Australian intelligence data company Kleos Space (ASX:KSS) will utilise SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to carry several of its satellites into earth orbit, starting in mid-2021.
Kleos Space shares advanced nearly 5 per cent to 32c in early trade.
Under the company’s Polar Vigilance Mission, four Kleos satellites will launch into a 500km sun synchronous orbit and travel over the Arctic Ocean and Antarctic continent.
The Australian company is a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based parent Kleos Space which it says collects reconnaissance data to disrupt illegal activity, protect borders and save lives.
Kleos Space is expanding its space-based earth coverage that uses radio frequency reconnaissance data, and its goal is to operate 20 satellite clusters to create a constellation for monitoring global events and key locations of interest.
“The launch of the Polar Vigilance Mission means we take another step on that journey, collecting more data, over new areas opening additional markets while also providing a higher value product for our existing customer base,” chief executive Andy Bowyer said.
Second batch of earth-orbiting satellites
The mid-2021 round of space launches will be the second batch of Kleos Space satellites carried into earth orbit.
Four Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites are currently waiting to launch in India on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s PSLV C49 rocket.
Their orbit covers the continents of Africa, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and central America.
Kleos Space has a subscription-based business model the earns revenue from delivering essential data to government and commercial companies around the world.
Satellite data is collected and processed through the company’s algorithms into packaged products for use by licensed customers.
Satellite launches are big business with 20,000 launches planned in the decade ahead.
The Falcon 9 reusable space rocket has a height of 70m, diameter of 3.7m, and a mass of 549,054 kg, according to the SpaceX website.
The rocket has nine Merlin engines and its fuel tanks are made from an aluminium-lithium alloy. Other metals used in the Falcon 9 rocket are chromium and nickel in a stainless steel alloy.
To date the Falcon rocket has carried out 89 launches.