Thuraya Allies with Else Startup

A nanosatellite in ELSE’s AstroCast constellation, rendering. Photo: ELSE

Thuraya Telecommunications and Swiss NewSpace startup Else announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) paving the way for a strategic alliance between the two organizations. The agreement will allow both companies to collaborate and benefit from each other’s capabilities on multiple fronts including technical, regulatory as well as sales and marketing.

According to the two companies, the agreement extends their product and service portfolios and facilitates expedited access to the market.

Else has supported more than 10 European Space Agency (ESA) missions, seven nanosatellite missions, and is building a network of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) nanosatellites named Astrocast that will provide Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) services to global enterprises. Else has scheduled the first satellites to launch by 2018 as a demonstration mission, with a plan to have a total of 64 satellites in orbit by 2021.