D-Orbit signs agreement with Japan’s ArkEdge for the transport of microsatellites
For the Como-based company, the contract is ‘one of the most significant’ in the commercial sphere
D-Orbit, a company based in Fino Mornasco (Como), has announced a multi-launch contract with ArkEdge Space, a microsatellite systems integrator founded in the research laboratories of the University of Tokyo.
Under the terms of the agreement – the financial details of which have not been disclosed – the ION space dispenser, i.e. the vehicle with which D-Orbit transports satellites from rockets to their final orbital slots, will integrate and deploy several ArkEdge missions into sun-synchronous orbit between 2027 and 2028. The agreement, described by D-Orbit as ‘one of the most significant’ in its commercial history, was reached with the support of Marubeni Corporation, the Japanese group which has been D-Orbit’s sales agent in Asia since 2021 and, since 2023, has also been a shareholder.
The ‘why’ matters more than the ‘how’. For some time now, in Japan, the market for small satellites has been growing faster than the country’s capacity to launch them into orbit: ArkEdge develops constellations for Earth observation, maritime and optical communications and, with growing interest, lunar and deep-space missions, but does not have its own launch vehicle. This is where ION comes in – a ‘carrier’, as it is known in the industry – capable of carrying multiple payloads and releasing them one by one into separate orbits, thereby reducing the time between launch and operational readiness as well as the costs of a constellation. Since its debut in 2020, ION has successfully completed 23 missions.
The relationship between D-Orbit and Tokyo is not a new one: for the past five years, Marubeni has been D-Orbit’s sales agent in Japan, with its mandate subsequently extended to South-East Asia, and since 2023 it has also been the lead investor in a Series C funding round worth over 100 million euros. However, as the Italian company points out, this is the first time the relationship has taken the form of a launch agreement with a Japanese client of this calibre: a move that D-Orbit describes as a milestone in consolidating ION as the leading logistics infrastructure in a market the company considers ‘strategically vital’ for its growth across the Asia-Pacific region.
This is confirmed by Matteo Andreas Lorenzoni, head of D-Orbit’s Orbital Access division, who sees Japan as an opportunity to ‘become a leading logistics partner for the space sector across Asia’. Ash Takao, who in his dual role as a manager at D-Orbit and head of Marubeni’s Space division bridges the two sides of the agreement, describes his role as that of someone who “connects the region’s most ambitious space companies with world-class capabilities”, and sees the agreement with ArkEdge as “a clear step towards building a more robust ecosystem” across the APAC region.
