A spin-off from Isae-Supaero, startup U-Space aims to make its mark in the highly competitive nanosatellite market. The young company has already been entrusted with the manufacture of the Ness demonstrator for Cnes and a cubesat for Onera. It is also studying the design of a low-orbit nanosatellite for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. To industrialize production, U-Space is looking for a partner and plans to raise funds in 2022.
Never before has the market for satellite constellations whetted appetites to such an extent. In Toulouse, Europe’s historic space capital, some people start working in this segment as soon as they graduate. That’s what happened to Fabien Apper. A graduate of Isae-Supaero, he was still a student when he began working on the engineering of Eyesat, a demonstration nanosatellite developed by Cnes. The engineer met Antoine Ressouche (formerly of Enac) and Nicolas Humeau (formerly of École des Mines).
Miniature satellites at knock-down prices
Together, they founded the startup U-Space in 2018 with the ambition of becoming a master builder of nanosatellites at knock-down prices.
“There is a growing demand for nanosatellite constellations. These miniaturized satellites are less expensive to launch and provide greater coverage. Today, a 3U cubesat (i.e. one measuring 10cmX10cmX30cm) costs less than a million euros per unit, far less than a conventional satellite. Eventually, we’d like to drastically reduce this unit cost through high-volume production. What’s more, we offer very fast design times, on the order of two years”, says Fabien Apper.
At the end of 2019, the young company, which is a spin-off from Isae-Supaéro, wins its first contract with the design and manufacture of the Ness satellite for Cnes. This 3U demonstrator project is designed to provide planetary monitoring of the radio-frequency spectrum and analyze sources of interference. “For us, this is a major project spanning 18 months. We are currently in the process of assembling the flight model, which we plan to deliver by the end of the year, with launch scheduled for the second half of 2022”, explains the CEO.
In early 2021, the young company wins a second production contract for Onera, the French aerospace research center, for whom it will design and manufacture Crème, a 3U nanosatellite for a scientific mission to monitor the radiation belts. It is expected to be launched into orbit in late 2023 or early 2024.
Studies for a military space nanosatellite
U-Space has already won a dozen contracts to carry out preliminary studies for the private and public sectors (including the French Ministry of the Armed Forces). In particular, the company is studying the suitability of a low-orbit nanosatellite for space surveillance, at the request of the French Space Command. Based in Toulouse since 2019, the Space Command’s mission is to protect France’s most valuable satellites from unfriendly maneuvers by foreign powers or the risk of collisions with space debris.
“We’re working on the concept of space surveillance missions from low-Earth orbit with a 6U nanosatellite (10cmX20cmX30cm) for a demonstration mission. This would be a precursor, but eventually we could imagine a constellation of ten or twenty nanosatellites permanently monitoring space”, adds Fabien Apper.
At the same time, France has also launched work, entrusted to the Toulouse-based company Hemeria, on a space system called Yoda, scheduled for the end of the decade, tasked with patrolling the immediate space of military telecommunication satellites in geostationary orbit, as the spokesman for the Ministry of the Armed Forces, Hervé Grandjean, recently reminded La Tribune.
Agreement with a manufacturer in sight
U-Space is also being approached by new entrants in the space sector to carry out in-flight satellite operations. The startup’s ambition is to have produced a constellation of at least twenty nanosatellites by 2025, and to have an industrial tool capable of reaching a production rate of 300 satellites per year. The company intends to take this giant step by teaming up with an industrial partner.
“We’re looking to join forces with a partner who already has the relevant skills, and it won’t necessarily be a player from the space industry. We’re looking into collaborations with the automotive or aeronautics industries for the production of nano-satellites. U-Space would then concentrate on its core business, which is satellite design”, explains the company’s co-founder.
U-Space hopes to find this partner by the end of 2021 and is planning to raise “several million euros” in funding during 2022. Based since 2019 in the District, the Aerospace Valley cluster’s gas pedal in the heart of the B612, the start-up has around 15 employees. It plans to hire around ten new staff over the next year, including a number of engineers as well as sales and support staff (communications, human resources).