It’s time to talk about future.
For a year and a few months, the devastation of the new coronavirus has left humanity in the midst of uncertainty. In order to live and survive, we have been forced to change our way of life and society in various ways. Among them, the space industry and other deep tech industries are confronting various hard things for the future 10 or 100 years from now, without stopping their steps and challenges. In the face of the great and invisible threat of 100 years, the earth now gives each of us the time and opportunity to ponder this question, “What should we think and what should we leave for the future?”
Before the COVID-19 disaster, there were many opinions (especially in Japan) that the space industry was a bubble and could burst sooner or later. As a result, some companies and startups went bankrupt or ended up applying for Chapter 11, but overall, we are making strong progress. Against the backdrop of an unprecedented monetary easing economy, with numerous listings through SPACs, a large amount of investment continues to flow into the space industry as growth funds. The cost structure of launch services and satellite manufacturing has changed drastically, and more than several tens of satellites are being launched into outer space every month, which will be important for numerous exploration missions such as the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. Many successful results have been achieved in those deep space exploration missions. 2020 may have been a year of fortune-telling the future of humankind and the earth in many ways.
WARPSPACE has overcome many predicaments and managed to reach this spring. We have not only survived but also achieved a number of major milestones that will lead to the future, For instance, we have completed ground demonstration of all elemental technologies required for small satellite inter-satellite optical communication networks, have applied for the patents that are the core of our architecture, have also obtained letters of interest (LoI) from domestic and foreign earth observation satellite operators and started a mutual feasibility study with potential customers with an eye on future service usage. We are truly proud of our members who have achieved this many.
We cannot further appreciate existing investors who continue to support us, new investors who have courageously made investment decisions despite the COVID-19 crisis, and those who supported us through crowdfunding. With those people’s feelings in mind, we will continue to move forward strongly.
In 2021, we will start the full-scale development of actual small optical communication satellites with domestic and overseas partners. In order to secure our position as a future space telecommunications carrier, we will also promote our IP patent strategy on a global scale. We will be able to propose more detailed service and operation to potential customers. We will further deepen cooperation with government agencies, space agencies, and various industries in each country. Up until now, WARPSPACE was a team of about 10 people, but it will double or triple this year. Once the COVID-19 crisis is over, the diversity of the team will expand in various vectors. Our members are distributed in all age groups from teens to 70s, but unfortunately, they are still homogeneous in other vectors (gender, nationality, etc.). Diversity is an organization’s innovation engine. We will act to deepen diversity and inclusion not only within the company but throughout the Japanese space industry.
Let’s talk more about the future.
The expansion and sustainable development of human space use has always been achieved by the realization of strong and stable communication infrastructure. In 2023, we will realize the space-space optical communication network ahead of the rest of the world. From 2025 to 2030, we will establish the position of the top communication (including stratosphere) carrier in the entire outer space and support the expansion and sustainable development of the global human economic zone. With the exponential increase in space-space and space-earth data transaction, we will contribute to various industries on the earth, and similar to the history of the development of the Internet, humans will use our architecture as an infrastructure to create many new industries and services.
Our architecture does not stay only in Earth’s orbit. The longer the distance, the more space optical communication will show its true value. Our optical communication will make a great contribution in the field of deep space exploration including moon exploration. We will also work to solve communication issues on the earth. Currently, many government agencies, trading companies, and major telecommunications companies have shown interest in our potentials such that WARPSPACE’s service could play a role as one of the backbone infrastructures of stratospheric communication platforms, low-latency intercontinental communication for international financial transactions, and it also could be utilized for quantum cryptography communication which has similar device configurations to our system.
WARPSPACE will create completely new infrastructure in space, which is mostly unexplored, and support and contribute to the expansion of the global human economic sphere since the Age of Discovery.
The significance of the existence of space startups is to draw and create a world that transcends the future that people can imagine. The rough waves of uncertainty will probably not subside when the COVID-19 crisis is gone, but there have never been a crisis humans can overcome. We always steer towards the goal and move forward with a leap of thought.
“Lead the frontier era of space telecommunication.”
April 20, 2021
WARPSPACE Co., Ltd.
CEO
Satoru Tsunemachi
