BAE Systems has acquired
In-Space Missions, a UK company that designs, builds and operates satellites and satellite systems. The acquisition will combine BAE Systems’ experience in highly secure satellite communications with In-Space Missions’ full lifecycle satellite capability, to make a compelling UK-based space offer.
In-Space Missions was founded in 2015 and is based in Hampshire with more than 30 employees. It specialises in offering space services for activities covering earth observation, satellite communications, navigation, and space science and exploration.
The company also has an innovative approach to combining satellites into a payload rideshare, allowing multiple payloads to be launched and operated together as one satellite in space. This ‘Faraday Service’ not only reduces cost and time to launch, but also contributes to space sustainability by reducing the number of separate satellites.
In-Space Missions launched its first combined satellite in June, carrying six payloads for customers including Airbus, Lacuna, SatixFy and Aeternum, as well as In-Space Missions’ own Babel payload, and continues to operate them in orbit.
The Faraday Service also allows for digital payloads to be uploaded to In-Space Missions’ proprietary, software defined, ultra-wideband RF platform — reducing the time to orbit for customers from years to days.
BAE Systems already provides space products in waveforms, electronics, antenna and digital signal processing and analytics, with 20 years’ experience in ground-based signal processing for various space agencies.
In-Space Missions adds the capability to create, launch and operate complete satellites, helping to enable sovereign, secure and resilient data sharing between different platforms in sea, air, land and space.
Ben Hudson, chief technology officer at BAE Systems, said: “The UK has an opportunity to be a global player in the growing low earth orbit space market, as well as servicing its own sovereign defence and commercial needs. This acquisition will allow us to combine a range of space capabilities that help deliver information advantage, multi-domain operations and networking for our customers. We look forward to welcoming the In-Space Missions team to BAE Systems.”
Doug Liddle, CEO of In-Space Missions, said: “This agreement means In-Space Missions will maintain its small company culture while leveraging the tremendous scale and new opportunities offered by BAE Systems. We are already collaborating on new highly secure satellite applications and beyond that, we are really excited about how this agreement will underpin our growth as an ambitious, UK-owned, prime and service provider.”
This acquisition is part of BAE Systems’ strategy to develop breakthrough technologies, pursuing bolt-on acquisitions where they complement existing capabilities and provide an opportunity to accelerate technology development in key areas, as evidenced with recent acquisitions such as Prismatic, Techmodal and PPM Ltd.