Satellite firm gets all the right signals as US trade mission lands stellar deal
OXFORD Space Systems, a firm using origami as inspiration for its satellite components, has won a deal to supply a major provider to the International Space Station.
Founder Mike Lawton was one of nine entrepreneurs taking part this month in a trade mission by Government agency Innovate UK to Utah, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
A second is planned to take place in Houston this autumn. Innovate UK is aiming for the country’s share of the space economy to rise from 7.7 per cent now to 10 per cent by 2030.
Lawton’s business, based at the heart of the UK’s space activity at the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, secured £1.2million in its second round of fundraising just days before the mission.
It received significant interest on the mission, including at the annual small satellite conference in Utah, and when he pitched to Space Angels Network investors in Los Angeles. Virgin Galactic and Lockheed Martin are among the firms he visited while in the US.
He said: ‘Every kilogram launched into a useful commercial orbit costs between £20,000 and £30,000. When you consider the smallest useful satellites are roughly 5kg and very large geostationary platforms can be 8,000kg, you can see why launching is one of the biggest challenges in the space industry.
‘If we can strip out some weight from key components, there’s a strong value proposition. It is all about how you can make mechanical structures like antennas and booms as simple and cheap as possible.’
He added: ‘We are exploring the techniques of origami and combining that with new materials that we are developing.’
Tim Just, head of space at Innovate UK, said: ‘All these firms have built innovative solutions to some of the sector’s greatest challenges.’