Astranis has announced Omega which, according to the company, is pound-for-pound the most powerful communications satellite for a GEO satellite to ever offer, with more than over 50 Gbps in a smallsat form factor, with expectations for launch in 2026.
Astranis made their Omega announcement at the Space Symposium, currently in session in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Omega will fly an updated version of Astranis’s proprietary software-defined radio (SDR) which, when combined with other new payload technology, means a platform with more than 50 Gbps of dedicated, uncontended capacity.
For Astranis’ commercial customers, Omega will mean advanced capabilities and lower prices for, by combining new technology and leveraging the Astranis-built hardware currently operating on orbit. For Astranis’ U.S. government customers, Omega supports the Protected Tactical Waveform and other government waveforms to operate in contested environments. The satellite platform also has a gimballed Q-/V-band antenna, greatly improving operational flexibility, and can alternatively shift gateway traffic to a Ka-band payload feed when needed.
Astranis launched its first satellite in 2023 and has announced an additional nine programs launching over the next 18 months. The first Omega flight vehicle will be complete in 2025, and the first Omega satellite will launch in 2026.
“Omega is a leap forward,” said Astranis CEO John Gedmark, “offering an industry-best throughput per kg without sacrificing the things our customers love about Astranis. With Omega, our customers simply get more throughput at lower prices, faster than ever before. How did we do it? Speed. About half of our first satellite was built in house, the most recent satellites coming off of the line are closer to 60%, and Omega will be about 70% built in house. We have hired 300+ of the most talented engineers in the country, and we all feel an immense urgency to build great things to help connect our commercial customers and support the U.S. warfighter.”
