Sky and Space Global (ASX:SAS) has crossed a major milestone by confirming the launch schedule of its “3 Diamonds” nano-satellites for late May 2017.
The 3 Diamonds will be launched on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from its launch site at Sriharikota, India.
Sky and Space Global’s aim is to provide affordable data, voice and instant messaging services to over 4 billion people in the equatorial region.
The confirmation of the launch schedule is a substantial milestone for the company and precedes the first in-flight commercial demonstration of its technology and business model.
Once launched into space, the 3 Diamonds nano-satellites will immediately commence an eight-week operation of in-orbit tests to validate full functionality and performance of all subsystems.
Following this, the pilot constellation will go live and will be in a position to commence revenue generation for Sky and Space Global.
The company is continuing to work towards the launch of a full constellation of up to 200 nanosatellites in orbit to achieve full coverage of the equatorial belt by 2020.
Last month, Sky and Space Global signed a non-binding agreement with Globalsat Group LLC to provide its satellite services to Globalsat’s end-users in South and Latin America.
Globalsat is a provider of mobile satellite services, with a strong local presence across major markets in South and Latin America.
A key plank of the agreement with Globalsat is to use the bandwidth provided by Sky and Space’s narrow-band satellite communication services to Globalsat’s end-users.
Sky and Space Global’s share price increased by 164% since the start of 2017, last trading at $0.222.