Microsoft’s announced updates to its satellite-focused Azure Space platform. 

The updates include an Orbital Cloud Access bridging fiber, cellular, and satellite networks into consolidated cloud connection; availability of the Orbital Ground Station, enabling satellite operability within various aerospace companies; and the digital transformation of satellite communication networks to help satellite operators virtualize analog hardware and vendor-specific systems to a cloud stack. 

“The collective impact of these announcements points toward two key outcomes,” Jason Zander, EVP for strategic missions and technologies at Microsoft wrote in a blog, adding the first “democratizing the possibilities of space by unlocking connectivity and data with the Microsoft cloud," and "second, we can also help support the digital transformation for our customers and partners in the space industry by using the flexible, scalable compute power." 

Microsoft’s push to the final frontier charts back to 2019, when the cloud giant launched its Azure ExpressRoute platform and a series of partnerships with satellite operators SES, Viasat, and Intelsat, expanding Azure cloud services to broadcasters, enterprises, and governments in remote and far-edge locations.

Through the Azure Space initiative the following year, Microsoft expanded their data center and cloud infrastructure. User and market expectations underpin Microsoft’s movement, with Berg Insight predicting the satellite IoT market to grow from 3.4 million to 15.7 million connections from the end of 2020 to 2025, and Allied Market Research reporting a revenue boom from $6 billion in 2020 to $46 billion in 2030 in the global satellite data service market.

Among Azure's latest advancements, Orbital Cloud Access is a new service using SpaceX’s Starlink connectivity and Azure edge devices to enable cloud access anywhere on the planet in a push to move toward integrated 5G and satellite communications – particularly within scenarios where a failover connectivity option is needed, emphasized in cases for first responders and natural disasters.   

“This massive new expansion of connectivity across fiber, cellular, and satellite networks demands a new approach to connectivity, one which intelligently prioritizes traffic across these options, and bridges resilient connectivity into a seamless cloud experience,” Zander explained.

The announcement also encompasses the availability of Azure Orbital Ground Station to all customers. Zander touts this will enable companies like Pixxel, Loft Orbital, and Muon Space to integrate satellite connection with partnered ecosystems to operate from the cloud more reliably.

Additionally, as part of their push to digitize satellite communication networks, Microsoft and SES have expanded their partnership, announcing the Satcom Virtualisation Program – an initiative to improve the satellite industry through consolidation and virtualization.

The program will focus on a completely virtualized “satcom ground network through a broader industry ecosystem” delivering everything from software-defined radios and customer edge terminals to new virtual network functions (VNF) and edge cloud applications,'' Microsoft stated.

They plan to issue a request for proposal in the fourth quarter of this year for program participants “to seed this new industry ecosystem,” Microsoft stated.

“The customer edge for satellite ground networks are often in remote locations, making it costly and complex to upgrade modems, edge terminals and other proprietary hardware. With open, standardized hardware and features programmable and upgradable via software, the satellite ground networks will simply be an extension of cloud-native networks,” Microsoft stated.