2/1/2023 - Written By Caleb Henry
Though a few years late (three, to be exact), EchoStar finally pulled the trigger on an S-band smallsat constellation. The timing – 2024 service start – and size of the constellation – 28 satellites – were both surprising, and here’s why:
In 2019 when EchoStar acquired Internet-of-Things (IoT) startup Helios Wire, EchoStar quickly ordered three satellites from Tyvak and said it would have a network running by early 2021 at the latest. Australian startup Helios Wire had plans for a constellation of 28 satellites, but sold fast to EchoStar, less than four years after founding, and had only launched one satellite at the time
EchoStar used Helios Wire’s spectrum filing to start anew, ditching the old satellite and preparing a new network, for which the final number of satellites was TBD. In the time since the acquisition, IoT smallsat constellations lost their luster as industry incumbents abandoned or slow-rolled their programs – Eutelsat with ELO, Thuraya with Astrocast and Iridium with Hiber. EchoStar also had a shift in management, with new CEO Hamid Akhavan's rolling out a program called “Horizons” that envisioned greater S-band focus in three or more years
After changes external and internal to EchoStar, the company appears to have settled on an architecture similar to what Helios Wire originally had in mind, but with the financial, regulatory and market muscle to see it through. Also, EchoStar’s convictions around the potential of S-band connectivity long predate the satellite IoT boom, likely explaining why the company doubled down while peer competitors eased off the gas
The 28-satellite contract is also the strongest public endorsement to date of Astro Digital, a smallsat manufacturer that had to recreate itself as a compelling vendor after abandoning its own remote sensing constellation plans in the mid-2010s. Astro Digital’s growing customer list includes EchoStar, Tomorrow.io, Orbit Fab and Orbital Sidekick.
SOURCE: https://ir.echostar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/echostar-begins-construction-global-s-band-network