On Thursday, April 23, 2026, SpinLaunch announced a strategic partnership with Equinix to establish the global ground segment for its Meridian Space constellation. By leveraging Equinix’s Platform Equinix and its footprint of more than 280 interconnected data centers, SpinLaunch aims to deploy a cloud-integrated ground-station-as-a-service (GSaaS) model to support its high-capacity LEO broadband network.
From Kinetic Launch to End-to-End Connectivity
While SpinLaunch is widely recognized for its vacuum-sealed kinetic mass accelerator, the company has pivoted toward becoming an end-to-end space service provider. In April 2025, SpinLaunch unveiled the Meridian Space constellation through a landmark €122.5 million contract with Kongsberg NanoAvionics to produce the first 280 satellites.
The selection of Equinix represents the final layer of the Meridian architecture, focusing on the IT-convergence of the ground segment. Unlike traditional LEO systems that require complex greenfield gateway antennas, Meridian utilizes lightweight 1D scanning toroidal antennas. These teleports occupy approximately 90 square meters, allowing them to be colocated directly on industrial rooftops and within Equinix data centers. This placement enables direct interconnection to major cloud providers, bypassing the public internet to enhance data security and reduce latency.
Meridian Constellation Specifications
The Meridian Space network is designed to offer significantly higher broadband capacity per kilogram compared to existing LEO platforms, utilizing a “fixed-track” orbital architecture that simplifies ground management.
- Initial Deployment: 280 microsatellites (manufactured by NanoAvionics).
- Full Constellation: Planned expansion to 1,200 satellites based on FCC filings.
- Capacity: Targeted at at least two terabits per second of sellable capacity for the initial set.
- Hardware: Features a proprietary multi-band reflectarray antenna and specialized reaction wheels (RW-20) designed for high-G kinetic environments.
Executive Perspective: Massimiliano Ladovaz
“Selecting Equinix as the foundation for our global ground segment marks a critical milestone for SpinLaunch. By working with Equinix, we’ve solved a core challenge in deploying global LEO infrastructure: securing scalable, reliable gateway sites across key regions by placing our teleports directly within the data centers where our customers’ data resides.” — Massimiliano Ladovaz, CEO of SpinLaunch.
Roadmap to First Launch
With ground infrastructure now being deployed, SpinLaunch is focused on the in-orbit demonstration phase. The company recently completed a design review for the first customer link satellite, which is scheduled to fly in October 2026. Simultaneously, Kongsberg NanoAvionics is ramping up production to meet the serial requirements for the initial 280-satellite tranche, supported by a $30 million funding boost secured in late 2025.
