Kongsberg Targets LEO Constellation Market With SpinLaunch

Norway’s Kongsberg is looking to enter the increasingly heated market for providing low Earth orbit satellite communications capabilities through a teaming agreement with SpinLaunch.

Kongsberg would provide expertise from secure ground stations to spacecraft systems, while SpinLaunch would contribute its Meridian LEO constellation. The agreement follows Kongsberg taking a stake in SpinLaunch in a funding round a year ago.

“We are aligning Meridian’s LEO architecture with Kongsberg’s end-to-end expertise in satellites, ground systems and mission operations to offer allied governments more capacity, faster deployment and full sovereign control across space and ground,” Kongsberg Discovery president Camilla Kiss said in an April 8 statement.

Kongsberg NanoAvionics is working with SpinLaunch on 280 satellites for the initial Meridian constellation due for launch in October on a SpaceX Falcon 9. SpinLaunch has said it plans to deploy more than 1,000 satellites.

The move comes as more governments are expressing interest in nationally controlled LEO communication systems rather than relying only on commercial vendors.

SpinLaunch last month unveiled its Meridian Defense concept, adapting its commercially focused concept for the national security market. The company says space-based routing with intersatellite links will enable connectivity without the need for distributed ground stations.