Space made easy. A personal satellite communication system for those who just need to stay connected.

Project Information

SPACELOOP

Grant agreement ID: 835929

DOI

10.3030/835929

Project closed

EC signature date 29 November 2018

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 31 May 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ORBITARE AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPACELOOP (Space made easy. A personal satellite communication system for those who just need to stay connected.)

Reporting period: 2018-12-01 to 2019-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Mobile satellite communications where developed in the late 1990's in a context in which mobile phones were a fast growing new way to communicate. As such, the mobile communication satellite networks where designed to be seamlessly connected to the land PSTN lines and providing real-time voice communications and SMS texting. Several companies made significant investment in developing the technology and packing it in - for the time - small and low-cost Low Earth Orbit satellite systems. Out of those pioneering companies only Iridium and Globalstar are still operational today. Notwithstanding the technological achievements and the financial effort behind, in view of the number of subscribers of iridium (400,000) and Globalstar (350,000) it is fair saying that mobile satellite communications have not created significant impact on society. We believe that high prices, low usability and divergence from the communication uses of today are the underlying reasons.

Staying always reachable and being able to reach others to no delay has become a fundamental need of people today. When we are connected we feel safe. And nowadays we can no longer wait to share our experiences with those who matter to us. The way we communicate has also evolved with time. Fewer people make phone calls and SMS texting is in decline in favour of IP messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, which are much more feature reach and allow for text and voice messaging as well as to share pictures, videos and documents in the most simple manner. Delivering options for connectivity at any location and under any circumstance has a high social value that goes well beyond the initial scope of satellite mobile communication systems back in the late 90's as support for emergencies and keeping wealthy individuals and larger corporations connected.

SPACELOOP brings a novel approach to mobile satellite communications built upon the cost advantage of nanosatellites and on running on IP messaging applications. We have the potential to penetrate society in a much larger scale than what the incumbents ever did. Our context is the advent of 5G, the announcement of megaconstellations such as OneWeb or Starlink and the global effort to deliver broadband to every citizen in the world. Our strength is on stripping the system down to deliver what truly matters to those who are in remote locations: an affordable and easy to use way to continue using IP messaging apps to stay connected with those who matter. We believe we can break the barriers to satellite communications and we envision every adventure traveler and every mariner carrying SPACELOOP with them.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

With the Feasibility Study we have consolidated our infrastructure and service baseline and we have significantly reduced our technology, regulatory and IP risks by confirming that the system performance meets the user level specification, prototyping our network design, establishing our spectrum management strategy and completing the system architecture Freedom to Operate search. Our business plan is now consolidated as result of the market and competition studies, the definition of our operational model, the establishment of the financial model and the identification and management of our risks. Out of the work performed in this Feasibility Study we have confirmed our vision of making space available to all, our mission of leveraging our knowhow and expertise to develop projects of large social impact and the strategy of making of SPACELOOP the very first one.

Thanks to the trust provided by the SME Instrument Phase 1 grant, the technical progress achieved during the Feasibility Study and the quality of our business plan, we have succeeded in receiving the support and funding from a highly trusted entity, securing the launch and the completion of the development phase of SPACELOOP.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

With SPACELOOP we are taking our distinctive network technology beyond the current state-of-the-art, being the pioneers in the commercial application of it. We will soon launch the development phase and we expect to have the first operational satellites in orbit and begin commercial operations in 24 months from now, with additional 18 months to complete the deployment of the infrastructure and ramp-up our operations.

Our bold vision is that very soon every adventure traveler and every mariner will carry along their personal SPACELOOP terminal, for safety and to stay always connected to those who matter. Because SPACELOOP is breaking the barriers of price and usability of mobile satellite communications, putting them at reach of every one.

Orbitare is in cooperation with the largest community of mountaineers in the world, a cooperation that shall lead to an application related to safety of large social impact, parallel to what Inmarsat represented to the community of seafarers.

We continue working on identifying new applications and markets for SPACELOOP leveraging the characteristics of low-cost, global reach, resilient and independent communications infrastructure. We consider our European origins of great strategic value to Orbitare and to our future clients.

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