Astranis Space Technologies is a satellite manufacturer and operator that builds small, low-cost telecommunications satellites for providing dedicated internet bandwidth, especially to underserved regions. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company utilizes its MicroGEO satellites with proprietary software-defined radio payloads to offer bandwidth-as-a-service. Astranis has contracts with the U.S. Space Force, NASA, and commercial partners like Pacific Dataport and Anuvu, focusing on connectivity solutions and government science missions. The company aims to produce up to 24 satellites a year.
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Astranis plans to deploy more than 20 satellites over the next three years.
Thaicom has ordered a small geostationary satellite from Astranis for a launch in 2025 to provide broadband to remote and unconnected areas in Asia.
Astranis’ small GEO satellites are scaled to provide targeted bandwidth to smaller geographies at lower costs compared with significantly larger GEO spacecraft that typically weigh thousands of kilograms.
Astranis has not yet announced the rocket that will carry Thaicom-9 and three other Block-3 satellites to orbit.
Astranis is building a replacement for Pacific Dataport that is slated to launch on an undisclosed dedicated rocket in 2025 as part of a batch of five satellites called Block 3.
Astranis had planned to lease Arcturus to Pacific Dataport to provide at least 7.5 gigabits per second of regional throughput in Ka-band.
Startups like San Francisco-based Astranis are offering dedicated broadband from small GEO satellites that are a small fraction of the mass of traditional geostationary satellites.
Orbits Corp earlier ordered a separate broadband satellite from Astranis that is slated to launch later in 2024 as part of Astranis’ Block 3.
In 2021, Astranis and Andesat had a contract worth more than $90,000,000 over Andesat-1’s eight-year design life in orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 is due to launch four Astranis Block 2 satellites in the first quarter of 2024.
Astranis designs its satellites to provide more regional coverage with dedicated bandwidth at lower costs.
Orbits Corp, part of Philippine internet service provider HTechCorp, claimed a small geostationary spacecraft that Astranis had reserved for Andesat and renamed it Agila.
Andesat was one of the first customers Astranis announced after the company was founded in 2015.
The Andesat contract included a teleport for Astranis to build in Peru and an option for a second satellite that could launch as early as 2024.
A second Astranis internet satellite for the Philippines is scheduled to launch later in 2024.
Astranis has three of the small-satellite-venture GEO orders announced so far 2023.
Astranis reported on 2023-03-14 that Mexican telco Apco Networks ordered two satellites launching in 2024.
Astranis satellites will enable Apco Networks to provide managed services including WiFi sites, direct-to-enterprise connectivity, and backhaul for rural cell sites.
Astranis is partnering with Apco Networks to launch two satellites dedicated to Mexico in 2024.
Astranis engaged the Department of Defense and invested private funds to develop software-defined radio technology for on-orbit communications.