Astrocast is a Swiss

satellite communications A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

company based in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

. It aims to establish a global satellite network for

IoT The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

applications. Astrocast was founded in 2014 by EPFL alumni, and employed 70 people in 2021. It launched its first five satellites in December 2018 aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pa ...

rocket, and another five in June 2021. It aims to operate a full network of 100 satellites by 2024. Astrocast's nanosatellites are

CubeSats A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

, cubes large. Astrocast is backed by venture capital firm Adit Ventures, Airbus SE's venture arm and the European Space Agency. In June 2022, Astrocast announced that it was acquiring Hiber, an Amsterdam-based IoT space tech company.

Satellites launched

As of January 2023 the company has launched four batches of satellites, for a total of 18 spacecraft currently in orbit around the Earth.

External links

Official website

References

{{Company-stub Aerospace companies of Switzerland Communications satellite operators Companies based in the canton of Vaud 2014 establishments in Switzerland CubeSats