SWISSto12 has secured 73 million Euros in funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the development and industrialisation of HummingSat.
The Swiss aerospace company, which is thought to hold one of the world’s largest IP portfolios for the use of additive manufacturing in RF applications, will use the funding to further the development of this new class of small geostationary satellites. According to a press release, it will also be used to scale up its manufacturing capacity and accelerate new product innovations, including its phased-array antenna technologies for use onboard LEO/MEO/GEO satellite payloads and ground products such as user terminals.
The Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) HummingSat Partnership Project aims to address increasing global demand for cost-effective, agile and sovereign communications in both government and commercial sectors. At around the size of a washing machine, the HummingSat offers a much smaller and more cost-efficient alternative to legacy geostationary satellites, delivering a flexible platform to expand transponder capacity, enable network flexibility and reconfigurable software-defined payloads, deploy sovereign capabilities and introduce new services with agility. According to the ESA, SWISSto12’s 3D printing capacity will help boost the satellite's payload performance, streamline manufacturing, and reduce production time and costs. Five HummingSats have already been sold, and the first is scheduled for launch in 2027.
Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, said, “We are proud to continue our support of SWISSto12, particularly in creating cost-effective solutions for satellite systems that answer to the satcom ecosystem’s ever-increasing demands. ESA is committed to elevating Europe’s future in space through our support of industry, and by accelerating next-generation satellite technologies.”
Emile de Rijk, CEO and Founder of SWISSto12 said, “The recent subscriptions of Member States and Cooperating States at the ESA Ministerial Council to the HummingSat Project, and the latest round of funding from European private investors sends a strong message to the global market that SWISSto12 is at the heart of satellite communications innovation. With our growing suite of agile, cost-effective and highly performant SatCom solutions, we provide a credible answer to some of the most pressing challenges facing the space economy, including the critical issue of enabling satellite sovereignty – something, until now, out of reach for most of the world’s nations.”
SWISSto12 signed its first contract with the ESA in 2015 to develop new 3D printed antenna components for space applications. The company, a spin out from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, is said to have successfully deployed additive manufacturing for over 1,000 functional products in space with zero failures.
