Astrocast Explained

Astrocast is a Swiss satellite communications company based in Lausanne. It aims to establish a global satellite network for IoT applications.

History

Astrocast was founded in 2014[1] by EPFL alumni, and employed 70 people in 2021.[2] It launched its first five satellites in December 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket,[3] and another five in June 2021.[4] It aims to operate a full network of 100 satellites by 2024. Astrocast's nanosatellites are CubeSats, cubes 10cm (00inches) large.

Astrocast is backed by venture capital firm Adit Ventures, Airbus SE's venture arm and the European Space Agency.[5] In June 2022, Astrocast announced that it was acquiring Hiber, an Amsterdam-based IoT space tech company.[6]

Satellites launched

As of July 2024 the company has launched two test satellites and four batches of operational satellites, for a total of 19 spacecraft currently in orbit around the Earth.

Flight No.MissionCOSPAR IDLaunch dateLaunch vehicleOrbit altitudeInclinationNumber
deployed
Deorbited
Test satellites
1Astrocast 0.1 Kiwi2018-099AS3 December 2018Falcon 9 Block 5548 km x 562 km97.6°10
2Astrocast 0.2 Hawaii2019-018F1 April 2019PSLV-QL11
Operational satellites
3Astrocast 0101-01052021-00624 January 2021Falcon 9 Block 5521 km x 533 km97.4°50
4Astrocast 0201-02052021-05930 June 2021Falcon 9 Block 5510 km x 530 km97.6°50
5Astrocast 0301-03042022-15826 November 2022PSLV-XL504 km x 517 km97.4°40
6Astrocast 0401-04042023-0013 January 2023Falcon 9 Block 5540 km x 550 km97.6°40

References

  1. Web site: Astrocast SA. live. 2021-07-04. Company register of the canton of Vaud. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183024/https://prestations.vd.ch/pub/101266/ . 2021-07-09 .
  2. News: Grundlehner. Werner. 24 June 2021. Ein Schweizer Raumfahrtunternehmen fliegt an die Börse. NZZ.
  3. Web site: Malewar. Amit. 2018-12-04. Astrocast successfully launches its first satellite. live. 2021-07-04. Tech Explorist. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183314/https://www.techexplorist.com/astrocast-successfully-launches-first-satellite/19096/ . 2021-07-09 .
  4. Web site: 2021-06-30. SpaceX launches Transporter-2 Falcon 9 rideshare mission. 2021-07-04. SpaceFlight Insider. en-US.
  5. News: Astrocast raises $9.2 million, grows target IoT constellation size to 80 satellites. Space News. Caleb Henry. September 4, 2019. July 4, 2023.
  6. Web site: Hiber, an Amsterdam-based IoT space tech startup, will be acquired by Astrocast . 2022-06-07 . Insider Apps . en-us.

External links