Cloud Constellation—a startup aimed at securing data storage in the space—has chosen LeoStella to establish a network of 10 satellites for lower Earth orbit. Cliff Beek—Cloud Constellation CEO—stated LeoStella—which is a corporation of Spaceflight Industries and Thales Alenia Space—beat Northrop Grumman on cost, among other factors. Beek asserted the low price of the LeoStella offer indicates that Cloud Constellation could lower the total price of positioning its “SpaceBelt” orbiting cloud storage network to $350 Million from $480 Million. He further said, “It is an important improvement from where we started and makes it so that our assets elevate is lower than what we earlier required it to be.”
LeoStella would also construct the satellites faster and smaller than Northrop Grumman will have, Beek said. Cloud Constellation intends to start service in the fourth-quarter of 2021. Brian Rider—LeoStella’s Chief Technology Officer—in a statement, acclaimed the company’s selection as proof of the corporation’s potential with novel space ventures. He said, “We have created LeoStella to facilitate new space constellations and onward-thinking businesses like Cloud Constellation. The SpaceBelt’s DSaaS (Data Security as a Service) would bring an influential new capability for universal data security.”
Recently, LeoStella was in news as the satellite venture hands over CEO power to Mike Hettich, an aerospace executive. Hettich has finally finished his transition to the chief executive officer from chief learning officer at LeoStella. Hettich came to LeoStella from Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems, which is a Washington-based company where he was as vice president for 19 Years. LeoStella’s main priority is to construct satellites of the size of filing cabinets for BlackSky, which is a subsidiary of Spaceflight Industries that is advancing a constellation of Earth-observing satellites plus a software platform to carry satellite imagery and other types of geospatial intelligence.