WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded a $14.2 million contract to General Atomics to supply two optical communications terminals hosted on two small satellites for an in-space demonstration.
The contract, announced Sept. 27, is for an illustration of satellite-to-satellite laser communications under antagonistic conditions that may degrade the communication link.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, based in San Diego, will deliver the integrated spacecraft by December 2024, in keeping with a DoD contract announcement.
The corporate designed these recent terminals, called Manhattan, to “provide communications in degraded environments and supply a capability to ascertain and maintain a link that meets the SDA standards,” a General Atomics spokesperson told in an announcement.
Satellite-based laser communication is a technique of transmitting data using laser beams as an alternative of traditional radio waves. Although satellites operate above the atmosphere, they’ll still experience environmental challenges equivalent to radiation and orbital debris.
SDA, an agency under the U.S. Space Force, plans to deploy a mesh network of interconnected satellites. Each spacecraft is provided with multiple laser communications terminals that connect satellites in orbit in order that they can transfer data in space.
Two ‘half ESPA’ satellites
General Atomics is one in every of several suppliers of optical terminals competing for SDA contracts. All optical terminals installed on SDA satellites must comply with technical specifications and standards issued by the agency.
For the demonstration, General Atomics will host the terminals on two 75-kilogram satellite buses often called half-ESPA GA-75.
An ESPA bus is a ring-shaped satellite carrier used to deploy small spacecraft from large rockets.
General Atomics said two GA-75s with an adapter occupy a single ESPA port.
The contract for the laser communications demonstration was a competitive award under the Space Development Agency’s Systems, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC) Broad Agency Announcement.
Under a previous SDA contract in 2021, General Atomics launched a two-cubesat experiment to reveal optical communications in space. However the experiment failed after the satellites were unable to succeed in the intended orbit.