Astranis found problems with existing SDA tech while operating in GEO—so it built a tool to fix it.
The company on Wednesday announced Perceptor, an SDA and maneuverability platform designed to operate in higher—and strategically important—orbits, including GEO. The announcement comes just three months after Astranis brought in a whopping $450M+ in new funding, including a $300M Series E.
“Astranis provides mission-critical infrastructure for strategic higher orbits. What we found is our means to detect and respond to emerging threats to this infrastructure are sorely lacking,” Astranis CEO and cofounder John Gedmark said in a statement. “With Perceptor, we’re meeting the increasing demand for security in GEO with our proven, on-orbit platform and ability to produce at scale.”
What’s new: Perceptor will be built on Astranis’ MicroGEO satellite platform, which the company already uses in-orbit for communications missions. However, Perceptor will carry extra hardware for its mission, including:
- A suite of sensors to help with everything from determining the capabilities of adversary spacecraft, to providing details about anomalies on allied sats.
- Propulsion hardware to maneuver throughout GEO more than a dozen times in one mission.
- The ability to operate with other spacecraft as part of a constellation.
The foundation: Perceptor will be built into Astranis’ existing MicroGEO satellite that’s been flying communications missions in GEO since 2023. Because the spacecraft already have space heritage and can be built on the space production line, the company is expecting to be able to quickly ramp up and scale the program as needed, according to a press release.
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