Tampere 29.03.2022
3,9m antenna will serve domestic and international clients on X and S bands
Finnish new space startup NorthBase Oy (Ltd.) has finalized funding and partnership negotiations and is commencing with its plan to open a commercial scale satellite ground station NorthBase-2 in Finnish Lapland. Planned to be in operation by August 2022, the ground station will support downlink on S and X bands and uplink on S band. Location above 68 degrees northern latitude will provide exceptional visibility to polar orbit satellites available only in few countries in the world.
“We have been working on this plan for more than two years, so it is great to finally get to action”, says NorthBase chairman Dr. Tommi Rasila. “Our station will open up a totally new business area for Finland, making us a new country to serve the international space community with premium
satellite ground station services”.
NorthBase is working together with Contec, a South-Korean growth company operating antennas in several countries. The two companies are planning to aggregate their capacity for mutual benefit. “Having a Finnish antenna in our network will substantially improve our coverage”, says Contec founder Dr. Sunghee Lee. “I am pretty sure there will be a lot of use for this and future
antennas in Finland”.
The antenna itself is a Legion 400 manufactured by Safran of France. “We are glad to participate in boosting Finland into Space”, says Sales and marketing director of Safran Data Systems Mr. Sylvain Baissac. “Safran’s Legion antennas, already polar-environment rated and proven, will provide an unrivaled connectivity to this region.”
Building NorthBase-2 will start as soon as snow conditions allow and it is planned to be in operation in September 2022, offering services on S and X bands with option to expand to Ka-band. Simultaneously, NorthBase-1 is being built in Tampere for UHF and VHF bands with option for S-band, targeted for LEOP phase operation and smaller downlink needs.
For further information, please contact:
NorthBase Oy
Founder and Chairman Tommi Rasila
Tel. +358 407 508 158
tommi.rasila@northbase.fi
NorthBase in brief
NorthBase was founded in 2019 to develop and operate satellite ground stations in Finland.
Company is in 100% Finnish ownership with headquarters in Tampere, serving earth-orbit satellite
operators globally. Finland offers superb environment for satellite ground stations with its northern
location, good infrastructure and stable operating environment.