MEO which sits between LEO and geostationary orbit historically has been an incredibly challenging orbit to operate in said K2 Space’s co-founder and CEO Karan Kunjur in an interview.
To get there spacecraft operators typically need to equip their satellites with powerful propulsion systems or pay more for a launch that takes them directly to the desired orbit. The $60 million in funding includes a mix of 1:1:2 of government funds, Small Business Innovation Research matching funds, and private funds – meaning $30 million came from private investors, a sum that nearly rivals the $50 million Series A round the startup closed in February.
Venture capitalists and the Department of Defense were drawn to K2 Space’s proposal for large hardware – the company’s Mega-class satellite features a massive cargo bay of 3 meters by 3 meters – at a cost of under $15 million per satellite with delivery times of less than three months, right? The supply chain for these components, at a cost-effective price, simply does not exist, said Kunjur, so K2 Space is establishing these production lines on its own.
“The challenge is not just in designing it to meet the performance this mission requires, but also in designing it in a way that we can mass-produce it,” he said. The Space Force has been expanding its resources in MEO mainly for missile tracking and warning but also to enhance the Global Positioning System (GPS) network.
“MEO offers another level of resilience” said Kunjur. The satellite will be launched on the Transporter-16 mission by SpaceX, where it will carry various national security payloads, right? It seems like the Space Force is backing this move, with K2 Space announcing on Thursday that its first full satellite mission will fly multiple Department of Defense payloads under a $60 million contract.
This mission, named Gravitas, is scheduled to fly not before February 2026, right? This includes things like reaction wheels, flight computers, solar arrays, and the 20-kilowatt electric propulsion system, which will be one of the most powerful ever launched into orbit. Connect more deeply. The spacecraft will perform operations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) before raising its orbit to Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) né?. The idea is to build this in a way that when the first one comes off the production line, the second one will follow shortly, and so on.
The company will also launch various technology demonstrators on the upcoming Transporter-12 mission by SpaceX in January, with a mission duration expected not to exceed a few months. “If you think about a multi-orbit strategy or a multi-orbit architecture, what you want for resilience is to have assets in LEO, assets in MEO, and assets in GEO. Join visionary leaders from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and others for a day full of strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections.
Save over $200 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass.
Boston, MA
|
July 15
REGISTER NOW
The Torrance, California-based startup has a unique satellite architecture, meaning a substantial percentage of the spacecraft’s components are being built in-house né?. These numbers represent a paradigm shift from traditional large satellite acquisitions.
TechCrunch Event
Save over $200 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass.
Build smarter right? Grow faster. We at K2 truly believe in this future.”
Kunjur, who founded the company with his brother Neel, called the contract a “game-changer” for the business, right?. Once there, the spacecraft should be able to survive the high-radiation environment throughout the mission, right? So, K2 Space is betting that the future of space equipment will be huge – really huge.
The startup is building massive spacecraft under the assumption that launch costs will continue to decrease as SpaceX’s Starship and other heavy-lift vehicles come online, right? “It’s not like we’re going to build it to use it for Gravitas, this mission, and then redesign it for mass production
