SpinLaunch has completed a $30 million Series C funding round, led by ATW Partners and Norway's Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace. The capital lifts the start-up's total cash haul to $203 million, with the latest tranche showing confidence in its Flash Gordon take on sending satellites into orbit.
The startup is developing a kinetic launch system it says will cut satellite deployment costs by using centrifugal acceleration to hurl objects into space. As part of the long-term goal, it is designing satellites for Meridian Space, a low earth orbit broadband constellation system it hopes is ready for commercial use by 2030. Kongsberg's NanoAvionics subsidiary is under contract to manufacture 280 satellites when the tech is ready for production.
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"From technical milestones to collaboration with early adopters, the continued backing of insiders and partners like Kongsberg underscores the credibility of our approach and the progress we've made," SpinLaunch CEO Massimilino Ladovaz said in the release. Kogsberg President Eirk Lie added that "we saw a bold vision backed by a uniquely capable team."
Ladovaz told satellite news site Payload the constellation project will advance launcher development by designing and testing compatible satellites. But the liftoffs this time will be done with traditional rockets that deploy communication arrays into fixed-track orbits. The still-in-development launch system is being designed to catapult smaller payloads in rapid succession.
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In 2020, Long Beach, California-based SpinLaunch started development on small communications satellites compatible with this launcher technology and sturdy enough to withstand high G-forces. The design is based on NASA-inspired multiband reflectarry antennas that are smaller, using a fraction of the power consumed by traditional communications satellite antennas.
Meridian satellites will weigh just 155 pounds if all goes well, well below mini-satellite deployments that typically weigh between 220 and 1,100 pounds. At this size and weight, up to 250 satellites can be launched on a single traditional rocket, or eventually hurled into space on a modern-day centrifuge.
Ladovaz also told Payload the constellation will be a "game changer" that shows investors it saves a fortune compared to typical multi-billion-dollar communication systems. Chief Innovation Officer David Wrenn expanded on this financial potential in the press release, saying that "full-scale testing confirms we can deliver multiband capability without the cost and complexity of traditional designs."
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SpinLaunch says full-scale testing of its proprietary antenna is completed and development will continue through 2026. The company has contracted with an undisclosed launcher to fly the first configured satellite and show a stable customer link. If successful, it wants to deploy the a constellation of 30 satellites into an equatorial orbit in late 2027 and follow up with another 250 to provide global coverage by the turn of the decade.
Ladovaz tells Payload the first constellation will provide connectivity up to 300 gigabits per second but hopes the full-featured global constellation to reach two terabits per second. That would double the connectivity of Eutelsat's OneWeb first-gen constellation, which came online in 2023.
Those older satellites weigh over 330 pounds while Starlink's brand-new V2 mini satellites tip the scales at a hefty 1,630 to 1,760 pounds.
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