Denver (US) / Luxembourg- Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1,) a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, is pleased to announce that it will establish its principal US engineering presence in Denver, Colorado.
Kleos has engaged with Denver Economic Development & Opportunity and selected Denver, Colorado as an ideal location to grow its US engineering presence and to further draw on the region’s engineering and aerospace support services. Colorado is creating the foundation to become “Aerospace Alley” and build on its position as an aerospace leader, and to recruit ambassadors and industry officials to support the demand for talent in the state.
“When conducting our U.S. engineering base search, we were struck by Colorado’s wealth of aerospace talent and innovation,” said Kleos CEO, Andy Bowyer. “We’re thrilled to start building our U.S. team in such a dynamic and collaborative space community.”
“We are proud that Denver continues to attract innovative global companies, such as Kleos Space. Colorado is home to the second largest space economy in the US, and we know Kleos will thrive here because of our talent pool and rich business ecosystem,” said Eric Hiraga, Executive Director for Denver Economic Development & Opportunity. “We look forward to working with the Kleos team as they establish their U.S. engineering presence in Denver.”
Colorado’s overall private aerospace employment of over 30,000 is second only to California and is the country’s highest per capita, according to a report by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. There are nearly 280 aerospace businesses in Colorado and more than 500 companies and suppliers providing space-related products and services with 57,830 private and military workers in the aerospace sector.
Kleos currently has four employees located in Colorado including Systems and Software Engineers and a Sales Executive and is continuing to recruit additional staff with the office expected to be operational in Q1 2021.
Kleos US Strategy Director, Karyn Hayes-Ryan added “in addition to the high caliber of aerospace talent in Colorado, we see great partnership opportunities with the breadth of geospatial and analytic firms in Denver. The proximity to a significant geospatial customer base in Denver will also drive innovation and shape future mission requirements for our constellation.”
Kleos successfully launched its first cluster of four satellites (KSM1) on Saturday 7 November 2020. Commissioning of the satellites is in progress. The Second Cluster – Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1) will be launched under contract with Spaceflight Inc, technical kick off for launch was completed on December 7th, who have manifested the cluster of Kleos satellites on the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch scheduled for mid-2021 launching into a 500 km Sun Synchronous Orbit. Kleos’ satellites will detect and geolocate maritime radio frequency transmissions to provide global activity-based intelligence, enhancing the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of governments and commercial entities when Automatic Identification System (AIS) is defeated, imagery unclear or targets out of patrol range.
