June 8, 2026

A UK startup just raised $18.5 million to fly satellites where nobody else can

man in blue dress shirt standing near white wooden shelf
Kumpan Electric / Unsplash

Between commercial aircraft at 10km and conventional satellites at 500km lies a band of near-Earth space that has never been used commercially. Very low Earth orbit, or VLEO, sits at 200 to 300km, an altitude historically reserved for spy satellites...