Companies finalize alliance for small-sat manufacture
NewsMarch 15, 2018
SEATTLE. The Space Alliance -- a group formed by Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio, and Leonardo -- announced that it has officially taken a minority stake in Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries after having received all government approvals for the transaction.
This investment is part of an overall fundraising effort of $150 million from several sources, some of which are The Space Alliance, existing investors, and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., one of the largest general trading companies in Japan.
BlackSky, the geospatial intelligence company of Spaceflight Industries, is now underway toward fulfulling its mission of deployment of a high revisit rate earth imaging constellation; this constellation is aimed at delivering global monitoring solutions and geospatial activity-based intelligence products and services. BlackSky’s first four global next-generation satellites are slated to launch during the next year or so.
The latest round of funding, according to Thales, ensures production and launch of an additional 20 global satellites, all of which are planned to be in orbit by 2020. This group of small satellites is expected to generate revenues in order to enable the production and launch of the full 60-satellite constellation.
