Thursday, January 22, 2026
Technology
3 min read

Is Ireland Ready for Space as Financial Infrastructure?

The Currency
January 21, 20261 day ago
Byron Fry: Space is becoming financial infrastructure. Is Ireland ready?

AI-Generated Summary
Auto-generated

Ireland launched its first satellite, EIRSAT-1, in December 2023, followed by Ubotica's CogniSAT-6 in March 2024. CogniSAT-6 features AI for imagery processing and marks the first commercial backing from an Irish company. This signifies space's growing financial infrastructure role, raising questions about Ireland's preparedness for this evolving sector.

On the evening of December 1, 2023, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California carrying a small 2U CubeSat called EIRSAT-1. Designed, built and tested at University College Dublin under the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Fly Your Satellite! and PRODEX programmes, it became Ireland’s first satellite the moment it reached orbit. Less than four months later, in March 2024, Ubotica’s CogniSAT-6 rode another Falcon 9 from Vandenberg as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-10 mission. It was the first satellite to launch with commercial backing from an Irish company, carrying on-board AI capable of processing imagery… Want to continue reading? Join today with an Annual membership and get full access to The Currency for just €200 (68c per day) or try monthly membership for just €5 for your first month. Subscribe Cancel at any time. Are you already a member? .

Rate this article

Login to rate this article

Comments

Please login to comment

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
    Ireland Space Financial Infrastructure: Is It Ready?