Kinéis: Satellites Revolutionize Global Data

Tracking wild animals, remotely measuring how full a tank is or the state of a high-voltage line: new French space actor Kinéis is getting ready to start deploying its constellation of satellites dedicated to connected objects and global data transmission.

The company created in 2018 and subsidiary of CLS (Collecte Localization Satellites) announced that it would carry out a first launch “between June 10 and July 9” to put the first five satellites into orbit.

Four other launches from the Electron mini-launcher in New Zealand will follow within six to eight months to place a total of 25 nano satellites in orbit at an altitude of 650 kilometers.

“Anywhere on the globe, we will be able to connect any object, with data that will be retrieved in 10 to 15 minutes maximum,” Kinéis boss Alexandre Tisserand said.

"If we put aside Elon Musk, there are very few players who have carried out this kind of deployment of constellations and in Europe, apart from OneWeb, we do not have any ", he congratulates himself.

The project is based on the heritage of Argos technology, implemented for 40 years by CLS and its parent company Cnes, and of which Kinéis took over the operation of the nine satellites in 2019.

But while an Argos satellite weighed several hundred kilograms, those of Kinéis weigh around thirty and have greater capacities.

A small, low-power transmitter will send data on the object to which it is attached, whether it is the location of a cargo container or a ship, to the satellite several times a day by radio frequency.

The start-up, which raised 100 million euros in 2020 to develop, build and launch its constellation, plans to exceed 20 million euros in turnover in 2026 and "around a hundred million euros by eight years, which is the lifespan of this constellation", according to Alexandre Tisserand.