Cloud-built demonstration satellite is ready to launch
Space software provider Antaris has announced that the first-ever satellite fully conceived, designed and manufactured using the company’s end-to-end software is ready for launch. Creation of the satellite – dubbed JANUS-1 – involved eight organizations spanning seven countries collaborating virtually through the company’s cloud-based platform, which features open APIs and core open source elements.
The project, says the company, was completed in just 10 months from concept to launch readiness with a cost savings of 75% over comparable satellite missions. Based on data captured during the build, the company says it anticipates that future spacecraft missions can be ready for launch in as few as six months.
“This is a tremendous moment for the space industry,” says Antaris Co-Founder and CEO Tom Barton. “Satellite development has historically been slow and extremely costly because of proprietary hardware and software, excessive vertical integration and outdated interfaces, APIs and protocols. Antaris has changed all that. Our cloud-based platform has enabled constellation sponsors, satellite designers, component providers and manufacturers from across the globe to come together seamlessly and collaborate to get a satellite ready for launch in just months, not years, from start to finish. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
JANUS-1 is a 6U satellite conceived as a technical demonstration to showcase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the company’s platform and will feature five different payloads running on its SatOS satellite software once in orbit. XDLINX Labs and Ananth Technologies served as the primary manufacturing partners for the JANUS-1 satellite with ATLAS Space Operations providing ground station services.
Brad Bode, Chief Technology Officer of ATLAS Space Operations says, “The satellite industry has historically lagged behind the tech industry in the adoption of Software-as-a-Service models. The Antaris SaaS platform is a long overdue approach to the design, simulation and operation of satellites and a perfect complement to our own GSaaS, or Ground Software as a Service, model.”
Antaris recently open sourced its SatOS Payload Software Development Kit (SDK), which enables users of the platform to effectively integrate payloads into SatOS-powered satellites. Additionally, the company released the go-satcom library to help the broader space community work with open space communications protocols.
Payload and subsystem technology providers including AICRAFT, Netra, Morpheus Space, SayariLabs Kenya, SpeQtral, Transcelestial and Zero-Error Systems (ZES) will perform internet of things (IoT) communications, advanced experimental laser communications, radio communications and machine learning (ML) inference during orbit. A virtual twin of JANUS-1 running on Antaris TrueTwin technology is functional today, and the physical satellite is expected to launch into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of India under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research organization (ISRO).
“With thousands of satellites predicted to be launched in the next three years alone, we are facing a shortage of satellite engineering talent coupled with historic legacy waste and inefficiency across the supply chain,” says Antaris Co-Founder and CTO Karthik Govindhasamy. “We started Antaris with a mission to eliminate that inefficiency and empower space engineering talent through a software platform designed to streamline the design, simulation and operation of satellites. We thank our partners for being our first and most enthusiastic users of Antaris software and look forward to a successful launch in the days ahead.”
JANUS-1 will be available for software-based payloads once in orbit and interested parties are encouraged to contact the company.
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