About us
Our story started in 1967 with a pioneering spirit to break new ground. From our headquarters in Norway, KSAT has grown into a world-leading global space company - built to deliver secure, resilient, always-on services.
Always On A Mission
We offer more than a connection to space. We enable missions that matter.
For decades, we have helped shape the ground segment industry, setting the standard through innovation and operational excellence. KSAT was among the first to introduce near real-time operational monitoring services in the 1990s, and we helped define the industry benchmark by pioneering near real-time maritime situational awareness and operational oil spill detection.
Today, we continue to unlock the full potential of our partners’ missions through a global network of sveral hundred antennas across 40+ ground station locations, optimized for polar, inclined and equatorial orbits. In addition, we provide Earth Observation services with some of the fastest delivery times available - supporting time-sensitive, operational decision-making when every minute counts.
Our customers include public and commercial users with urgent operational requirements, as well as satellite owners and operators who depend on high-performance ground services.
With 24/7/365 operations, KSAT is here whenever you need us - always on, and always on a mission.
Our organisation
At KSAT we have four core values that we work towards every day:
- Pioneering spirit
- Reliable
- Responsible
- Passion for space
More than 600 of our fantastic employees reflect these values in our everyday work life. A majority is based at the head office in Tromsø, and the remaining are located at the Svalbard Ground Station and at our offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Colorado and Tokyo.
We want KSAT to be a challenging interesting and attractive workplace. Our goal is that we strive to increase our revenue and the "fun at work"-factor with the same percentage each year.
Regardless of the fact that we have been rapidly expanding through more than 50 years in business, we have managed to keep our entrepreneurial spirit burning brightly.
Ownership
KSAT is owned equally (50/50) by Space Norway AS (50%), and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (50%).
Space Norway AS is a state-owned enterprise of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. The enterprise was established in 1995 as a subsidiary of the Norwegian Space Centre.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kongsberg Gruppen. Kongsberg is an international technology group, established in 1814.
KEY MILESTONES
- 1967 - Tromsø Telemetry Station inaugurated by The Royal Norwegian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
- 1968 - First contact ever with a operational satellite (ESRO-2B)
- 1980s - Changes in the market leads to cut downs
- 1990s - Dedicated personnel working hard to brighten the situation - TSS becomes a part of the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC)
- 1997 - Svalbard Satellite Station established
- 2002 - KSAT established by NSC and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace
- 2005 - Satellite passes: 150+ (pr. day)
- 2007 - Troll Satellite Station operational
- 2009-2011 - Mid-latitude-network established
- 2015 - KSATLITE installed at SvalSat and Trollsat
- 2015 - Satellite passes: 24.000 (pr. month)
- 2017 - 50 year anniversary
- 2018 - Satellite passes: 36.000+ (pr. month)
- 2019 - Satellite passes: 50.000+ (pr. month)
- 2025 - Satellite passes: 140.000+ (pr. month)