Open Cosmos Secures £5m Grant for R&D and Manufacturing Expansion

The UK government's Space Clusters and Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) has awarded Open Cosmos a £5 million project grant. This funding will enable Open Cosmos to expand its manufacturing and research and development (R&D) capabilities for microsatellite and constellation markets. Additionally, the grant will support Open Cosmos in strengthening its satellite data and analytics expertise for DataCosmos through collaboration with Space Park Leicester, a £100 million space hub established by the University of Leicester.

Open Cosmos, founded in 2015, aims to democratize access to space. The company offers end-to-end telecommunications, Earth Observation (EO), navigation, and scientific missions. It designs, builds, launches, and operates advanced satellites through its OpenOrbit offering. Open Cosmos also provides organizations with access to data through its mutualized OpenConstellation infrastructure and offers AI-powered data analysis through its DataCosmos platform.

The funding from SCIF will allow Open Cosmos to accelerate its mission of democratizing access to critical space infrastructure. By integrating larger payloads onto its satellites, Open Cosmos will be able to provide faster and more efficient access to space. CEO and founder Rafel Siquier expressed his excitement about the funding, stating, "This funding will accelerate our mission to democratize access to critical space infrastructure by allowing faster integration of bigger payloads onboard our satellites."

In order to scale up its satellite production capabilities, Open Cosmos will be expanding its industrial R&D and manufacturing capacity at its Harwell campus site. The company plans to install new test facilities, including a vibration table and a TVAC chamber. These facilities are crucial for increasing the speed and size of satellite production. With these expansions, Open Cosmos aims to more than double its capacity.

By increasing its constellation production, Open Cosmos will be able to improve the revisit rate of satellite data. Additionally, larger satellites will enable the hosting of more technologically complex and demanding payloads, expanding the diversity of satellite data that Open Cosmos can deliver through its data platform, DataCosmos.

In September, Open Cosmos raised $50 million in Series B funding, marking the first time the company had raised external funding since 2018. The company has been involved in various satellite projects, including the recent launch of the MANTIS satellite, supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and co-funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA). Open Cosmos was also selected by the National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA) to develop a data platform aimed at transforming geospatial data distribution in Peru.