Antaris’ JANUS-1 Satellite Reaches Orbit Just 10 Months After Conception

Photograph of JANUS-1 demonstration satellite, the world’s first built on the Antaris software platform.

JANUS-1, a 6U satellite built by Antaris and launched early Friday morning on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) SSLV-D2 rocket, has successfully reached orbit just 10 months after the satellite was initially conceived. Antaris, which designed and manufactured the satellite using the company’s end-to-end cloud platform, confirmed the successful delivery a few hours after launch.

The satellite features five payloads from a range of global providers. Antaris said the payloads will be commissioned and begin nominal operations in the coming days.  Antaris Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Karthik Govindhasamy said that the quick turnaround for JANUS-1 provided cost savings of 75% over comparable satellite missions, and that the company anticipates that future spacecraft missions can be ready for launch in as few as six months. 

“This is a very proud moment for our company and the global space ecosystem,” said Govindhasamy following the launch. “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.”

JANUS-1 also features subsystem technologies from AICRAFT, Morpheus Space, Netra, SayariLabs Kenya, SpeQtral, Transcelestial and Zero-Error Systems (ZES), as well as secure TT&C protocols with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ATLAS Space Operations, who are providing ground communications services. Once fully operational, it will perform IoT communications, advanced experimental laser communications, radio communications and machine learning (ML) applications.