A few weeks ago, we launched our first Astranis satellite to GEO onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The satellite is Arcturus, which is set to provide high-speed bandwidth to Alaska for our customer Pacific Dataport. I am extremely happy to report that our satellite has completed the orbital maneuvers necessary to arrive in its orbital slot in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and has now completed a key end-to-end test connecting a gateway in Utah with multiple user terminals in Alaska for the very first time, with the payload performing above spec. The test was 100% successful.
Astranis has designed a new kind of satellite — and it works.
This test demonstrated the core functionality of Arcturus, with the payload fully powered on and including a test of Astranis’s proprietary software-defined radio — and it worked perfectly, on the first try. The test also demonstrated that the satellite could maintain tight positioning in its orbital slot, with high pointing accuracy, under total control of our Mission Operations team. That’s thanks to the successful operation of a variety of complex systems — avionics, power electronics, flight software, guidance navigation & control, onboard rocket thrusters, and more.
This means that we have a new way to connect the most remote and underserved parts of the planet. Our MicroGEO satellites will help get millions of people connected to the internet through our commercial customers, and importantly they are a new tool in the toolbox for the U.S. Department of Defense as it increases the resiliency of its fleet of satellites on orbit.
Achieving this milestone took years of work from some of the most talented hardware and software engineers in the world. I founded Astranis in 2015 with my co-founder and CTO, Ryan McLinko, and in the early years we wondered whether building a small comms satellite for geostationary orbit was even possible. We have now proved that it is.
It’s hard to overstate how many things had to go right for this demonstration to be a success:
Achieving this kind success required the coordinated effort of hundreds of engineers. It is no small feat.
Importantly, working with our customer Pacific Dataport this satellite represents a major step forward for the people of Alaska. At full capacity, it will more than triple the amount of satellite bandwidth available in the state, bringing prices down and helping connect the 39% of the state that still lacks affordable access to reliable broadband internet.
It’s also a major step forward for Astranis. We are launching four more MicroGEO satellites later this year for customers around the world, and many more from there. Our orders over the next 24 months alone represent over $1 billion of satellite services, all based on our now-flight-proven design. But we’re just getting started. Stay tuned for more exciting news in the days and weeks to come.
Ad astra per aspera.
Astranis has raised a $200 million Series D, led by a16z Growth Fund and co-led by BAM Elevate. This brings our total capital raised to $750 million, and gets us one step closer to launching 100 MicroGEO satellites by 2030 — and connecting millions to affordable internet.
Matt spent 13 years scaling Palantir from 100 employees to over 3,000 -- and a $50 billion valuation.
Pound-for-pound the most powerful communications satellite ever for GEO
Un Satélite Argentino
Our tenth MicroGEO satellite announced, for a global leader in satellite telecommunications.
Astranis is launching another satellite for the Philippines
Astranis has sold two satellites to a local ISP in Mexico, which can connect up to five million people
Astranis has signed a new contract with a trusted partner of the national security space community to demonstrate secure end-to-end communications using the Arcturus satellite
Astranis's second product is UtilitySat. It's the Swiss Army Knife of satellites, and something our industry has never seen before: a multi-mission commercial GEO satellite, capable of conducting multiple fully-operational broadband connectivity missions.
We're building the first-ever broadband internet satellite dedicated to the Philippines. 2 million people, 5000 rural communities, 1 MicroGEO.
Astranis has raised a $200 million Series D, led by a16z Growth Fund and co-led by BAM Elevate. This brings our total capital raised to $750 million, and gets us one step closer to launching 100 MicroGEO satellites by 2030 — and connecting millions to affordable internet.
Matt spent 13 years scaling Palantir from 100 employees to over 3,000 -- and a $50 billion valuation.
Pound-for-pound the most powerful communications satellite ever for GEO
Un Satélite Argentino
Our tenth MicroGEO satellite announced, for a global leader in satellite telecommunications.
Astranis is launching another satellite for the Philippines
Astranis has sold two satellites to a local ISP in Mexico, which can connect up to five million people
Astranis has signed a new contract with a trusted partner of the national security space community to demonstrate secure end-to-end communications using the Arcturus satellite
Astranis's second product is UtilitySat. It's the Swiss Army Knife of satellites, and something our industry has never seen before: a multi-mission commercial GEO satellite, capable of conducting multiple fully-operational broadband connectivity missions.
We're building the first-ever broadband internet satellite dedicated to the Philippines. 2 million people, 5000 rural communities, 1 MicroGEO.
Astranis has raised a $200 million Series D, led by a16z Growth Fund and co-led by BAM Elevate. This brings our total capital raised to $750 million, and gets us one step closer to launching 100 MicroGEO satellites by 2030 — and connecting millions to affordable internet.
Matt spent 13 years scaling Palantir from 100 employees to over 3,000 -- and a $50 billion valuation.
Pound-for-pound the most powerful communications satellite ever for GEO
Un Satélite Argentino
Our tenth MicroGEO satellite announced, for a global leader in satellite telecommunications.
Astranis is launching another satellite for the Philippines
Astranis has sold two satellites to a local ISP in Mexico, which can connect up to five million people
Astranis has signed a new contract with a trusted partner of the national security space community to demonstrate secure end-to-end communications using the Arcturus satellite
Astranis's second product is UtilitySat. It's the Swiss Army Knife of satellites, and something our industry has never seen before: a multi-mission commercial GEO satellite, capable of conducting multiple fully-operational broadband connectivity missions.
We're building the first-ever broadband internet satellite dedicated to the Philippines. 2 million people, 5000 rural communities, 1 MicroGEO.