Helsinki-based startup ReOrbit is preparing to demonstrate its first “software-enabled” satellite.
This marks the next stage of ESA’s UKKO program in collaboration with ReOrbit. Develop and test next generation technology for Earth observation satellites. (Fun fact: Ukko is God of the sky, weather, harvest, and thunder in Finnish mythology.
ReOrbit’s first in-orbit demonstration satellite is Second quarter of 2025. This will be a key test of the startup’s avionics and software stack designed to build an Internet of Things network in space.
“We aim to enable the next generation of missions that are more modular and interconnected,” said Sethu Saveda Suvanam, CEO and founder of the company.
EU technology <3
The latest rumors from the EU tech world, the story of the wise founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. Delivered free to your inbox every week. Sign up now!
The idea is to turn satellites into intelligent interconnected platforms that relay information not just from space to Earth, but from space to space. This will enable satellites to network and communicate with each other, making the delivery of space-related data more efficient, the company said.
Internet of Things in Space
ReOrbit builds two core products: ‘Muon’ and ‘Gluon’. The former is a flight software stack that functions like a satellite’s operating system. Can be added to an existing satellite body.
Gluon, on the other hand, is an actual satellite platform with an optical communication terminal (OCT) for space-to-space and space-to-ground links.
Muon includes a complete digital twin of the Gluon platform and is intended to provide customers with insight into their capital requirements early in their mission. This virtual replica can also be used for operator training and flight procedure planning.
“I strongly believe that initiatives like ReOrbit’s Ukko that leverage advanced flight software and thereby transform the future of space technology will bring many opportunities for space applications, especially in the Earth observation field.”Commercial said Daniele Romagnoli, the person in charge. At ESA he is an EO Systems engineer and at the UKKO program he is an InCubed officer.
ReOrbit has already secured its first customers for the technology being developed under the UKKO programme. India-based KaleidEO plans to combine ReOrbit’s software with its own AI models, depending on the success of its demonstrators next year. The company’s ultimate goal is to realize E.Make Earth observation data and insights more accessible.
Founded in 2019, ReOrbit raised $7.4 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round last year. Investor interest in space technology The issue has become even more interesting in recent years, as an industry that was once solely government-driven has become increasingly dominated by private companies competing for market entry.
Alongside ReOrbit’s software-defined satellites, the startup rocket and space-based solar power plant to the lunar rover.
