Yet another agreement involving a NewSpace startup has been signed at this year’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, following announcements by Fleet, Saber Astronautics, and satsearch.co.
mu Space Corp, a startup from Thailand founded in August 2017, has announced that it has picked Blue Origin to launch its geostationary satellite in 2021. This is Blue Origin’s first Asian launch contract.
The satellite, currently under development, will be launched from Blue Origin’s New Glenn, a new orbital launch vehicle expected to be ready by 2020.
Commenting on the new partnership, mu Space CEO James Yenbamroong said, “We’ve decided to go with Blue Origin because we’re impressed with the company’s vision and engineering approach.”
Along with regular payloads, Blue Origin hopes to use New Glenn to take people into space; this complements mu Space’s Everyone Project, which aims to encourage space tourism by providing in-space connectivity and space gears. By working with partners such as Blue Origin, mu Space also plans to become the first company to offer space tourism in Asia.
Everyone Project will enhance mu Space’s regular business of providing satellite-based broadband, mobile and broadcasting solutions for telcos and businesses in Thailand.
“We look forward to launching mu Space on New Glenn to serve the people of Thailand and to be a part of expanding mu Space’s imprint on the Asia Pacific region,” says Robert Meyerson, Blue Origin’s President.
