ORLANDO, Fla. — Portland, Oregon-based AscendArc, founded by a former SpaceX principal engineer, emerged from stealth Jan. 29 after raising $4 million to enter the growing market for small geostationary communications satellites.
The startup also announced a $1.8 million Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract from AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force innovation arm, to develop technology aimed at improving high-bandwidth satellite communications.
Founder and president Chris McLain, who has also worked on geostationary communications solutions at Boeing, Lockheed and Panasonic, said AscendArc’s goal is to “provide scalable, cost-effective solutions that address the U.S. military’s growing demands for advanced satellite systems.”
The company said it is collaborating with Portland State University under the AFWERX contract to refine and adapt its technology for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Few other details were given in a news release that emphasized the advantages satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) have over low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations.
Unlike GEO satellites that remain fixed over a specific region, LEO networks require large constellations to maintain continuous coverage, AscendArc noted, and these satellites spend much of their time over uninhabited areas.
LEO networks like Starlink have disrupted traditional GEO satellite businesses in recent years, leading to a significant drop in orders of communications satellites weighing several thousand kilograms, typically the size of a school bus.
While many legacy GEO operators are branching into multi-orbit services, companies including Astranis and Swissto12 have emerged to offer smaller, more regionally focused GEO satellites about the size of a dishwasher at around 500 kilograms.
Astranis recently announced a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch contract for its next batch of small GEO satellites, with customers including Thai satellite operator Thaicom and Mexican telco Apco.
Meanwhile, Swissto12 is developing its first satellites for launch in 2026 under orders from Intelsat and Viasat.
An AscendArc spokesperson said the startup is targeting its first launch in 2027 of a spacecraft under 1,000 kilograms.
“We have very high throughput satellite designed for volume product and launch, which reduces our cost per [megabits per second] by an order of magnitude relative to other satellite manufacturers,” the spokesperson said.
Astranis declined to comment on the emergence of another competitor in the small GEO market.
Emile de Rijk, CEO of Swissto12, said the growing number of entrants underscores the renewed momentum in the GEO market.
“The demand for small GEO satellites is accelerating rapidly as it offers new ways to deploy cost-competitive connectivity as well as secure sovereign communications,” he said.
Investors in AscendArc’s seed round included Seraphim Space, Everywhere Ventures, Portland Seed Fund, Thermo and Hunter Communications.
