HummingSat promises new innovations
November 27, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Intelsat has already ordered a small HummingSat craft from manufacturer SWISSto12. The company is now developing further iterations of its 3D-printed small satellites with help from the European Space Agency (ESA). London-based Inmarsat, now owned by Viasat, has ordered three HummingSats.
The HummingSat craft are small, and orbit at geostationary altitudes and designed to be used in telecommunications. The innovative, small-sized HummingSat range of satellites, named after the tiny, agile, fast-moving, and yet apparently stationary hummingbird, are being developed as an ESA Partnership Project with SWISSto12.
ESA and the company say the programme’s objective is for SWISSto12 to capture a significant part of the expanding global market of small and flexible geostationary satellites. Four satellites have already been sold by SWISSto12 which encourages this newcomer in geostationary satellite manufacturing. The first is to satellite operator Intelsat, due to be launched on an Ariane 6 launcher in 2026 to support Intelsat’s media and network customers, and three to Inmarsat, to provide worldwide safety services and emergency communications for ships and aircraft.
The craft are significantly smaller than a traditional geostationary satellites and are about the size of an industrial washing machine. Their small size makes them more affordable to build, and launch costs are reduced as they can piggyback on ride-share launch missions. Also helping is SWISSto12’s groundbreaking 3D-printing technology which will help boost the payload performance, streamline the manufacturing process, and reduce the build time and cost of production.
SWISSto12 uses patented 3D techniques and the company says their technology “makes Telecom satellites agile”. The company talks about their production being up to 10-times lower costs than conventional geostationary satellites and with “a fraction” of the CapEx of their larger rival craft.
Emile de Rijk, CEO and founder of SWISSto12, commented: “The cooperation with ESA has been instrumental to achieve our commercial and development success so far. The project has been set up in record time, and our SWISSto12 HummingSat team has grown significantly in the last year. We continue to recruit and expand our facilities as well as our network of industrial partners to support the HummingSat development and commercial growth.”
Javier Benedicto, Acting Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications at ESA, added “The HummingSat Partnership Project is a trend setter for ESA. We are working hand-in-hand with SWISSto12, a dynamic and successful company in the private space industry, leading a European consortium. SWISSto12 has developed into a new satellite prime contractor and set up a European supply chain. As with previous ARTES Partnership Projects, such as Neosat and Novacom, HummingSat is expected to generate exceptional return of investment for European and Canadian States participating in the program.”
The HummingSat Partnership Project is supported by Austria, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It is part of ESA’s program of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES).