Astranis UtilitySat

Description

Astranis UtilitySat, 62454 is a payload satellite owned by Astranis (UK) in HEO. SpaceX simultaneously launched four Astranis-built broadband spacecraft toward geostationary orbit.

This marks the first time a single commercial manufacturer has flown four of its own satellites on one mission. They were in super-synchronous geostationary transfer orbit a little over half an hour after launch. Astranis confirmed signal acquisition about three hours later, saying the satellites should now take a few months to get into position and pass health checks ahead of entering commercial service.

Two Block 2 satellites, NuView Alpha and NuView Bravo, are also en route to geostationary orbit over the Americas for inflight connectivity provider Anuvu. Another satellite called Agila was sold to Orbits Corp, part of Philippine internet service provider HTechCorp, and Astranis said it would be the first communications satellite ever dedicated to the Philippines.

Astranis describes the UtilitySat satellite as a multi-mission spacecraft set to serve several customers throughout its operational life.

UtilitySat was initially flagged to provide bridge capacity over Alaska; however, Keil said it would first provide communications over Mexico for Apco Networks, a Mexican telco that has ordered two of the five Block 3 Astranis satellites aims to launch together next year on an undisclosed rocket.

The company operates its satellites and sells the capacity under long-term leases. At the size of a dishwasher, they are much smaller than typical school bus-sized GEO spacecraft and are scaled for smaller regional coverage.

Block 3 also includes a replacement for Pacific Dataport, another satellite for Orbits Corp, and one for Thai fleet operator Thaicom.

Astranis has also now launched more satellites to GEO over the last two years than any other operator, amid a declining geostationary market that has been losing ground to low Earth orbit constellations.