Isle of Man Third In World For Space Commerce
1st October 2015
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The Isle of Man has been ranked third in the world as a space commerce nation.

New research shows that, thanks to the efforts of ManSat, the island has come from a standing start 15 years ago to become the third biggest commercial satellite filing country, behind only the US and the UK.

Ian Sanders (Chief Financial Officer) and Chris Stott (Chief Executive Officer) of Mansat

Ian Sanders (Chief Financial Officer) and Chris Stott (Chief Executive Officer) of Mansat

If you include military and other non-commercial satellites, we are ranked eighth in the world.

Just three years ago the Isle of Man was named as the fifth most likely nation to put the next man on the Moon.

That prospect now appears, however, to be just a distant dream.

But research carried out by Boston-based Northern Sky Research shows the island is still right up there when it comes to the space industry - and specifically the number of companies choosing to make satellite filings here.

Some 193 countries are members of the International Telecommunications Union, an agency of the UN. Of these 79 actively make filings. but only 55 make filings for commercial geostationary obit satellite operators.

America is top with nine satellite companies, then UK with seven and the Isle of Man in third place with five.

ManSat founder, chairman and chief executive officer Chris Stott said: ‘We started with nothing in 2000 but last year we got our fifth company.

‘The Manx government took a chance with us. We worked hard and delivered. As a Manxman it’s a source of pride. I want us to be number one and we will compete with the UK and US to do it.’

ManSat’s chief financial officer Ian Sanders added: ‘That’s quite achievable. We can easily increase that number and are working hard to do so.’

The only commercial satellite filing company in the world, ManSat was actually a late starter to the game. ‘We spotted an opportunity in the market place,’ said Mr Stott.

Working under contract with the island’s Communications Commission to which it pays an annual licence fee, all the costs and risks are borne by the company and none by the taxpayer.

Over the last decade, ManSat has paid just under $1m in licence fees ($118K last year),

Each satellite costs $200-300m including $100m to launch. They take on average seven years to plan and three years to build, and last 15 to 20 years in orbit. Some $650m worth of satellites are being built for IoM filing right now.

Satellites registered in the Isle of Man are all given a slot in an orbit named after 2001: A Space Odyssey author and inventor Arthur C Clarke, a geostationary orbit located 22,600 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Northern Sky’s research shows that US, Russia and China have nine operators each, UK has eight, France seven, Brazil and Indonesia have six each and the Isle of Man and Canada each have five.

The Isle of Man ranks fourth if only commercial and quasi-government satellite companies are considered and in third place looking at commercial companies only.

Northern Sky notes: ‘Ranking can improve to number 2 or even number 1 with aggressive targeting of operators that file outside home jurisdictions.’

The Isle of Man comes top when ranked against other UK jurisdictions including Jersey, Cayman, Gibraltar and Bermuda.

ManSat’s five companies include Canadian satellite communications giant Telesat, global satellite services provider EchoStar and California communications company ViaSat which was the first to launch, and DF Global which is a new start-up.

Mr Sanders said: ‘Although it’s an exciting industry it doesn’t attract the big headlines as most of what we do is low profile, in the technical engine room.’

ManSat’s success has let to a number of not for profit organisations setting up here. such as the Space Data Association, Satellite Interference Reduction Group and the International Institute of Space Commerce – all attracted to the island because it is part of a space cluster.

Of the diminishing prospect of Mann being on the Moon, Mr Stott said: ‘It’s disappointing. It would have been great to see, but who knows what the future has in store? It is the 21st Century after all.’

Northern Sky Research president, Christopher Baugh said: ‘The hard data is there, drawn from public domain sources and the data speaks for itself.

‘The fact that the Isle of Man ranks third behind the UK and the USA as a center for commercial GSO filings is impressive, especially when you consider the island’s unique commercial approach via its outsourced provider, ManSat, and further given they only entered this space in 2000.

‘Of note is that if you add the Isle of Man’s numbers to those of the UK in addition to the other British Islands, the UK now surpasses the USA as the choice for commercial GSO filing. We found the results of the study fascinating.’

Source: IOM Today

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