Astrocast and Leaf Space announced recently an agreement for Astrocast’s use of Leaf Space ground stations. The agreement calls for up to 12 antennas to be utilized by the Astrocast IoT network, a 64-unit nanosatellite constellation, which is scheduled to be launched in phases. The antennas included in the agreement will be built and operated by Leaf Space and will be strategically located across six locations, providing dedicated service solely to Astrocast and its worldwide customers.
This new ground segment solution, named Leaf Key, has been developed by Leaf Space to address high capacity and high efficiency missions, such as Astrocast’s constellation.
“We are pleased to engage Leaf Space for ground communication services,” said Fabien Jordan, co-founder and CEO, Astrocast. “With the ability to develop and operate dedicated antennas, and to scale alongside our network, Leaf Space is the right partner for us.”
The Astrocast IoT and machine-to-machine communications network will provide cost effective services to customers spanning key global industries worldwide. Coverage will span the 90 percent of the globe not currently serviced by existing cellular systems. The constellation will consist of eight orbital planes, each encompassing eight operational spacecrafts along with two spare satellites.
The Leaf Space agreement provides Astrocast with the use of additional antennas each time the Swiss-based IoT provider launches a new plane of satellites. Current Astrocast constellation deployment plans include: the Spaceflight-organized launch of two demonstration satellites onboard Falcon9 and PSLV in the 4th quarter of 2018; an undisclosed launch of the constellation’s first plane of Astrocast satellites during the third quarter of 2019 and the recently announced D-Orbit-led launch of a second plane of nanosatellites in late 2019 or early 2020. The roll-out of Leaf Space antennas will align with these satellite deployment phases.
“We worked really close with the Astrocast team to develop a service able to reduce the ground segment to a predictable recurring cost even for such a big constellation,” said Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto co-founder and CTO, Leaf Space. “Leaf Key is a flexible and scalable system that follows step by step the constellation deployment, providing the right performance at the right time.”
Offering remote IoT and M2M capabilities, Astrocast’s constellation is designed to enable substantial operational efficiencies and cost advantages within key global sectors including maritime, oil and gas, mining, supply chain and logistics, transportation, utilities, agriculture, and many others.
“There are numerous businesses operating remotely which simply don’t have access to key IoT capabilities because those services don’t currently exist in those regions,” said Jordan. “The Astrocast network will be a game changer for these enterprises and Leaf Space’s ground station capabilities will be a key component of our solution.”
Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars.
