Astranis Introduces A New And More Powerful GEO Satellite

Astranis, a satellite company founded in 2015, announced its brand-new Omega communications satellite on April 10th, 2024. This next-generation solution follows the company’s first MicroGEO communication satellites, launched throughout 2023 for various customers. These tiny satellites are providing internet access to various countries, in an important effort to connect people all around the globe.

a flock of Astranis omega satellites in space — *A flock of Omega satellites in space. Credits: Astranis*

Now, Astranis is notably stepping up its game, promising a revolutionary Geostationary satellite that will guarantee a significant transmission capacity increase. The new satellites will be offering dedicated and powerful data transmission while maintaining a contained form factor.

However, the company’s offer is not only aimed at commercial customers: the satellites support military-grade secure waveforms for transmission and are being therefore targeted at various US military customers. The satellites will be compatible with the Proliferated GEO Space Force initiative. According to the press release, the first launch will be in 2026.

A marvel of tech development

The Omega satellite is the outcome of significant tech progress, made possible by the various engineers, technicians, and scientists working together in Astranis. Coming from all quarters of tech, communications, and aerospace industries such as Hughes, SpaceX, Google, and many others, these people have set out to make internet access easier for everyone.

Omega will offer the lowest-cost throughput of any satellite comms system in the world today.

(Taking that record away from… Astranis) pic.twitter.com/lS4wnlO580
— John Gedmark (@Gedmark) April 10, 2024

Astranis’ new satellite will feature more than 50 Gbps in transmission capacity, with the possibility of switching between Q, V, X, and Ka bands if needed. The main satellite antenna will feature a gimbal, allowing for more flexibility in the different applications customers could require. Software innovation is also at the core of the satellite’s operation, allowing for frequency adaptability, dynamic coverage of interested areas, and recent developments such as formation flying for multiple satellites, and beam supersurging.

*Multiple Omega satellites being released in GTO. Credits: Astranis*

Compared with satellites with similar capabilities, the Omega will be lighter, allowing for single launches of multiple satellites, greatly diminishing the time needed for setting up an effective system or constellation for high-speed transmission. Furthermore, the satellites will be serviced by Astranis in various useful ways. Apart from building the satellite in as short as 18 months, the company will manage maneuvering and servicing for up to 10 years after launch.

The possibilities of Internet access from space

While Astranis keeps building on its expertise in satellite design, with many components already designed and built internally by the company (Almost 70% for Omega, according to the Press Release), space-based telecommunications remains one of the most relevant sectors in the current Space Economy.

A render of the Astranis Omega satellite in orbit, with two other on the background, the Earth in the background too — *Omega satellites maneuvering in space. Credits: Astranis*

So many other companies are making tremendous efforts in this technology, with ever-different approaches. SpaceX has recently announced that its Starlink constellation has successfully delivered high-speed internet to airBaltic airplanes in flight. OneWeb has also recently started offering internet services through a dedicated receiver. The sector is expanding at a faster pace than ever and has already proven invaluable for so many people and companies around the world. And in two years, the Astranis Omega satellite will also be contributing to this great effort.