Video by Influence Media
What if you could send your own personal satellite into space?
Ambasat makes that possible. The startup wants to inspire children around the world through their educational kits that are fueled by the undeniable tug of space – the final frontier.
Following life-changing open-heart surgery, Ambasat CEO and co-founder Martin Platt wanted to do something extraordinary with the rest of his life.
The Northallerton based startup has now sold their satellite kits in over 40 countries around the world.
We spoke to Martin about the growing space sector, the importance of education and the future of the company.
Launching Ambasat
Ambasat was born out of a desire “to do something special with the rest of my life." Martin Platt had run a successful software business in southeast Asia for many years, where he’d also met his wife.
On his return to the UK he started a tech business with his business partner which remotely monitors fridge and freezer systems for UK food companies. Noticing similarities between this and another project that launched tiny satellites into space “they decided to pivot the company a little bit.” With an interest in space dating back to his youth it made sense to make it space related.
They launched a Kickstarter in 2019 and received an overwhelmingly positive response. “There was so much interest, much of it from educational institutes around the world."
The idea of DIY satellites had clearly ‘peake’-d some interest.
Building the satellite prototypes themselves, they subsequently developed kits that would allow individuals and classrooms to make their own.
The cubesat launcher that the satellites will travel in.
Where they’re going
Education is clearly front and centre for Ambasat and Martin says their vision for the immediate future is “UK satellites built by UK students and launched from UK rockets.”
They have contracts with schools in Singapore and Malaysia but the focus now is on the UK. “We have a lot of government support with this I'm pleased to say; Patrick Cahvill from the Cabinet Office and Rishi Sunak, who I actually met right here at C4DI."
Indeed, the former Chancellor and MP for Richmond (Yorks), who visited the opening of our Northallerton site, wrote about the company in his local column.
One of the things he noted was the educational aspect of the product. It’s clear to Martin from the events they’ve run that “there's a real skills shortage at the moment in science, technology, engineering, and maths, and that needs to be addressed if we [as a nation] are to achieve our goals."
Those goals include advancements in technology and a growing space sector, which Ambasat is a small part of.
‘The UK is about to become a real spacefaring nation’
Space has often been the domain of nation state superpowers, but something has shifted. Access to Space has slightly expanded with billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos paving the way for a new era of private space travel.
That, along with the idea that we’re destined to “become a multi-planetary species” has possibly influenced new in-roads into space travel.
“This year, two spaceports are being developed in the UK. There’s spaceport Cornwall and [another in] Shetlands. Virgin are launching next month from spaceport Cornwall. Skyrora who are a UK rocket company, actually visited us right here in Northallerton.”
In fact, they’re hoping to launch with Skyrora in December. “There’s lots we need to work out before we can get to that stage,” he says, however the goal is to “be one of the first to launch from the UK.” It’s an exciting space to be a part of for sure.
SpaceX has brought a new dimension to space travel.
Why space and what about planet earth?
There’s no question that “the space industry is growing exponentially”. There’s a lot of speculation and many businesses stagnate or fail but there’s also a lot of promise. That’s if you’re fortunate enough to have access.
"So many things need to be sorted out, in terms of access to space. It’s still really the domain of governments and large enterprises. We want to democratise that with what we're doing. There's no reason why we shouldn't as individuals have that same access.”
The satellites that Ambasat produce aim to provide some way for everyday people to reach space, even if just remotely. But he appreciates this must be regulated and is considerate when I ask about the importance of space travel when compared to concerns about the health of our own planet. “There needs to be rules in place for us to make sure that we're respecting what we're doing in space."
He mentions the need for checks and balances in space travel and an awareness of the environmental impact that space activity is having.
“Obviously launching hundreds of 1000s of satellites into space is causing issues already." Fortunately, Ambasat have a nifty way of dealing with this.
Temporary eco-satellites
Martin often gets asked “What are we doing to contribute to environmental issues such as space debris?”
His answer is twofold. Firstly, he points out the temporary nature of the satellites. “We are only up in low Earth orbit, so we're flying at 280 kilometres altitude and we're only there for 10 days. During that time, the Ambasats and the launcher itself are in a gradual decaying orbit. After that 10 day period, they hit the Earth's atmosphere, and completely burn up. So, we're not leaving any space debris and we're not polluting the environment on the way down as well."
Then there are the undeniable benefits of having these things up there in the first place. “We are launching 200 satellites into space in one small container. They are valuable from an educational perspective, but they are also gathering very valuable environmental data. UV data, CO2 data, all kinds of environmental data. That data is being gathered in real time, for the first time really.”
Which brings us back around to the main thing that Ambasat offer, providing young people with an interactive and enjoyable educational tool.
The tech at the heart of Ambasat.
Science class just got fun
Ambasat have developed a 10-week course for secondary school children and are developing further courses for 7-11 year olds and university students.
The course, which usually has about 20 spaces but is often oversubscribed, takes students from a “blank [circuit] board all the way to launching their own satellite.”
The cross-curricular course involves a dragon’s den style pitch too. The students explain “what they’re going to do with their experiment, what data they’re after and how they’re going to use the data. Then we choose the top two which get launched into space.”
The 10 weeks is "packed with activities; a combination of theory, and practical. Can you imagine 30 students in a class all soldering? It's quite an adventure. It's engineering, collaboration, project management and data analysis as well. So, it's a very well-rounded course."
They’re currently selling this as a complete package to schools up and down the country. All the expertise is provided as part of the course content.
But it’s not the only application of Ambasat. Far from it.
Testing in space at a fraction of the price
So far education has been their focus. It was the simplest route to market and fulfilled their desire to give students inspirational opportunities and “help young people realise their dreams”.
It’s almost an EdTech product but the capabilities and potential uses for Ambasat take it beyond that sector. One of the other main use cases is in R & D.
"The cost of getting one of these into space [holds up their Ambasat satellite] versus getting one of these into space [motions to a standard satellite] … It's 1000 pounds versus 100,000 pounds basically.”
“We had a UK company come to us recently who are producing radiation proofing paint. They've got to test that in space as it's going to be on board spacecraft. They purchased 10 Ambasats from us, five of which they're coating with radiation proofing material and then five without.” This brings R&D costs down by a significant amount whilst still allowing them to test in the same environment. It’s a game-changer.
You can probably imagine other applications but the increase in access that Martin mentioned above is what makes this product so exciting.
In the same way that the Rasberry Pi made programming accessible to a wide audience, Martin hopes that the Ambasat may do the same thing for space. Maybe one day they’ll even have their own rocket company and control the whole process!
CEO Martin Platt in the C4DI Northallerton ‘prison’.
You only live once
It’s a big goal but why not be ambitious. He’s keen to point out that being in C4DI Northallerton and part of the Barclays Eagle Labs network allows them to “punch well above our weight”.
“Over the past two or three years, we’ve developed relationships and contracts with companies within the C4DI group to help us develop some of the newer technologies for Ambasat." They’ve certainly seen increased success over recent years and are growing too, adding a couple of full-time staff and interns to their team this year.
Martin says “I’m in it for the ride really. I’m enjoying the experiences and the connections we're making - talking with SpaceX one day and Rocket Lab the next."
Plus, as he knows all too well, “none of us are going to live forever.” The life changing heart surgery Martin had prior to starting the business, made him reflect on life. “I try to remember that every day is special, and every individual encounter is special."
“Make the most of it. That's my philosophy." You can hardly accuse him of doing any less.