Astro Digital, a Santa Clara-based company, is also building the GHOSt hyperspectral satellite, which was developed by Orbital Sidekick.
EchoStar Corporation announced plans on Thursday for a global S-band constellation that will offer IoT Services. The company signed a contract to produce satellites with Astro Digital. EchoStar ordered 28 small satellites to be launched in 2024. The terms of the agreement were not made public.
Satellites with a software-defined radio will be equipped with processing and storage onboard for device connectivity in both directions. They will also use the LoRa protocol, which is extremely low-cost and long-lasting, to connect devices. EchoStar stated that it plans to develop non-terrestrial 5G New Radio (NR), based on 3GPP Release 17 specs.
EchoStar Mobile Limited is the company’s European affiliate. It operates a mobile satellite service network in Europe, using the geostationary EchoStar XXI Satellite.
Hamid Akhavan is the CEO of EchoStar. “This agreement represents a step forward in our quest to create a non-terrestrial global 5G network,” he said. EchoStar’s engineering expertise, service delivery experience and spectrum rights make it uniquely positioned to provide worldwide S-band services that will help to meet the demand for constant and complete connectivity.
Josh Williams, managing Director of EchoStar Global Australia, said that “these new capabilities will fill in a gap within the connected ecosystem and greatly expand worldwide IoT compatibility.” Our team has begun integrating our Australian operations with Astro Digital to deliver a truly global network solution that is reliable and consistent.
