Fleet Space Technologies establishes US headquarters
Adelaide-based Fleet Space Technologies has established its first international HQ in Houston, Texas. This is the first phase of the company’s global expansion plan and follows its highly successful Series B funding round in November 2021 which raised US$26.4million.
This expansion to the US brings proximity to large-scale market opportunities across multiple client industries, the company says, including natural resources, energy, and sovereign strategic functions.
The company is creating what it believes is the world’s most advanced low-power satellite network to secure planet-wide connectivity coverage for millions of devices through the implementation of its proprietary smallsat technology. This includes designing entirely in-house a 64-element steerable beam antenna for a cubesat which will also be built in-house by Fleet Space at a new factory to be built in Adelaide.
This technology has the potential for applications across multiple industries of significant strategic importance to the United States. The Houston HQ will be an anchor location feeding satellite offices in California and eventually the East Coast, placing Fleet at the heart of the world’s leading government space agency, NASA.
“The technology we have developed has the potential to provide worldwide connectivity to multiple industries,” said Fleet Space CEO and co-founder Flavia Tata Nardini. “This is reflected in our global ambition and commitment to the United States as the first phase of our international expansion. We are already seeing significant demand for our cutting-edge solutions across the Americas and this move represents an affirmation of our belief in the rapid growth of the largest space technology market in the world.”
Fleet is already working in lock-step with US space industry regulators and has applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for market access for its beamforming smallsats in the US; Fleet’s smart edge device, called a portal, has completed FCC certification for use in the US.
Fleet Space Technologies solutions in the United States have proven capability to protect sovereign assets. For example, full global connectivity enabled by Fleet’s existing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation of Proxima and Centauri communications satellites can implement the strategic monitoring of remote assets in oil fields. This dramatically reduces risk and downtime through applications like high-definition recognition cameras that can identify the difference between sanctioned and unknown vehicles approaching critical assets.
In the maritime sector this extends to active monitoring of naval and merchant surface fleets. This affirms the strategic selection of Houston as a base due to its proximity to the United States’ largest resource companies. Fleet Space says it will also shortly announce the creation of a highly innovative new technical solution of lower impact mineral exploration that has been identified as of key strategic importance by US Federal authorities.