ELEVATION-1, carrying a miniaturized space-grade E-band payload, marks a major milestone in advancing satellite communication technology to support unprecedented high- speed and ultra-high throughput data services.

Almagest Space Corporation, a US-based company developing a global low earth orbit (LEO) highly-secure data relay constellation for a wide range of Government and commercial applications, today announced the successful launch and deployment of ELEVATION-1, a demonstration satellite carrying the world’s first E-band communications payload with the foundational technology for Almagest to develop innovative high performance bulk data solutions.

ELEVATION-1 was launched, with support from Almagest’s launch partner D-Orbit S.p.A., on January 14th as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission from Vandenberg Space Base. The spacecraft was manufactured by XDLINX Space Labs in India, is powered by Antaris’ Cloud Platform and SatOS™, and was assembled, integrated, and tested by Ananth Technologies. The E-band payload was built by XDLINX using key components and subsystems from Filtronic, Flann, and IQ Wireless. ELEVATION-1 was delivered within 9- months of kick-off, an extraordinary achievement for such a challenging mission.

ELEVATION-1 represents a major advancement in satellite communication capabilities. The spacecraft will test the world’s first miniaturized space-grade E-band communication payload, and measurement and other transmission data will be used to develop advanced propagation models for Almagest’s global high-speed and ultra-high throughput (UHTS) LEO constellation. Almagest plans to deploy its constellation in phases, commencing in 2026- 2027 with its TWINSTAR Mission, consisting of two FSO-connected satellites providing two- way high-throughput point-to-point services for latency tolerant applications, and gradually expanding to a network of over 100 satellites by 2030 as demand for these services increases.

E-Band Potential to Revolutionize Satellite Communications

The untapped lower (71-76 GHz) and upper (81-86 GHz) E-Band spectrum can be harnessed to meet the ever-growing data traffic requirements of commercial UHTS and other satcom systems for secured high-capacity channels. The 10 GHz of available E-band spectrum is far greater than available spectrum in congested legacy lower frequencies like S-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band. E-band solutions will greatly enhance space-based communication capabilities by delivering unprecedented fiber optic-like speeds of up to 100 Gbps, enabling secure high-system capacity networks and high data throughput applications. Almagest has a senior multi-orbital global ITU filing in E-band.

Raghu Das, Almagest’s CEO and Co-Founder, stated, “Almagest is thrilled to announce the successful launch of ELEVATION-1 on the Transporter-12 mission. Our focus now is on demonstrating the E-band payload’s space-to-earth transmission capabilities, which will form the foundation for our quantum key distribution (QKD)-enabled ‘zero trust’ high- capacity UHTS network. This network will deliver speeds complementing fiber-optic systems.”

He continued, “We are committed to working with technology and strategic partners— including terrestrial wireless carriers and independent global satellite network operators— to provide cutting-edge, global space/earth and in-space bulk data relay services. These services will cater to government and commercial applications requiring ultra-high capacity and speed.”

Source: BUSINESS WIRE