Virgin Orbit, a space company which is part of British billionaire Richard Branson’s brand Virgin, has sent a letter of intent to work with Polish startup SatRevolution, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Friday.

The tycoons' space company has shown interest in the Polish startup’s innovative project to launch over 1,000 Earth observation nanosatellites, with the first prototype to go into orbit in 2021.

Nanosatellites will gradually replace standard, full-sized satellites, said Grzegorz Zwoliński, the head of SatRevolution. “We want to create a constellation that is cheaper in terms of exploitation, one that consists of smaller devices,” he added.

A network of nanosatellites can be used in telecommunications, to predict natural disasters and to draw up detailed maps, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported.

Richard Branson set up the Virgin record label in the early 1970s. He gradually expanded into other areas, including airlines, train travel, telecommunications and space.

(jh/pk)

Source: Rzeczpospolita