Imagine being in charge of the marketing and launch event for the first Swedish privately funded satellite. Imagine flying to the US for the launch with your important investors. The energy is high, the expectations are large and the mission is important. And then... the launch is delayed. A new launch event needs to be put together quickly and this time you aren’t able to have all investors fly to the US again. What do you do?
This is what happened at Ovzon in December 2023. A new plan had to be made and that’s when Kristofer Alm, VP and Head of Marketing, Strategy and Product Management at Ovzon asked the team at Inderes for support.
As Kristofer tells me the story of all the work that goes into launching a satellite, I can hear his genuine interest for the work Ovzon does. I asked him if he ever dreamed of going to space as a child, as many little kids do, but that wasn’t the case. Today though, he is immersed in the area. He comes from a telco background, having worked at Ericsson for 18 years, and Telia 4 years after that. Changing course and accepting a role in a smaller company was something that intrigued him.
“When I joined the company the launch of the Ovzon 3 satellite had just been delayed for 6 months”, he explains. The company was founded in 2006, it went public in 2018, the reason being to launch the satellite. The original launch was supposed to be in 2021, but due to covid and the effect it had on the supply chain that wasn’t possible.
The original company that they were going to launch with couldn’t wait, and so they missed that launch window. “We looked for another company to launch with, and the only really good option was SpaceX. They do over a hundred launches a year, it’s almost like buying an airplane ticket”, Kristofer enlightens.
With a bit of a laughter: “The final date for the launch was set to the end of 2023 and planned for our big launch event. We invited our main investors, partners and employees to fly out to Cape Canaveral with us to see it live.”
The Ovzon 3 is a geostationary satellite. They follow the earth at a stationary point, so they rotate with the earth, not at the same speed, but it stays at the same point. If you look up at the satellite it looks like it stands still. “This type of satellite is larger than low orbit satellites. Those are the size of a washing machine, ours is a small geostationary and it’s about the size of a minibus”, Kristofer says. “It weighs about 2 tons, is 2 meters long and 7 meters wide. When the solar panels are out it spans 27 meters.”
So how long is the lifespan of one of these satellites, you may wonder?
“The minimum life expectancy is 15 years but it can make it up to 20 years if all goes well. What’s unique about the Ovzon 3, amongst other things, is that it has an on-board-processor which allows the satellite to function independently from the ground segment for longer periods of time. This makes the satellite resilient against interference from the ground and uniquely adapted to today's increasingly insecure environments.
Not knowing a lot about satellites myself, I’m curious, what does this particular satellite do?
“This is a communication satellite, we send data signals. It’s a fairly advanced one, so it’s not really aimed at data for normal consumers. Our customers are defense customers who work with national security”, Kristofer explains. “Basically, we provide connectivity to end users wherever they need it, when they need it.”
“It used to be that our biggest clients were the US defense, now they are in Europe. It’s a sign of the times we are living in now, and the state of the world. As sad as it is, it has given us a strong market momentum.”
Back in 2023 when the launch was being planned, Kristofer and the team at Ovzon were thinking about how to create the most market momentum possible. They had talks with a few different consultants who pitched them ideas.
“You know how it is, you ask around, come up with some ideas - it’s not rocket science", Kristofer states. Well, the marketing part of this project at least. So, they put together a team that collaborated on the launch events.
Leading up to the launch they partnered with us at Inderes to create a couple of videos, interviews with some owners, investors, board members and the team and published them on the webpage. The plan was to have a launch event in Florida, and a post-launch event in Stockholm. But when they got to Florida things didn’t go as planned.
“We arrived a few days before our launch, and we already knew that the weather was looking a bit complicated. Then they had a problem at SpaceX with the launch before ours, they had technical difficulties, and so we realized that our launch would have to be postponed again.“ Kristofer says. “We did get to see another satellite launch, which was fun, but sadly not our own.”
“You know it's nice to see people not usually working with technology get so excited about tech, it brings out the kid in you. That’s really fun to see. And I think people really enjoyed seeing each other again at the event. For some of us who had already been to Florida together, this almost felt like a reunion.” Says Kristofer. “The production went really well, there were no technical difficulties this time, and the team was great. Also the space is located in a really convenient and central location in Stockholm.”
Since the successful launch on January 3rd the satellite is now on its way to the destination. It takes about 6 months from the departure until it can be fully functional in service. As I’m writing this in May 2024 the satellite has a few weeks left until it arrives at the right position. After that there is another month of tests that need to be done before using it commercially.
“At the moment there is no new news and at this point we usually say that boring is good”, Kristofer says.
“When you're selling to mainly government customers it takes time. The launch shows we can execute, that we have something unique with this satellite. Once we turn it on in the middle of this year our challenge will be this: how do we have sustainable growth? When you need to scale a company from 50 people to something larger. It's an exciting journey, and really cool to be a part of.”
For Ovzon, nurturing the relationship they have with their investors is at the core of their values. Being able to do this with the help of technology, webcasts, productions and the help of partners like Inderes is extremely valuable.
As I round up my conversation with Kristofer I think to myself what a leap we have made when it comes to technology and space travel. Kristofer describes SpaceX brand new facility as very impressive. When SpaceX first came to “space coast” everything was originally closing down. After the Challenger exploded, space-travel kind of died. The place felt like a 70’s sci-fi movie, and they had to rebuild everything.
SpaceX presence and investment kind of lit a fire under them all. It’s extremely impressive how they have industrialized space travel. It’s now booming, and new companies are coming in. Today, Elon Musk is building a rocket called “Starship” with the sole purpose of taking people to mars. I can’t wait to see where this all goes.
From now on I will also be following the Ovzon 3, and any future endeavors that Ovzon goes on, with excitement!