Audacy Shut Down Last Year

SpaceNews reports that Audacy shut down operations last year after the company failed to obtain investment to build an inter-satellite communications network in orbit.

Audacy’s name was a nod to the ambitious nature of the undertaking. After learning of the plan to create a commercial version of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay network, someone called the effort “audacious.”

Audacy began laying off employees in January 2019, soon after the firm failed to make contact with a technology demonstration satellite launched in December 2018 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rideshare mission. In May, two of Audacy’s three cofounders left and the firm closed its offices in Mountain View, California, and Singapore.

Audacy CEO Ralph Ewig continued seeking investment until August when the firm defaulted on its debt.