Third Planet Orbital

Manufacturer United Kingdom Verified
1 Products
3 Years Active
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About Third Planet Orbital

Third Planet Orbital Ltd. is a UK space engineering and hardware company incorporated on 12 May 2023, based at the Advanced Technology Innovation Centre in Loughborough and previously at The Dock in Leicester, alongside Space Park Leicester and the UK National Space Centre. The company supplies 'reliable and trustworthy building blocks' for space technology users, concentrating on robustness and repeatability so customers can focus effort on payload design and mission application.

The company's product line includes a functionally standardised, off-the-shelf small satellite bus (baseline 12U, scalable to 6U/16U/24U) supplied with hardware assembled, software installed and systems configured ready for payload integration; the Third Planet Orbital Deployer (TPOD), a CubeSat deployer engineered to streamline satellite mounting, maximise envelope access and reduce total cost of ownership through mass and process optimisation; and a FlatSat Rental service offering on-demand, hardware-in-the-loop access to principal satellite components and software (without structural elements) via a secure remote tunnel, enabling 'try-before-you-buy' payload and software validation.

Third Planet Orbital also provides Space Engineering Services, working with customers to define mission requirements, work-breakdown structures and satellite technical specifications, drawing on a network spanning academia, hardware suppliers, launch providers, mission planners, operations and ground segment. The company is currently supporting Exotopic's 'Give Me Some Space!' 12U rideshare mission, having supplied Payload Handling Units for hardware-in-the-loop software development and selected its TPOD deployer for the mission, with Assembly, Integration & Test activity underway in 2025 ahead of a planned 2026 launch.

The company is led by CEO Miles Ashcroft (30+ years in aerospace, automotive, motorsport and space engineering) and CTO Daniel Martin (13 years across ESA Technology Research Programmes and nanosatellite launches). Third Planet Orbital holds Cyber Essentials Plus certification and is UK Companies House registered (company number 14866498).

Milestones

  • 2023-05 Limited Company incorporated in England on 12 May 2023 to supply robust and reliable building blocks to space technology users
  • 2023-06 Moved into The Dock in Leicester, next to the UK National Space Centre and Space Park Leicester
  • 2023-07 Daniel Martin joined as Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
  • 2023-12 Moved into own office space at the Advanced Technology Innovation Centre (ATIC), Loughborough
  • 2024-01 Selected for the UK Space Agency Fusion Connect programme and attended the Space Investment Forum at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
  • 2024-10 Began production of the new Third Planet Orbital Deployer (TPOD), focused on streamlining mass, manufacturing and processes
  • 2025-01 TPOD selected for use on Exotopic's 'Give Me Some Space!' mission, scheduled for launch in 2026
  • 2025-04 Supplied a batch of representative Payload Handling Units (PHUs) for the 'Give Me Some Space!' mission to enable hardware-in-the-loop software development
  • 2025-07 Assembly, Integration & Test (AIT) of the Exotopic 'Give Me Some Space!' mission underway in the cleanroom

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Products

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CubeSat deployer engineered to streamline satellite mounting, maximise envelope access, and minimise total cost of ownership from integration to T=0.

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