Two Ku-band MicroGEO satellites, made and operated by Astranis, are now fully operational and providing coverage over the continental United States for client Anuvu.
The achievement marks a “massive milestone,” Astranis co-founder and CEO John Gedmark said, as it represents “the world’s first private, dedicated network from GEO.”
Dubbed NuView-A and NuView-B, the satellites are supporting Anuvu’s connectivity services in aviation and maritime. The Santa Ana, California-based firm counts Southwest Airlines as a major customer.
“I can confirm that we are now supporting customers,” an Anuvu spokesperson told Runway Girl Network.
The two spacecraft were successfully launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 29 December. They arrived in geostationary (GEO) orbit in early July and have been undergoing a series of in-orbit checks and calibrations over the last three weeks, Gedmark revealed in a statement shared on LinkedIn.
“The payload performance is excellent, we have all systems up and running at full capacity, and the two satellites are now ready for service,” he said, adding that the milestone “demonstrates the power of this MicroGEO model.”
Notably, Anuvu is not sharing the capacity with any other users on the system, “so they never have to worry if it will be there, it’s guaranteed,” Gedmark said.
That’s good news for Southwest Airlines’ passengers, as the carrier is eyeing adoption of the free inflight Wi-Fi model. Southwest has taken a multi-source approach to IFC, and also counts Viasat as a service provider.
A relatively new satellite operator on the scene, Astranis, meanwhile, is set to scale up extremely quickly, the Astranis chief enthused on LinkedIn.
“Astranis now operates five satellites on orbit, has more than $1B in contracted backlog for more commercial satellites, and, with these two entering into service and more on the way, we have proven out the private-network thesis,” Gedmark said.
“For now, stay tuned. Our satellites work. And they’ve created the world’s first private network from GEO — but certainly not the last.”
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