This article provides a detailed analysis of 10 new cube satellite or CubeSat companies. They develop solutions such as sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) CubeSats, modular CubeSat buses, and multi-sensor CubeSat. These technologies enhance earth monitoring capabilities, offer scalable and customizable satellite platforms, provide data for environmental and defense applications, & more. Each company expands the performance, utility, and cost-efficiency of space missions and earth observation. This article was last updated 5 days ago. If you find any info is missing, let us know!
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Key Takeaways
Drawing insights from the Big Data & AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform that provides data on over 4.7+ million emerging companies globally, we explore the evolving landscape of the CubeSat industry. This sector is marked by key trends and a substantial workforce, shaping its future. Here are some key insights at a glance:
- Latest CubeSat Trends: The latest CubeSat trends include modular and reconfigurable payloads, enhanced propulsion, very high throughput satellites, AI, machine learning, and mission control-as-a-service.
- CubeSat Industry Stats: The sector comprises 1K+ organizations worldwide. Out of these, 200+ new CubeSat companies were founded in the last five years, with 2020 as the average founding year. On average, each of these companies employs about 19 people. Moreover, the average funding received by these 200+ cube satellite companies per round in the same span is USD 6.4 million.
- 10 New CubeSat Companies to Watch:
- Rapid Cubes – SSO CubeSats
- HEX20 – Modular CubeSat Buses
- Meteo.Space – Multi-Sensor CubeSats
- arcsec – Star Trackers & Reaction Wheel
- Qubitrium – Quantum-powered CubeSat
- Absolut Sensing – Hyperspectral Instruments
- Hydra Space – Pocket Cube Buses
- MIPRONS – Compact CubeSat Propulsion System
- Magdrive – High-Power Propulsion System
- Direct Kinetic Solutions – Radioisotopic Battery
Discover 10 out of 200+ Emerging CubeSat Companies
In this section, we highlight 10 new CubeSat companies offering solutions such as star trackers, reaction wheels, hyperspectral instruments, and pocket cube buses. These companies integrate precise navigation systems, advanced Earth observation tools, and compact satellite CubeSat solutions. Moreover, they enhance the accuracy of satellite orientation, provide detailed spectral imaging from orbit, and innovate in satellite design and deployment. Continue reading to discover the advancements these companies bring to the CubeSat industry.
Note on Signal Strength
One of the unique metrics we feature for each company is Signal Strength, a proprietary data point generated by our Discovery Platform. It gauges the extent to which a company’s influence has permeated the global ecosystem of startups, scaleups, and emerging companies. This proprietary metric serves as a valuable guidepost for understanding a company’s standing in the broader market landscape.
1. Rapid Cubes
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Germany
- Signal Strength: Medium
- What they do: Rapid Cubes builds a range of CubeSat platforms. Its 6U CubeSat platform supports a payload volume of up to 5U while the 10 kg class platform provides up to 8U payload volume. The company’s RapidCube-20 supports up to 11U payload volume and RapidCube-50 is a 50 kg class platform that supports a payload mass capacity of up to 20 kg. RapidCube-100 accommodates up to 30 kg payloads for larger missions. The application areas of the company’s CubeSat platforms include inter-satellite communication, earth observation, and in-orbit demonstration.
2. HEX20
- Founding Year: 2020
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Australia
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: HEX20 makes modular CubeSat buses such as 3U, 6U, 12U and 27U. Its 3U CubeSat bus integrates flight-proven subsystems for functions such as technical demonstrations and Internet of Things (IoT) services as well as features a payload capacity of 2.5 to 3.6kg. The 6U platform supports payload mass up to 7 kg for intelligence and monitoring missions in the defense and space science domains. The 12U CubeSat bus further supports missions with up to 10 kg payload mass and enables high-accuracy Earth observation.
3. Meteo.Space
- Founding Year: 2022
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Medium
- What they do: Meteo.Space builds a constellation of small-form, high-resolution multi-sensor CubeSats. They provide space-based quality data for environmental and climate monitoring. The company also provides a data platform that combines intelligent processing, remote sensing data pool, and optical monitoring to monitor soil moisture, surface temperature, and vegetation. Further, its optical system complements large satellite observation to reduce mission costs and shorten development time.
