SWISSto12 has secured €73 million ($84.8 million) in financial support from European Space Agency (ESA) member states to advance HummingSat, its next-generation, compact geostationary satellite platform designed to deliver lower-cost and more agile commercial and sovereign communications capabilities. The support is being provided through ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) HummingSat Partnership Project, part of ESA Connectivity and Secure Communications.
The company said the funding will accelerate the development and industrialization of HummingSat, expand manufacturing capacity, and speed new product innovation as demand rises for cost-effective satellite communications across government and commercial markets. SWISSto12 also plans to further develop phased-array antenna technologies intended for use on satellite payloads across LEO, MEO, and GEO orbits as well as in ground products such as user terminals, broadening its offering for both geostationary and non-geostationary communications architectures.
SWISSto12 positioned HummingSat as an alternative to legacy large geostationary satellites, emphasizing smaller form factors, faster deployment timelines, and software-defined, reconfigurable payload architectures that can be adapted as customer requirements evolve. The company cited growing global SatCom needs tied to always-on broadband connectivity for aircraft and maritime users, secure sovereign communications, connectivity for remote regions, safety-relevant services, and expanding use cases such as IoT and location-based services.
The ESA member-state backing was confirmed at the 2025 ESA Ministerial Conference, with pledges from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Norway, as well as Associate Member Canada, according to the company. SWISSto12 said HummingSat is being developed in partnership with ESA and is scheduled for a first launch in 2027, with the goal of offering customers a flexible platform to add transponder capacity, introduce sovereign capabilities, and roll out new services using reconfigurable, software-defined payloads.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are proud to continue our support of SWISSto12, particularly in creating cost-effective solutions for satellite systems that answer to the satcom ecosystem’s ever-increasing demands. ESA is committed to elevating Europe’s future in space through our support of industry, and by accelerating next-generation satellite technologies.”
Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications
“The recent subscriptions of Member States and Cooperating States at the ESA Ministerial Council to the HummingSat Project, and the latest round of funding from European private investors sends a strong message to the global market that SWISSto12 is at the heart of satellite communications innovation. With our growing suite of agile, cost-effective and highly performant SatCom solutions, we provide a credible answer to some of the most pressing challenges facing the space economy, including the critical issue of enabling satellite sovereignty – something, until now, out of reach for most of the world’s nations.”
Emile de Rijk, CEO and Founder, SWISSto12
