Ibadan, 24 November 2023. – SWISSto12 and ESA are developing the HummingSat range of satellites under the ARTES Partnership Project. The program aims for SWISSto12 to capture a significant part of the expanding global market of small and flexible geostationary satellites.
At the moment, SWISSto12 has sold four satellites, the first to Intelsat, which will launch on an Ariane 6 launcher in 2026 to support Intelsat’s media and network customers. The Company sold the other three to Inmarsat, to provide worldwide safety services and emergency communications for ships and aircraft, as well as a Satellite-Based Augmentation System to enhance the precision of standard navigation services.
Emile de Rijk, CEO and founder of SWISSto12, said, “The cooperation with ESA has been instrumental to achieving our commercial and development success so far. We have set the project 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.”
At around the size of an industrial washing machine, HummingSats are much smaller than conventional geostationary satellites. As a result, they are more affordable to build, and launch costs are also lower as they can leverage ride-share missions. SWISSto12’s 3D-printing technology will also help boost payload performance, streamline the manufacturing process, and reduce the build time and cost of production.
Javier Benedicto, Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications at ESA, said, “As with previous ARTES Partnership Projects such as Neosat and Novacom, HummingSat is expected to generate an exceptional return of investment for European and Canadian States participating in the program.”
