News & Events
Bright Ascension and Third Planet Orbital Announce Partnership
Bright Ascension’s HELIX suite of space software products
We are thrilled to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Third Planet Orbital Ltd, a supplier of off-the-shelf functionally standardised small satellite buses. The agreement commits both companies to pool our expertise and resources in order to identify and pursue promising opportunities within the fast-growing New Space industry. Together with Third Planet Orbital, we will form the foundations of a standardised integrated software and hardware platform.
Leveraging our combined skills and capabilities, the partnership aims to improve access to functionally standardised satellites for payload and mission operators. Our modular software directly supports Third Planet Orbital’s approach for establishing a robust, repeatable and resilient supply chain. The use of pre-existing and pre-validated libraries accelerates integration of hardware independently of the customer critical path.
The integration promises to streamline customers’ development activities, delivering cost-effective and off-the-shelf solutions that are mission ready at launch and realise revenues early. Moreover, it enables effortless access to a wider and well-integrated space software infrastructure through our upcoming HELIX suite of products, ranging from managing ground operations to delivering space-based services and transforming them into value-added insights and applications.
The agreement aligns with our Software and Integration Partner Programme, which supports the HELIX software suite expansion and serves as a strategic platform for developing collaboration with commercial entities across the global space sector. Embracing both software and hardware technology providers, the programme offers diverse avenues for generating new business opportunities and driving revenue growth.
“We are thrilled to embark on this transformative journey with Third Planet Orbital.”
Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension
“By combining our strengths, we aim to offer a substantially cheaper, better and easier access to spacecraft development, which also comes with pre-existing and tightly integrated mission growth opportunities, such as automation of operations or space-based data delivery for further insights and intelligence, provided through our upcoming HELIX suite of software products,” said Peter Mendham.
“The opportunity presented by the space sector is enormous and our job is to make it as easy as possible for payload users to become mission ready.”
Third Planet Orbital CEO Miles Ashcroft
“If we are to Simplify Time to Mission Success, then our satellite buses must be accessible and operate consistently out-of-the-box. It is a vital component of what we do, and how we help our customers is to have competent software on board our buses. Bright Ascension gives us that confidence to go to market knowing our customers can concentrate effort on their payloads and operations,” said Miles Ashcroft, CEO at Third Planet Orbital.
Third Planet Orbital are exhibiting at Space-Comm Expo in Farnborough, UK, on 6-7th March. Visit Stand K37 for more details and a hand-on demo of our upcoming HELIX family of space software products.