The idea was simple: if satellites were made sufficiently small and light (nanosatellites weigh 10 kg or less), they could be launched quickly and at low cost by converted fighter jets. Lars Stenmark, Adjunct Professor of Microsystems Technology at Uppsala University, had been involved in space projects for many years. In 1996, he started a research group at Uppsala University that in 2000 became a center dedicated to developing microsatellites, Ångström Space Technology Centre (ÅSTC).

Within a few years, he had attracted a new generation of researchers. Financial support came from Uppsala University, the European Space Agency and the Swedish National Space Board. After almost 10 years, the group had a sufficiently strong process bank to begin commercializing their knowhow. In 2005, Ångström Aerospace (ÅSTC Aerospace AB) was established as a spin-off from ÅSTC.

Orders from space agencies and aero groups began to come in. From the beginning, we understood that innovation was not enough. Equally important is the ability to do business, and to build a business. So we have always strived to attract a good mix of different skills.

In addition to the SpriteSat mission, on-going projects include:
- INOVATOR, a full nanosatellite avionics bus architecture being tested on RUBIN-9, an OHB System developed in orbit verification platform.
- Development of a miniaturized motion control chip for the European Space Agency
- Development of a miniaturized Point-of-Load (POL) converter for aerospace
- Development of a miniaturized Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform

In November 2008, the company changed name to Ã…AC Microtec to reflect our widening focus that now includes making our unique technology available to industry.