable adaptive, regional, fine-frequency algorithms developed using AI from years of satellite-based spectrum scans.

"This contract is a very important step in Lacuna's progression into commercial operations, and represents over five years of intensive development work to refine the concept and achieve the scalability and reliability required to provide a global commercial service," said Rob Spurrett, CEO and co-founder of Lacuna Space.

Unlocking New Applications

Spire Global emphasized the potential for new applications that satellite-based IoT connectivity can enable.

"Satellites play a critical role in providing IoT connectivity across the globe, particularly to remote, underserved, and developing areas of the world," said Frank Frulio, the general manager of Space Services at Spire. "These services are transformational in enabling new applications across a wide variety of industries and solving some of the biggest challenges facing humanity today."

"With Spire Space Services, we have streamlined the process to architect, build, launch, and operate satellites reliably, and at a much lower cost than it would typically require new space companies to build infrastructure in space, allowing revolutionary technologies, like Lacuna's IoT network, to reach the market faster," Frulio added.

Lacuna Space is a UK and Dutch company that provides low-cost global connections for short data messages to sensors and mobile equipment. The company operates its own LEO satellites and also has coverage of third-party constellations, including MEO infrastructure.

In March last year, Lacuna Space announced a collaboration with Omnispace to develop an IoT service using LoRaWAN for direct-to-satellite communications.

Source: Example News