Critical Software and the commercial dynamics of New Space
The Porto Leading Investor balances scientific missions and the dynamism of the market, but bets on innovation, agility, and strategic partnerships to boost its global growth in the space sector
With more than 20 years' experience working in the space sector, Portuguese tech company and proud Porto Leading Investor Critical Software is developing a growing focus on the more commercial side of this field: New Space.
In a recent interview to Diário de Notícias, João Brito, the company's Division Director of Smart & Reliable Systems, said that Critical's space programme is in good state and is also highly recommended.
With New Space, Critical Software is adapting its space operations to an agile commercial environment. "We don't typically operate satellites, but we start working with manufacturers, who will be concerned with solving things faster and being more dynamic," highlighted João Brito. Critical Software's core competence lies in "developing and verifying software for both scientific and New Space missions," Brito added.
The company established strategic partnerships with innovative projects such as ClearSpace, a European Space Agency mission focused on cleaning up space junk, and Infinite Orbits, a French company dedicated to refuelling satellites. João Brito emphasises that "these are all start-ups, scale-ups, new companies, and not the typical satellite manufacturers."
The European space ecosystem, although small, is described by Brito as "particularly funny," since everyone knows each other within it. As such, since Critical Software's reputation has been built up for over 20 years, the company's name is very well known in this environment.
