Toulouse-based start-up U-Space has just launched the construction of a 1,000 m² pilot plant dedicated to the industrialization of nanosatellites. The site will be operational in spring 2024, with the aim of producing one satellite per day by 2026.
Barely a year after raising 7 million euros in financing, Toulouse-based start-up U-Space has taken a further step towards the industrialization of new-generation nanosatellites: the construction of a 1,000 m² pilot plant in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), the first stone of which was symbolically laid on November 9. Work will take until March 2024. The new plant, whose investment is not disclosed by the company, will be operational from spring 2024, with a gradual roll-out of production lines and automated testing facilities. The aim is to reach the rate of one satellite per day, i.e. over 300 satellites per year, by the end of 2026.
At the same time, the start-up is beefing up its teams at high speed. “We currently employ around sixty people, rising to around forty by the end of 2022, and we should be at least a hundred by the end of 2024,” announces Fabien Apper, co-founder and president of U-Space.
Developing mass production of nanosatellites
Founded in February 2018 by Fabien Apper, Antoine Ressouche and Nicolas Humeau, U-Space is a spin-off from ISAE-Supaero, stemming directly from the EyeSat program, a student program funded by CNES. “Our ambition is to position ourselves as nanosatellite prime contractors for operators in the low-orbit nanosatellite constellation segment, dedicated to long-term operational services (8 years)”, explains Fabien Apper.
A first milestone has been reached with the delivery to CNES of the Ness nanosatellite, a 4.8 kg 3U technology demonstrator, which will go into operation after being placed in orbit by a Vega launcher in October 2023. Its mission is to test and validate, from low-Earth orbit, new measurement technologies designed to detect and locate radio-frequency sources. “Ness has enabled us to validate in orbit the concept of a very small satellite, developed using a design-to-cost approach”, says the CEO with satisfaction. It was a structuring project for the Toulouse-based start-up, which is now committed to developing mass production capacity for nanosatellites.
A scalable, reproducible industrial site
On the first floor of the B612 building, a 25,000 m² complex dedicated to research and development in aeronautics, space and embedded systems, located in the heart of the Toulouse Aerospace business park – home to the IRT Saint-Exupéry and the headquarters of the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster – the start-up has chosen to set up its integration cleanrooms.
Called U-Zine, U-Space’s new production facility will be divided into three distinct zones: the first, dedicated to equipment storage; the second, to the assembly, integration and testing of prototype or first series satellites; and the third, to the development of series production resources, their qualification, and the ramp-up of production rates. “If the market follows suit, we may have to duplicate this first plant elsewhere in France, or internationally, to get closer to certain customers”, Fabien Apper emphasizes.
Several contracts already underway
“We’re already involved in 7 nanosatellite projects, including several ‘precursor satellites’ for constellations that will eventually number between 20 and 300 satellites each,” adds Fabien Apper. The Toulouse-based company has signed initial contracts with Unseenlabs, a Breton company based in Cesson-Sévigné (Ille-et-Vilaine) and specializing in the interception of radio-frequency signals from space, as well as with Grasp, a start-up based in Lezennes (Nord), to support the development of a constellation dedicated to the observation of atmospheric aerosols.
With sales of 2 million euros forecast for 2022, U-Space hopes to break through the 50 million euro annual sales barrier by 2025.