Open Cosmos

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Open Cosmos Ltd
Company typePrivate
IndustryAerospace engineering
FounderRafal Jorda Siquier
Headquarters
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
~150 (March 2025)
Websitewww.open-cosmos.com

Open Cosmos is a satellite mission provider and microsatellite manufacturer, focusing on Earth Observation and satellite communication missions.

History

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Open Cosmos was founded by Rafal Jorda Siquier in 2015, and now operates bases in the UK, Spain, Portugal[1] and Greece. Its aims to reduce the cost of access to space.[2]

Open Cosmos has joined forces with Space Park Leicester to support in the development of the Elfen Project, which is a mission aimed at measuring solar winds, and its affect on near earth space.[3]

In September 2023, it was announced that Open Cosmos had raised $50 million in funding from backers ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G, along with smaller strategic investors, including Accenture Ventures.[4][5][6]

In July 2025, Open Cosmos acquired Portuguese start-up, Connected, which focuses on 5G NB-IoT capabilities for space.[7]

Missions

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  • QB50: First Mission. Multi-point in-situ measurements of the lower Atmosphere.
  • Enxaneta: Narrowband IoT mission with Sateliot
  • LS2: IoT satellite for Lucuna Space, providing connectivity to ground sensors.
  • DOVER: Pathfinder for GNSS-based positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solution. (Lost in UK launched Virgin Orbit mission)
  • Menut: Earth observation satellite focusing on the impact of climate change.
  • ALISIO-1: 6U CubeSat. SWIR imager for environmental monitoring and a laser comms module for improved data transfer.
  • PLATERO: Integrating Earth Observation, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence for enhanced environmental monitoring.
  • MANTIS: 12U CubeSat, combining Earth Observation and Artificial Intelligence to address the challenges in the energy and mining sector.
  • HAMMER: 6U CubeSat, combining key technologies to deliver near real-time analysis and global coverage.[8]
  • Phi-Sat-2: European Space Agency mission, alongside CGI[disambiguation needed], Ubotica, Simera CH Innovative, CEiiA, GEO-K and KP Labs. 6U Cubesat designed to show how AI technologies can advance Earth observation.[9][10][11]
  • 6GStarLab: (Launching Q4 2025) 6U CubeSat for the evaluation of 6G communication frequencies using multi-frequency devices.[12]
  • NanoMagSat: (Launching 2027) European Space Agency mission consisting of 3 x 16U CubeSats, all carrying miniaturised absolute magnetometers mounted at the end of a boom.[13][14]
  • UK Atlantic Constellation Pathfinder: (Launch TBC) Ocean, Earth and Climate monitoring satellite, intended as a pathfinder towards the UK contribution to the Atlantic Constellation.[15]
  • ORPHEUS: (Launch TBC) Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) announced that it had awarded the £5.15 million Orpheus mission contract to Astroscale UK, with Open Cosmos as a subcontractor and platform provider. This mission is the successor to the Prometheus-2 and CIRCE missions that were lost aboard the Virgin Orbit launch in 2023.[16]
  • Greek government constellation: (Launch TBC) Earth observation constellation to provide high-resolution imagery to the Greek government.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Open Cosmos To Expand Portuguese Footprint". Payload. 4 November 2024.
  2. ^ "UK start-up aims to slash the cost of satellite launches". The Daily Telegraph. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Satellite firm joins space park to track solar wind". BBC News. 20 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Picture brightens for space start-up Open Cosmos with new funding". The Times. 11 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Accenture (ACN) Adds Open Cosmos to Its Investment Portfolio". Yahoo! Finance. 12 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Open Cosmos, a UK satellite startup focused on sustainability, raises $50M". TechCrunch. 11 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Open Cosmos acquires Connected in landmark European spacetech exit". Tech.eu. 3 July 2025.
  8. ^ "Open Cosmos launches groundbreaking Hyperspectral 'HAMMER' Satellite". Open Cosmos (Press release). 5 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Introducing Φsat-2". European Space Agency.
  10. ^ "AI-powered Phisat-2 launched by Open Cosmos and ESA". GIM International. 20 August 2024.
  11. ^ "Open Cosmos and ESA launch AI app-powered satellite". The Engineer. 19 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Open Cosmos preparing 6GStarLab satellite for launch". Electronics Weekly. 20 August 2024.
  13. ^ "ESA awards development contract for NanoMagSat". European Space Agency. 24 November 2024.
  14. ^ "ESA Award Open Cosmos a €34.6M for NanoMagSat Mission". European Spaceflight. 27 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Space for Our Future: UK aims to join Atlantic Constellation with funding for new Earth observation satellite". GOV.UK. 21 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Dstl announces Orpheus satellite mission contract". GOV.UK. 11 June 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  17. ^ "Britain's Open Cosmos wins £51m Greek satellite contract". UKTN. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
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