Rivada Space Networks used the Washington Satellite 2025 show to announce that it would launch “demonstration” satellites in 2026, and offer “full Outernet service delivery by late 2027” according to CEO Declan Ganley.
Reports from the show — although not confirmed — say that the test satellites are already in production at Terran Orbital, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, and with whom Rivada has had a somewhat chequered history.
Rivada has licenses in place to equip a fleet of highly-secure optically linked satellites using Ka, Q an d V-band spectrum and utilizing German and possibly Liechtenstein authorizations.
The road between now and then is still challenging. The cost of the initial fleet of 288 satellites is considerable. First, there’s the funding of some $2.4 billion. While Rivada made some very modest stage payments to Terran Orbital, it has not publicly said whether the funding for the full fleet is in place, and who is backing the project.
Rivada’s Brian Carney (SVP Corp. Communications), speaking directly with Advanced Television, says: “As a privately held company, we typically do not comment on our funding or our investors. In general, as you know, the financing of a new Non-GSO space infrastructure is complex and ambitious and we did have a bump in the road toward the end of last year. That situation with delayed payments to suppliers is now resolved. Our funding situation is strong, and we expect to make significant funding announcements this year.”
It is obliged to have 144 satellites in orbit barely a year from now (in June 2026) and the other 144 a few weeks later by September next year. It could obtain an exemption to these dates from the ITU, not least because of the highly attractive scheme to military and governmental users in Europe. Rivada’s system is extremely robust against interference from unfriendly nations.
Carney explained: “We have nothing new to report on our contractors at this time. We have made milestone payments to Terran Orbital and the cooperation with Lockheed Martin is highly constructive. Generally, our plan is to have a demonstration and testbed mission in orbit next year. The constellation is on track to launch in 2027 when the Outernet service is due to begin. On the commercial side, we are seeing huge market demand and are confident to fulfil our commitments which now exceed $15 billion in MoUs and major connectivity contracts. On the regulatory side, we remain confident we can meet our milestones, and we are working with Liechtenstein and other relevant regulators like Germany to make sure we have the approvals we need when we’re ready to launch.”
One of those MoUs is with the U.S. Navy which is described as a “multi-year agreement”.
