Astranis

rdf:langString Astranis

rdf:langString Astranis Space Technologies Corp.

rdf:langString Astranis Space Technologies Corp.

rdf:langString John Gedmark and Ryan McLinko

rdf:langString

rdf:langString John Gedmark

rdf:langString Ryan McLinko

rdf:langString Astranis Logo.png

rdf:langString Small geostationary communications satellites

rdf:langString Astranis

rdf:langString Astranis Space Technologies Corp., doing business as Astranis, is a private American geostationary communications satellite operator and manufacturer headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded by chief executive officer John Gedmark and Chief Technical Officer Ryan McLinko. In 2018, Astranis launched DemoSat-2, a prototype 3U cubesat to test the company's Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technology for its larger communications satellites. Astranis came out of stealth mode with their March 2018 announcement of a $13.5 million fundraising round to support their development of smaller geostationary communications satellites led by Andreessen Horowitz., marking the firm's first investment in a space company. In January 2019, Astranis announced their first commercial program, a partnership with Pacific Dataport, Inc. to triple the satellite internet capacity of Alaska. The satellite is scheduled to begin service in 2021, and is estimated to be 350 kg, roughly an order of magnitude smaller than existing geostationary satellites. Astranis has raised over $350 million in venture capital and venture debt financing from Andreessen Horowitz, Venrock, BlackRock, and other investors. The company was part of the Winter 2016 cohort of the Y Combinator accelerator.