Kleos Launch Preparations Finalised
- Kleos Space team fly to Launch site for final launch preparations
- Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites are in India awaiting launch aboard PSLV C49
- Scouting Mission satellites will detect and geolocate maritime radio frequency transmissions to enhance situational awareness at sea
- Kleos to generate first revenues following launch and commissioning of its Scouting Mission satellites
- Early Adopter companies from USA,UK, Sth America etc, eagerly awaiting the new data
- Live feed of historic launch for public to watch
- Global Maritime Information Market expected to be up to US$1.41 billion in 2020.
- KSS initial target is less than 1.5% of this market (revenues of €19 million)
Kleos Space S.A (ASX:KSS, Frankfurt)(KS1, Kleos or Company), a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, advises that the mission team will be travelling to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Chennai, India from the 18th March, to carry out the final preparation steps prior to launch.
CEO of Kleos Space, Andy Bowyer said, “We are on the cusp of the launch of our Scouting Mission satellites from Chennai. Our combined team is undertaking final preparations for our satellites to be integrated with the PSLV launch vehicle. Kleos eagerly awaits the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the launch provider, publicly announcing the upcoming launch date, until then Kleos is bound by contractual confidentiality.
“Following launch, spacecraft operation engineers will guide the satellites from launch vehicle separation until they are established in their final orbit. This is an important milestone for Kleos as it will enable us to commence data delivery and revenue generation from early adopter contracts.
“We are seeing increasing demand for our global maritime geolocation intelligence data, which will enhance the ISR capabilities of governments and commercial entities. Our independent intelligence will complement existing datasets to enable the detection of hidden maritime activity such as drug and people smuggling, piracy, pollution and illegal fishing.”
The Kleos team will start travelling to the launch site on the 18th March to carry out final preparation over a period of approximately six days prior to handing Kleos’ nanosatellites over to New Space India (NSIL) for integration with the launch vehicle. The preparation activities include carrying out spacecraft checkout, battery charging, fuelling, setting the final spacecraft flight configuration and overseeing the dispenser integration.
Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard PSLV C49, a rideshare mission conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and featuring satellites from other organisations such as Spire Global.
Kleos’ satellites will launch into a 37-degree inclination orbit, providing unprecedented situational awareness over crucial shipping regions including the Strait of Hormuz, South China Sea and East and West African coasts.
Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites will detect and geolocate maritime radio frequency transmissions to provide global activity-based intelligence irrespective of the presence of positioning systems, in spite of unclear imagery and if targets are out of patrol range. These initial satellites form the foundation of a larger constellation that will deliver near real-time intelligence over key regions of maritime interest.
The following companies have entered into MOUs or have early adopter contracts in place with Kleos. Airbus, L3 Harris, Ball Aerospace, UTC Collins, Telepazio, IMSL, Victoria Falls, Spire, ImageSat International, Brazilian Government Agency, Geollect, a Nation State, Earthlab, Chilean Geociences and Brazilian HEX Geospatial Technologies.
A live link of this historic event will be made available prior to launch date for everyone to view.
About Kleos Space S.A.
Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS) is a space enabled, activity-based intelligence, data as a service company based in Luxembourg. Kleos Space aims to guard borders, protect assets and save lives by delivering global activity-based intelligence and geolocation as a service. The first Kleos Space satellite system, known as Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM), will deliver commercially available data and perform as a technology demonstration. KSM will be the keystone for a later global high capacity constellation. The Scouting Mission will deliver targeted daily services with the full constellation delivering near-real time global observation – www.kleos.space.
