Quasar Satellite Technologies, a space communications startup that builds ground station services to replace satellite dish antennas, has raised $6 million in pre-series A funding.
The round from Main Sequence Ventures, CSIRO’s VC fund, included PAN Group, Climatech Group’s Marc and Lindy De Stoop.
The company also won a $5.3 million Defense Innovation Hub contract. He plans to use the funding to expedite his defense contract, and his current team of 14 is expected to grow to 24 this year.
Quasar will emerge in 2021 from a partnership with CSIRO, repurposing advanced techniques developed over the past decade for radio astronomy.
The challenge Qasar is tackling is the rapid growth of small satellites in low earth orbit (LEO). Consider, for example, Musk’s satellite broadband Starlink. They are arranged in constellations from tens to hundreds or even thousands. They have changed the way ground stations can communicate to manage and control operations. Qasar has developed a patented true multi-beam and all-digital phased array ground station system that operates in a Software-as-a-Service model to meet these demands.
There are currently about 6,000 satellites in orbit, more than double the 2,600 in 2020, but that number is expected to exceed 50,000 within a decade.
Quasar founder and CEO Phil Ridley said the company’s products are attracting strong interest from the biggest players in the global ground segment.
“quasar will introduce true multi-beam first-generation digital phased array technology later this year. Our world-first technology came out of CSIRO’s Radio Astronomy Division. This underlying technology will help change space communications forever. ”
“As satellites continue to be launched, there will be about 50,000 in 10 years. There is not enough proper ‘real estate’ on Earth, and ground station companies cannot effectively interact with so many satellites. do not have enough CAPEX and OPEX to
“Our array is about the size of a coffee table and can replace up to 35+ parabolic dishes and operate at a fraction of the cost. We are committed to growing a large Australian company that provides
Martin Duursma of Main Sequence Ventures said the next-generation technology Qasar is building will make Australia a pioneer in the global space and communications industry.
“Quasar’s solution could impact every human being on Earth as the Internet, including streaming services, iOT, Earth imagery and sensor data, is transmitted from satellite to Earth,” he said. .
“It also doesn’t hurt to help Australia’s defense industry achieve ‘ultimate heights’.”