CLYDE SPACE - MAKING 2020 AWESOME ONE SATELLITE AT A TIME

MAKING 2020 AWESOME ONE SATELLITE AT A TIME

We’ve packed a lot into 2020, from our new satellite contract for the development of the next generation of space based maritime communications, the announcement of our Scottish Enterprise grant to develop cutting edge satellites, to expanding our awesome team.

The beginning of September saw a successful rocket launch for AAC Clyde Space, the VV16 Vega was carrying various products of ours on-board alongside two of our satellites, PICASSO & TARS, both built in our Skypark premises in Glasgow. PICASSO is a golden CubeSat built for a European Space Agency earth observation mission which will measure the ozone distribution in the stratosphere and the satellite successfully made contact with our ground station in Glasgow which was great news for our team. TARS was the second satellite successfully launched in September on the Ariane Space Vega launch and was the third satellite build by AAC Clyde Space for Kepler Communications. TARS is a 6U CubeSat which is part of the Satellite Applications Catapult IOD programme, supported by the UK Space Agency. We also contributed to the first “Made in Luxembourg” satellite of its kind, the ESAIL mission by LuxSpace which we are delighted to say was successfully powered by our leading smallsat power system products.

We have many satellites orbiting earth, but we aren’t stopping there, our cutting-edge software is heading to Jupiter on a European Space Agency mission, JUICE. The spacecraft heading to Jupiter is an exploratory mission of the planet and its moons. JUICE will be the first spacecraft ever to orbit a giant’s planet large moon and AAC Clyde Space are proud to be part of this moment, as you may be able to tell our work is never boring and projects like this are the reason why. We announced in June that AAC Clyde Space secured a research and development grant of up to 2.3M GBP from Scottish Enterprise to develop, manufacture and gain in-orbit heritage on next generation nano and small satellites. The grant will support R&D, new equipment acquisitions as well as the creation of new jobs.

A significant milestone for AAC Clyde Space was the announcement of our new satellite contract with ORBCOMM and SAAB. This project grants AAC Clyde Space approx. 1.5 million GBP to develop the next generation of space based VDES system, enabling ships to carry a two-way communication across the globe. This project marks the beginning on a new era in maritime communications with the 3U satellite (around the size of a loaf of bread) planned to launch in mid-2022 and will help ships navigate the high seas, creating smarter routes via satellite communication which in turn saves fuel and the environment. Production will begin this year and will be manufactured in our new facilities in Uppsala, the first of many brilliant projects in the new cleanroom.

We welcomed Hyperion Technologies to the AAC Clyde Space family in October, the announcement that we acquired a fantastic New Space company means that we can further extend our product offering, access to key tech whilst adding substantial capability to our missions. Hyperion Technologies are Dutch company based in the Delft who specialise in high performance, components for small spacecraft, being particularly renowned for its attitude and orbit control technologies, among others.

Despite the current global pandemic changing the way that we work AAC Clyde Space continue to lead the way in the small satellite industry through innovation, hard work and an awesome team of people. It’s fair to say it has been a busy few months for AAC Clyde Space and we won’t be stopping there, we look forward to what the rest of 2020 has in store.