We raised $18.5M to open Earth’s last empty orbit
2026-06-08
For sixty years, the closest orbit to Earth has been a place where no satellite could stay. Today, we’re opening a new continent in space.
Commercial aircraft cruise at around 10 kilometres. Conventional satellites orbit above 500. Between them lies very low Earth orbit — and until now it has been beyond the reach of commercial spaceflight.
We’ve just raised $18.5 million in an oversubscribed Series A, led by Voyager Ventures, to fly at the heart of it — between 200 and 300 kilometres.
We’re joined by angel investors including David Kirk (former Chief Scientist at NVIDIA) and Lawrence Leuschner (co-founder and former CEO of TIER Mobility), the family office Custos, and continued backing from Atlantic.vc, Lifeline Ventures, LGF, and Illusian.
Earth’s last empty orbit
Three forces have kept VLEO empty since the dawn of the space age:
- Aerodynamic drag pulls spacecraft back to Earth within weeks
- Atomic oxygen corrodes their surfaces
- Aerodynamic torques knock them off course
We built a satellite that survives all three. NEO-1 is purpose-engineered, with our own propulsion system, to fly reliably in VLEO for up to five years.
“For sixty years, VLEO has been treated as too hostile for commercial satellites. It is in fact the most valuable empty real estate in space.” — Anatolii Papulov, CEO and co-founder
The lower you fly, the better you see and connect the world
The logic of VLEO is simple: the closer you fly, the more you can do — and the less it costs. From 200–300 km, we can deliver:
- Drone-quality imagery from orbit — the sharpest available today, at 20x lower cost
- 5G connectivity straight to an ordinary phone — no amplifiers, no special antennas
- Capabilities today’s orbits can’t reach — LiDAR from space, plus live HD video
These aren’t incremental gains. They’re things that simply aren’t possible from where satellites fly today.
Jean-Jacques Dordain is joining us
Today we’re also announcing that Jean-Jacques Dordain — Director General of the European Space Agency from 2003 to 2015 — is joining NewOrbit’s advisory board. Few people have done more to shape European space, and we’re honoured he’s chosen to help build this category with us.
He joins a board that already includes Sir Chris Deverell, former Commander of UK Joint Forces.
“VLEO is one of the few genuinely new commercial categories remaining in space, and opening it requires a rare combination of engineering excellence and institutional discipline. NewOrbit has both, and the fact that this category is being defined from the UK is significant for European space.” — Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (2003-2015)
“I believe VLEO will become a critical layer of future space infrastructure, supporting both commercial and national security missions. I’m proud that this capability is being built in the UK, helping to establish Britain as a leader in next-generation space technology.” — Sir Chris Deverell, former Commander of UK Joint Forces
They join a team building NewOrbit in Reading, in the UK’s Thames Valley, with engineers from SpaceX, NASA JPL, RocketLab, Tesla, Airbus, ESA, and Formula 1.
What this funding builds
This round funds the NEO Production Complex, opening in 2027. It will integrate our first commercial satellite for launch in 2028 — the first time customer payloads have ever flown between 200 and 300 km — then scale from ten satellites a year to several a week.
At full pace it will be Europe’s largest dedicated VLEO facility, and a strategic asset in the continent’s sovereign space ecosystem.
It’s time to fly closer
For sixty years, VLEO was treated as too hostile for commercial spaceflight. We’re opening it — the beginning of a new layer of space infrastructure, built from Europe.
Media contact:
press@neworbit.space