These Satellites Both Securely Communicate And Clean Up Space Junk—And They’re Launching This Year

Satellite startup E-Space, which is working to develop a satellite mesh network in low Earth orbit, announced on Monday that it’s aiming to launch its first three test satellites later this year. If successful, the company will do one more test launch before moving to commercial deployment.

“What we’re doing is building systems that can connect to each other,” says E-Space founder and CEO Greg Wyler.

Wyler knows a thing or two about satellite communications. In 2007, he founded O3B Networks, which has so far built a constellation of 20 satellites and was acquired by Luxembourg-based telecommunications company SES in 2016. In 2012, Wyler founded satellite internet company OneWeb, a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation with a valuation of nearly $3 billion, according to Pitchbook. (Wyler hasn’t served at OneWeb in an operational role since 2017.)

E-Space’s constellation will be different from his past efforts in some ways, however. It uses a peer-to-peer communications setup, without the use of gateways. And customers will be able to develop their own sovereign, custom networks based on “zero trust” security topology. ‘Not only does that reduce the cost,” Wyler says. “It also increases the security because it’s point to point.”

Additionally, the satellites are designed with sustainability in mind, Wyler says. The company has designed its satellites in such a way that they’re able to “capture” tiny pieces of space debris while in orbit. Once the satellites have captured a set amount of debris, they’re programmed to de-orbit and burn up in the atmosphere.

To launch its demonstration satellites, E-Space has turned to L.A.-based Rocket Lab, which will launch three satellites in the second quarter of 2022 on one of its Electron rockets from its launch site in New Zealand. Once in orbit, E-space will test their communications performance, controllability and maneuverability. It will also, adds Wyler, enable the company to test its ability to update the satellites’ software and optimize their performance.

“Greg and I have known each other for many years and there’s a strong relationship there,” says Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. “This is just another example of being able to plan early with customers and develop and evolve with them,” he adds.

For Wyler, the excitement of this project is the relative speed with which his company has been able to build and develop satellites to prepare them for launch. His Toulouse, France-based company was founded in 2021. Last month, it raised $50 million in seed funding in a round led by Prime Movers Lab to support its first two satellite launches.

“We’ve been able to substantially reduce the cost of satellites, which contributes to a speed of development that is unusual for space,” he says. “So we’re able to design, develop and launch in a very short period of time.”