Aerospace company SWISSto12 has announced securing €73 million in financial support from European Space Agency (ESA) member states through the HummingSat ARTES partnership project.

Funding Objectives

The funding aims to accelerate SWISSto12’s development and industrialization of HummingSat, as well as scaling up its manufacturing capacity and accelerating new product innovations. These initiatives address increasing global demand for cost-effective, agile and sovereign communications in both government and commercial sectors.

The HummingSat Platform

Developed in partnership with ESA and scheduled for first launch in 2027, the HummingSat platform is significantly smaller and more cost-efficient than legacy geostationary satellites. It gives customers a flexible, cost-effective platform to expand transponder capacity, enable network flexibility and reconfigurable software-defined payloads, deploy sovereign capabilities and introduce new services with agility.

ESA's ARTES Programme

The Partnership Projects programme line of ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) drives innovation by federating ambitious large-scale collaborations between ESA, private companies, and satellite operators. This programme establishes ESA as a key partner in developing major satellite communication systems, new value-adding solutions and services, and providing in-orbit validation.

Statements

Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, said: “We are proud to continue our support of SWISSto12, particularly in creating cost-effective solutions for satellite systems that answer to the satcom ecosystem’s ever-increasing demands.”

According to Emile de Rijk, CEO and Founder of SWISSto12: "The latest round of funding sends a strong message to the global market that SWISSto12 is at the heart of satellite communications innovation."