Glasgow-built nanosatellites heading for low Earth orbit

Government-backed ‘nanosatellites’ – built in Glasgow – will launch later this month, to help predict global trade movements.

The nanosatellites, made by Spire Global UK and backed by £6m of UK Government investment, will take off on the Russian Soyuz launcher on 24 September.

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) highlights that two further nanosatellites will be aboard an Indian PSLV launcher, due for launch on 1 November. They will be joining a fleet of more than 100 objects in low Earth orbit, it says.

Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of UKSA, said:

“Nanosatellites weigh less than a piece of cabin luggage, but are enormously powerful in what they can do. These four Spire satellites are aimed at making trade hyper-accurate, with technology that makes business more cost effective and efficient.”

“Scotland’s space sector is booming. Our membership of ESA is benefiting companies across the UK, and we are committed to supporting the space.”

Spire Global UK is described as a satellite-powered data company that provides predictive analysis or global shipping, aviation and weather forecasting.

These services have been developed under an ESA Pioneer programme,which is a partnership project co-funded by the UK Space Agency, it says.

“Spire is all about helping our customers know what is next, so they can make better decisions,” said Peter Platzer, CEO and co-founder of Spire Global (pictured above). “This month we are moving this forward by launching a true super-computer into orbit – 1-2 teraflops! – so that we can analyse data right in orbit, using smart algorithms and machine learning.”

“This will allow us to get better, smarter and faster analytics to our customers for their business decisions.”