SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 CesiumAstro plans to launch a satellite in October that will be a precursor to the company\u2019s planned constellation of more than 700 spacecraft.<\/p>\n
In a presentation at the Small Satellite Conference here Aug. 23, Dylan Pfeifer, principal software engineer at CesiumAstro, said the company\u2019s Element-1 satellite will be shipped later this week to Vandenberg Space Force Base for launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission to sun-synchronous orbit in October.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft is part of CesiumAstro\u2019s push into satellite systems. The company has been best known for work on phased-array antennas but, in 2024, announced plans for Element, a satellite with a multibeam phased-array antenna.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis satellite represents two years, day and night, of the dedicated push and effort of more than 70 employees at CesiumAstro,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft is primarily designed to test phased-array antennas, he said. The spacecraft\u2019s Earth-facing deck features a distinctive set of hexagonal tiles that comprise an L-band antenna. The spacecraft also has several Ka-band phased-array antennas.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft is 12.5 meters across when its solar arrays are fully extended, providing 2 kilowatts of power to the payload, according to a paper<\/a> accompanying Pfeifer\u2019s presentation. The spacecraft has a mass of 510 kilograms when fully fueled, using Hall-effect thrusters that provide 450 meters per second of delta-v.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first satellite of a constellation we\u2019re building,\u201d he said. CesiumAstro has said little about that constellation, called Synchronicity. The company recently filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for a constellation of 737 satellites operating in Ka-, Ku- and V-bands to provide fixed and mobile connectivity services for enterprise and government users.<\/p>\n CesiumAstro has been acquiring other companies to support that effort. The company announced Aug. 13 that it acquired Jariet Technologies<\/a>, a semiconductor manufacturer, saying the firm would play a \u201cbig part\u201d in that planned constellation.<\/p>\n