And Kleos (ASX: KSS) says that towards the end of the reporting period, it entered into a collaborative agreement with an undisclosable nation state to enhance that country’s maritime geospatial intelligence capabilities using Kleos’s Scouting Mission data.

The agreement is Kleos’ first Government agreement with the sea-bound nation state experiencing ongoing challenges monitoring and policing its coast.

Kleos’ fourth quarter report also highlighted Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites confirmed to launch aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) PSLV C49 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Chennai, India.

Kleos has now been instructed to ship the Scouting Mission satellites to the integration and launch site, shipment will occur on the 11th of February 2020 in preparation for launch.

Kleos Space CEO Andy Bowyer said, “While commercial launch capability has increased dramatically over recent years, launch volatility remains a challenge for all space-based companies”.

“Despite the minor launch delay from December 2019, we are and will continue to work hard to get the satellites operational and generating revenues as quickly as possible,” Bowyer said.

“We remain confident that the decision to re-select the Scouting Mission launch provider and orbit will significantly increase the long-term value of our data, providing optimised increased revisit rates over challenging equatorial regions.

“Our independent radio frequency intelligence data is highly attractive to government and security organisations, enabling unprecedented detection of illegal maritime activity, irrespective of whether the vessel is using a broadcast transponder system.”

In October last year Kleos entered the US market with a wholly-owned US subsidiary to integrate and sell its maritime intelligence data into US defence and security government markets.