Astrocast

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

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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. [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

As of November 2024 the company has launched two test satellites and four batches of operational satellites, for a total of 20 spacecraft, of which 19 are currently in orbit around the Earth.

Flight No.Mission COSPAR ID Launch dateLaunch vehicleOrbit altitudeInclinationNumber
deployed		Deorbited
Test satellites
1Astrocast 0.1 Kiwi2018-099AS3 December 2018 Falcon 9 Block 5 548 km x 562 km97.6°10
2Astrocast 0.2 Hawaii2019-018F1 April 2019 PSLV-QL 11
Operational satellites
3Astrocast 0101-01052021-00624 January 2021 Falcon 9 Block 5 521 km x 533 km97.4°50
4Astrocast 0201-02052021-05930 June 2021 Falcon 9 Block 5 510 km x 530 km97.6°50
5Astrocast 0301-03042022-15826 November 2022 PSLV-XL 504 km x 517 km97.4°40
6Astrocast 0401-04042023-0013 January 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 540 km x 550 km97.6°40

    References

    1. ↑ "Astrocast SA". Company register of the canton of Vaud. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
    2. 1 2 Grundlehner, Werner (24 June 2021). "Ein Schweizer Raumfahrtunternehmen fliegt an die Börse". NZZ .
    3. 1 2 Malewar, Amit (2018-12-04). "Astrocast successfully launches its first satellite". Tech Explorist. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
    4. ↑ "SpaceX launches Transporter-2 Falcon 9 rideshare mission". SpaceFlight Insider. 2021-06-30. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
    5. ↑ Caleb Henry (September 4, 2019). "Astrocast raises $9.2 million, grows target IoT constellation size to 80 satellites". Space News . Retrieved July 4, 2023.
    6. ↑ "Hiber, an Amsterdam-based IoT space tech startup, will be acquired by Astrocast". Insider Apps. Retrieved 2022-06-07.


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