The news follows the launch of four satellites in November 2022. Astrocast commissioned them and began computing and executing the necessary manoeuvres to re-phase them with the correct angular separation to maximise service performance.
As a result of these manoeuvres, the satellites can now be put into service starting at the end of February 2023 and will be in their final orbital slot by the end of May. With complete control of the constellation, Astrocast can enhance the service and increase the satellite lifetime with maximum propellant usage optimisation.
“The increased number of satellites in our constellation brings more redundancy for the Astrocast service, improving reliability, service passes per day, and average latency. In addition, the company's in-house expertise ensures the successful operation of the constellation,” said Federico Belloni, CTO at Astrocast.
Astrocast's successful optimisation of its satellite constellation demonstrates the company's satellite technology maturity, including fabrication, operation, and constellation design and maintenance.
In addition, the satellites are monitored and manoeuvred if required to ensure no collision events occur, thanks to Astrocast's collaboration with OKAPI:Orbits.
In related news, January saw the company launch four Astrocast 3U spacecrafts into space.
The launch is brings Astrocast’s nanosatellite IoT network, commercial constellation to 18 satellites and makes Astrocast one of the big 3 LEO satellite operators in Europe, based on the number of commercial satellites in low Earth orbit.
