Mitsubishi Electric Wholly Acquires Infostellar to Expand Ground Station Services for Satellite Operators

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Infostellar Inc., a provider of cloud-based ground station services for satellite operators, jointly announced that Mitsubishi Electric acquired all shares of Infostellar on July 1, making Infostellar a wholly owned subsidiary. Through their collaboration, the two companies aim to expand ground station services for satellite operators, the demand for which is growing rapidly worldwide. Diverse services using small satellite constellations are increasing, rapidly growing the need for private-sector companies to develop and provide ground station networks needed to operate satellite-based services.

Mitsubishi Electric has extensive expertise in satellites and ground facilities, having participated in related projects in Japan and overseas. For ground facilities, the company has cultivated advanced antenna and satellite control technologies through its development and manufacture of ground stations for communication, satellite tracking and control, and optical and radio telescopes for astronomical observation. Meanwhile, Infostellar provides ground segment as a service (GSaaS) offerings for orbiting satellites through its proprietary ground station platform, StellarStationTM. By virtually networking ground stations around the world via the cloud, StellarStation provides satellite operators with diverse satellite contact opportunities through a centralized service.

Mitsubishi Electric and Infostellar aim to accelerate the global expansion of ground station networks and establish a high-quality, reliable space communications infrastructure. Their collaboration will combine Mitsubishi Electric’s satellite and ground facility development, manufacturing and system integration capabilities, cultivated over many years in defense and space systems businesses, with Infostellar’s GSaaS platform and agile development capabilities.