Recently established Australian ground segment operator Capricorn Space and Japanese Ground Segment as a Service provider Infostellar have signed an agreement that will enable Infostellar customers access to their satellite constellations from the Australian Ground Network – West (AGN-W) site near Mingenew in Western Australia.
Established by Capricorn Space to provide global satellite operators southern hemisphere coverage from the Indian Ocean to across the Australian continent, AGN-W currently comprises two 5m S/X-Band antenna systems and associated infrastructure. The facility became operational in October 2019 after a greenfield construction program was instigated at the beginning of the year. The site was officially inaugurated at an Opening Ceremony on location on 10 December 2019.
Capricorn Space CEO Mark Thompson said, “We are excited to welcome Infostellar to our family. We have been following their progress with much interest since we first contemplated the establishment of our site in Western Australia. Infostellar and their StellarStation platform will make it easier for their customers to secure on-demand access to their satellites as they pass within our coverage zone and we will jointly be able to deliver reliable, cost effective and timely services. The strategic location of our site in the Asian corridor has created significant customer interest and we look forward to making additional announcements in the near future. Capricorn Space is providing unique access capabilities for satellite operators in the region with the option to install their own antennas, use our capability directly or partner with global infrastructure coordinators such as Infostellar. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Infostellar jointly servicing the emerging demand for operators accessing their satellites from Ground Segment as a Service providers.”
Infostellar’s CEO, Naomi Kurahara, said, “We have noticed growing demand for S/X-Band communications, and the addition of Capricorn Space’s Western Australia site to our network means we can now offer better coverage to satellite operators looking for scalable, flexible, and affordably priced ground services. We see Australia as an increasingly attractive place to do space business, and hope that StellarStation’s protocol- and hardware-agnostic platform will contribute to the development of a vibrant space ecosystem with lower barriers to entry.”
Capricorn Space was formed with the vision of increasing the value of satellite data within the Digital World. Getting data to the right people as quickly as possible maximises its value and helps organisations – commercial and government – to achieve their core objectives. Put simply: It’s all about the data!
We also wanted to tap into the great optimism and opportunity that exists within the Australian space industry following the announcement of the establishment of an Australian Space Agency and to leverage off the skillset and entrepreneurship that exists Down Under.
One observation was that relatively few commercial ground stations exist in Australia and indeed the southern hemisphere. When combined with Australia’s expansive geography it became apparent that a network of ground stations across the country would greatly enhance the ability to service the LEO and MEO markets.
Capricorn Space has established an experienced team of management, technical, regulatory and business development professionals who have collectively accumulated well over 100 years of space industry experience.
Infostellar is a Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) provider offering a flexible, scalable ground station network called StellarStation. By lowering barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers newspace startups to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
