LeoSat was a

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

project by a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

-based company of the same name in 2013–2019. It aimed to provide high-speed, broadband satellite internet for corporate and government clients willing to pay premium price for high-quality service. The constellation was conceptually designed to consist of 78 to 108 satellites in a 1400 km orbit. Each satellite would have weighed around 1000kg (satellite mass changed as designs were updated in the course of the project).

Ka band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designation "Ka-band" is from Kurz-above, which stems from the German word ''kurz,'' meaning "short". There ...

was to be used for

downlink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

. The total cost of the project was estimated in 2017 to be €3.0 to €3.1 billion (US$3.5 to 3.6 billion). In May 2017,

SKY Perfect JSAT Group The SKY Perfect JSAT Group is a Japanese corporate group that claims to be Asia's largest satellite communication and multi-channel pay TV company. It owns the SKY PerfecTV! satellite broadcasting service and the SKY Perfect Well Think content s ...

announced it would invest in LeoSat. In 2018, Spanish satellite operator

Hispasat Hispasat is the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa from orbital positions 30.0° West and 61.0° West. It was formed in 1989 and its activities include provision ...

also invested into LeoSat.LeoSat gains Hispasat as second investor, drops demo satellite plans
Caleb Henry,

SpaceNews ''SpaceNews'' is a print and digital publication that covers business and political news in the space and satellite industry. ''SpaceNews'' provides news, commentary and analysis to an audience of government officials, politicians and executives ...

, July 10, 2018, accessed 16 November 2019. LeoSat had a deadline of Jan 2021 to launch a satellite in order to activate the

ITU The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...

filing by their partner

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

. In November 2019, LeoSat shut down operations after failing to find sufficient investment capital to pursue the large speculative project. All 13 employees of the company (the company never had substantially more than a dozen employees) were laid off. LeoSat never launched a single satellite.LeoSat, facing ITU deadline, restarts manufacturing competition, changes funding strategy
Caleb Henry,

, September 26, 2019, accessed 16 November 2019. Some of the investors in earlier rounds have spoken publicly on why they left the LeoSat project.Why we left LeoSat project
subscribers only

References

External links

Official LeoSat website
Proposed communications satellite operators Companies of Luxembourg 2013 establishments in Luxembourg 21st-century disestablishments in Luxembourg {{luxembourg-stub