Satellite firm Open Cosmos has launched the first two satellites of its new Ka-Band constellation, heralding its entrance to the market just a week after the company secured a license from the Principality of Liechtenstein to use high-priority radio bands.

“These are the first satellites of an advanced telecommunications constellation that Open Cosmos has designed, manufactured, and is now operating to offer sovereign and secure communications to governments and enterprises requiring reliable global connectivity,” Rafel Jorda Siquier, CEO of Open Cosmos, said in a LinkedIn post following the news.

“With the Open Constellation, we help understand the world by measuring everything in it thanks to the largest shared earth observation constellation with satellites we've built for the UK, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and others.”

On January 22nd at 10:52 UTC, the pair of satellites launched via a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Māhia, New Zealand, and established a connection about an hour after deployment. The mission was codenamed “The Cosmos Will See You Now.”

The satellites are now operating at a nominal 1,050km polar orbit, where they will undergo their in-orbit tests to verify performance and resilience, which will validate satellite and constellation design principles. The company currently enjoys a 100 percent success rate for launching telecom, Earth observation, and science satellites going back more than a decade.

“Securing these valuable spectrum filings is a testament to British ingenuity and ambition, said Baroness Liz Lloyd, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for digital economy, speaking on the awarding of the license. “With the potential to create hundreds of highly skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs at [its] Harwell facility, this project demonstrates exactly how our space industry is delivering real opportunities for people across the country while cementing the UK's position at the forefront of the global space economy."

The two satellites launched were manufactured in the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, assisted through the coordination of teams across Europe.

The company has declined to discuss its plans for the deployment of the rest of the constellation – potentially suggesting a slow rollout for the multilateral medium-sized company – but has confirmed that more launches later this year will complement the constellation. Open Cosmos is hiring dozens of new employees to deliver this expansion sustainably and manage the demand it is now seeing. At the time of writing, the company has around 200 employees.

Open Cosmos possesses offices and factories in Portugal, Greece, Spain, and the UK, and emphasises its commitment to the European mission. Chief operations officer Aleix Megías told the press the company observed a “very, very strong need in Europe,” and a willingness for pan-European industrial partners.