Celestia: a rising star in ground satellite research from Scotland
Last updated: October 2024
European satellite ground business, Celestia, invested in Scotland's world-class space expertise and highly skilled talent pool to expand its Research and Development (R&D) operations.
Shining bright in Scotland's space race
“Great industries are never made from single companies. There is room in space for a lot of winners,” so declared tech luminary, Jeff Bezos.
Celestia, headquartered in the Netherlands, is a winner.
It realised that the rising stars in Scotland’s rocketing space ecosystem shine brighter as a constellation of global partners than shooting stars.
The satellite ground business could have expanded its research operations anywhere in Europe, but selected Scotland as the universe for its R&D, benefiting from its world-class space expertise and highly skilled talent. Investing in the nation's space race has enabled the £30 million, pan European innovator to be at the forefront of next generation satellite communication.
Celestia came to Scotland in 2020, inspired by the soaring space ecosystem. The innovator is a pioneer in the satellite ground segment, a lesser known, but equally important part of the space sector. This area is making a major difference to the effective operation of satellites.
Celelstia develops high technology products for satellite ground systems that include electronic antennas, radio frequency and software defined radios solutions for satellite and lunar communications.
Dr Malachy Devlin, UK CEO, values the importance of forging partnerships within and outside the Scottish space sector, one of the fastest growing in Europe with over 140 companies.
He says: "Why Scotland is so important to us is having the opportunity to work with partners across the global supply chain. Although a small country, it’s packed with excellent space infrastructure, knowledge and vision. If we create the IP and the channels, and then harness the international supply chain, we must think globally to innovate and scale.”
Dr Malachy Devlin, UK CEO of Celestia.
The special network for space success
Scaling inward investment and innovation in an industry that is on a steep upward trajectory is critical. Scotland's space industry is predicted to reach £4 billion by 2030, assisted by the UK Space Agency. The agency is working with the Scottish Government to support full end-to-end solutions for satellite design, ground systems, manufacture and testing, launch and data exploitation.
Malachy knows Scotland offers a large, diverse and well-connected space community and industry, backed by the Scottish Government as a significant inward investment proposition. This was a major drawcard for Celestia to orbit into Scotland in favour of other UK locations, such as Wales and Northern Ireland. The firm originally had offices in Harwell, England – but moved lock, stock and barrel to its new UK base in Edinburgh, establishing two sites at Heriot Watt University and a test facility in Dundee.
Working with UK and Team Scotland partners – such as the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) – has been instrumental to Celestia in its efforts to scale innovation in what Malachy describes as “multi-million-pound, ground-breaking technology.”
Multi-partner support to go global
Its work with Heriot Watt has involved recruiting graduates for several R&D projects, one of which focusses on antennas and Position Navigation and Timing (PNT) to synchronise communication between satellites and networks. Further collaboration with Heriot Watt has involved supporting a ground station test facility on the campus to be used for research and commercial opportunities.
The company has also partnered with other Scottish universities, including Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Napier. Malachy says he is impressed with the support from Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Scottish Development International (SDI) which included a £2.5 million R&D grant funding and help with settling into Scotland.
Malachy adds: “You often get cursory pre-sales support when considering a new country and what it has to offer – but the support we received from SE and SDI has been excellent. They have also been very proactive in discovering what we need for our next stage of business development.”
Compound growth in revenue and people in Scotland has been at 100%.
SDI has also supported the company on Trade Missions to Malaysia, Singapore and Bremen, which has helped it to compare export markets and meet partners.
In September 2024, Celestia signed an Expression of Interest with Uzma Group, a leader in the energy and technology landscape of Malaysia. This marked the start of a mutual collaboration between the two commercial partners to develop advanced satellite communication solutions for the Southeast Asia region. The signing took place at Space-Comm Expo Scotland 2024, SEC Glasgow.
Celestia’s Group CEO, Steve Jones, worked with SDI Global Account Manager, Gail Duff, to ensure the company received the best level of support from its experienced space specialists.
Infinite growth from the best foundation
The R&D funding from SE and SDI helped to accelerate Celestia’s capabilities from Scotland. Gail and her team provided valuable advice in how the company could scale up, explore new premises and take advantage of the nation’s burgeoning space sector.
Also playing a key part in Celestia’s lift off from Scotland was the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS), which is helping the company to expand its production operations.
“We’ve cracked the technology, but the journey now is how to scale up from here. People with the PhDs can make our magic work – but how do we manufacture hundreds of thousands of solutions? SMAS has helped us to look at the problem differently by enabling us find and engage with more partners to manufacture at scale.”
Celestia’s investment in Scotland laid the foundation for “infinite growth”, expanding its research function here from a standing start in the space of four years. Compound growth in revenue and people here has been at 100% over this time, and Malachy praises the knowledge value from Scotland into the Celestia Group as priceless.
“Without SDI and partners, we wouldn’t be in Scotland,” he sums up. “It got us on the best footing possible. If we didn’t have their help and support we would not be so far forward in our technology development and a pioneer in the next generation of satellite communication.”
Ultimately, it would be fair to say the company is more than a rising star: more a supernova in ground satellite technologies in Scotland. And on the world stage.
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