This is very safe for them because these waves are very difficult to catch on the ground," Bowyer explains. The waves don't bend around the horizon, but disappear into space. If Kleos' satellites detect signals from radios in places where officially no ships should be because there is no AIS signal, then authorities like the coast guard can investigate the matter. Bowyer speaks of "tipping and cueing". Kleos co-founder Andrew Bowyer Photo: Kleos Space orbiting the earth in diamond shape To determine the position of a signal source, several satellites must locate the signal. Kleos therefore uses constellations of four satellites each orbiting the earth in an approximate rhombus shape. In a first phase, seven of these quartets are to be launched. A first one has just been delivered to India to be launched into space from there. Kleos designs the microsatellites, which are the size of a shoebox, himself and concentrates on his core business. The company leaves the construction of the satellites, personnel matters, press work and accounting to others. Kleos wants to earn money by selling the collected data. "Data as a service" is what they call it in New German. Potential users are coastguards or NGOs. On his website, Kleos claims to be active in the field of "defence". According to Bowyer, this is due to the fact that the coast guard is often subordinate to the Ministry of Defence. Luxembourg acts a little contradictory when it comes to space, Bowyer finds. On the one hand, there is space mining, which will take a long time before it starts making a profit. On the other hand, there are companies like Kleos Space, which can make money in space even in the short term. Nevertheless, Bowyer feels that much more attention is being paid to space mining. In fact, Minister of Economics Etienne Schneider's space mining initiative had caused a lot of media attention worldwide. Exciting and big "My co-founder Miles Ashcroft and I myself founded a space technology company in the UK in 2005. We built equipment for the European Space Agency and took part in research missions. In 2009/10, Bowyer and his team started experimenting with satellites and antennas. The physical foundation for Kleos was laid. "By 2015, 2016, we knew it was possible. At the same time, microsatellites became more reliable, making satellite services possible with small satellites that are cheaper to manufacture and cheaper to launch into space. "It was clear to us that with the Kleos project we had stumbled upon something very exciting and very big." Instead of turning their company around, Bowyer and Ashfort outsourced the project and created Kleos Space in Luxembourg. Not as a subsidiary, but as a separate company. In 2018, Kleos went public in Australia. Since then, the share price has doubled. The company feels at home in Luxembourg. "We have looked around the world. We've been to Colorado, Spain and Scotland. We chose Luxembourg. We worked with Luxinnovation and with Etienne. We looked at how we could make the project a success." What Bowyer heard, he liked. Luxembourg was the right place for Kleos, he decided. By "Etienne" we mean the former Minister of Economy, Etienne Schneider. The new minister Franz Fayot (LSAP) wants to continue the efforts in the space industry. In the Tageblatt interview, Fayot said that not continuing a successful initiative like the space initiative would be "stupid". Typically Luxembourgish Recently, Kleos even hired the first Luxembourger. Bowyer and Ashcroft themselves are British. That too is typically Luxembourgish and shows how international the industry is. It is true that it is difficult to find talent in this field, confirms Bowyer. But this problem exists all over the world, whether in Luxembourg or Paris. So there is no locational disadvantage for the Grand Duchy. Bowyer also believes that there are many people who just don't know that they could work in space. A programmer who has worked for a bank all his life could also do his job in the space industry, he believes. Soon, a rocket with Luxembourg satellites on board will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Chennai, India. A company from Bonneweg, of all places, is now beginning the worldwide hunt for smugglers and piratesTranslated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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