Antaris announced that the game-changing satellite completely conceived, constructed, and manufactured utilizing the company’s end-to-end cloud infrastructure has successfully reached orbit. AntarisTM is the developer of the most cutting-edge software platform for space. JANUS-1 was carried by the SSLV-D2 rocket of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which was launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India as part of a business deal with New Space India Limited (NSIL). Five payloads from various international suppliers are included on the satellite; they will be commissioned and start performing normally in the next few days.
“This is a very proud moment for our company and the global space ecosystem. We did something that has never been done before—we designed, built and launched a complex satellite in just months, not years, at a fraction of traditional costs. Our cloud-based platform made this all possible, and we have proven that this software is the future of the satellite industry,” commented Karthik Govindhasamy, Antaris’ Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer.
Antaris, along with its manufacturing collaborators XDLINX Labs and Ananth Technologies, has more tech demonstration satellites planned for 2023, including reference architectures for 6U, 12U, and 27U satellites.
JANUS-1 is a 6U satellite that will operate internet of things (IoT) communications, radio communications, advanced experimental laser communications, and machine learning (ML) while in orbit. Its payload and subsystem technologies come from AICRAFT, Netra, Morpheus Space, SayariLabs Kenya, SpeQtral, Transcelestial, and Zero-Error Systems (ZES). In addition to coordinating multi-user payloads and onboard computers, Antaris SatOS software maintains key bus tasks and demonstrates secure TT&C protocols with ATLAS Space Operations and Amazon Web Services (AWS), who are delivering ground communications services.
From idea to launch readiness, the project took approximately 10 months, costing 75% less than equivalent satellite missions. Antaris believes that subsequent spacecraft missions might be prepared for flight in as little as six months based on data gathered during the construction. The JANUS-1 satellite has been “in flight” for several months thanks to the company’s proprietary TrueTwinTM digital twinning technology, which builds a digital version of the satellite at the beginning of the project and then incorporates hardware-in-the-loop as hardware becomes available.
Antaris Co-Founder and CEO Tom Barton said, “We’re so proud of the entire Antaris team and our incredible manufacturing partners. Together, we have broken down major barriers that have historically hampered satellite design and production. We hope JANUS-1 will serve as an inspiration to the entire space ecosystem and look forward to partnering with other New Space pioneers who are ready to go fast and work with us to make space easy.”
