Israel's Effective Space signed a contract to extend the life of two communication satellites

According to the agreement with an international satellite operator, in the amount of over 100 million dollars, two satellites SPACE DRONE™ Small ones developed by the Israeli company Effective Space will be launched into space, will receive control over maintaining their position and the movement of Shani Communication satellites in orbit and will extend their life span by several years. This type of service in space has not been provided by any other company to date

The company Effective Space (Effective Space Solutions Research and Development Ltd.), one of the pioneers in the field of space operation services, signed a contract in the amount of over 100 million dollars with an international satellite operator. As part of the agreement, Effective Space will launch two small SPACE DRONE satellites that it has developed. The satellites will maneuver towards the operator's two communication satellites, attach to them and gain control over maintaining the position and movement of the satellites in orbit. In doing so, the company will significantly extend the life span and regular activity of the expensive communication satellites. This type of service in space has not been provided by any other company to date. The launch is planned for the course of 2020.

The SPACE DRONE satellite developed by Effective Space weighs less than 400 kg and is the size of a washing machine, and its main task is to extend the lives of communication satellites that have run out of fuel to maintain their orbit, but apart from that they are still serviceable. The SPACE DRONE satellite extends the life of the communication satellites by sticking to them in space and maintaining their trajectory when it is used as an external propulsion system, and thus it allows the satellite operator to extend the life of the satellite it owns for several more years, and provides it with significant economic value. The satellite is equipped with electric thrusters and a non-invasive anchoring system that allows it to connect to almost any of the approximately 400 communication satellites currently in orbit, even though they were not designed to be anchored to them. The small satellite is adapted for launch as a secondary launcher mission, and will serve as a kind of "hitchhiker" in the launch, which greatly reduces the cost of the launch. It is built for repeated use, so that it can perform several service tasks within its life span, which is estimated at about 15 years of operation.

Beyond the fact that the SPACE DRONE satellite can maintain the orbit of the communication satellite, repair and change it (and even take it out of orbit for scrapping purposes), it will also be possible to use it in the future to dispose of "space debris", such as fragments of satellites and parts of launchers, to support the operation of future communication networks based on Thousands of tiny low-orbit satellites, and in the future will also provide services for mining missions from asteroids and even manufacturing in space.

According to Aryeh Halzband, founder and CEO of Effective Space, the innovative technology of servicing satellites in orbit will enable a revolution in the conservative way in which fleets of satellites in space have been managed until now. "There is no reason today that it would not be possible to support the satellite after it has been moved into orbit. Our technology enables satellite operators to maximize the life span of their assets - the satellites in space - and fully exhaust their fuel utilization before scrapping them. The significant transaction we have signed now is one of the first commercial contracts for the provision of space services, and one of the largest signed so far, and it will demonstrate not only the programming of the technological solution, but also how they provide considerable business value to the client, while being able to operate within the framework of international regulation and legislation.'

Since 2013, Effective Space has reported two rounds of raising capital from private sources and during 2018 is raising capital for the growth phase and establishing the service.

The company was founded in 2013. The company's SPACE DRONE satellite provides services to satellites sailing in space on various missions, with the first phase of the activity being the provision of 'life extension' services to satellites that have run out of fuel and are in geostationary orbit. In the following stages of activity, the Effective Space satellite will also be able to provide a service to support various space missions in low and medium orbits, as well as in 'space garbage' disposal missions, exploration missions, mining and production operations in space.

The company's development center located in Tel Aviv currently employs about 15 full-time engineers and another ten part-time. The company's headquarters is located in the United Kingdom and it is planned to expand the activity also to the fields of operations management and marketing. The company's management includes Aryeh Halzband, entrepreneur and CEO, Yuval Tziper, CFO, Ofir Azriel, Technology VP and Daniel Campbell, Marketing and Business Development VP.

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