Designing for the Next Generation of GEO With Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk

Emile de Rijk started Swissto12 with a simple goal — to make access to Geostationary Orbit (GEO) faster and more affordable. In order to achieve that, the company had to think smaller. From its origins as a startup, Swissto12 is now coming of age as a disruptive European satellite manufacturer. This week, Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk joins On Orbit to talk about the company's cutting edge payload technology and the decision trade-offs that come with payload flexibility. De Rijk also talk about how Swissto12's approach to smaller, more flexible GEO satellites fits in with the issue of sovereign space, and how it might also fit into the future concepts of orbital data centers. The company is at a critical juncture this year with satellite builds for both SES and Viasat underway. De Rijk shares the latest updates on the Hummingsat program. This episode of On Orbit is brought to you by Swissto12, a manufacturer of advanced satellite radio frequency components, payloads, and systems.

You can listen to Designing for the Next Generation of GEO With Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Designing for the Next Generation of GEO With Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk is an episode from On Orbit by Rachel Jewett.

This episode is 25:41 long.

This episode was published on Mar 10, 2026.

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