Würzburg-based start-up S4 builds satellites for ESA

S4 is building a satellite for broadband Internet. The test satellite is to be launched into space in 2023.

The Würzburg-based start-up Smart Small Satellite Systems (S4 for short) has won a tender for a test satellite from the European Space Agency ESA. S4 will build and operate the "LoLaSat" (Low Latency communication Satellite). "With this satellite, the young company is researching fast Internet from space with very short signal propagation times and is thus doing pioneering work," says Walther Pelzer, member of the Executive Board and head of the German Space Agency at DLR, which manages the German ESA budget on behalf of the German government. The aim is to support Internet applications via satellites for augmented reality, virtual reality and autonomous driving applications.

The test satellite is co-financed by the Federal Ministry of Economics. If everything works out, the S4 satellite is scheduled to launch into space in 2023. Normally, communication satellites are launched at an altitude of up to 36,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The "LoLaSat" will only orbit at an altitude of 200 to 300 kilometers above the earth.