Skynopy and Safran Space win funding for SkyConnect Kenya

Details: James Barton; Category: Satellite Networks; 26 February 2026; 5656 views

Satellite solutions provider Skynopy has secured financing for its SkyConnect Kenya project.

The project will see Skynopy, in collaboration with Safran Space, deploy its Ground Station Stack technology on a 4.5-meter S/X-band Earth observation antenna operated by the Kenya Space Agency (KSA). Recently installed at the KSA’s Nairobi site, the antenna currently hosts only one satellite and so has significant excess capacity.

The deployment will allow Skynopy to integrate the KSA’s antenna into its existing global network of ground stations and then orchestrate operations through a secure digital infrastructure. SkyConnect Kenya is Skynopy’s first project carried out with a space agency and the first integration of an institutional antenna within a commercial ground station network.

The joint project with Safran Space was selected as a winner of the FASEP – Digital Infrastructures program, a financing scheme by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. This institutional-commercial approach is enabled by the interplay of sovereign French technologies developed by Skynopy and Safran Space – respectively, satellite link operations and virtualised ground equipment.

Through this collaboration, SkyConnect Kenya promises an optimised ground architecture model ensuring efficient satellite communication operations. This pilot project paves the way for replicating the model in other countries with significant excess ground infrastructure capacity, contributing to better asset utilisation, the strengthening of local space ecosystems, and the development of sovereign and sustainable satellite connectivity.

In a statement, the Kenya Space Agency said: “This collaboration presents a unique opportunity to develop national space capability and space operations through commercialization of the extra capacity of the KSA ground receiver station. It marks the country’s first-of-its-kind public–private partnership (PPP) in utilization of ground-based space infrastructure, underscoring a shared commitment to innovation, capacity building, and sustainable growth.”