UARX Space is a space transportation company that offers shared and dedicated launch services for Pocketques, CubeSats and small satellites from LEO to the Moon and beyond.
1.A young aeronautical engineer at the head of an aerospace company in Galicia is not something usual, how did UARX Space come about?
UARX Space emerged as an idea in 2015, although the company was not incorporated as such until 2020. My partner, Andrés Villa, and I studied our second Masters in Aerospace Engineering at CalPoly in the US, the university that co-created the CubeSats small satellite standard.
There we realised the new needs of small satellite developers and the shortcomings of the so-called new Space, and as we had more than 10 years of experience working in the Earth observation and geostationary satellite industry, we decided to combine these two areas of expertise in UARX, which is a space transportation company.
But it took several years, cities and countries to get to Galicia. We chose Galicia – the company’s headquarters are in Nigrán – because we believe it is the best place in Spain for entrepreneurship, as there is a growing ecosystem and local and governmental support, which is extremely important.
2.What services does the company offer?
UARX is the first and only Spanish company to offer transport services to specific orbits in space. We are a space logistics company. We transport satellites and leave them in the positions in space that their space missions require.
3.How many staff does UARX have?
We are currently 10 people in the team and next year we will add five more. All the people come from living abroad, have between 10 and 20 years of space experience and choose UARX for its technical challenges and its company culture, which I have personally taken care of from day one.
4.What are your current projects?
We are currently developing our transport vehicle to near-Earth orbits (between 400 and 2,000 kilometres) and by-products such as dispensers for small satellites, from a few grams to 25 kilos, as well as a line of separation rings for satellites up to 450 kilos. All the electronics needed for our missions are also made in-house. We have also created the Europe to Space initiative, which aims to enable 32 student groups from all over Spain to each put a small satellite into orbit by the end of 2022 or early 2023. This programme is supported by the Xunta de Galicia.
5.What are LOLA and LUCAS?
The company was created to transport satellites to the Moon and deep space, this is our goal for the next five or six years. LOLA and LUCAS are two space cargo vehicles that will transport our customers to orbits beyond the Earth. These are very ambitious projects, in line with a market that is clearly trending towards those parts of space.
6.UARX Space is one of the winning startups of the SEUA-Mindtech Awards, what is your assessment of the Mindtech fair?
It was very important for us to participate because we went in search of local suppliers to develop the aerospace industry in Galicia.