Saturn Satellite Networks
Selects CesiumAstro’s Multi-Beam Active Phased Array
RF Payload For Its $500M Space Broadband Networks-1
Program
December 20, 2022
Saturn Satellite
Networks, has selected CesiumAstro’s Vireo-GEO
active phased array RF payload for Saturn’s Space
BroadbandNetworks-1 (SBN-1). The SBN-1 program
consists of 6 high-throughput geostationary
satellites (HTSs) that will provide satellite-based
internet access services to satellite operators,
capacity resellers, internet service providers, and
end users. Using CesiumAstro’s direct radiating
array, the SBN-1 satellites provide high-performance
multi-beam connectivity in a power-optimized,
thermally efficient configuration. Independently
steerable and shapeable beams enable an enhanced
quality of service. The innovative payload design
allows the satellite operator to dynamically
optimize services tailoring coverage and throughput
to match demand via software commands while in orbit
and operational. The payloads will be developed at
CesiumAstro’s facilities in Austin, Texas, for
integration in Saturn’s low-cost GEO platform, the
Intelligent Space Node (ISN), in its partner’s
Silicon Valley facilities.
Pictured: Saturn Satellite
Networks' ISN HTSs utilizing CesiumAstro's
multi-beam Vireo-GEO payload.
"CesiumAstro’s direct radiating
array payload technology tremendously increases our
ability to provide coverage and power flexibility
optimized to our customers’ needs, enabling a small
GEO platform that can affordably deliver over 120
Gbps. The direct radiating antenna design
dramatically reduces the payload’s thermal
dissipation requirements and eliminates the
field-of-view restrictions in array-fed reflector
designs which were proposed to us in the past,” said
Tom Choi, chairman and CEO of Saturn Satellite
Networks. “It maximizes the system’s value and
flexibility, allowing us to tailor our services to
match our users’ dynamic requirements while the
satellite is on-orbit. We are delighted to work with
CesiumAstro’s innovative team led by its CEO, Shey
Sabripour. Their professionalism and integrity made
this selection the best option for Saturn and, most
importantly, our customers.” On-orbit, the ISN HTS
GEO satellites will be fully fungible and fully
reprogrammable, allowing them to be operated from
virtually any orbital slot while providing the user
with almost limitless combinations of spot beam
coverages and beam-hopping capabilities.
In an equity partnership with
EMP Structured Assets GmbH and one of the largest US
defense contractors, and supported by US and foreign
export credit agencies, Saturn Satellite Networks is
developing the SBN-1program with commercial
arrangements that include full and partial satellite
leases, reducing CAPEX for satellite operators and
end users who have thus far committed over $1B of
usage commitments. EMP and Saturn have secured more
than $235M from equity investors, with the balance
being supported with ECA financing. TheSBN-1 program
is projected to begin in Q1 2023, with the
satellites launched in the second half of 2025.
“CesiumAstro and Saturn are
aligned in our ambitions to advance humanity through
low-cost, reliable, high-throughput access to data
from space,” Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of
CesiumAstro, said. “We look forward to working
closely with Saturn’s team in the months ahead to
deliver world-class connectivity solutions.”
As a leading provider of active
phased array communications solutions, CesiumAstro
has matured a modular approach to the technology,
providing a common set of building blocks
reconfigurable to a wide range of applications.
Vireo-GEO builds upon the company’s advancements by
providing direct radiating array technology
reconfigured and optimized for GEO operation.