On July 5, 2023, a Teaming Agreement was signed between Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS), VIRATEC ltd, a company owned by VUAS, and Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), to work on jointly providing Ground Segment services, such as Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) to the global space industry, based on Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre” (VIRAC) large aperture antenna infrastructure.

Irbene’s large aperture antenna infrastructure is particularly suited for supporting Lunar, interplanetary, and deep space missions, as well as other complex or technically specific missions where available power for data transmission is limited. Globally, there are not many large aperture antenna sites available for this type of services, making Irbene particularly interesting for the community.

The agreement provides that VUAS undertakes to upkeep and maintain the antennas in accordance with the State of the Art and provide antenna availability for joint operations, promoting further development of VUAS, VIRAC and VIRATEC, as well as implementing international reach by co-operation with SSC, yet maintaining other interests, commitments and strategic directions. The role of VIRATEC is to provide sustainable services in accordance with the industry standards, while SSC commits to work on helping attract the necessary investments, create an opportunity to provide services via its global ground station network, as well as providing marketing and customer acquisition activities, being the direct link with space mission operators, therefore creating a flow of customers using Irbene’s infrastructure.

According to Marcis Donerblics, acting Head of VIRAC Engineering & Technical Operations group and Chief Technology Officer at VIRATEC: “This agreement is an important step towards making the long-discussed opportunities of VIRAC and VIRATEC in the field of satellite communications industry a reality. Essentially, this contract is a concrete road map with specific steps that each party undertakes to contribute to space missions by providing Irbene infrastructure-based services for the global space industry as soon as possible. This teaming with the industry is also vital for ensuring long-term sustainability and development of the Irbene antenna site.”

Patrik Melvås, Head of Business Development for SSC CONNECT services division, said: “We are pleased to announce this new partnership with VIRATEC and VUAS. It’s an important key for the continuous development of the SSC CONNECT global satellite ground station network, already one of the world’s largest commercial networks. The Irbene antennas add required capability for future lunar and deep space missions.”

About SSC: Swedish Space Corporation helps Earth benefit from Space. Since the 70’s, SSC has helped space organizations, companies, other commercial actors and research institutes to get access to Space. Our products and services enable successful space projects within Earth observation, telecommunications, security, meteorology, navigation and positioning, scientific research and other applications. Through our local presence on all continents and 635 committed employees, we offer specialist expertise in satellite communications, spacecraft operations, rocket and balloon systems, launch services, flight test services and data analytics. Among our strongest assets are Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden, set to become first to launch satellites from continental Europe in 2023, as well as one of the world's largest commercial ground station networks for satellite communications: SSC CONNECT. Via our subsidiary GlobalTrust, we also leverage satellite data and analytics applications to help companies, organizations and governments to develop and deliver sustainability strategies. https://sscspace.com/