Australian satellite hardware company ANT61 has signed its first commercial agreement with Japan’s Sompo Risk Management. The agreement marks a significant milestone for ANT61 as it expands to the Japanese market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sompo Risk Management will integrate ANT61’s Beacon system into its existing suite of satellite risk management services and act as the main point of contact for Japanese satellite operators who are looking to procure and install beacons on their satellites.
The collaboration allows Sompo Japan to further improve its insurance service offerings and better address the needs of its customers with state-of-the-art technology that delivers real-time satellite data for improved risk monitoring and decision making. This distribution deal presents a unique opportunity for ANT61 to provide the Japanese market with greater satellite capabilities by mitigating the financial risk of satellite missions.
With Sompo’s strong industry presence and vast customer network, ANT61 anticipates that the growth and adoption of the Beacon product sales in the coming years will provide constellation operators in low Earth orbit with additional means to address the mission risks.
The Beacon, developed by ANT61, is an Australian-designed and manufactured satellite module for reliability assurance and risk mitigation that operates independently from the command and data handling system.
The one-of-a-kind module allows users to see in the dark by monitoring satellite health, orbital parameters, and radiation effects. It also offers satellite recovery capabilities at the core of the Beacon is ANT61 technology, enabling it to provide uninterrupted, continuous, real-time communication to the satellite instead of ground station-based communication limited to short communication windows per orbit.
The Beacon enables satellite manufacturers to invest in more complex satellite systems by minimising mission risk, which reduces insurance premiums and, thus, overall mission cost.
“We are thrilled to partner with Sompo, a leader in the Japanese insurance market,” said ANT61 CEO Mikhail Asavkin. “This partnership is a key step in our strategy to expand into the APAC region and we are confident that the Beacon will provide Sompo’s clients with enhanced capabilities for managing risk, ensuring safety, and optimising their operations.”
Sompo’s adoption of Beacon marks a pivotal development in the convergence of satellite technology and insurance services, unlocking space capabilities for various industries.
“For the future of health, well-being and economic protection in the space business, we support the success of missions in the space sector through a variety of ways,” said Sompo Risk Management’s Tomohiro Kawamura. “We see the ANT61 beacon as a great device that can greatly improve the reliability of small satellites used in low orbit, and we are very pleased to be able to offer it to the Japanese market. As well as improving reliability, the beacon has great potential and we will continue to develop beacon-based services to provide more value to space operators.”
