Bright Ascension, a space software technology provider, and Third Planet Orbital, a supplier of off-the-shelf functionally standardised small satellite buses, are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding fostering collaboration and development of joint capability.
The agreement commits the two companies to pool their expertise and resources in order to identify and pursue promising opportunities within the fast-growing New Space industry. Through this collaboration, Bright Ascension and Third Planet Orbital will form the foundations of a standardised integrated software and hardware platform.
Leveraging the combined skills and capabilities of Bright Ascension and Third Planet Orbital, the partnership aims to improve access to functionally standardized satellites for payload and mission operators.
Bright Ascension’s modular software directly supports Third Planet Orbital’s approach
for establishing a robust, repeatable and resilient supply chain. The use of pre-existing and prevalidated 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 realize revenues early. Moreover, it enables effortless access to a wider and well-integrated space software infrastructure through Bright Ascension’s 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 Bright Ascension’s Software and Integration Partner Programme, which supports the company’s ongoing 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 program offers diverse
avenues for generating new business opportunities and driving revenue growth.
Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension affirmed that
“We are thrilled to embark on this transformative journey with Third Planet Orbital. 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 spacebased data delivery for further insights and intelligence, provided through our upcoming HELIX suite of software products.”
Third Planet Orbital CEO Miles Ashcroft said
“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. 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.”
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