Five young entrepreneurs, having just graduated from the Delft University of Technology, have started up their own space company. Innovative Solutions In Space (ISIS) plans to organize low-cost space missions with ultra small satellites, Fresh Aerospace reported.

On Dec. 8, 2005, the students' business idea won them a prize for one of the 10 most promising and innovative ideas entered in the first round of the Dutch National Business Plan competition New Venture.

For their Master's Thesis, the five students worked on Delft University of Technology's own satellite project, Delfi-C3. The Delfi-C3 is a so-called "nanosatellite" with a mass of only 3 kg and dimensions of 10 x 10 x 30 cm. The Delfi-C3 was built to test new technologies such as thin film solar cells and solar sensors. The nanosatellite, currently under development, is due to be launched in the first half of 2007.

The company plans to serve European universities and small companies that wish to test new products and technologies in space. By working with small satellites rather than the usual larger ones, the company aims for short development time and relatively low mission costs. The satellites would have a mass up to 10kg, and be designed for what is called "piggyback launch," where several small satellites are launched together with one large one, sharing costs.

ISIS, as Fresh Aerospace noted, "seems to follow the footsteps of the Surrey Satellite Technology company (SSTL)," which was formed in 1985 at the University of Surrey in the UK, after six years of research by the university into the development of low-cost, small satellites. Over time, however, SSTL began to make larger, higher-costing satellites; SSTL launched its first 315kg minisatellite in 1999.

By focusing on nanosatellites, ISIS hopes to fill the gap that SSTL has left behind.