swissinfo.ch - Swiss defence ministry funds domestic satellites with eye on sovereign communications network.

The first test satellite from the Geneva-based company Wisekey has been flying over Switzerland three times a day since January, with more to follow.

The satellite is not much larger than a desktop computer – a gray box equipped with panels. Wisekey launched the first test satellite for the Swiss army in January from California on a launch vehicle from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

Company founder and CEO Carlos Moreira confirmed this to Swiss public broadcaster SRF. “The satellite belongs to us. We lease it to the Swiss army through a partnership,” Moreira said.

Moreira’s company has been working with the army for three years. The next satellite is scheduled to be launched in June, with five more to follow. “Every time the satellite flies over Switzerland, we conduct tests,” said Moreira.

The United States and China are locked in a new race, in space and on Earth, over a fundamental resource: time itself.

And the United States is losing.

Global positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their signals have become fundamental to the global economy — as essential for telecommunications, 911 services and financial exchanges as they are for drivers and lost pedestrians.