Financial Issues Lead to Demise of SpaceLink
Financial issues experienced by Electro Optic Systems (EOS), the parent company of SpaceLink, has led the company to abandon its real-time space relay business.
EOS says it has been unable to raise external capital in support of SpaceLink. As a result, SpaceLink has ceased operations. The company has entered into an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC) process which is being administered by Stapleton.
SpaceLink planned to address the growing market for real-time space relay with a strong business plan and a robust technical solution. However, the current economic environment has caused severe headwinds that are impacting space startups seeking investment.
EOS Financial Issues come at a Critical Time for Space Communications
The SpaceLink relay system was designed to use optical space-to-space links from a MEO orbit, where it has continuous line-of-sight access to spacecraft on orbit as well as its dedicated U.S.-based ground network. NASA is looking for commercial alternatives to TDRS, and the space economy is increasingly dependent on real-time communications systems, according to SpaceLink. The financial issues and abandonment of SpaceLink also come at a time when SpaceLink’s system architecture and design is complete, and key suppliers had been selected and ready to move forward.
The company has developed proprietary network modeling, resource optimization, and scheduling management software to optimize the capacity and throughput of the relay satellite constellation as it establishes links with client spacecraft. SpaceLink’s total capital requirement was on the order of $250 million. The company had anticipated raising an initial equity tranche of $50-75 million, followed by additional rounds combining equity and debt investment.
Incorporated in 2020, SpaceLink's business model forecasted near-term revenue potential exceeding $150 million per year, with billion-dollar long-term potential. Its long-term vision was to build a 10 Tbps orbiting optical cloud for continuous, high-capacity communications between space and the ground.
EOS is a company traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.
(Source: SpaceLink news release. Images provided and from file)