UK and Spain-based would-be satellite operator Open Cosmos won the rights to satellite frequencies from Liechtenstein in January. Now it seeks around $200 million (€169.6m) in fresh funding in order to build the satellite fleet and meet strict International Telecommunications Union launch obligations.

Open Cosmos launched two of its small Ka-band low Earth orbiting satellites on January 22nd (on a RocketLab craft from New Zealand). But its ITU/Liechtenstein rights are extremely demanding.

The operator has until June 10th and September 28th of this year to launch 50 per cent of its network, and then until June and September 2028 to launch the remaining fleet. The ITU rules also say that if – for example – One Cosmos manages to launch 50 satellites this year, then it is limited overall to another 50, meaning 100 craft in total.

Launching less than 50 would be subject to the same rules; 25 launched this year would mean the overall constellation would be limited to 50 craft.

Back on January 28th at the European Space Conference CEO Rafel Jorda told delegates that his company had the capacity to manufacture 200 satellites annually.

The two initial satellites were built at the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, UK.

“Last year we closed contracts of over €170 million ($200 million), and now we are raising a similar amount of capital to build a transformational telecommunications constellation in Ka band for Europe and the world,“ he stated.

The Liechtenstein licence forbids Open Cosmos from using the capacity for military needs. The spectrum must be used for civilian purposes. This means – in the eyes of the company – Earth observation, IoT and then broadband.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Funding, Satellite

Tags: open cosmos, RocketLab, satellite