TAMPA, Fla. — The U.K. is funding nearly half the price of replacing the government-backed cubesat that British maritime surveillance enterprise Horizon Technologies lost in January in Virgin Orbit’s final launch attempt before bankruptcy.
Horizon said in an Oct. 19 news release that the UK Space Agency awarded the corporate a £1.2 million ($1.5 million) grant to assist launch the spy satellite in mid-2024. The U.K. would use the substitute satellite to scan for radio frequencies (RF) from ships attempting to avoid detection.
Using revenues from equipping spy planes and drones to trace satellite phones and radars, Horizon plans to offer the remaining of the £2.8 million funding the Amber Phoenix satellite program needs to satisfy manufacturing, ground segment, launch, and other costs.
AAC Clyde Space (ACS) is constructing Amber Phoenix, the UK Space Agency announced individually, and a launch provider has not yet been booked. Publicly listed ACS is headquartered in Sweden but builds small satellites in Scotland.
John Becker, Horizon’s CEO, said Amber Phoenix would have undisclosed improvements over the lost Amber IOD-3 (In-Orbit Demonstration) satellite that ACS also provided.
Amber IOD-3, a 6U cubesat like its successor, was a part of a program led by British government-backed nonprofit Satellite Applications Catapult that used Horizon as a chief contractor.
Becker told SpaceNews Horizon spent greater than £4 million on the technology needed for what was to be its first satellite, supported by a £600,000 grant from U.K. government’s innovation agency.
The uninsured Amber IOD-3 was certainly one of nine small satellites lost when Virgin Orbit’s Launcher One failed to succeed in the correct orbit in its first and only launch from British soil. Virgin Orbit collapsed out of business three months later.
Bad launch bet
Horizon had initially planned to launch Amber IOD-3 aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission in 2021 for deployment from the International Space Station.
After missing this launch opportunity following pandemic-related production delays, Becker said Amber IOD-3 was moved to Virgin Orbit partly to support its first U.K. launch.
Amber IOD-3 was originally as a consequence of launch with Virgin Orbit in July 2022, he added, but was delayed while the launcher sought permission to fly from the UK.
Without the grant from the UK Space Agency to partially fund a substitute satellite, Becker said Horizon would have needed to shut down plans to expand its business into space.
Horizon ordered two other Amber surveillance satellites from ASC in 2021, initially slated to launch in 2022 but in addition suffered production delays.
Only preliminary work has been done on these cubesats, in accordance with Becker, and the corporate expects to announce a deployment date for them once a launch provider has been nailed down for Amber Phoenix.
Horizon envisages a constellation of greater than 20 Amber payloads in low Earth orbit, enough to offer worldwide RF data with 30-minute latency.
The U.K. Royal Navy’s Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) plans to make use of the constellation to tackle piracy, smuggling, and other illegal activities.
Becker said Horizon is searching for to sell its space-based detection services to other governments and industrial customers.
He said the constellation may even include RF-tracking payloads integrated into partner Earth statement and artificial aperture radar (SAR) constellations.
Sensors on these constellations may very well be tasked to capture more data on areas RF payload has identified as of interest.
Horizon has a memorandum of understanding with a U.S.-based Earth statement company so as to add payloads on satellites as a consequence of launch next yr, Becker added, and is closing in on a cope with a separate SAR company.