Rendering of a CesiumAstro Element satellite. Photo: CesiumAstro

CesiumAstro is rolling out a satellite design based on its phased array technology. The company announced Element, a reconfigurable satellite, on Sept. 30. It is CesiumAstro’s first fully integrated satellite platform and brings together the company’s Nightingale and Vireo antenna products into one Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite platform. 

CesiumAstro has been known for selling phased arrays — the company is a supplier for Rocket Lab and Raytheon contracts for the Space Development Agency. Now, the company is making the leap into a fully integrated satellite to meet the needs of customers who are not integrators.

“Many of our customers, especially government customers, have said that government buys capability, not technology,” CEO Shey Sabripour told Via Satellite. “It was important for us to methodically move up the food chain and build a platform so that now I can sell end missions to end customers.”

Sabripour emphasized that CesiumAstro will continue sell its phased arrays as individual products for integration on customer missions.

Element uses the company’s active phased array payloads for high-throughput, low-latency connectivity. The satellite’s mass is 700 kg and it is designed to last five years in orbit. The product was designed for military satellite communications and space-based defense systems, but also addresses commercial applications. It offers a reconfigurable payload adaptable to changing mission conditions.

The company plans to compete as a prime contractor for government and commercial contracts. Sabripour said the satellite’s design is a particular fit for the Space Development Agency’s Transport layer and CesiumAstro plans to compete for Transporter layer contracts.

“We are going to compete as a prime with government contracts and even commercial contracts if the application requires, telecommunications or ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] using phased arrays,” Sabripour said. “This is a multi-purpose, multi-frequency, software-defined satellite platform.”

CesiumAstro is building the satellite bus and other components, but is also purchasing some components. Sabripour estimated that ultimately 80 to 90% of the components will be made by CesiumAstro. The Element satellite design has the option to include an optical terminal, and CesiumAstro is working with multiple optical vendors to have a diversified supply chain.

The company is self-funding the build and launch of the first Element satellite to demonstrate the technology, targeted to launch in the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026. Sabripour plans to expand the design out to include Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) platforms in the future.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on October 3 with additional details