4. arcsec
- Founding Year: 2020
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Belgium
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: arcsec builds Sagitta and Twinkle, the company’s star trackers, and Zyra, a reaction wheel. They optimize arc second range pointing accuracy by using algorithms. The compact star trackers integrate into CubeSats or large satellites to determine attitude accuracy. Additionally, the reaction wheel, tailored for CubeSats up to 12U, features custom electronics and radiation shielding to enhance performance. These systems provide high-accuracy attitude determination and control systems for CubeSats and smallsats.
5. Qubitrium
- Founding Year: 2020
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Turkey
- Signal Strength: Medium
- What they do: Qubitrium’s CubeSat Quantum Tech Bundle combines entangled photon source (EPS), GeoN-20, and time tagger. GeoN-20 is a single photon counting module that provides pulse height correction to ensure a high count rate with increased optical load. The time tagger component further provides time synchronization for quantum measurements. The company’s solution assists in space exploration, experiments, and research.
6. Absolut Sensing
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: France
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Absolut Sensing provides miniaturized, high-performance hyperspectral instruments for remote sensing. These instruments include CRYASSY, a cryogenic planetary observation system for infrared missions and compatible with standard CubeSat 12U platforms. It covers infrared from short-wave infrared (SWIR) to long-wave infrared (LWIR) and offers both multispectral and hyperspectral imaging capabilities. The company also integrates these sensors within optical systems for a compact remote sensing package. These solutions delivers environmental intelligence as well as geo-intelligence and exploration.
7. Hydra Space
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Spain
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Hydra Space develops pocket cube buses for satellite IoT communications. The company implements dedicated or shared constellation deployments with hosted IoT payloads. Additionally, the company combines networks, such as LoRa and NB-IoT, to optimize satellite revisit and latency times. This communication value chain finds application in precision agriculture, infrastructure management, as well as environment and ocean monitoring.
8. MIPRONS
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Italy
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: MIPRONS manufactures miniature propulsion systems. Its solution, ALEXIUS, occupies only 0.3 CubeSat units and provides up to 5N of thrust for nanosats to micro-minisats. It enhances satellite maneuvers, like de-orbiting and operational efficiency, and profitability across satellite mass ranging from 2 kg to over 500 kg. The company’s other propulsion system, ALBIREO, supports both low and high-thrust maneuvers. Thus, it reduces spacecraft weight and complexity. These systems find applications in commercial, scientific, and defense satellites, as well as carriers and launchers.
9. Magdrive
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: UK
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do:
Magdrive’s Magrive Rogue is a compact propulsion system for satellites and spacecraft. It utilizes a metal propellant to create high-energy plasma. The system fits within a 2U CubeSat form factor and maintains a dry mass of 2 kg. Magdrive Rogue supports sustained rendezvous and proximity operations to facilitate satellite servicing and value maximization in space logistics. Additionally, the propulsion system enables stochastic movement for defense satellites to maintain untraceable orbits and avoid adversarial detection. The company also provides constellation management for collision avoidance maneuvers and efficient de-orbiting processes.
10. Direct Kinetic Solutions
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Direct Kinetic Solutions builds radioisotopic batteries for CubeSats. The company’s solution provides a continuous power supply to eliminate the dependency on lithium-ion batteries and enhance mission longevity. It also integrates with existing solar panels to maximize space and power efficiency.
Quick Tip to Find New CubeSat Solutions
Utilizing a SaaS platform like the Discovery Platform for identifying new CubeSat companies provides significant benefits compared to traditional scouting methods:
- Streamlined Efficiency: The Discovery Platform offers advanced tools that streamline the scouting process. It replaces your hours of conventional desk research, saving time and resources in identifying CubeSat innovations.
- Access to Real-time Insights: Gain a competitive edge with up-to-date information on the latest trends in the satellite industry. The platform keeps you informed with near real-time updates on emerging CubeSat solutions and news, enabling you to make swift and informed decisions.
- Tailored Exploration: Customize your search to focus on specific niches within the CubeSat sector, such as power management systems, miniature propulsion systems, or SSO CubeSats. The platform’s diverse filtering options allow you to target your scouting efforts precisely, ensuring that you find the most relevant and groundbreaking companies in the field.
Ready to Explore All New CubeSat Solutions?
This overview highlights just a few CubeSat solutions from all 200+ new companies currently covered by the Discovery Platform. To explore them all, book a personalized demo or download one of our free Industry Innovation Reports for a quick overview. Have expertise in startups or technology? Your input can enrich our content — consider collaborating with us!
