Subscription-Based Astronomy: How Blue Skies Space is Changing the Game
A U.K. space startup, Blue Skies Space, has announced plans to launch its first satellite as part of SpaceX’s rideshare program. This initiative heralds what the company claims will be a “new era of space research,” where astronomy data is collected, packaged, and sold “as a service.”
SpaceX’s Transporter 15 program, scheduled for next year, will use a Falcon 9 rocket to transport payloads from various companies, including London-based Blue Skies Space. Their inaugural Mauve satellite will be part of the launch in October 2025.
The Mauve satellite is designed to complement data provided by existing astronomical efforts such as the Hubble Telescope. It will focus on stellar spectroscopy, analyzing the spectrum of light emitted by stars to gather information on star composition, temperature, density, mass, distance, luminosity, and more.
“Mauve is designed for long observation campaigns of hundreds of stars in our galaxy, which will help the science community progress in key research on stars,” said Blue Skies Space CEO and co-founder Marcell Tessenyi in an interview with TechCrunch.
Proposed scientific use cases include studying stellar flares, and examining their frequency, energy distribution, and physical properties. The research will also cover the magnetic activity of exoplanet hosts to reveal the effects of UV radiation on photochemistry.
While other private companies gather and monetize space data, many use ground-based telescopes to observe deep space or satellites to provide observation data about Earth. Blue Skies Space differentiates itself by gathering data about space from space, offering easy access through a subscription-based membership model. This program already includes researchers from Boston University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. These early partners have helped shape the program design, including decisions on where the Mauve satellite should be looking in space and for how long.
“No private company is providing astronomy data as a service; we will be the first,” Tessenyi said. “We bring new science satellites and datasets to the community and make this available to anyone who wants to join. This new approach really gives the science community greater agility and complements the large, high-capability and high-demand facilities typically delivered by government agencies.”
Since its inception, the company has raised around $6.5 million, with approximately two-thirds coming from equity investments from investors such as U.K. seed fund SFC Capital and Japan’s Sparx Group. The remainder has come in grants, including funds from Europe’s Horizon R&D program.
Commercializing the Cosmos
Founded in 2014, Blue Skies Space was created by a team of academics, including Tessenyi, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics from University College London (UCL). The startup has navigated the “standard mission proposal processes” with traditional space agencies. However, the advent of the “new space” industry, characterized by private companies commercializing the cosmos, has opened new opportunities for companies of all sizes and focus.
“We spent many years engaging with the global science community, validating our model, and better understanding their science and data needs,” Tessenyi said. “A lot has happened within the business to enable the launch of Mauve, but also ‘new space’ drastically transformed the space ecosystem over the past 10 years, during which we have been able to find the right manufacturing partners and team members to implement our vision.”
Rather than building its own satellites, Blue Skies Space outsourced the engineering work to experienced manufacturers, including Hungary’s C3S and Dutch company Isispace, with Blue Skies converting the scientific requirements into technical specifications. This includes a 13cm telescope and a UV-visible spectrometer.
Simultaneously, Blue Skies is developing a second satellite, Twinkle, which will be built by Airbus. Twinkle will feature a larger telescope and a visible-IR spectrometer, coupled with a Teledyne sensor, and will focus specifically on spectroscopic measurements of distant exoplanets’ atmospheres.
Blue Skies has not yet revealed the cost of its membership, noting only that it will make this information available “soon.” Despite its funding and efforts to launch a satellite into space, Blue Skies remains a lean operation, with just 12 employees based in the U.K. and Italy.
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