Astranis is bringing to market a new space domain awareness and maneuverability satellite for GEO orbit, called “Perceptor,” the company announced Thursday. Adding the satellite is Astranis’ latest effort to position itself more as a full-stack, multi-mission space infrastructure provider.
Perceptor brings an range of new capabilities to the mix. It has an onboard sensor suite which means the spacecraft can assess objects and activity in orbit. Multi-angle flybys can assess spacecraft capabilities, help troubleshoot anomalies on friendly spacecraft, and provide additional eyes in a domain where awareness has historically been limited. Perceptor can also both respond to nearby activity in real time, and use its electric propulsion system to traverse the full GEO arc, repositioning dozens of times over its mission lifetime.
Perceptor uses Astranis’s MicroGEO platform and is ready to be produced at scale, built on the same production line as satellites that are flying today.
“Astranis provides mission-critical infrastructure for strategic higher orbits. What we found is our means to detect and respond to emerging threats to this infrastructure are sorely lacking. There are blind spots that will be used against us if not eliminated. With Perceptor, we’re meeting the increasing demand for security in GEO with our proven on-orbit platform and ability to produce at scale,” John Gedmark, CEO and co-founder, Astranis, said in a statement.
