Swarm plans to begin providing communications services later 2020.
Swarm plans to complete a constellation of 150 hockey-puck-size satellites before the end of 2021.
Swarm did not receive an FCC license to deploy and operate a 150-satellite constellation until October 2019, preventing commercial satellite launches before that date.
Swarm plans to launch about 12 to 24 satellites per month once its launch cadence increases.
Swarm signed an agreement on 2020-04-22 to launch 12 satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in December with a Vigoride in-space shuttle from Momentus to deploy them into specific orbital planes.
Swarm has raised more than $30,000,000 since forming in 2016.
Swarm expects the Vega launch to kick off a string of launches intended to complete its constellation in 2021.
Under an agreement announced 2020-04-22, Momentus will arrange rides for 12 Swarm SpaceBee satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission in 2020-12-01.
Swarm raised $25,000,000 in a Series A investment round last year to build a 150-satellite constellation for low-cost communications to remote locations.
Swarm has received all regulatory approvals needed to start service in the United States later 2020.
Swarm launched four SpaceBee satellites without Federal Communications Commission approval in early 2018 and was fined $900,000.
A 150-satellite Swarm constellation could support as many as 10 million devices.
The Federal Communications Commission denied a 2018 launch license for Swarm’s SpaceBees, citing visibility concerns for the 0.1 m by 0.1 m by 0.025 m satellites.
Swarm filed an FCC license application on 2019-03-01 under Part 25 of Title 47 to offer service for 1 million devices throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, all U.S. territories and possessions, and all U.S. territorial waters.
Swarm was fined in 2024 for launching four satellites without an FCC license, and Swarm’s hockey puck-sized spacecraft are too small to qualify for the FCC’s streamlined license.
Swarm’s website homepage includes a LeoTrack visualization showing the orbital locations of Swarm’s SpaceBee satellites.
Swarm reported total fundraising of $28,000,000 including the $25,000,000 raised in January.
The Federal Communications Commission fined Swarm $900,000 in December and required the company to implement new regulatory compliance measures.
Swarm launched four SpaceBee satellites without a Federal Communications Commission license in January 2018 on an Indian PSLV rocket.
Swarm’s satellites include a Ka-band radar reflector developed with Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and the U.S. Navy to increase radar detectability to about the size of a 1U cubesat or larger.