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Swiss satellite communications company
Astrocast
is a Swiss
satellite communications
company based in
Lausanne
. It aims to establish a global satellite network for
IoT
applications.
History
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]
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.
[2]
Astrocast's
nanosatellites
are
CubeSats
, cubes 10 cm (3.9 in) large.
[3]
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
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]
As of January 2023 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.
|
Mission
|
COSPAR ID
|
Launch date
|
Launch vehicle
|
Orbit altitude
|
Inclination
|
Number
deployed
|
Deorbited
|
Test satellites
|
1
|
Astrocast 0.1
Kiwi
|
2018-099AS
|
3 December 2018
|
Falcon 9 Block 5
|
548 km x 562 km
|
97.6°
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Astrocast 0.2
Hawaii
|
2019-018F
|
1 April 2019
|
PSLV-QL
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
Operational satellites
|
3
|
Astrocast 0101-0105
|
2021-006
|
24 January 2021
|
Falcon 9 Block 5
|
521 km x 533 km
|
97.4°
|
5
|
0
|
4
|
Astrocast 0201-0205
|
2021-059
|
30 June 2021
|
Falcon 9 Block 5
|
510 km x 530 km
|
97.6°
|
5
|
0
|
5
|
Astrocast 0301-0304
|
2022-158
|
26 November 2022
|
PSLV-XL
|
504 km x 517 km
|
97.4°
|
4
|
0
|
6
|
Astrocast 0401-0404
|
2023-001
|
3 January 2023
|
Falcon 9 Block 5
|
540 km x 550 km
|
97.6°
|
4
|
0
|
References
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External links
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]