A veteran of the industry known for bringing Emerging Markets Communications (EMC) from a start-up to a successful company is announcing a new project with his current company AST&Science that will create satellites that weigh only seven ounces for government and commercial use.
Abel Avellan has launched a venture to manufacture a new generation of ultra-small satellites. The manufacturing plan for AST&Science Lic.™ is to build a new kind of ultra-small satellite which is designed to be placed into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
The satellites, called Microns, by the company, weigh approximately seven ounces and are designed to work in concert with larger nano and micro satellites.
AST&Science has already completed the system design of its proprietary technology and has filed patents for key elements of its intellectual property in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries. The company is preparing to commence manufacturing in mid-2018, and is actively investing in related technologies of ultra-small satellites. It is currently bidding for the first launch partner both in the U.S. and internationally.
Avellan said that the satellite industry has been slow to adopt miniaturization technologies, and that what happened to mainframe computers will happen to current and future satellite architectures based on today’s technology. AST&Science, with its proprietary technologies, will be at the forefront of this miniaturization revolution in space, enabling them to create a totally new business model that will dramatically change the way satellites are designed, manufactured and launched.
Abel Avellan is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of AST&Science. He is a 25-year veteran in the global satellite communications sector who created and built EMC into the world’s fastest-growing satellite service provider several years in a row. EMC was sold for $550 million in 2016. Avellan was named Satellite Teleport Executive of the Year in 2017 and was the recipient of the Satellite Transaction of the Year award by Euroconsult in 2015. Avellan is also co-inventor of 17 U.S. patented technologies.
