Isotropic Systems will see its technology deployed on advanced US Navy ships
Credit: Zumwalt
A Reading start-up building next-generation satellite antennas that will be used on the US Navy’s futuristic Zumwalt-class destroyer has secured $40m (£29m) from investors including Boeing and Government’s Future Fund.
Isotropic Systems, a Reading-based company, builds ground satellite terminals that use optical lenses to receive signals from multiple satellites at once.
While most ground receivers use motors to move their dish as satellites travel across the sky, Isotropic’s antennas bend radio waves, similar to how light can be bent. This means the dish has no moving parts and can receive multiple signals at once.
John Finney, chief executive of Isotropic, said: “What we are doing is radically different to what has been available to the industry for the last 20 years. The use of optical lenses allow us to point and re-point radio waves in any direction we choose.”
The funding round was led by Luxembourg’s SES, Europe’s largest satellite operator, with cash from the taxpayer-backed Future Fund, Boeing and Orbital Ventures. It brings the start-up’s total raised to more than $70m.
The surge in launches of low-Earth orbit satellites, that are placed at 1,200 miles or lower above the Earth’s surface, has led to fresh demand for more advanced satellite terminals, Finney said.
The British Government has backed OneWeb, a satellite venture building a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, while Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Amazon are each planning to launch thousands of broadband satellites into orbit.
Isotropic is targeting business and government clients who need more advanced and accurate systems.
Mr Finney said the start-up had started working with the US Navy, which had selected its design for its $22bn USS Zumwalt destroyer programme, and was trialling its technology with the US army.
Brian Schettler, of Boeing HorizonX Global Ventures, said: “The development of Isotropic’s unique radio frequency optical technology will further accelerate the expansion of space-based connectivity.” Boeing is also a shareholder in Abingdon-based Reaction Engines, which is developing hypersonic engines.
Mr Finney said he was optimistic about the future of the UK space industry. “The UK is the place to be in the space economy.”
It comes amid a shake-up of the UK’s space policy, with authority over policy expected to be handed to the Business department from the UK Space Agency.
Last Thursday, MPs called for an overhaul of how Britain funded the space sector. Chris Skidmore, the former space minister, called for more UK owned space ventures, adding “worryingly, only 10pc [of UK space activity] is UK owned.” He called for a doubling of the space budget to £1bn.
David Morris, a Conservative MP and chair of Parliament’s space committee, asked for new backing for the UK’s “terrestrial sites to have ballistic space ports as well as horizontal space tourism airspace” and “more teeth” for the UK Space Industry Act to develop launch capacity.
Mr Finney said the funding it had secured from Boeing and the taxpayer would create 150 new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics roles in the UK. He said the company was forecasting £1bn in export revenues by 2028.
Amanda Solloway, the UK science minister, said: “Backed by UK government, these new multi beam antennas will improve connectivity for us all at home, and for emerging technologies such as driverless cars, while helping to create 150 highly skilled UK jobs as we build back better.”
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