ILS and Effective Space promise 2 ‘space drones’
March 13, 2018
By Chris Forrester
UK-headquartered (but Israel based) Effective Space Solutions has contracted with International Launch Services (ILS) to place two of its ‘Space Drone’ mission extension vehicles into orbit.
Effective Space used the Satellite 2018 show in Washington to make the announcement.
Effective Space already has a $100 million contract in place for one of its satellites to be used in space.
The agreement with ILS (which launches its Proton rockets from Baikonur, Kazakhstan) will see two Space Drones into geostationary orbit, “with future phases seeing the spacecraft being launched to support low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, Active-Debris-Removal and other logistics in space,” says the company.
Recently dubbed “the backbone of the future” for investment opportunities in the new space sector by Goldman Sachs, in-orbit servicing is intrinsic to the growth of the space industry, and now represents one of the UK’s top industries for growth and prosperity.