PIONEERING Glasgow company Clyde Space, which designed and manufactured Scotland's first satellite, has won a £1 million deal to build three CubeSats for US broadcast company Outernet.
The agreement is an international partnership deal funded by the UK Space Agency.
Clyde Space noted that Outernet was aiming to make web access free and unrestricted all over the world through space-based telecommunications.
The Glasgow company highlighted its hopes that, as the project developed, it could secure business from New York-based Outernet to develop 200 satellites broadcasting the service.
Craig Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Clyde Space and the company's largest single shareholder, said: "Outernet is an ambitious and hugely important initiative to bring free information access to the world and we're absolutely thrilled to be involved.
"The mission itself is a great example of how a spacecraft that is small enough to hold in your hand can provide what I believe will become a vital global service."
Clyde Space has been on a recruitment drive in recent times. Its workforce has risen to about 50, and the company has plans to increase it further.
Syed Karim, chief executive officer of Outernet, said: "A partnership with CubeSat experts Clyde Space and the UK Space Agency is a very exciting step for Outernet. It not only demonstrates a meeting of the minds on the importance of information access but shows that there can be very concrete economic windfalls from doing enormous good in the world. "This project is not just about producing test hardware for Outernet to use in advancing our mission, but about refining a process that changes the entire communications industry."
UKube-1, Scotland's first satellite, was designed and built by Clyde Space in Glasgow. It was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last July.
Clyde Space is backed by private equity specialist Coralinn LLP, the investment vehicle of Scottish entrepreneur Hugh Stewart, and by Nevis Capital.
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